Whole & Cracked Grains I Eat

Here's a list of whole grains and grain products (cracked grains) eaten on a macrobiotic diet:

For regular use: whole oats, whole medium-grain brown rice, whole short-grain brown rice, whole corn, whole rye, whole buckwheat, whole wheat, whole millet, whole barley

For occasional use: buckwheat noodles (soba), rice cakes, udon (whole-wheat noodles), corn grits or corn meal, rice kayu (porridge bread), unyeasted whole-wheat or rye bread, couscous, rye flakes, wheat gluten (seitan), cracked wheat (bulgur), somen (sifted whole-wheat noodles), whole-wheat crackers or matzo, long-grain brown rice, sourdough or whole-wheat or rye bread, whole-wheat pasta, pounded sweet rice cakes (mochi), steel-cut or rolled oats, puffed wheat gluten (fu), sweet brown rice, ramen noodles (whole-wheat, rice, buckwheat), tortillas

To be avoided: baked goods containing dairy products, refined grain cereals, yeasted breads, crackers, cakes, cookies, and so on, white-flour products

When I first started the healing macrobiotic diet, my primary grains were brown rice, millet and barley. I was eating short-grain brown rice at least twice a day, experimenting with other grains such as amaranth and quinoa (I'm not sure why they're not on the regular-use or occasional-use lists in my guide, The Macrobiotic Way — perhaps they fall under other whole-cereal grains. Occasionally, I'd have whole buckwheat. In the summer, sometimes I'd have long-grain or medium-grain brown rice, and occasionally oats. I stayed mostly with the whole grains for regular use and limited the grain products (or cracked grains). I may have eaten these a couple of times per week. I might have had steamed unyeasted sourdough bread once a week, or noodles.

On a macrobiotic diet, whole grains such as brown rice, barley and millet are the main staple or the "meat" of the diet. On this diet, when you plan your meal, you ask yourself, "What grain do I want? "and the meal is planned around the grain. This is quite different from a standard American diet where the meal is planned around the meat, chicken or fish.

I still tend to eat primarily whole grains, but I have a lot of brown rice (because I like it!), and I have to remind myself to eat more millet and barley. Sometimes I add these to my brown rice. I also now eat more cracked grains than in the beginning, such as oatmeal, noodles, sometimes unyeasted whole-wheat bread, rice crackers, mochi, whole-wheat tortillas with no preservatives and 100 percent sunflower oil (not a trans fat). Once in a while, I also eat a baked good, but one of good quality ... such as my Apple Crisp recipe. Or if I go to Masao's Kitchen (a macrobiotic restaurant in Massachusetts), I get a piece of his blueberry cake or apple strudel — one is sweetened with only apples (unbelievably good!) and the other is sweetened with rice syrup and blueberries.

Most people don't realize that complex carbohydrates found in whole grains are one of the most important foods we can eat. This is where we get our energy and life force, and also our fiber, and B-complex vitamins, vitamin E, and phosphorus, a key mineral and brain food. This combination keeps our blood sugar stable and our appetites satiated from breakfast to lunch, and from lunch to dinner, and from dinner to breakfast the next day. In whole grains, the bran, germ and endosperm are not removed. Whole grains are made up of complex carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals — in perfect proportions for the human body.

So readers ... what whole grains or cracked grains do you enjoy? If you're not eating them yet, would you consider adding one to your diet? If eaten on a regular basis, they help with sugar cravings, too.

Comments

[Annie]

Wonderful reminder to eat our grains!

Being gluten intolerant, I mainly stick with brown rice and quinoa. I have found quinoa amazingly versatile, using it for breakfast like an "oatmeal," adding it to soups and vegetable stir-fries, grinding it up as a flour to make bread, and also using it in desserts.

[Meg Wolff]

Hi Annie,
Brown rice and quinoa are great!! And thanks for reminding about quinoa for breakfast as I need a change. Do you have a grinder? They are great ... the best flour you'll ever eat.

[harrieteiter]

I eat brown rice in some form every day - short, medium or long grain - depending on the weather as well as basmati brown rice. My other favorites are millet, especially with cauliflower, polenta and barley. Brown rice and barley make marvelous rice balls for traveling. Sometimes I add sesame seeds to my rice balls, too.

[Meg Wolff]

Hi Harriet,
It looks like there are three of us who are brown rice fans! Forgot about polenta ... yummy. Brown rice & barley rice balls with sesame seeds sound great for traveling.

[Kati]

Not to say that I don't love brown rice, barley, oats, etc (because I do!), but I really love millet! So silly that most people think it's bird food... ;-)

[Meg Wolff]

Millet is the staple grain in many countries. I was one of the people that might have thought it was bird food (ten years ago!), but now I realize it is food of the gods!

[Great Big Veg Challenge - Charlotte]

This is a really useful bit of reading. Will link it to Joanna at Joanna's Food blog as she was looking to learn more about whole grain.
How are you all?

[Meg Wolff]

Hi Charlotte,
Thanks for the connection. I visited Joanna's Blog and have added her to my blog roll. The whole grain challenge ... I like that.

[San]

I love brown rice too. I never tried quinoa, although I keep reading about it. I do know how to pronounce it, however. Baby steps.

[Andrea]

Hi Meg, I haven't been in for a long time, so now I enjoy your posts (hmm yummmy- the carrot cake: could you give me an idea of how big that cup of yours is to have a measurement? I'd love that thanks so much!)

The whole grains I eat: I have a little electric mill and in the evening I mill whole wheat plus whole oatgrains and water them over night. In the morning I eat this together with half a squenched banana and half an apple, some yoghourt and a tiny bit of cream.
It tastes wonderful and problems with slow intestines activity are past, so to speak:)

love from Paris
Andrea

[Meg Wolff]

Andrea,

This breakfast sounds delicious and healthy.

On the question about the cup ... do you mean how much grain do I eat at each meal? If so for myself probably about 3/4 to 1 cup (more or less). I try to leave lots of room for vegetables too.

nice to hear from you. :-)

[Andrea]

Hi Meg, thanks so much for your answer:) In fact I asked about the size of the cup cause I wondered about the carrot cake!
But I guess I just have to take always the same cup, then it is ok:)
love
Andrea

[Meg Wolff]

For the cake I usually use a measuring cup, but you are right that if you used the same regular cup each time it would probably work as well. :-)

[bee]

i'm curious, meg. why is yeast not recommended? we eat a lot of wholegrain breads, but yeasted. do you have a link you could post about yeast and macrobiotics?

[bee]

i'm curious, meg. why is yeast not recommended? we eat a lot of wholegrain breads, but yeasted. do you have a link you could post about yeast and macrobiotics?

[Meg Wolff]

Hi Bee,
As I understand it, sourdough bread is recommended because it is made with "starter" which is a more natural form of yeast as it contains many different types both fast and slower growing yeasts. Most commercial breads contain only the fast growing (for convenience). With macrobiotics this is seen the most balanced or natural choice.

[Meg Wolff]

Bee,
Here is more info from "How Stuff Works" Web site": http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/sourdough1.htm

"The big difference between sourdough bread and the "normal" bread you buy or bake today is the source of the yeast. Most bakers today use cultivated yeast that comes in a package. The package contains live yeast fungi in suspended animation! The yeast has been dried, preserved and formed into a powder. You add flour, water, sugar and salt to the yeast to make a loaf of bread. The water re-activates the yeast fungi, which feeds on the sugar and starch to make the bread rise.

Sourdough bread deals with yeast in a completely different way. Sourdough yeast fungi are actually kept alive constantly in a liquid medium called a starter. The baker either captures wild yeast that floats in the air to create starter from scratch or gets a cup of active starter from a friend and expands it."

[maria]

we love sourdough bread in my family
this is the kind of bread most Greeks eat, since we have good bakeries in almost every neighbourhood