Food Article - 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..........

Article continued at: http://www.culinary.net/articlesfeatures/nutritionhealth/picnic.html