Whole Grains

You sit down to a huge salad complete with mesclun greens and an array of veggies such as carrot shreds, cucumbers, diced red peppers, and cherry tomatoes — you even add chickpeas and sunflower seeds for protein. The fiber is supposed to fill you up and the protein sustains your energy, but an hour or so later, you feel famished.

If your salad is leaving you hungry, then add some extra fiber and protein by scooping a cup of cooked whole grains on top. Quinoa, barley, millet, buckwheat, or rice will beef up the calorie amount by about 200 calories, but you'll also be getting three to eight grams each of extra fiber and protein. Cook your whole grains in veggie broth for extra flavor, and add beans or chopped veggies while cooking for interesting texture and added nutrition.

Check out the chart below to see how these whole grains compare.

Cooking fluffy, nutty, perfectly prepared whole grains can be a challenging task, even for the most trained cooks. Luckily, there are a few rules to live by to avoid creating the glob monster.

1. Presoak: Just as soaking beans overnight makes them softer and faster to cook, the same works for tougher grains. Try soaking brown rice, amaranth, millet, quinoa, or buckwheat in water overnight.
2. Exact measurements: Like baking, grains require exact measurements. Use dry measuring cups for the grains and a liquid measuring cup for the water or broth.
3. Dry roast: A dry roast opens the tough exterior and adds a nice toasted flavor to the grains. Rinse whole grains thoroughly in water, and then place them in a medium- to large-sized pot. Over medium-high heat, roast the grains until they are dry and fragrant. Meanwhile, boil the water needed for the grains. When grains are roasted, pour in the exact measurement of boiling water and quickly close the lid to prevent the hot water and grains from sputtering everywhere.

Read more grain cooking tips here.

Chances are you already know to avoid those high-carb, low-nutrition white foods like white potatoes, rice, and bread. A new report from Harvard released this week further confirms that regularly eating white rice is not a good idea. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that each serving of white rice you eat a day increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 11 percent.

The researchers reviewed data from 352,000 participants, including major studies in Asian populations, where participants ate up to four servings of white rice a day (compared to only one or two servings a week in Western countries). The results of the review found that those who ate the most rice increased their risk of developing diabetes by one and a half times, and in general each 5.5-ounce serving of white rice they ate increased their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 11 percent.

Numerous studies have already shown that white breads, pastas, and rice lead to a spike in blood sugar levels, which is a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes. And since white rice is rapidly digested, you'll be more apt to be hungrier sooner (and therefore overeat) if your meal includes a big bowl of the grain. The new finding isn't a reason to avoid all your favorite white foods altogether, but a reminder that regularly choosing more nutritious foods like whole grain bread and pasta or brown rice helps not only keep you full but also reduces your risk of developing chronic disease. Ready to ditch the rice? Here are five grains you should be cooking with instead.

Who doesn't love cupping their hands around a warm bowl of oatmeal, especially during colder, Winter months? Aside from a satisfying breakfast, the nutritional power of fiber- and protein-filled oats can be enjoyed in other ways as well. If you're tired of oatmeal for breakfast, reap the benefits of oats with these ideas.

1. Meatloaf or veggie burgers: Since oats have a sticky, gelatinous consistency when wet, they're great at binding ingredients. Try this basic meatloaf recipe from YumSugar, or if you're a vegetarian, substitute oats for the quinoa in this recipe for chickpea barley and quinoa veggie burgers.
2. Pancakes: Try adding oats to pancake batter for a heartier stack of flapjacks. Here's one of my favorites: banana almond oatmeal pancakes.
3. Topping on toast: Add fiber and protein by sprinkling rolled oats on toast smeared with almond butter, jam, or this homemade pumpkin butter.
4. Cookies: Oatmeal cookies are a delicious way to enjoy oats, but if you're looking for a twist on the basic recipe, bake up these Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies made with bananas and peanut butter.
5. Energy bars: Oats taste amazing when paired with nuts and fruit, so if you're looking for a way to bite into oats, cook up these quinoa, apricot, and nut clusters, or a batch of these chewy pumpkin oatmeal coconut bars.

I'm a whole grain junkie. Check my pantry; I have at least five on hand at all times. I get a little crazy with my grains, too, and instead of cooking quinoa all by its lonesome self, I mix in another grains, like millet. The combo takes your taste buds on a flavorful ride. And if you're not a fan of a grain's texture, say the chewiness of barley, adding in another grain can disguise the texture a little, making it more palatable. You also reap the nutritional benefits of both grains at the same time.

It's best to pair grains with similar cooking times. You might need to experiment with adding extra water or increasing the cooking, but once you perfect cooking two grains together, you'll never look back. I usually measure out half a cup of each dry grain to yield about two cups total once cooked. A half-cup serving of the mixed cooked grains contains approximately an 1/8 cup of each dry grain. Here is the nutritional info below for my favorite combinations.