Apparently, I’ve been looking at “whole grains” in a skewed way.

Typically, I associate them with breakfast, (oatmeal and whole grain muffins, etc), and quite frankly, I’m not a big bread, oatmeal, or millet fan.

But, it turns out, I might be more of a whole grain enthusiast ( or at least I could be) than I thought. An article by Debra D. Bass in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette asserts that oats, especially steel-cut oats, can be used in place of rice in many savory recipes. So, I’m going to give it a “go.”

The two highest rated eating plans of 2014, the DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet place a huge emphasis on whole grains — the two diets are quite similar except when it comes to fats – the Mediterranean diet is high in the healthy fats found in extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO).

Oats also lower blood pressure and reduce inflammation– the DASH diet was designed specifically to lower blood pressure, and calls for at least 3 and up to 8 servings of whole grains per day, which seems horrifically un-doable for someone like me. Unless, of course, the food writer in the Democrat-Gazette was right about the oats-for-rice thing.  I’m willing to give it a try, at least.

According to Paula Rizzo of listproducer.com (a very cool site, btw), other gluten free whole grains include:

• amaranth
• buckwheat
• corn
• millet
• brown rice
• wild rice
• quinoa
• sorghum