In my last blog I said I’d write about this topic.  In addition, a few of my clients and friends have asked me about the difference between multi-grain and whole grain products.  Since life is short, I thought I’d pass on giving you a dissertation and instead give you some simple, short, and sweet information.  If you’re really in a hurry, you can stop reading after the next sentence.  When buying grain products (bread, cereal, rice, etc.) a label that reads 100% whole grain will have more nutrition than a label that doesn’t.  For those of you with a few more seconds to spare, here’s a little more:  Don’t look at the front of a package to tell if a food product is good for you.  Flip it over and look for the nutrition facts.  Below all of the calorie and nutrition info is usually where they list the ingredients.  Look for the words “whole wheat,” “whole bran,” or “whole grains.”  This means you’re getting the entire grain including the bran (fiber), germ (b-vitamins and essential fatty acids), and endosperm (mostly starch).  If a product has the word “enriched” listed in the ingredients, the truth is that the grains in that product have been stripped down to just the endosperm (the least nutritious part), and then nutrients were re-added.  This allows the company to save money and create a product that they can offer for less to the consumer.  This is also why white bread is cheaper than whole-grain bread.  Whole grains not only provide you with more nutrition, but leave you feeling fuller, longer – since they have more fiber.  So what about “multi-grain?”  Multi-grain is a term that simply means that two or more types of grain have been included in the product (for example, barley, wheat, corn).   While many multi-grain products are also whole grain, many are not.  That’s why it’s important to read the ingredients label to make sure.  Food companies are sneaky, too.  They’ll add molasses and food coloring to a product that has a few whole grains, and stamp a big “whole grains” stamp on the front.  You, as the consumer, see dark bread and those “whole grain” words and think – “Oh, this one’s healthy.” And into the shopping cart it goes.  Don’t be fooled.  Read labels.