Eating For Health

It is amazing how many people have no idea what a whole grain is and what foods are whole grain and which are just refined grains.   To have a healthy diet, one needs whole grains in their diet, yet so many people have no idea what that means.    I was presenting at a high school class while the students ate their lunches.   All the students said they ate whole grains.   When I asked them what on their lunch tray was whole grain they pointed to the white roll, the breading on their fried chicken, the mashed potatoes.   Of course, none of these foods are whole grain.  Fortunately, I was there to help them learn what whole grains were.     I’ve asked many adults what whole grain bread is and they respond, if the bread is dark in color, any brown at all, it is whole grain.   Not true. What is whole grain?   To be whole grain, the food needs to contain 100% of all parts of the grain seed including the bran, endosperm and germ. ...

Everyone has heard of Type 1 or Juvenile Diabetes.   The diabetes someone gets when they are young through no fault of their own and they usually need insulin shots for the rest of their lives.   But many aren’t aware of how rapidly the risk of Type 2 diabetes is growing.   Over 23 million Americans have Type 2 diabetes and of those, 7 million don’t even know they have diabetes.   Even more surprising is the 79 million Americans with pre-diabetes.   It used to be that doctors would warn patients their blood sugar was a little high.   Now, doctors tell patients that you have pre-diabetes.   This is to warn patients that if they don’t change their habits they are going to get full blown diabetes before too long.   Diabetes brings on its own share of health risks.   People with diabetes can have complications leading to eye problems, heart disease, stroke, nerve damage and kidney disease.   When people have pre-diabetes or diabetes...