Dietary guidelines going with the grain

WASHINGTON – Go ahead, have a piece of bread – and you’ll be following government advice for eating right.

Three servings of whole grains each day can reduce your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. It doesn’t have to be bread. Brown or wild rice, oatmeal, cold cereal flakes, popcorn – without the salt and butter – and even trail mix will do.

Of all the new advice in the government’s new dietary guidelines, eating enough whole grains may prove the easiest. But if eating whole grains is so easy, why aren’t people doing it? Most Americans are eating one serving or less each day, according to the Agriculture Department.

A whole grain is the entire seed or kernel – from grains like wheat, oats, corn or rye. Scientists still don’t quite understand how and why whole grains are good for you.