1. Swap brown rice for barley
2. Swap pasta for wholemeal pasta
3. Swap basmati rice for quinoa 
4. Swap wholemeal bread for mixed grain bread
5. Swap sourdough bread for rye bread
6. Swap instant porridge for rolled oats
7. Swap wholegrain cereal for muesli
8. Swap wheat biscuits for bran cereal.

Yes, the first options are excellent choices when compared to refined cereals like most white breads, white rices, low-fibre cereals, rice crackers and noodles.

But you can still go one better if you choose.

Research suggests that slowly digested, fibrous grains are the healthiest of them all.

Eating foods that tick each of these 2 criteria will likely help to:

• feed your gut bacteria and make you feel fuller, within hours,
• improve markers of your heart and metabolic health, within weeks, and
• substantially lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes, bowel cancer and weight gain, over the coming months and years.

When deciding which grain to eat, it is important to remember that both slowly digested grains and higher fibre grains provide health benefits that are unique and equally important.

An optimal diet, therefore, is one that consistently contains both.