<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
RE:
>Recently there was a question raised about whether the grains we're allowed
>are adequate in terms of recommended daily servings of bread/cereal/pasta.
>I've wondered that myself -- it seems like our grains are pretty
>light-weight in the fiber department.
 
The concept of "recommended daily servings"   is a simplification designed
to make it relatively easy for the nutritionally undereducated to eat a
relatively balanced diet.   Although within each "food group"  (which are
fairly arbitrary groupings of foods that *tend* to have nutritionally
similiar profiles) the foods will for the most part be *relatively* high in
the same basic nutrients which the group is chosen to supply,  there will
be some exceptions that are NOT high (and may even be low) in the relevant
nutrients.    More importantly, there will be some foods in OTHER groups
that are also high in those nutrients even though that may be atypical for
their group.
 
The basic concept is this:   By selecting a number of foods from each
group,  *on the average* you can achieve a balanced diet without having to
know the amounts of nutrients in each food and the daily requirements for
each nutrient.
 
NO SINGLE GROUP IS ESSENTIAL- the nutrients that are high in any one group
can be had without eating ANY of that group by selecting foods from other
groups that are high in them (there are enough atypical example to do
this).    This is especially true for the grains since they are (in
evolutionary terms) a relatively recent addition to our diet  (indeed, some
authorities think that the prevalence of celiac disease is an indication
that we have not yet fully adapted to this addition to our diet).
 
Rather than substituting ONLY grains for the grains we cannot eat, it would
perhaps be better to ALSO substitute non-grain foods that  would fill the
nutritional gap.    (It seems to me to be better psychology -  rather than
constantly trying to *substitue*   (and thus emphasising the idea that we
are "deprived")  think in terms of what you CAN eat.    Make up your OWN
"grain group"  and include non-grain foods in it that fill the same
nutrient needs that grains do.   (This may be easier if you add
combinations of foods that together "fill the gap" rather than requiring
that each single one do so alone.
 
As far as fiber goes, there is no function that the fiber in grain performs
that cannot be performed by some non-grain fiber.
 
Jim Barron
Chapel Hill NC
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