Tips to help you eat more whole grains

Incorporating more whole grains into our diet offers a myriad of health and environmental benefits: from improving our vitamin and mineral status and fibre intake to lowering our non-communicable disease risk and carbon footprint. Eating more whole grains doesn’t have to be challenging or bland.

Here are some practical tips to help you make a smooth and delicious switch:

Start gradually

If whole grains are new to your diet, introduce them gradually. Replace half of your refined grains with whole grains and slowly increase the proportion as your palate adjusts.

Mix brown rice with white rice

Try 50% whole wheat pasta

Mix white pasta with whole grain pasta

Swap half of the wheat flour for whole wheat flour when baking

Experiment with different grains

There’s a wide variety of whole grains to explore beyond just whole wheat. Have you ever tried farro? Millet? Or quinoa? Try out a new one this week and discover new favourites. Each grain has a unique flavour and texture to make your meals diverse and exciting.

Read labels

When buying whole grain products such as breads, breakfast cereals, granola bars, bagels or English muffins, it’s not always easy to identify the whole grain one. We’ve identified five criteria to help you make the switch to whole grain products:

Check if the product has a whole grain logo/claim.
Check if the product has the word ‘whole’ before any grain.
Check if the product has whole grains as the first ingredient.
Check if the product has whole grains as the first ingredient and little added sugars.
Check if the product meets the 10:1 ratio of total carbohydrates to fibre.

Ask for whole grain options when dining out

Don’t hesitate to ask for whole grain options when dining out.

Many restaurants offer whole grain choices, and even if it’s not on the menu, it may be available upon request. Many restaurants now offer whole grain bread, brown rice, or whole grain pasta as alternatives.

Cook in big batches

Prepare large quantities of whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, or whole grain barley ahead of time and store them in the fridge. This makes it easy to add them to salads, soups, or as side dishes throughout the week.

Did you know whole grains also freeze well? If stored properly in airtight containers, most cooked whole grains can be kept for 2 to 6 months in the freezer.

Cooked whole grains last about 2-3 days. However, be careful with rice! Rice can contain bacteria spores that can survive cooking. Therefore, it’s recommended that rice should be eaten within 1 day. The longer rice is kept, the more likely it’s that the bacteria will make it unsafe to eat.

Experiment with the whole grain version of your favourite grain

One of the best ways is to replace your refined grains for a whole grain version – swap white rice for brown rice, choose whole wheat bread over white, and explore the variety of whole grain pastas available instead of white pasta.

Flip the cards below and find out some quick and simple whole grains swaps:

Breakfast swaps

cereal

oatmeal or whole grain cereal

white bread

whole grain bread

pancakes

whole grain pancakes or buckwheat pancakes

Lunch swaps

plain bagel

whole wheat bagel

sandwich

whole grain sandwich or rye sandwich

pearl couscous

whole grain couscous or quinoa

Dinner swaps

white pasta

whole grain pasta

risotto

whole grain risotto or farro risotto

pizza

whole grain pizza

Snack swaps

crisps

popcorn

crackers

whole grain crackers

candy bar

whole grain granola bar