What is so great about grains?

I am not in the medical or nutritional field at all (I am a
psychologist by trade but I have a basic layman's knowledge of the
components of good nutrition). I am enquiring why it is important to
eat grains, by which I mean cereal-based foods. I am studying
informally the components of a complete diet reading texts on the
net, but I can't seem to find what is unique at all about grains - in
other words, what do they have that cannot be obtained elsewhere?
The reason I ask is because I personally find them rather too filling
and bloating - especially when cooked in cakes, breads, crackers - I
usually avoid those like the plague. A small portion of cooked brown
rice in my salad does not have that effect, I find. Also, I do drink
the many flavored rice milks (carob, vanilla, etc) so I am obviously
consuming them to a small degree, and I also eat Ryvita crackers a
few times a day (rye), which I find easy on digestion and producing a
light rather than full feeling afterward.

However, most descriptions on the nutritional websites discuss grains
from the perspective of fiber - well obviously one can get tons of
fiber in fruits and vegetables and nuts (thus, not counting grains) -
especially when like me one eats a lot of salads that contain
numerous vegetables, fruits and nuts in them. In fact, when I look
at a list of all the required minerals, vitamins and oils, I find
them in abundance in the veggies, fruits and nuts.

I do realize that grains are great for producing sources of energy,
and the World Health Organization recommends we eat 55% of our diet
in terms of grains, but when I look at the breakdown statistics of
carbohydrates in veggies and fruit, I see that they are packed in
them too (some more than others, granted).

So that would seem to rule out carbohydrates and fiber (as unique to
grains/cereals, that is). Can anyone from the nutritional/dietary or
medical fields, please explain to me what in our humanly required
diet is UNIQUE to grains/cereals that cannot be obtained from
veggies, seeds (from non-cereals), nuts, or fruit?

Thanks!

danny

p.s. If you know of any good readings as an added bonus....

.

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