Volume 120 | October 2019
How to Nourish a Healthy Gut
The gut microbiome is thought to influence countless aspects of our wellbeing, from obesity and chronic disease to immunity and inflammation. However, nourishing your gut microbiome doesn’t have to mean paying for expensive probiotic and prebiotic supplements. In fact, one of the easiest ways to feed the “friendly bacteria” in your gut is by eating fiber-filled foods, especially whole grains.
Baking with Intact Grains
Most whole grain breads are made with whole grains that have been milled into fine particles to form a whole grain flour, in a mixture that contains all of the grain kernel’s original bran, germ, and endosperm. But if ground whole grains are great, might intact whole grains be better?

Inside Bob Quinn & Liz Carlisle’s New Book
At a time when increasingly urgent headlines about climate change are commonplace, and many farmers are facing tough economic situations, this story about the importance of biodiversity, economic resiliency, rural communities, and the value of ecological health seems particularly poignant.
JAMA Study Finds Small Improvements in Diet Quality (Eating More Whole Grains)
Researchers analyzed the diets of 43,996 U.S. adults in 1999 and then again in 2016. Over this time period, people got 1.23% more calories from high quality carbs (whole grains), 0.38% more calories from plant protein, 0.65% more calories from polyunsaturated fats, and 3.25% fewer calories from low quality carbohydrates (sugar and refined grains). Unfortunately, calories from saturated fat increased by 0.36%, and the general diet is still far from ideal, with 42% of calories still coming from low quality carbs, and saturated fat remaining above 10% of energy intake.
Whole Grain Recipes
Tasty corn muffins are always crowd pleasers, and these whole grain muffins, featuring October’s Whole Grain of the Month, have everything you could want. They pair perfectly with hearty soups, stews, and chili.

Recipe courtesy of Bob's Red Mill
This tasty, high-protein chili is warming and rib-sticking enough to work all winter long. It combines an assortment of both chili and pumpkin pie spices and a touch of unsweetened chocolate gives it a bit of bitter complexity.

Recipe courtesy of Robin Asbell
Sweet and savory bulgur porridges are common throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, such as Cyprus. In this version, we add grapes, a quintessentially Mediterranean fruit, roasting them to concentrate the flavor. For an American twist (and a boost of protein), you can also stir in a spoonful of peanut butter before serving.

An Oldways recipe
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