Whole grains are good for health and excellent for weight control as they help to fill you up and control your appetite. You can get full with whole-grain foods for a lot fewer calories than with more processed grains.

Try these tips for increasing the amount of good-for-you whole grains in your diet.

• Substitute half the white flour in your recipes with whole wheat flour. This works for bread, cookies, muffins, pancakes, etc. Note: Depending on the recipe, you may need to add a little extra fluid.

• Add oats to cookies, pancakes, and desserts such as apple crisp

• Pop popcorn! Popcorn is an often neglected whole grain. If you pop it yourself at home you can control how much extra butter and salt gets added

• Add half a cup of a whole grain such as cooked bulgur, wild rice, barley, or rye berries to soups and stuffing

• Use whole corn meal in place of regular corn meal

• Make all your favorite grain dishes such as risottos and pilafs with brown rice, bulgur, or quinoa

• Cook whole wheat pasta for all your favorite pasta dishes

• Look for breakfast cereals made from whole grain ingredients like kamut, buckwheat, or grano (wheat berries)