In our daily diet, we almost eat "whole grain foods" every day. Whole grain foods are a type of healthy food that can reduce the risk of heart disease and help with weight loss. However, eating too much can easily harm the stomach. The editor will analyze the pros and cons of whole grain foods for you and teach you how to choose them.
Whole grain foods are a large category of healthy grain foods. Research shows that if you eat these foods regularly, you can reduce the risk of heart disease, certain cancers, and other illnesses. Among these, dietary fiber has clear medical evidence for its health benefits for patients with diabetes and hyperlipidemia.
From this, it seems that grains should account for a large proportion of the daily diet, and whole grain foods should be eaten regularly. However, is it true that the more whole grain foods you eat, the better?
Whole grain foods are good for your health
The large amount of dietary fiber in whole grain foods is its "secret weapon" as a healthy food.
Dietary fiber cannot be absorbed by the human body and does not produce calories. It has strong water absorption, up to 5-10 times its own weight, which increases the volume of food digesta, promotes intestinal peristalsis, makes bowel movements smooth, and has the effect of cleaning the intestines.
Dietary fiber can also prevent multiple diseases. Moreover, the intake of dietary fiber will delay gastric emptying and increase satiety, which is very helpful for patients to control blood sugar and blood lipids.
Due to their high dietary fiber, low fat, low saturated fatty acids, low cholesterol, and low calories, whole grain foods have certain health functions. Through research, it has been found that whole grain intake can help avoid cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity, while also reducing the incidence of coronary heart disease. Eating whole grain foods can also greatly control the occurrence of hidden diseases.
Post-menopausal women can also improve their health. Some middle-aged people can lose weight if they eat more whole wheat foods. If one can eat three servings of whole grain foods a day, the incidence of obesity can be greatly reduced.
Eating too many whole grain foods can easily harm the stomach
For the purpose of a healthy diet, the general population should appropriately consume whole grain foods, but whole grains are not necessarily the more the better.
As coarse grains, if these foods are not cooked thoroughly, eaten in excess, or chewed insufficiently, they will burden the digestive system. People with weaker gastrointestinal functions may experience discomfort symptoms such as indigestion and bloating.
Experts say that people can also get dietary fiber from many foods such as vegetables and fungi, so there is no need to eat whole grain foods every day.
How to choose whole grain foods
Once we have decided to eat whole grain foods, we should be selective when purchasing them.
First, you must choose products that say "pure oats" or "whole wheat" in the ingredient list; these are the real whole grain foods. Those that say "mixed grains" or similar terms in the ingredient list only contain grain ingredients in their production. There are many types of whole grain foods, which in our country can be divided into:
1. Cereals, including rice (indica rice, japonica rice, glutinous rice);
2. Wheat (wheat, barley, oats, rye), corn, sorghum, millet, broomcorn millet, buckwheat, etc.;
3. Legumes, including soybeans, fava beans, peas, mung beans, red beans, kidney beans, etc.; and tubers, including sweet potatoes (also known as red potatoes or white potatoes), potatoes, Chinese yams, taro, cassava, etc. These are the three major categories.