Health Tip of the Week: Whole Grain Buns

So for my inaugural health tip of the week, here's something you can do over Memorial Day Weekend and beyond. I'm not going to tell you to only eat turkey/chicken/salmon/veggie burgers or dogs. Though I am big on those, if you can't have ground beef on Memorial Day, whats the point of being American?

However, it will definitely be worth having your beef burgers and hot dogs on whole grain buns. Processed, "white" bread has almost exclusively fast-digesting carbohydrates. If you don't use these carbs immediately for energy, they get digested quickly and stored in your fat cells. Overconsumption of these low quality carbohydrates, day after day, year after year, can contribute to increased fat gain and all the health problems associated with that (higher bad cholesterols, weight gain, obesity, heart disease, etc.) as well as leaving you feeling "un-full", leading to wanting more food shortly after eating.

Instead, throw your burgers and dogs onto whole grain buns. Whole grain breads have much denser carbohydrates, meaning it takes a longer time to digest them. This means you'll feel fuller longer, and won't want as much dessert! In addition, because they digest so gradually, they will get stored in your muscles first, where they'll be easier for your body to utilize for energy down the road.

Whole Grain Breads > White Breads!