The Truth About "Whole Grains" in School Meals

by: euclidarms

Fri Jan 28, 2011 at 03:39:41 AM PST

If the U.S. Department of Agriculture has its way, kids will soon be seeing lots more whole grain food on their cafeteria trays--up to 80 percent more at breakfast under the agency's proposed new meal guidelines [PDF].

But as my colleague Lisa Suriano pointed out in this space recently, if you thought that meant spelt and quinoa suddenly making an appearance in the nation's lunch rooms, you might want to re-assess. In fact, federal rules permit products containing just 51 percent "whole grain" flour to be classified as "whole grain."

Awesome Cookbook, Nourishing Traditions

by: Brad Wilson

Mon Jan 18, 2010 at 09:16:38 AM PST

Have you folks seen Sally Fallon's awesome cookbook, Nourishing Traditions.  She's with the Weston A. Price Foundation, which is listed on the promotional page for the film, "Fresh," here:  http://www.freshthemovie.com/m...

The book has recipes and the margins are filled with fascinating food facts and quizzes.  The front has a powerful summary of research based nutritional information.

This group has done a great job of demonstrating shared interests between the food movement and farmers.  (See Joel Salatin's endorsement of Sally Fallon's work here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...  Their research data emphasizes nutritionally dense foods.  They're great at overcoming corporate myths for vegetable transfats and hydrogenated oils and against saturated fats from eggs, dairy/milk, pork, and poultry, which they show to be crucial to our health.  They're leading in the fight for raw milk and against soy.  Got Silk?  Oooops.  You better check out what the Weston A. Price foundation has found out about it.  (Have yo seen the bumper sticker:  Babies need milk, not beans!)

A Filling Meal

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 05:52:34 AM PDT

I felt full but comfortable. About 4 hours later, I wasn't really hungry but I was bored so I ate a peach. Several hours after that, I ate a pint of strawberries and made a cup of coffee. But it really wasn't until an amazing 10 hours after I ate the quinoa/millet/amaranth mixture that I actually got hungry. I grabbed a handful of walnuts and ate a nectarine. I had planned on eating green beans for dinner but it was getting too close to bed time and I wasn't in the mood to cook (if you call trimming green beans and tossing them in a pot of water cooking).

Usually, I get so hungry within an hour or two after breakfast that I can barely make it until lunch. If I start work at 8am, typically I'm the first one out the door for lunch at 11am. Maybe I should be eating more whole grains for breakfast in the future?

Sampler Platter

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 17:00:00 PM PDT

• Food & Water Watch takes on kindai tuna. Blue fin tuna is tasty and overfished, so does that mean the solution is farming it? FWW says no and I agree.

• According to Meatingplace, the USDA wants more safety regulations on delis and butchers. Apparently retailers don't do a good job with record keeping, making it hard to trace problems once they occur. The article also noted that "a person is seven times likelier to die from listeria after eating deli meat produced by a retailer than by a federal plant."

• Civil Eats has a nice post about foraging for morel mushrooms. I've never tried foraging for morels but I sure enjoy eating them!

• What are you to do if you're a locavore in Phoenix? Civil Eats has a few ideas. (As a frequent visitor to AZ myself, I'd recommend to any tourists, DON'T eat the ornamental oranges, but DO eat prickly pear fruits. Just, um, don't actually touch the prickly pear cactus yourself. I've tried. In addition to the big, visible pricklies there are tiny, invisible ones on there too.)

• Starbucks is shutting down 200 stores in the U.S. Pardon me if I don't shed any tears.

• Last week Obama laughed off the idea of legalizing marijuana. Apparently America's online population doesn't think it's so funny.

• Marion Nestle comments on antioxidants as a marketing tool. I'm with her on this - fruits and veggies contain antioxidants. You don't need a label to tell you that.

• The Green Fork features a fantastic review of Whole Grains for Busy People, a cookbook that definitely seems work checking out.

• The Atlantic tells about life after a gastric bypass. All I can say is that it sounds absolutely miserable. Of course, I doubt anyone has too much fun within the first two weeks after ANY surgery, gastric bypasses included. For the writer's sake, I hope life - and eating - get better with time.

• Great one by Ezra Klein. He says (about "organic" Oreos): "These cookies think you're very stupid." Indeed.

• IATP chronicles the life of a beginning farmer. In the latest episode, spring has sprung.

• Blackwater wants us to call it Xe (pronounced "Zee") and AIG is contracting with PR firms to give its image a boost. Small surprise that the peanut industry is also jumping on the rebranding and PR bandwagon. Of course, in this case I kind of don't blame them. AIG on the other hand...

Whole Grains and Why They're Good for You

by: Asinus Asinum Fricat

Sun Mar 01, 2009 at 09:59:13 AM PST

However not all grains are created equal: all grains contain complex carbohydrates and various vitamins and minerals, but unrefined (whole) grains such as brown rice, quinoa, and oats are an even better source of fiber, selenium, potassium, and magnesium.

Cross-posted on the Big Orange!