Whole Grains for Whole Health

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Easy ways to eat more whole grains

Use wholemeal flour in baking, and add oats or buckwheat to pancakes

Substitute half the white flour in your recipes with wholemeal flour. You could try this for bread, biscuits, muffins, pancakes, and more
Add oats to biscuits, pancakes, and desserts such as apple crumble
Pop popcorn! Popcorn is an often neglected whole grain. If you pop it yourself at home you can control how much extra butter and salt gets added
Add half a cup of a whole grains, such as cooked bulgur, wild rice, or barley, to soups and stuffing
Make all your favorite grain dishes, such as risottos and pilafs, with brown rice, bulgur, or quinoa
Cook wholemeal pasta for all your favourite pasta dishes
Look for breakfast cereals made from whole grain ingredients, like whole wheat, oats or buckwheat

Try these whole grains

Grain	Description	Uses and Cooking Methods
Amaranth	Very small seeds with slightly peppery flavor	Boil in 2-1/2 cups liquid, such as water or half water and half stock or apple juice, until seeds are tender, about 18 to 20 minutes. Add some fresh herbs or ginger to the cooking liquid for a more interesting flavour.
Barley	Hulled barley and pearled barley are the most common types of barley. Hulled is more nutritious, but also chewier	Add to soups or stews, or use as basis for salad or side dish.
Brown and wild rice	Brown rice has a tasty, nutty flavour. Wild rice is actually a grass, but can be served in place of rice and is even more flavoursome than brown rice	Brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice, but can be precooked, frozen and reheated. Try as a substitute in any white rice dish. Especially good as a side-dish. Wild rice can be used on it's own or mixed with other rice varieties.
Buckwheat (Kasha, Soba noodles)	Full of good nutrients and high in protein with a rich, nutty flavour	Use in place of rice as side dish. Buckwheat flour is good for pancakes. Also try Japanese Soba noodles which are made from ground buckwheat.
Bulgur wheat (cracked wheat)	Made from whole wheat that's been soaked and baked to speed up cooking time. Cracked wheat takes longer to cook	Use in Middle Eastern dishes like Tabouli and pilafs.
Corn	Corn is the only grain eaten as a vegetable	Popped corn makes a good high-fibre snack.
Couscous (whole wheat)	Couscous is a form of wheat pasta. Only whole wheat couscous is wholegrain	Couscous is easy to cook. Bring 1 cup of water to the boil, remove from the heat, and add 1 cup of couscous. For extra flavour, cook in stock instead of water.
Quinoa	Has a mild flavour and pleasant, slightly crunchy texture	Rinse before using to remove the bitter coating. Boiling in water, stock or fruit juice for 12-15 minutes or until the rings around the center of the grain detach themselves. Use quinoa in place of rice as a side dish, in pilafs, stuffing, or salads.
Whole wheat	Most common form is wholemeal flour	Use instead of white flour in baking. Try substituting 25-50% of white flour for wholemeal.
Whole oats	Choose whole rolled oats over quick cooking oats	Usually used for breakfast cereal and biscuits.