This year I decided to give up white flour for Lent. For those not in the know, Lent is a 40 day period usually prior to Easter Sunday when people involved in religious Christian denominations (such as Catholics) give up a vice of their choosing. The act of penance is meant to create a time of reflection during the season. The good news for me in all of this is that I've been consuming whole grains as though they are going out of style and new research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicates my relinquishing of bleached flour during this time may have other benefits as well.

The research shows that cutting out calories and increasing consumption of whole grains is healthy for the heart, may help eliminate some belly fat and reduce levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood. Abdominal fat and CRP are both linked to occurrences of heart attack and stroke. Study participants who consumed white bread did lose weight, but didn't lose as much flab from their mid-sections and did not experience any changes in CRP levels.

"This is the first clinical study to prove that a diet rich in whole grains can lead to weight loss and reduce the risk of several chronic diseases," Dr. Penny Kris-Etherton, the senior researcher on the study, said in a statement.

Kris-Etherton's team from Pennsylvania State University have theories as to why these benefits exist, including the possibility that the higher fiber content in whole grains helps maintain steady blood sugar levels or the antioxidant properties found in whole grains.

"There are a lot of foods around that claim they contain whole grain but are not really major sources of whole grain," Kris-Etherton said. She suggested looking for foods like oatmeal, breakfast cereals made from whole grains, whole-wheat pastas, granola and popcorn.

I've always enjoyed whole grain foods and they are all that are generally kept in my household, but sticking solely to them when eating out has been an entirely different story. It seems only a handful of restaurants even offer options outside the realm of refined grains, which means a lot of salad, soup containing no pasta and bun-less burgers if I'm ordering from a conventional menu. But now that I have the added incentive of a flatter stomach, my whole-grain commitment may just extend past these 40 days.

» MSNBC Health