A healthy eating recommendation I hear a lot is “Don’t eat any
white foods.” Are we really talking about all white foods? What
about potatoes? What about (heaven forbid) white pasta? Sugar is
definitely one of the “whites” being referred to. I think we all
know foods with too much sugar are not a good choice in general
and should be limited as much as possible. What about white
grains? They tend to have less nutrition value – this is why
they are often labeled as “enriched.” The refining process
strips the food of so many vitamins that they have to be
enriched with vitamins to add nutritional value back into the
product. When you refine a grain, the outer part of the grain is
removed to expose the inner part, carbohydrate, which provides
us with energy. The problem is that the outer part of the grain
is where we find most of the nutrition to go with the energy-
producing carbohydrate. When we remove the outer grain, we lose
B-vitamins, antioxidants, phytochemicals, protein, fiber and
more. The carbs and calori