When I first announced to my family that I would be working with the Whole Grains Council, they initially gave me congratulations on my new job, but then a fear crept over their faces.  “Are we going to have to eat that bread with the stuff on it?” cried my fifteen-year-old daughter, referring to breads with bran or seeds dusted over the top.  My son, two years older, stood with arms crossed in defiance, confirming his sister’s concerns.

What was this?  I was unprepared for this reaction and didn’t know how to respond.  I have always tried to encourage good eating habits with my family and they are used to trying new things.  They were already eating brown rice and oatmeal, and I had adapted many of our family favorites to whole grains over the last couple of years.  So why was I getting the pushback from them?

Ah-ha! Apparently, I had taken so much care to choose and incorporate whole grains that they hadn’t noticed that I had been using whole wheat flour to make pancakes and pizza dough or that their favorite macaroni and cheese dish was made with whole grain pasta.  They didn’t realize the tortilla chips, bagels and breakfast cereals were all made with whole grains too.

There were some misunderstandings here, myths I needed to debunk.  So I explained.  We started by talking about what a whole grain is and how I had been using them in recipes all along.  I reassured them by showing them packages of their favorite foods with the Whole Grain Stamp and in the end, they were pleasantly surprised, even relieved, to see they were already eating – and enjoying – whole grains.

Now I’m off to challenge the rest of the world to do the same!  If you have a story to share about your own exploration of the whole grain world, I’d love for you to share it with me! (Karen)