Whole Grains for Your Preschooler

When it comes to grains - breads, pasta, rice, and cereals - the healthy choice for your preschooler is whole grains. While many preschoolers enjoy refined grains like white bread, bagels, pretzels, and crackers, few are meeting the recommendation for whole grains. To remedy this, offer whole grains to your preschooler in place of refined grains often. Your preschooler will benefit from extra nutrients and fiber and acquire a taste for the less-processed and healthier version of grains.

Which Foods Are Whole Grain?

Grains are considered whole grains when they contain the entire grain kernel. Examples of whole grains are oatmeal, whole-wheat flour, whole cornmeal, brown rice, barley, bulgur, whole rye, amaranth, millet, quinoa, sorghum, triticale, and foods made from whole grains such as whole-wheat bread and whole-wheat pasta.

Refined grains, on the other hand, have had some part of the grain kernel removed. In the case of white flour, the wheat is milled, removing the bran and germ, to give bread and other baked products a finer texture. The nutritional problem with refined grains is that when the bran and germ are removed, so are important nutrients and fiber. Refined grains include white flour, degermed cornmeal, white rice and foods made from refined flours and grains.

How Many Whole Grain Foods Should Your Preschooler Eat Each Day?

The recommendation for preschoolers is to eat 3-5 oz equivalents of total grains per day. At least half of these grains should be whole grain foods. How much is an oz equivalent? Here are portions of common preschooler foods. 

3-5 servings of these foods meets the grain recommendation for preschoolers, make at least 2 or 3 of the servings whole grain:

½ - 1 ½ cups cereal. The portion depends on how dense the cereal is. One ounce equivalent of “airy” cereal like puffed rice is about 1 ½ cups. One ounce equivalent of denser cereals like raisin bran is only ½ cup.

½ cup cooked rice, pasta or cooked cereal such as oatmeal

1 slice bread (for smaller-sized sandwich bread.) A slice of the more common, larger breads is closer to 1 ½ oz equivalents.

1/4 of a bagel-store bagel

one serving of crackers or pretzels (5-7 crackers or more for tiny fish crackers)

one small pancake

one tortilla (corn or small flour)

Adding Whole Grains to Your Preschooler's Day

The trick is to replace refined grains your preschooler eats now with whole grains. This can be as simple as using whole wheat bread instead of white bread and choosing whole grain cereals. Look for more tips for adding whole grains to your preschooler's diet.

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