I first heard of agave nectar five years ago, when a friend of mine went off of wheat and sugar simultaneously. She struggled with the lack of wheat in her diet but thanks to agave nectar, didn't have much trouble staying away from sugar and sweets. She became something of an agave booster and talked it up to anyone who would listen. I became a slow adopter, and began to use agave nectar to sweeten my tea and morning bowls of oatmeal.

I've always wanted to to explore baking with agave nectar, but until now, I'd never had the correct resource (and I worried that trying to use it with one of my sugar-based recipes would be inviting disaster). Enter Ania Catalano's book, Baking with Agave Nectar. This squat paperback is beautifully photographed and contains 100 recipes that all use agave as their primary sweetener. Catalano became interested in agave nectar when she was diagnosed with hypoglycemia and needed to find a sugar substitute that tasted good and wouldn't spike her blood sugar levels the way that processed sugar, honey and maple syrup did.

One of the things I appreciate about this book is that Catalano doesn't just replace sugar with agave nectar. She is careful to incorporate whole wheat and sprouted flours into her recipes, so that when you bake her treats, you know that you are making something that will be far healthier than what you can pick up at your local bakery. In these times, when we're all looking for ways to improve the quality of the foods that we eat, this volume is a wonderful assistant in allowing you to have tasty, sweet baked goods that are good for you as well.

Over the years, I've actively tried to expand the number of grains I eat regularly. I grew up eating quite a lot of brown rice, and my mom frequently added barley to soups and stews, but beyond that, I was fairly clueless. I acquired a copy of The New Laurel's Kitchen not long after I moved to Philadelphia and it became my go-to resource for learning about new grains. It opened my eyes to quinoa (not exactly a grain, but it acts like one), millet (both as a cooked and raw grain) and kasha (buckwhat groats) and I continue to explore.

If you're also trying to incorporate more whole grains into your diet these days (after all, it is the new food trend) then I have a helpful resource for you. Last week, Carrie Floyd put together a whole grain glossary on Culinate and it has become my new favorite repository of grain information (Laurel's Kitchen is still wonderful, but since I often plan meals while sitting at work, I can't really carry it around with me all the time).

Check it out and let yourself be inspired to check out some new grains. It's a little more challenging that buying the box of Cheerios that now has more whole grains, but it's a whole lot more interesting and tasty.

It's well known by this time that whole grains are good for you. One of the most important benefits that they offer is that they have been shown to help lower the blood pressure of those with slightly elevated cholesterol levels. A new study takes this one step further and has found that eating whole grain breakfast cereals (those with at least 25% oat or bran) can reduce the risk of heart failure. Presented at the American Heart Association's 47th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, the study showed that eating 2-6 servings of whole grain breakfast cereals each week decreased their risk by 22%, while those eating 1 serving per week lowered theirs by 14%.

Critics of this particular study say that the fact that whole grains came from cereal, as opposed to from some other source, has nothing to do with the results. The whole grains could have come from any source and as long as the same serving sizes was reached, the results should be the same. The benefit in associating the results with cereals is that it is relative easy to find healthy cereals that meet the minimum standards set by the study. Additionally,because people often skip breakfast (or don't have whole grains with it), eating cereals adds extra servings of whole grains above and beyond what they would normally eat throughout the day.

By now, just about everyone knows that whole grains are good for you and the simple advice to switch to whole wheat bread and substitute brown rice for white is only going to bring in grains in a very limited way. Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way is a cookbook that is also a complete, detailed guide to different types of grains. It covers fairly common ones, like barley and polenta, as well as more unusual grains, such as quinoa and amaranth.

The book has a tremendous amount of well-researched reference material in it that is intended to make the book instructive, a reference guide in addition to a regular cookbook - and one that you can turn to again and again for clarity on cooking methods and the properties of various grains, regardless of what cookbook you are using. The recipes themselves are very varied, with meat dishes, vegetarian dishes and plenty of desserts. Some are simple and others more complex, but thanks to the clarity given in the book's tables and descriptions, all are easy to make. Highlights include Quinoa and Calamari Salad, Popcorn Crusted Catfish, Posole with Pork and Chipotle, Bulgur Pudding with Honey and Dates, Coconut–Black Rice Pudding and Chocolate Chip-Hazelnut Cookies.

While Atkins may be out, the idea of "good carbs" vs " bad carbs" is still at the forefront of the thoughts of healthy eaters everywhere and whole grains are definitely a hot topic for cooks. Against the Grain not only provides whole grain recipes, but it is rooted in Mediterranean cuisine, which is not only heart-healthy, but might play a role in Alzheimer's prevention.

The recipes, most of which are formulated for weight loss or "maintenance," are not limited to Italian food, which many cookbooks seem to think is synonymous with "Mediterranean cuisine." They come from Morocco, Tunisia, Greece and the Middle East, as well. There are appetizers and snacks, soups, salads and lots of main courses, all of which are light on potatoes, breads and other white-flour foods. Instead, there are lots of proteins, vegetables and combinations of whole grains, including brown rice, bulgur wheat. Recipes include Pork Medallions Marinated with Olives and Orange, Roast Chicken Stuffed with Spinach, Wild Rice, Walnuts, and Feta and Sicilian Fisherman's Stew.

We already got some advice on which white breads were the best tasting (although you can always opt for homemade if you want to avoid store-bought entirely) but what about whole grain breads? There are so many different varieties to choose from, it's actually quite a feat to narrow down your criteria to the point where you can compare similar breads. One glance at the shelf in the grocery store shows whole wheat, honey wheat, oat bran, oat nut, multi-grain, 8-grain and dozens of other "whole grain" breads. Rather than trying to work out which might be the best, Food & Wine magazine picked out a few of their favorite whole grain products as a jumping off point, a benchmark that you can work from to find your own favorites. They selected De Cecco Whole wheat pasta, Pepperidge Farm Natural Pepperidge Farm whole wheat bread and Keebler Wheatables.

It's worth noting that the Pepperidge Farm bread did well in the white bread tasting, too, but I would choose Kashi's Tasty Little Crackers over F&W's choice of Wheatables for a whole-grain snack any day.

Over the past several months, we have seen that red wine and grapefruit are both good for your gums (a guy who lost most of his teeth says that peanut milk is good, too, but you'll have to take his word for that one) and can potentially help fight or prevent gum disease. Now, it looks like a diet rich in whole grains could also reduce the risk of developing periodontitis.

In a study done by researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, 34,000 men, aged 40-75, had their eating habits followed via survey for fourteen years. None had a history of periodontitis, heart attack, high cholesterol or diabetes at the start of the study. 5.5% of the men developed periodontitis (gum disease), but the men who reported that they ate at least three servings a day of brown rice, popcorn and other whole grains were significantly less likely to get the disease that the men who reported eating one or fewer servings of whole grains.

We have been told constantly since the new food pyramid was released that whole grains are essential to a healthy diet. There are many names for breads that contain whole grains: seven-grain, multi-grain, whole wheat. But the name, until this week, was actually no guarantee that the bread itself contained whole grains. A wide range of other products - from cereal to pasta - claim whole grains as a component.  This week, the Food and Drug Administration issued guidelines that define what a "whole grain" product actually is. According to CBC news, the FDA says that whole grains must have the intact, ground, cracked or flaked fruit of the grains. "The grain's principal components - the starchy endosperm, germ and bran - are also in the same relative proportions as they exist in the intact grain. Such grains may include barley, buckwheat, bulgur and corn."

The definition is merely in draft form at this point and it is unclear whether federal labeling regulations might be applied in the future. Some companies - like General Mills - asked for a specific guideline as to what might be considered to be a "good" or "excellent" source of whole grains, but the FDA has refused to issue one at this time.

Now, if you'll just have this healthy beer for breakfast and for lunch, and a sensible dinner...

Beer. It could be the next product to use heart health benefits as one of its key marketing attributes, if the diet-blog's interpretation of new FDA rules catches on. According to a recent FDA announcement, "whole grain barley and barley-containing products are allowed to claim that they reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD)." As we all know, beer contains barley! Next thing you know, your favorite brew will contain a label that says, "drinking this beer contributes to a healthy heart and may attract bikini-clad women!*"

Naturally, there's a catch. Evidently the beer is a bit too low on fiber to qualify. Oh well, maybe 2006 will bring more and looser FDA rules. We can but hope.

*That last part hasn't been vetted by the FDA. Yet.

[Thanks for the tip, Jim, and to Ernest von Rosen for the photo]