Grains

How do you know you're getting grains as whole as possible, by reading the ingredient label? Look for the phrase, "100% whole wheat" in the label. These ingredient lists could be written in a tricky manner, and misleading names are very common. Laws require them to list everything, but there're no laws against misleading labels. SOmething that's not 100% whole wheat, would still say "whole wheat". The goal is to make consumers feel a sense of "this's as healthy as this food can get".

"Maida" (hindi word), which's also called enriched wheat flour, because it's lower in fiber, has no nutrition (whole wheat has B vitamins), and is known to be harmful -has been implicated in all sorts of diseases. The starch content is the same whether a grain of wheat is whole or enriched (i.e. processed), but when the starch comes packaged in high fiber, it is more easily excreted by the human body, and therefore doesn't raise the body's sugar level in the same unhealthy way that the enriched wheat grain would. This means the glycemic index is different for the 2 (100% whole wheat being the healthier one, and enriched wheat being the unhealthy one). In other words, whole wheat raises blood sugar in a steady manner, not in a sudden peak followed by a plummet, that the enriched wheat is responsible for.
"Maida" is such a staple in Indian diets, specially North Indian diets, that it's worrisome. It's just as bad as white rice, which's common in South India.

Sugam brown rice, 100% whole wheat bread (nature's own) or Rudi's organic honey wheat bread, Margarita's 100% whole wheat tortilla - these are staples in our pantry. White basmati rice is too, but we eat it pretty rarely. Of all the white rices, basmati seems to have the healthiest glycemic index. We also buy 100% whole wheat pasta, spaghetti of various kinds. Whole Foods is best for this. Central Market is alright. Cracked wheat, specially in an upma, tastes wonderful.

Goals we're trying to come to agreement on as a family:

We're playing with arborio rice (risottos), and trying to learn about quinoa.
We'd like not to have too much wheat.
Wild rice is interesting and also worth exploring.

When we eat idlis/dosas, we get in waaay too much white stuff. I'd love to learn to make these with brown rice. Recipe, anyone? Ofcourse, there're the adais and pesarattus made with lentils and very little white rice. We need to do adais more often...