Summary: Lorna Sass tells us tidbits about whole grains that every home cook should know about.<br> <br> Host: Gloria Tsang, RD<br> Guest: Lorna Sass<br> <br> We talked about the different types of fiber in our last episode, and in our celebration of National Heart Month, we are moving on to discuss whole grains. The situation with whole grains is similar to fiber - we know they are good, but we just don't eat enough. Lorna Sass, author of Whole Grains For Busy People is here today to tell us tidbits about whole grains that every home cook should know about.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Transcript:<br> Gloria Tsang, RD: We talked about the different types of fiber in our last episode and in our celebration of National Heart Month, we are moving on to discuss whole grains. The situation with whole grains is similar to fiber - we know they are good, but we just don't eat enough. Welcome to the Nutrition Tidbits podcast. This is Gloria Tsang, Editor-in-Chief for HealthCastle.com. Joining me today is Lorna Sass. Her latest cookbook is called "Whole Grains For Busy People". She is here today to tell us tidbits about grains that every home cook should know about. Thank you for joining me Lorna.<br> <br> Lorna Sass: My pleasure.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: Now HealthCastle.com readers often tell us that they can't tell what's 100% whole grains. Well no surprise! Some labels are just hard to understand. Tell us some common misleading phrases found on food labels.<br> <br> Lorna Sass: Well, seven grain, multigrain - those are very tricky kinds of labels because they suggest that the food in question is whole grain. But, often times, it's not. Another misleading label would be "made with whole grain". That could mean a half a percent whole grain or stone ground suggest healthy whole grains. The fool proof way that I recommend which cannot be tricked is to read the label and before the name of every grain, the word "whole" must appear. Let's say you are getting whole grain pita. On the label, it should say "whole wheat flour". If it's a multigrain pita, it should say "whole wheat flour", "whole rye flour", "whole oat flour". You get the point. That word "whole" has to be listed in the ingredients.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: Most people associate whole grains with whole wheat bread, brown rice and instead brown rice and whole wheat pasta but whole grains is a lot more than just these right?<br> <br> Lorna Sass: Yes. And fortunately a great variety of whole grains is now getting more and more in supermarkets because they are being much better distributed. And also, because of the growing number of people who have to follow gluten-free diets, we are finding many of the gluten-free grains in supermarkets as well. These would include brown rice, buckwheat, millet and quinoa. Quinoa is probably one of my all-time favourite quick-cooking whole grains. It takes about 12 minutes to cook. It's a complete protein as it has all the essential amino acids. It comes from the Andes and it's very, very flexible. One thing that I tell people that they can easily do is substitute quinoa for any of their favourite pasta or rice salad recipes. Just cook up the quinoa and substitute it. The way I like to cook quinoa by the way, is a little bit unusual. I like to cook quinoa, the way people cook pasta, in a large pot of boiling water. Then I drain it when it's done. And it's nice and fluffy that way. Unfortunately, a lot of the packaged directions for quinoa call for 2 to 1 (water ratio) and you end up with porridge often times. I think that's why quinoa hasn't caught on as well as it should because it's an absolutely delicious grain.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: When I hear you say the preparation is 12 minutes of boiling, it just got me. It's so easy to make.<br> <br> Lorna Sass: Yes.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: Now let's talk about millet. You mentioned that as well.
