Boost Your Metabolism and Help Lose Weight: a source for good nutrition and weight loss through whole wheat grain

Whole grain is a very needed part of our diet, due to its great health benefits, but we often choose to eat refined wheat because we are either not well educated or simply because it usually does cost less. There are so many great benefits to eating whole grains such as weight loss, boosting metabolism, and maintaining healthy. In order to get the benefits of weight loss and boosting metabolism, it is a good idea to know what a whole grain is.

A grain is considered a whole grain if it contains all three essential parts of the grain, which include: bran, germ and endosperm. The bran is full of fiber, the germ is full of nutrients, and the endosperm is the starch content. Most grains are refined grains, which means it only contains the endosperm. One reason you want to have all three parts is because the bran and germ both contain needed antioxidants along with a better source of fiber. Non-whole grains may be missing these essential nutrients.

Whole grains are an even more beneficial source of phytochemicals and antioxidants than fruits and vegetables. For one they contain some antioxidants that fruits and vegetables don't have. They also contain Vitamin B Vitamin E, magnesium, iron, and fiber.

Benefits of:

Vitamin B - supports and speeds up the metabolism - improves immune system - prevents anemia - maintains healthy skin and muscle tone

Vitamin E - helps with nerve conduction - prevents anemia

magnesium- allows the absorption of calcium which will in turn allow for stronger teeth and bones - helps maintain a healthy heart - encourages proper muscle function

iron - helps transport oxygen to the blood cells and gives blood the dark red color - also prevents anemia

fiber - regulates blood sugar levels - helps you feel full longer assisting in weight loss

Summary of Benefits

Whole grains can redue your risk of: heart disease and many types of cancer as well as decrease your blood pressure, blood coagulation, and cholesterol levels.

They can also help those with diabetes or other sugar issues, because whole grains can help regulate your blood glucose levels.

Plus you can weigh less. Studies have shown that people who eat more whole grains weigh less! One reason for this is it contains fiber that allows you to feel full longer, among many of the other great benefits to your overall body. It also helps with muscle tone, and the more muscle tone you have the more quickly you burn fat.

Guidelines are now recommending for people to eat half their grains as whole grain. That would be equal to three servings a day of whole grain products.

• wild rice - this is surprisingly good, and can be found in many soups.
• oatmeal - rather than eating plain chocolate chip cookies, add extra nutrients by making them oatmeal!
• brown rice - I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of whole wheat rice, so we compromise and make half brown rice and half white rice. It still tastes good, and has some health benefits.
• whole wheat - Replace your white bread with whole wheat. It's actually quite flavorful. If you don't like the first kind you try, there are hundreds of kinds of out there. At a grocery store they have a whole aisle of different kinds of breads. Just because you don't like the first whole wheat bread you try, doesn't mean you don't like all whole wheat bread.
• whole oats - many cereals contain this! Look on the ingredients panel!
• barley - also in many cereals!
• whole rye - Try rye bread, personally I am not a fan.
• popcorn - yes, there is some nutritional value!

No matter what you choose to eat, make sure you are looking at the label carefully, as I indicate below. Some great cereals that do use whole grain are Grape-nut, Cheerio's, and Total, whereas Corn Flakes and Special K use refined grains.

Just because a product says:

multi-grain

stone-ground

100% wheat

cracked wheat

seven-grainbran

does not mean that it is whole-grain. You need to make sure you see one of the labels at the side. The "good source" stamp contains a half of serving of whole grains or more, where as the "excellent source," has one full serving of whole grains.

Another good way to find out whether it is whole grain is by looking at the ingredient list. If it says "whole" then it is whole-grain. For instance if one of the key ingredients is either "wholewheat," "wholemeal," or "whole corn," then it is a good source of a whole grain.

It's easy to become decieved if you see an item that was made from wheat flour. This is not whole-grain, if it was made from whole-grain, it will say, "whole-grain wheat flour," or possibly, "wholewheat flour."

Whole grain is an essential part of our diet that we often forget, due to the cost effectiveness of refined flour. There are wonderful benefits if we choose to put more whole grain, whole corn, whole wheat in our diet.