You Ask, I Answer: White Whole Wheat Flour

I just bought some white whole wheat flour.

I was puzzled! Will this provide me the same nutritional benefits as whole wheat flour?

I read that white whole wheat flour was made from albino wheat, so it requires less bleaching than red wheat flours.

Nonetheless, is it still bleached?

-- Christine (last name unknown)
Via the blog

White whole wheat flour offers the same nutritional benefits as whole wheat flour.

However, many bakers prefer this albino strand of wheat since it boosts fiber and phytonutrient levels while providing a milder flavor and texture (not to mention a lighter color!) than standard whole wheat flour.

White whole wheat flour does not undergo bleaching.

Yum-mega Treat

As regular Small Bites readers know, I am a big fan of snack bars.

I can't tell you how many times they have saved me -- and my wallet -- from junk food hell (i.e.: Bronx Zoo, Six Flags, Broadway intermissions.)

I also like to name names, which is why I have given very high praise to Lara bars, Clif Nectar bars, Pure bars, GNU Flavor & Fiber bars, and Kashi's "Tasty Little Crunchies" granola bars.

Although each of those bars is uniquely different from the others, they all provide high-quality nutrition in a delicious way.

Today, my list expands to include Nana's Omega-Fiber Cookie Bars.

These bars are most reminiscent of Flavor & Fiber, and even have a similar ingredient list.

Each bar offers 130 calories, 1 gram of saturated fat, 40 milligrams of sodium, 8 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of fiber.

Certainly a great lunchbox treat -- and an even better snack to have handy at the office when thoughts of the King Size Crunch Bar in the nearby vending machine start to take over.

Here's the ingredient list for the double chocolate flavor (vanilla almond is my favorite, though!):

Fiber Mix (Whole Wheat Flour, Oats, Wheat Bran, Psyllium, Flax Seeds, Millet, Chicory Root), Fruit Juice (Apple, Pear, Grape), Rice Dextrins, Chocolate Chips (whole grain malted barley and corn, unsweetened chocolate, soy lecithin as an emulsifier, and pure vanilla), Dutched Cocoa, GMO-Free Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Dried Apples, Raisins, Rice Crisp Cereal, Rice Syrup, Vegetable Glycerin, Baking Powder (non aluminum), Natural Flavors

I do have two suggestions for the Nana's team, though:

1) No need to advertise your bar's Omega-9 content. It is not an essential fatty acid, so we don't need to particularly seek it out in food.

2) The 250 milligrams of Omega-3 are great, but it would make them a lot more absorbable if you included ground -- rather than whole -- flax seeds in your fiber mix.

Still, these are certainly worth making room for in your pantry.

Not The Whole Truth

When it comes to determining whether a particular brand of sliced bread, crackers, or cereal is 100% whole grain or not, the popular recommendation is to look at the ingredient list.

If "whole wheat flour" appears as the first ingredient, the advice goes, you are dealing with a whole grain product.

Although this is both true and accurate (and I myself have given such a recommendation), food companies are starting to wise up.

They know consumers are seeking whole grain foods, but they want to continue using refined white flour.

Their solution? Confuse, confuse, and confuse some more!

There are now plenty of products on store shelves marketed as "whole wheat" that are not 100% whole grain, but rather a mix of whole wheat flour and white flour.

A look at the ingredient list reveals that while "whole wheat flour" is listed as the first ingredient, "unbleached enriched flour" (AKA white flour) is second or third.

A true whole grain product ONLY contains whole wheat (or any other grain) flour. Don't accept cheap knock-offs!

A quick way to spot the tricksters? Any product that states it is "made with whole grains" is usually a combination of refined and whole grain flours.

As you know, I am a big fan of the Whole Grains Council's stamp system.

This particular portion of their website lists brands displaying their stamp (a "100%" stamp is a guarantee that you are getting a true-to-form whole grain food.)

Definitely worth bookmarking!

Numbers Game: Milling Mediocrity

Several nutrients are lost in the milling process.

For instance, "white" flour contains _______ percent less magnesium and _______ percent less vitamin E than whole wheat flour.

a) 54, 86
b) 92, 81
c) 72, 90
d) 68, 94

Leave your guess in the "comments" section and come back on Tuesday for the answer.

Numbers Game: Answer

Forty percent of adults in the United States consume a grand total of ZERO whole grain servings every day.

Not the most encouraging of statistics.

Although whole grains are increasingly more available, I suspect this has to do with a lack of education and knowledge.

Many people, for instance, think multigrain bread is a whole grain. It's not.

Additionally, the overwhelming majority of new whole grain products come in the shape of sugary cookies or cereals "made with whole grains," which can mean that as little as 5% of the total wheat flour used is whole.

Not the best approach.

If your whole grain consumption isn't up to par, here are some ideas.

-- Whether at home or at a restaurant, opt for brown rice. Kitchen-phobes have no excuse. Many companies now offer brown rice that cooks in 10 minutes in the microwave. Nutritionally, it is equal to regular, longer-cooking varieties.

-- Enjoy whole wheat pasta, like DeCecco whole wheat fusilli (pictured at right). If you are brand new to it, make your dishes with half regular pasta and half whole wheat.

-- Eat whole grain bread (at least 3 grams of fiber per slice and 'whole wheat flour' as the first ingredient).

-- Experiment with alternative grains like quinoa and whole wheat couscous (they cook the exact same way as rice. All you need is a pot and water).

-- Add barley to your soups.

-- Start your morning with plain oatmeal (sweeten it up with fruits; add fiber and protein with walnuts or almonds)

-- Make sure your morning cereal is whole grain (again, look for whole wheat or oat flour as the main ingredient).

-- Snack on popcorn (air pop it or make it at home in a pot with a little bit of olive oil).

-- Make waffles and pancakes with whole grain mixes. If you buy frozen varieties, make sure they are whole grain.

Remember, whole grains offer more health benefits than non-whole grains with extra added fiber.

If you need more assistance, check out the Whole Grains Council's amazing and extensive list of whole grain products. It's the perfect supermarket assistant!

Perfect Pickings: Sliced Bread

You would think something as simple as nutritious bread would be easy to pick out.

Guess again.

The sliced bread market brings in approximately $18 billion a year, meaning consumers must sort through a maze of brands, health claims, and expensive marketing campaigns.

Alas, Perfect Pickings is here to save the day!

As far as calories are concerned, commercial sliced breads range anywhere from 60 to 120 calories per serving.

These figures mainly depend on the thickness and weight of a particular brand’s slices.

Some clock in at 1 ounce, while another weigh in at an ounce and a half. Some lower-calorie “light breads”, though, constitute a single serving as two slices.

Most standard commercial breads, though, are very similar when compared ounce to ounce.

Don't focus too much on calories -- the differences aren’t that significant, and there are more important values to consider.

Sodium amounts are also fairly consistent across the board, ranging from 120 to 190 milligrams per slice (unless you specifically buy low-sodium varieties or sprouted grain breads, which contain no sodium).

Fiber is the main figure to be on the lookout for. Aim for at least 3 grams of fiber per serving.

Don’t be fooled by varieties consisting of 9, 12, or 15 grains. It is very possible all 15 grains are refined and stripped of their fiber.

You must check the nutrition facts and ingredient list to ensure you are getting a whole grain product.

If “whole wheat flour” is not the first ingredient and each slice provides less than 3 grams of fiber, you are eating white bread (you can thank the addition of molasses for that brown color) with seeds sprinkled on top.

If you see “enriched wheat flour” as the first ingredient, you are not buying whole grain bread. “Enriched wheat flour” is a nice way of saying “white, fiberless flour.”

Keep in mind that Although pure rye bread – popular in Scandinavia – is a whole grain food, the overwhelming majority of rye breads in the United States contain a significant amount of white flour.

Another tricky tidbit – careful with low-calorie “light” breads.

Many boast a fiber content of 5 or 6 grams per serving, but this is mainly due to the addition of cellulose or soy fiber.

Although they operate like insoluble fiber (by helping everything move quickly and smoothly through the digestive system), they do not provide the same health benefits as fiber derived from whole grains.

I recommend avoiding varieties containing high-fructose corn syrup (bread requires a pinch of sugar to soften texture, but HFCS skeeves me out).

Mission: (Semi) Impossible!

More Numbers, More Problems

As if selecting healthy options at the supermarket didn't already involve sufficient figures and calculations, a curveball has been thrown into the mix -- "grams of whole grains".

When this trend first started in early 2007, I inwardly cringed and hoped for its quick disappearance.

Far from it -- I keep seeing it on more and more products!

It is my suspicion that with whole grains and fiber being the latest hot topics, food manufacturers hope to confuse shoppers looking to increase their fiber intake by boasting about the grams of whole grains in their foods -- two very different concepts.

So, consider this your "advertiser proof" tutorial on whole grains.

Let's start at the beginning.

More specifically, the United States Department of Agriculture food pyramid (which was reborn as MyPyramid in 2005 after Public Relations firm Porter Novellis -- which has also collaborated with McDonald's & Mars Co. -- had its way with it).

According to that food pyramid, healthy adults on a 2,000 calorie diet should consume 6 servings of grains.

The USDA defines a serving of grains as one ounce (28 grams). Remember this tidbit, it will come in handy very shortly.

MyPyramid distinctly calls for half of those 6 grain servings to be whole (i.e: oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat cous cous, barley, etc.), rather than enriched (i.e.: white bread, white rice, etc.)

Strangely, the recommendation isn't "three or more," but simply "three."

This is where it all starts to get confusing.

If one ounce is equal to 28 grams, and we are asked to make three grain servings (AKA three ounces) whole, then it logically follows that our whole grain intake should add up to 84 grams (28 x 3).

Well, not quite.

Look up whole grain serving recommendations, and you'll see a daily suggestion of 48 grams.

Perform some simple math and you figure out that one whole grain serving is equal to 16 grams (48 grams divided by 3 servings a day = 16 grams per serving).

Wait, but isn't a one-ounce serving of grains equal to 28 grams, according to MyPyramid? So shouldn't one ounce of whole grains also be 28 grams?

Yes, but the majority of grain products weighing 28 grams (1 ounce) contain a variety of ingredients; not just flour.

It turns out, in fact, that a single one-ounce grain serving packs in approximately 16 grams of flour.

So, although that entire slice of whole wheat bread clocks in at 28 grams (1 ounce), 16 of those grams are flour.

The rest? A combination of salt, sugars, water, and other miscellaneous ingredients.

Although food labels do not list grams of whole grains, you have two ways of finding this information out.

One is by claims on the packaging (such as the "Now with 5 grams of whole grains per serving!" stated on boxes of Teddy Grahams).

Usually, though, these claims are made by products that sprinkle a little whole wheat flour on top of a product that is virtually refined grains.

Considering that you need at least 48 grams a day, 5 grams is a pretty pathetic figure to bother writing about in such large font.

The other is via the Whole Grains Council stamp (pictured at top left), which specifically lists the grams of whole grains per serving in a product.

Some companies are still using old versions of the stamp, which classified foods as "good" (8 - 15 grams of whole grains per serving) or "excellent" (16 or more grams of whole grains per serving).

I love the Whole Grain Council stamp -- it really separates the real deals from the wannabes.

With it, you can spot the cereals providing almost 48 grams of whole grains in just one serving! Talk about bang for your buck.

By the way, starting this year, the Whole Grains Council is teaming up with restaurants across the country to help you spot whole grain dishes!

What about fiber? How does it tie into all this?

An item high in whole grains is high in fiber, but products high in fiber are not necessarily high in whole grains.

An Atkins chocolate peanut butter bar, for instance, contains a whopping 10 grams of fiber.

Since this is a low-carb bar, you certainly won't find whole wheat flour anywhere on the ingredient list.

So how is this value achieved? Thanks to a polysaccharide known as cellulose.

Keep in mind that while this kind of fiber helps keep things moving, there are specific substactes in whole grains that have been targeted in nutrition research as helpful in reducing the risk of several diseases.

So, how do you put all this together without going insane?

Simple. Try to consume 25 - 30 grams of fiber every day, and make sure you are including at least three servings of whole grains to your day.

You can keep it simple by thinking of each serving as a half cup of oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat cous cous, whole wheat pasta, or one slice of a bread which has "whole [insert grain here] flour" as its first ingredient.

If you're ever lost, look for the Whole Grains Council stamp to guide you.

Whew!

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing: Nana's Cookies

Who doesn't love cookies? Particularly soft, chewy ones saturated with chocolate chips?

I'm willing to bet you do.

I also have a feeling, though, that you watch your cookie consumption, since you know they are empty calories.

Delicious, sure, but nutritionally void.

What if I told you I had a tasty, chocolate chip vegan cookie made with whole wheat flour and oats?

Let me tell you more about it.

It has no refined sugars, white flour, dairy, eggs, cholesterol, hydrogenated oils, or trans fats.

Its first and second ingredients are whole wheat flour and rolled oats, respectively.

Interested?

If you took the bait -- read carefully.

Nana's Vegan Cookies are available nationwide, and described by their creator as "extremely healthy".

I have tried them myself and will vouch for their taste. They are absolutely delicious. Chewy, moist, flavorful, and better than most conventional cookies.

When I truly want to indulge in a sweet treat, I pick one up.

"Indulge? How bad can they be? They don't have any of the 'bad stuff'," you may think.

Well, a 3.5 ounce cookie (the only available size) delivers 410 calories, 320 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams (5 1/2 teaspoons) of sugar (in the form of fruit juice), and just 3 grams of fiber.

From a caloric and fiber standpoint, that's equal to 7 regular Oreo cookies!

I find that people tend to automatically equate vegan, dairy free, fruit-juice sweetened, and whole grain with "healthy", when that isn't always the case.

Remember that fruit juice is, essentially, sugar water, and our body metabolizes it very similarly to sucrose (table sugar).

My rule of thumb? Cookies are not supposed to be health foods.

Sure, a cookie without trans fats and composed of whole grains is a slight improvement, but it is still a cookie.

Therefore, treat it as such. Enjoy it, savor it, but always consider its calories discretionary.

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing: Multigrain Tostitos

Who doesn't love to munch on chips every now and then?

Unfortunately, most brands pack in quite a caloric punch, largely due to the oil they fry their chips in.

Food companies are aware of this undesirable trait and always looking to market a not-so-nutritious item as one that will please the health-conscious snacker.

Enter multigrain Tostitos.

On paper, the concept is eye-catching -- four whole grains in one chip!

A look at the ingredient list identifies them: whole oat flour, whole buckwheat flour, whole wheat flour, and buckwheat fiber.

So what's the problem?

These four whole grains are at the end of the list. In other words, there's not that much of them.

In fact, sugar is the third ingredient on the ingredient list, and each serving of multigran Tostitos only contains one gram of sugar.

So you can bet that any ingredient that appears after sugar barely registers.

Despite all these all-star grains, each serving musters up a mere two grams of fiber.

Additionally, the second ingredient is corn oil.

It's not a surprise, given that just one ounce of these chips contains eight grams of fat -- just as much as regular potato chips.

In fact, you would need two servings (300 calories!) to add just four grams of fiber to your diet. A half cup of raspberries offers just as much fiber in a 32 calorie package!

Do corn chips have a place in our diet? Of course -- that's what discretionary calories are for.

However, think of them and potato chips as fraternal twins -- not identical, but VERY similar.

A sprinkling of whole wheat flour does not turn them into a health food that can be enjoyed in large quantities.

Whole Grains Even An Amateur Will Love

Current statistics show that consumers in the United States eat 40 percent of their whole grains at the breakfast table.

A large majority of this figure can be attributed to popular cereals like regular Cheerios, Total, and Fiber One.

Although they offer their share of fiber (and millions of people like to start their day off with them), these cereals are often characterized as too bland by fiber-free eaters persuaded to switch to healthier breakfast foods.

Consequently, these people often revert to sugary, "made with whole grain" varieties that are basically sugar flakes with a pinch of whole wheat flour thrown in to justify a "Whole Grains!" boast on the front of the box.

I always think it's good to let you know of smaller companies who are putting out delicious and nutritious products, so while we are in the cereal realm, I thought I would let you know about Barbara's Bakery.

Their Shredded Line of cereals is composed of tasty -- and ultra crunchy, even after several minutes in milk -- whole grain cereals.

A 1 1/4 cup of Shredded Oats, for example, contains five grams of fiber, 230 milligrams of potassium, six grams of protein, and 2.5 grams of fat.

Thank the nutrition deities for a realistic serving size! Too many cereal brands try to pass off half a cup as a serving.

Tomorrow morning, measure out half a cup of cereal. Then laugh, as you realize that the average person eats at least an entire cup or breakfast.

Since the first two ingredients are whole grains -- whole oat flour and whole wheat flour -- one serving of Shredded Oats covers a whooping ninety percent of the daily recommended intake of whole grains.

I'm actually not big on packaged cereals, but, for the past several months, boxes of Shredded Oats have taken permanent residence in my cupboards.