Great Grains!

Corny? Yup, but grains should be a staple food of the vegetarian diet – at least 6 servings a day (and preferably more). What constitutes a serving of grains? ½ cup of cooked grain, pasta or hot cereal; 1 slice of bread; ½ bagel, roll, pita or muffin; 1 small tortilla; 4 crackers; 1 pancake or waffle; or about 1 ounce of dry cereal.

Although serving sizes are the same for refined or unrefined grain products, try to meet that quota with unrefined grains (made from the entire grain kernel with nothing removed - whole wheat pasta, whole grain cereals, etc.) rather than refined grains (semolina pasta, refined cereals, white flour baked goods - usually, the lighter the color of the baked good, the more refined the flour that was used to make it) because whole grains are more nutritious. Grains are a starch (like potatoes) and unrefined they contain enzymes, minerals, vitamins, fiber and other nutrients that are lost when they are refined - such as made into white flour which is then made into Wonder Bread. Sure, it’s an American institution, but it’s a nutritional dud. Refined grain products are usually enriched – meaning some of the good stuff the refining process removed is added back in, but why not use the whole grain in the first place, thereby eliminating all that processing? Get into the habit of reading the labels on the prepared foods you buy and eat - when you can, choose unrefined whole grains.

Grains can be used in a myriad of ways - ground into flour for use in baked goods and pasta; made into cereals; cooked into stews, soups and salads; mixed into casseroles and stuffings; brewed into alcoholic beverages; and corn and amaranth can both be popped for a snack.

Before I talk about the protein in grains, let’s have a quick nutrition lesson. The body breaks down the proteins you eat into amino acids and then synthesizes our own proteins from those amino acids to build and repair muscle, bone, hair and fingernails; fight infection and provide energy, among other things.

We’ve all heard the argument that vegetarians can’t get enough protein because "plants are incomplete sources of protein" – meaning they don’t contain significant amounts of all the essential amino acids like animal products do. Soy, for example, is a plant source that is a complete protein, meaning it contains significant amounts of all of the essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are amino acids not manufactured by your body so they must be supplied by your diet. (Just in case you were wondering, the essential amino acids are histidine, isolecine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.)

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