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A Picnic That Goes With The Grain
With summer officially here, it's time to get the picnic basket out of storage and pack it with
tasty, portable foods.
Picnics originally meant potlucks - gatherings to which each guest brought food. The word later became affiliated
with an excursion where food was taken along to be eaten outside.
Picnics always mean simplicity, good food and good times. A hearty salad made with rice, beans and corn is a perfect
picnic dish and a wonderful high-fiber addition to your diet.
Dietary fiber - what used to be called roughage - was for years thought primarily to benefit digestion. Recently,
however, fiber has been recognized as a key component of a healthful, plant-based diet. Research that links cancer
prevention to consumption of whole grains, vegetables and fruits is well documented.
To reduce the risk of chronic diseases, experts recommend eating 20 to 35 grams of dietary fiber a day. That fiber
should come from vegetables, fruits and beans as well as whole-grain products.
A salad of rice, beans and corn is a good place to start. These foods are rich in the nutrients and protective
phytochemicals that ward off chronic diseases, like cancer, and many health problems, including osteoporosis.
When it comes to rice, brown is the best nutrition choice. Its bran layer is intact, providing more fiber, riboflavin,
iron and magnesium than white rice. Enriched long-grain rice is fortified with thiamin, niacin and iron after milling
to replace nutrients lost in processing.
Rice-Bean-Corn Salad makes a filling and tasty main course for a picnic meal. All you need to include is a variety of
cut-up fresh vegetables and fruits. Then grab a blanket and head outside on the next nice day.
Source: American Institute for Cancer Research
AICR offers a Nutrition Hotline (1-800-843-8114) Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET,
a free service that allows you to ask a registered dietitian questions about diet, nutrition and cancer.
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