Whole grains - why are they necessary?
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Whole grains - why are they necessary?
| Tue, 04-05-2005 - 2:02pm |
Do we necessarily have to eat whole grain rice, bread, cereal, etc? Why is it important?
Would be unhealthy to just eat veggies, fruit, legumes, & dairy minus the whole grains? I get more than enough fiber through my veggies & legumes, just trying to find out what is so nutritionally necessary about whole grains?

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I just posted your question at the South Beach Diet (official) website, to the nutritionist.
Susan :)
Hi bellecoure,
Grain products have a lot of nutrients as well as fiber.
Thanks Susan and Maggie! Looking forward to hearing the nutritionist's response.
I'm in love with the roasted chick peas so I think I get plenty of fiber in beans!!
One thing you'd be missing to some extent if you skip grains is the B vitamins, and folic acid in particular. The folic acid is especially important to women in their reproductive years. And the other B's are essential for a lot of body functions, including mood! (My mom always told me to take B vitamins when I was feeling crabby and run-down. lol)
I'd suspect that you'd be totally fine not eating grains if you didn't want to, but just like giving up any food group (like vegetarians and vegans do) you have to take special care to fill in the nutritional gaps.
http://home.howstuffworks.com/vitamin-b2.htm
~Leslie
Leslie, you make some very good points.
<< In fact, regarding Dr. A's advice in that chat transcript I pasted into this thread, he said: "In fact you may be lucky being allergic to wheat, helping you eliminate a source of fattening carbohydrates." >>
I agree, that is a really irresponsible thing to say. Pretty stupid, actually, especially coming from a doctor. I'd venture to guess that he himself doesn't have any allergies to speak of. As an allergy sufferer, I would say that it's quite UNLUCKY to have *any* allergy. At best it's an terrible inconvenience. At worst it's life threatening.
There are lots of supplements you can take to fill in those gaps. The one that comes immediately to mind in this case is Brewer's Yeast, and I'm sure there are many others. However, if it's NOT an allergy and if it's not causing any other problems, it really is easier to just eat the foods. :) I'll also be very interested to see what the nutritionist says about this.
Still no response...
Susan :)
Here's the response!!!!
Susan :)
Yup me too.
Susan :)
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