wholegrains Archives - Diabetes Counselling Online

D-thoughts on bread

February 9, 2015 by Sally 5 Comments

Bread has become a staple food in our modern diet but can be problematic for those of us with diabetes, especially if it has a high glycemic index, we eat too much of it, or it contains too much of nutrients such as sodium and saturated fat which can affect our heart health and longer term insulin resistance. Today’s blog aims to help to you make better choices by understanding where it fits in the Australian Dietary Guidelines and find a bread that you can enjoy while maximising your glycemic control.

And for those of us who avoid wheat/rye bread due to the gluten content (coeliac disease, wheat intolerance or a FODMAP intolerance) we can take a look at some of those options too.

Probably a good place to start is a look at where bread fits in the Australian Dietary Guidelines, then we’ll go on to a reminder on label reading, which will lead in nicely to a look at some of the better bread choices on the market for people with diabetes based on a comparison table put together by student dietitian Stacey Beech for Dietitian Connection.

Australian Dietary Guidelines

Of course bread fits into the grains and cereals food group in the Australian Dietary Guidelines, and we encourage breads that are full of whole grains which provide extra nutrients and fibre in the bread you’re choosing. This is beneficial for your general health, as well as your diabetes health. And the more whole grains there are, the lower the glycemic index will be to help you avoid those spikes which can be associated with breads for some people.

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You can read more about grains in this blog on grains prepared earlier for Diabetes Counselling Online. And the recent blog on snacks highlights that a piece of grainy bread can work well as a snack (with a topping) if you haven’t used your suggested serves for the day.

Label reading on bread packs

It’s important not just to think about the amount of carbohydrate in the bread you’re choosing, because often if the carb is low they’ve had to manipulate fat and sodium to make up for it.

As with most products we should be aiming for lower total fat (breads are usually quite low at around 2-6g/100g), lower saturated fat (well under 2g/100g) and lower sodium (less than 400mg/100g). Fibre should be as high as possible, and protein can be higher too (to contribute to lowering the GI).

We discussed this comparison a while ago in the Diabetes and Food – let’s celebrate it! closed Facebook group and the main point made was that although the Helgas low carb seeded loaf is indeed lower in carb with 27.7g/100g compared with 44.5g/100g in the ‘usual’ one, there’s over 10% more energy (kilojoules) meaning it won’t help with weight management because the fat is 10.9g/100g in the low carb version, compared with 2.8 in the grainy one. If you’re not trying to lose weight then it’ll be fine, but it’s worth bearing this in mind as we know that extra body weight contributes to poorer glycemic control.

It’s also worth checking comparison tables (summary of one below) as I noticed there’s a bread called ‘Well Being Lower Carb Bread’ that actually has the same level of carbs as many of the wholegrain varieties – just a reminder to not always believe what it says on the pack!

Helgas low carb 5 seeds bread NIP — Helga’s low carb 5 seeds bread NIP

Helgas mixed grain bread NIP — Helga’s mixed grain bread NIP

Good bread options from the Dietitian Connection bread comparison table by Stacey Beech

This is a mini-table with content taken from Stacey’s more comprehensive table, to show you some of the better bread choices on the market. All values are per 100g.

By no means am I suggesting these are the best breads, but by showing you this comparison I hope to help you to recognise which breads will be better choices for you. I’ve only chosen the ‘mainline’ brands to compare. And I’ve only covered wheat breads here, where rye breads are also a good option.

Bread	Energy (kJ)	Protein (g)	Fat (total) (g)	Fat (sat) (g)	Carb (g)	Dietary Fibre (g)	Sodium (mg)
Burgen Wholegrain & Oats Bread	964	10.7	9.1	0.6	31.9	6.4	280
Helga’s Traditional Wholemeal Grain Bread	1010	9.9	4.0	<1.0	38.0	7.3	400
Coles Smart Buy Multigrain Sandwich	990	8.8	2.4	0.4	47.0	4.3	400
Well Being Lower Carb Bread	952	10.4	2.1	0.6	36.8	8.8	349
Tip Top 9 Grain Wholemeal	1040	12.4	6.4	0.7	30.6	8.7	370

And here are some of the gluten free comparisons if you have an interest here.

Bread	Energy (kJ)	Protein (g)	Fat (total) (g)	Fat (sat) (g)	Carb (g)	Dietary Fibre (g)	Sodium (mg)
Helga’s Sunflower and Red Quinoa GF Bread	1100	6.3	8.0	<1.0	40.1	4.2	400
Coles GF Chia & Seed Bread	1130	7.3	7.5	1.5	41.2	3.7	280
Country Life Gluten & Dairy Free Lower GI	1030	6.0	7.2	<1.0	37.2	4.2	400
Pure Bred Multigrain Farmhouse (added Iron)	717	5.1	2.3	0.3	32.6	9.7	534
Burgen GF Sunflower and Chia Bread	1190	7.0	9.7	1.4	39.7	4.2	400

I included a variety of breads here for you consider what type of bread will suit your personal needs, but of course you should consider how you personally enjoy the taste of the bread you’ve chosen. Trying a few different varieties is often a good idea in that respect to find what works for you, for taste, glycemic control and long term health.

Sourdough and Wraps

These types of breads can be beneficial for people with diabetes, especially for those who really don’t like the grainer options.

With sourdough it’s important to check that it is ‘real’ sourdough as the term ‘sourdough’ is often misused as a marketing word on some breads. If it’s real sourdough, then the glycemic index should be lower (due to the fermentation process involved).

Wraps

There are a few good wraps around, although there aren’t many actually listed in the Low GI Shoppers Guide 2014 with a low-GI. The only one I could spot was the Diego’s low-carb wraps which have 11.g carb per serve. But I’d be checking the fat and sodium levels on that label before buying them…

One of our often discussed favourites in the Diabetes and Food – Let’s celebrate it! Facebook group is the Goodness SuperFoods Barley Max wrap which does tick all the boxes, so is a great one to try if you haven’t already.

I don’t want bread!

Of course no-one is suggesting that we *have to* eat bread. Many people I know choose to avoid it for various reasons, and that’s what suits you, then it’s easy to meet your grain serve guidelines in other foods.

It’s also worth mentioning that everyone is different as to how different carbs affect your BGLs, so a little self-experimenting with testing your BGLs before and 2 hours after meals can go a long way with various foods so you can have a better feel as to how those foods effect you personally.

I hope you’ve found this blog on bread helpful in making your choices best for your diabetes and general wellbeing. Sally

Sally is the Social Media Dietitian with Diabetes Counselling Online, owner of her private practice (Marchini Nutrition), has had type 1 diabetes for close to 40 years and coeliac disease for many years too. You can access a linked list of all Sally’s Diabetes Counselling Online blogs here.

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Breakfast with diabetes

November 17, 2014 by Sally 13 Comments

Many people have been asking me about their breakfast choices lately, so hopefully this blog will help to answer some of your own breakfast questions. They usually want to know how to choose a good breakfast cereal, how much of it to have to keep them feeling satisfied til morning tea without disrupting their blood glucose results too much, what they can have instead of cereal that is quick and easy and still healthy and how to enjoy a breakfast out without tipping the scales too much.

Before starting though I’d like to remind you to not make any changes to your current diabetes routine without first checking with your own health care professionals. These are meant as general guidelines only.

Why do we need it?

As people with diabetes, breakfast is important to us for several reasons:

It helps to get our blood glucose levels of to nice level start, especially when we include a moderate amount of low-GI carbs
It helps us to manage our appetite better as the day progresses, especially so we don’t end up very hungry and tempted to make poor choices
It fuels our brain so we can mentally function better and cope better with the curve-balls that diabetes can throw at us
It helps to reduce insulin resistance by providing us with the low-GI energy that our bodies need to function better

What should be in it?

A good starting place is a reminder that with each meal we should include low-GI carb sources, preferably 2 carbohydrate serves as a minimum, and a protein serve to ensure we have the slow release of glucose to keep our brain fuelled for peak performance and our tummies happy so we don’t crave poor food choices by morning tea. Extra fibre also doesn’t go astray.

How to choose a good breakfast cereal?

If you recall our earlier blog on label reading, when reading cereal packet labels we should be looking for whole grains, nuts and fruit with little or no added sugar or oil in the ingredients listing if possible. Ideally we’d like the fibre to be at around the 10-15g/100g level, but if it isn’t then extra can be added in the form of bran, psyllium or chia seeds to boost it.

Remember too that if you have nuts included in your cereal it may fall outside of the total fat value of 10g/100g, saturated fat 2g/100g targets that we aim for, but as long as there are no other fats listed then all the fat is from the nuts so it’s okay.

So if you’ve got the whole grains and the nuts and the dried fruit and the low-fat milk or plain yogurt for added protein and low-GI carb, you should find all the reasons listed above satisfied for the importance of your breakfast.

How much of it should I have?

Certainly an important consideration as too much could upset your glycemic control, rather than helping it, and could also contribute to unwanted weight gain.

Everyone is different and the answer will depend on your activity levels, on your hunger and of course on your diabetes management objectives.

This is where it’s important to check with your own d-team, preferably an Accredited Practising Dietitian, about how much is right for you.

What can I have instead of cereal?

So many clients I see tell me they don’t like cereal, and that’s fine. We all have different tastes. There are many other breakfast options that are suitable for people with diabetes.

Multigrain toast and muffins with an egg or baked beans for added protein and extra veggies to help you meet your 5 veggie serves are awesome. Avocado and fresh tomato on toast (no need for a spread) is also a great way to get started. And peanut butter works on toast to give you the extra protein serve to keep you feeling fuller for longer.

Fruit smoothies also work well for those of you who struggle to eat in the mornings.

Cooked breakfasts are also wonderful when you have a little more time, and including veggies in there is a great idea.

I actually really like the ideas included in this blog by one of our Diabetes Counselling Online Facebook group members, Dr Lyndal Parker Newlyn: The Beauty of Breakfast that also talks about why it’s so important to get into this healthy habit.

What about eating out for breakfast?

Eating out can work well if you remember the diabetes basics about low-fat, low sodium and whole grains.

Choose meals like a bircher museli with fresh fruit and plain yogurt, or spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes on multigrain toast, or served with baked beans for that low GI carb with protein included.

And enjoy a coffee made on low-fat milk for the good low-GI carb and protein hit.

Traditional breakfast ideas that should be reviewed for better diabetes management

The first thing that springs to mind is fruit juice. Traditionally many Australians enjoy a glass of juice with their breakfast. With diabetes it’s not an ideal option when you consider that we’re aiming for two pieces of fruit per day and a glass of juice provides the carb energy of closer to 4 pieces of fruit without the fibre.
Avoid crumpets – yes, even the wholemeal ones. Not only do they have a high glycemic index but they’re also high in sodium (sodium bicarbonate is used to make the holes) and most people like to have butter or margarine on them which adds unneeded extra fats.
Doubling up – Some of my clients tell me they have both cereal and toast, and unless you’re having a half serve of each, you probably don’t need to have both. This is where many of my clients see a rise in their BGL readings 2 hours after breakfast, when basically they’ve just had too much for their system to manage.

What do you eat for your diabetes breakfast?

Please share below what your favourite breakfast ideas are, in case they spark someone’s tastebuds into action. We have different tastes, so the more ideas we can share the better!

Sally is the Social Media Dietitian with Diabetes Counselling Online, owner of her private practice (Marchini Nutrition), and has had type 1 diabetes for close to 40 years and coeliac disease for many years too. You can access a linked list of all Sally’s Diabetes Counselling Online blogs here.

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A fibre reminder – do you make the minimum?

September 1, 2014 by Sally Leave a Comment

Just recently the importance of fibre has been featuring in the news, mostly along the lines of improving our gut bacteria to help keep us well. So following on from that I thought it worthwhile to review a previous Diabetes Counselling Online blog on fibre and build on it by providing some examples of how you can build the fibre in your own diet to ensure you meet at least the minimum advised for people who live with chronic health conditions (in adults, 28g for women and 38g for men).

As a precursor to this encouragement to you to increase the amount of fibre in your diet, even aiming as much as 10g above the minimum, you need to do it gradually while drinking plenty of fluids (preferably water) and being physically active to get the greatest benefits.

More evidence is emerging relating to control of insulin resistance and protection of our immune systems being associated with increased fibre intakes. Additionally the Australian Dietary Guidelines discusses the evidence about fibre reducing fat absorption and risk of cardiovascular disease and bowel cancers. And then there’s the ‘traditional’ view about improved regularity in our bowel movements. It seems there’s no end to the potential benefits for increasing our fibre intakes, but so many of the people I see find it a challenge to do that.

When thinking about increasing our fibre intake, it’s also important to understand that there are three main types of fibre: soluble, insoluble and resistant starch. We need a healthy balance of all three as they all play particular roles. Read more about them here.

If you aim to include fibre-rich foods such as wholegrains, legumes, nuts, vegetables and fruit in each of your main meals, and follow the Australian Dietary Guidelines, especially in those 3 food groups, you should easily reach your target. Leaving the edible skins on your fruit and vegetables is also an awesome idea.

I thought if we make a table for four examples of each meal of the day and indicate how you can add fibre along the way, it might help you to find some ways to improve your own daily intake (data taken from Calorie King).

Example Breakfasts	Serving Size	Amount of fibre (grams)
Weetbix	2 biscuits	3.6
Traditional oats porridge	¾ cup cooked (170g)	2.9
Multigrain toast	2 slices (56g)	2.8
Baked beans	½ cup (140g)	6.7

Example Fibre Toppers	Serving Size	Amount of fibre (grams)
Wheatgerm	1 tablespoon (12g)	2.2
Psyllium Husk	1 tablespoon (6g)	4.9
LSA (nut) mix	1 tablespoon (20g)	4.6
Rice bran	1 tablespoon (12g)	3.1

Example Snacks	Serving size	Amount of fibre (grams)
Apple	1 medium w skin&core (138g)	3.3
Banana	1 medium (170g w skin)	3
Mixed nuts, dry roasted, no salt	A handful (30g)	2.7
Classic Fruit & Nut muesli bar	1 bar (45g)	3.0

Example Lunches	Serving size	Amount of fibre (grams)
Multigrain sandwich w tomato	2 slices plus 1 small tomato (100g)	4g
Salad with chickpeas	½ cup (100g) chickpeascarrot ½ cup gratedcelery ½ cup chopped capsicum ½ cup chopped 1 small tomato (100g)	4.72.10.8 1.1 1.2 (TOTAL 9.1)
Barleymax wrap	1 wrap	10
Campbells vegetable soup	½ tin	6.5

Example Dinner carbs	Serving size	Amount of fibre (grams)
Wholemeal pasta	1 cup cooked (150g)	8.3
Sweet corn	1 large cob (200g)	11.2
Basmati rice	1 cup cooked (125g)	1.4
Lentils	1 cup cooked (198g)	7.3

So if your meal choices through the day looked kind of like this day plan in the table below, you’d be getting at least 41g of fibre per day of all three sorts.

	Meal	Fibre (g)
Breakfast	½ cup baked beans on one slice of multigrain toast	8.1
Morning Tea	1 medium apple (skin on)	3.3
Lunch	1 Barleymax wrap with filling	10.1
Afternoon Tea	1 handful nuts (skin on)	3.0
Dinner	Wholemeal spag Bolognese and 2 cups salad	15
	TOTAL	41g

This is very basic and just designed to give you an idea of how you ensure you get the fibre you’re looking for each day. You’ll notice I haven’t made it a ‘balanced’ diet as my focus was just about fibre. You can read more here about that, but I have aimed for reasonable amounts of carbohydrate in each meal.

And using the toppers, you can easily add extra fibre to your breakfast cereal or your salads if you feel you need topping up. If you look in the health food isle in the supermarket there are lots of fibre topper products. Just remember to bear in mind the carbs for your diabetes, and watch the amounts of fat too if you’re watching your weight.

Make one yourself!

You can make up your own similar tables using the fibre per serve off the labels of the products you’re using and referring to www.calorieking.com.au for the ones without packets to guide you.

Hoping you’ve found this blog useful in working out how much fibre you’re getting each day and how to top up with some high fibre ideas that you may not have thought of. Remember that ideally you see your own Accredited Practising Dietitian for a personalised consultation to ensure that your diet reflects your nutritional requirement for your medical conditions.

Let me know if you have any questions and any tips on how you add fibre to your meals. Sally

Sally is the Social Media Dietitian with Diabetes Counselling Online, owner of her private practice (Marchini Nutrition), and has had type 1 diabetes for close to 40 years and coeliac disease for many years too. You can access a list of all Sally’s Diabetes Counselling Online blogs here.

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Heart week reminders for d-health

May 5, 2014 by Sally 5 Comments

This week 4-10 May 2014 is Heart Week. It’s about raising our awareness and understanding more about our heart health, what the risk factors are, and how you can recognise a heart attack or a stroke.

We know that people with diabetes are 3 to 4 times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease (including heart attack and stroke) than those who do not have diabetes. In addition, around 75% of all people with diabetes die from cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke. So it’s definitely an issue worth paying attention to!

My blog today will take a look at what the Australian Heart Foundation suggests we consider about our heart health. I will also be reviewing some previous Diabetes Counselling Online blogs of mine that relate to this topic to help you to gain a better understanding of how diet and lifestyle can help you protect your own heart health.

Modifiable Risk Factors

Knowing our risk (or risk factors) is the first step we can take to help prevent a heart attack or stroke. The Australian Heart Foundation highlights risk factors for heart disease that you have the ability to change as:

Smoking
Poor diet
Physical inactivity
Being overweight
High cholesterol
High blood pressure

The Heart Foundation wisely advises that we should visit our doctor for a heart health check, and talk with our doctor about risk factors and how best to prevent having a heart attack or stroke. Seeing an Accredited Practising Dietitian for personalised advice about your eating habits and an Exercise Physiologist to find activities that suit you is also something you should discuss with your doctor.

You can also read this Heart Foundation warning signs fact sheet that will help you to recognise if you’re having a heart attack, remembering that the sooner you are treated, the more chance you have of survival.

Review of past relevant Diabetes Counselling Online heart health blogs

I encourage you to have a re-read of some of my favourite blogs which discuss the evidence behind limiting or increasing or exchanging certain foods, thereby improving your cardiovascular risk. They include:

Guideline 3 – this one takes a closer look at the Australian Dietary Guidelines third guideline which in itself is a great summary for this blog: “Limit intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol”.

Salt – As salt, or sodium chloride, is strongly associated with heart disease, this blog offers some great tips on how you can reduce your sodium intake.

Fats and Sugars – also strongly associated with heart disease, this blog reinforces the importance of eating a balanced diet.

The Glycemic Index – talks through the evidence of a low-GI diet helping with cardiovascular health.

Dairy – quoting from evidence in the Australian Dietary Guidelines, this blog talks about how many serves you need each day to guard against coronary heart disease, stroke and hypertension.

Wholegrains – again discusses evidence from the Australian Dietary Guidelines and gives you some great ideas!

Legumes – must be close to the perfect food, with lots of evidence of their positive effects on reducing cardiovascular disease. We should be eating these most days of the week.

Eggs – which brings home that the ‘usual’ rules for heart disease should be stepped up a little when diabetes is in the mix, with evidence indicating no more than 3 eggs a week is prudent advice for people with diabetes.

Nuts – these tick so many of our healthy eating boxes with diabetes. Lots to learn in this one too!

I’ll leave you with a few extra tips from The Heart Foundation. They’ve put together a Recipe Finder that will help you to choose heart healthy recipes, as well as a link to some hard copy cook books that you can order online. Don’t forget to see your doctor to assess your own heart health risk.

Remember that Diabetes Counselling Online offers free e-counselling to all Australians who have diabetes. This includes up to 6 hours a year with our dietitians, diabetes educators and counsellors if you feel that you need or would like any support. This service is also available to overseas members for a small fee.

Thanks for taking the effort to improve your heart health – we love you for it!

Sally

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Wonderful wholegrains help with d-management and much more

March 17, 2014 by Sally 1 Comment

So often I refer to the Australian Dietary Guidelines, and today’s blog is no exception as I thought that Grains would be a great topic to explore as they’re so helpful for our diabetes management, weight management, avoidance of cardiovascular disease and to help us maximise nutritional requirements!

I’ll first look at why grains are important and what nutrients they include, then look at some of the variety of grains that are available to us, how many we need in our daily food intake and some new ways and recipes to include them. I think it’s interesting to know that this group is one that the guidelines are often not met, so hopefully this blog will make a difference for you.

As I hope you know by now, there are 5 different food groups listed in the Australian Dietary Guidelines (I’ll call them ‘the guidelines’ from now on). One of the key points under Guideline 2 (Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods every day) is to “enjoy grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties”, and for good reasons too!

The evidence for their inclusion in the guidelines gets a ‘Wow!’ from me with the guidelines telling us that:

• Cardiovascular disease: There is evidence of a probable association between the consumption of grain (cereal) foods (especially wholegrains and those with fibre from oats or barley) and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease in adults (Grade B; Evidence Report, Section 6.3). Almost all the high level trials were conducted with oats, with the evidence of beneficial lowering of levels of LDL and total cholesterol levels. The protective effect was noted with between one to three serves per day of wholegrain foods (predominantly oats).

• Type 2 diabetes: There is evidence of a probable association between the consumption of grain (cereal) foods (especially wholegrains) and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes (Grade B; Evidence Report, Section 6.7). The evidence supports three serves per day of wholegrain foods conferring between 21% and 42% reduction in risk of type 2 diabetes.

• Excess weight: There is evidence of a probable association between consumption of three to five serves per day of grain (cereal) foods (mainly wholegrain) and reduced risk of weight gain (Grade B; Evidence Report, Section 6.6).

• Colorectal cancer: There is recent evidence suggesting that consumption of one to three serves of cereals high in dietary fibre per day is associated with reduced risk of colorectal cancer in adults (Grade C; Evidence Report, Section 6.2). Although previously the WCRF report noted a probable relationship, it recently reviewed the evidence and found it convincing that fibre-rich foods offer protection against colorectal cancer (see Appendix F). This is also supported by a recent systematic review and dose response meta-analysis of prospective studies showing that three serves of wholegrain and high fibre cereals per day reduced the risk of colorectal cancer.

• Other cancers: Recent evidence is inconclusive for an association regarding the consumption of grain (cereal) foods and risk of other cancers in adults (Evidence Report, Section 6.1).”

This section of the guidelines finishes up by reminding us of a very important reason for us to focus on whole grains rather than processed grains: “Because wholegrains contain more nutrients and phytochemicals, concentrated in the bran and germ, they are likely to have greater effects than refined grains (cereals). Wholegrains contain phenolic compounds with strong anti-oxidant capacity that may be protective against processes involved in the pathology of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Choosing wholegrain options may also assist with satiety and help in not over consuming food beyond energy (kilojoule) requirements.”

What’s in grains?

When you think grains, you might think ‘carb source’ or ‘low GI’ or ‘high fibre’ and you’d be right on all counts! The guidelines advise us that they also contain “protein, B group vitamins, vitamin E, iron, zinc, magnesium and phosphorus. Other protective components are fermentable carbohydrates, oligosaccharides, flavonoids, phenolics, phytoestrogens, lignans, protease inhibitors, saponins and selenium.” Another “Wow!” from me

Types of grains

The National Grains & Legumes Council has a very helpful website which goes into all kinds of detail on the topic of grains (and legumes too).

I like this listing of the types of grains that The National Grains & Legumes Council website provides:

“There are a number of different types of grains found within the Poaceae family from ‘true’ cereal grains e.g wheat, oats, rice, corn (maize), barley, sorghum, rye, millet, to the ‘pseudo-cereal’ group e.g. amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa (pronounced ‘keen-wah’). The ‘pseudo-cereal’ group are not part of the Poaceae botanical family, in which ‘true’ grains belong, however they are nutritionally similar and used in similar ways to ‘true’ grains.” The links will take you to further nutrient and historical information about the grains as listed.

For those of us with coeliac disease (unable to eat grains containing the protein gluten), as well as it still being Coeliac Awareness Week (13-20 March), you’ll notice that many grains are gluten-free – corn, rice, sorghum, millet, amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa. Remember to NOT start a gluten free diet unless you’re tested first for coeliac disease, but there’s no reason not to include these gluten free grains in a healthy balanced diet as they’re full of great health benefits (as all wholegrains are).

How much should we have?

If this is too small to read, click on it and it will enlarge

How do we include them?

The National Grains & Legumes Council website offers recipes for both savoury and sweet ways to include more grains in our diets.

My other favourite ‘go to’ recipe websites include the Australian Healthy Food Guide (which also offers more great tips and advice on grains) and Taste.com.au that has a great selection of whole grain recipes.

So the main points to remember for us with diabetes is that we should aim for Whole Grains, rather than processed grains, and remember to ‘count the carbohydrates’ in the grains that we consume while aiming for the recommended number of serves each day. If you’re not sure what carbs are in the different types, use Calorie King to find out.

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How do you ensure your intake of whole grains across your day?? If you’re not sure and would like to arrange a one-on-one e-consult with our e-dietitian (a free service for all Australians), just pop over and register here, or you can ask your questions and share your ideas below

Sally Marchini is the Social Media Dietitian with Diabetes Counselling Online, owner of her private practice (Marchini Nutrition), has had type 1 diabetes for close to 40 years and coeliac disease for many years too.

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