A Grain of Truth - How They Wreck Your Health

There are many people, especially in the holistic health community, who do not eat grains (including me).  Why?  After all, it wasn't too long ago that the government-sponsored "Food Pyramid" told us the bulk of our diet should be grains.  Let's just say the science behind it was as flawed as thinking the Earth is flat!  Have you noticed the rise in obesity, chronic ailments, and heart disease ever since the marketing of "healthy" whole grains?  

Common grains include wheat, rye, barley, amaranth, buckwheat, millet, triticale, bulgur, oats, quinoa, rice, and corn.  (No, corn is not a vegetable!)

​What's wrong with grains?

Eating grains leads to obesity, inflammation, and chronic disease. A strong statement, but it's true!! This is due to several reasons:

• Grains can be quite addictive and often make up a large bulk of the Standard American Diet.  Grains are high on the glycemic index, and excess carbohydrate consumption that does not get burned as energy gets stored as body fat. (See my article: Heart Disease: The Carbohydrate Connection)  
• Grains have very low levels of vitamins and minerals. On top of that, grains contain anti-nutrients; specifically phytates, lectin, and gluten. These rob our bodies of health because they prevent nutrient absorption.
• Humans cannot properly digest modern, refined grains. The anti-nutrients in grains are also notorious for wreaking havoc on the digestive system and are associated high levels of inflammation and a cascade of health problems. The majority of the immune system is in the digestive tract.  If the gut is under attack and inflamed due to grain consumption, your health will suffer.  (See my articles about Inflammation & Digestion.)
• Grains also contain the type of fiber (insoluble) that causes damage to the gut and is notorious for and gas and bloating.  ​(See my post about the types of fiber.)

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​The 3 Main Anti-Nutrients in Grains:

Phytates:  Phytic acid binds up minerals in food and prevents your body from utilizing them. It can make the minerals magnesium, calcium, zinc, and iron unavailable. This means they’re not digested well and can cause inflammation, bloating, indigestion and gas. Yuck!  (Phytates are also found in legumes, nuts, and seeds.)  

Phytic acid is concentrated in the hull or bran of the plant (which is the harder, darker covering designed by nature to protect it from critters.)  So, if someone thinks they're being healthier by eating whole grain bread, or brown rice, for example, they're actually eating more anti-nutrients.

Lectins: These are carb-binding proteins that are relatively “sticky.” They’re difficult for our bodies to break down and thus cause indigestion. Their binding leads them to bind with your intestinal lining. This causes “leaky gut syndrome” when the lectins break down the intestinal lining and allow other toxins & anti-nutrients to “leak” into the bloodstream.

Gluten: It is the specific protein Gliadin, found in gluten, which is most problematic in individuals. Gluten also causes "leaky gut" syndrome, which leads to a host of medical problems. There is a spectrum in severity of gluten related reactions from mild to severe. The symptoms, if felt, can present in all parts of the body, not just the digestive tract, and often involve neurological, endocrine, thyroid, joint, dental, and skin conditions, plus cancer. There is no specific treatment for gluten related conditions other than to avoid the gluten found in wheat, barley, and rye grains.  (See The Au Naturale Nutrition Series on Gluten.)
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Traditional vs. Modern Grains:

While our ancestors did eat whole grains, they did not consume them as found in our modern-day recipe foods in the form of quick-rise breads, granolas, desserts, cereals, breading, pastas, and other concoctions. Most grains of today are refined flours that are stripped of all nutrients.  Many are from hybridized plants or genetically modified seeds for industrial growing purposes.  Our ancestors, and virtually all pre-industrialized peoples, soaked, sprouted, or fermented their grains before making them into porridge, breads, cakes and casseroles.  They knew how to properly prepare grains in order to reduce the anti-nutrients.  Their grains were not refined and consisted of a small part of their diet.  Modern-day, refined breads, cereals, crackers, chips, and pastas are ubiquitous and virtually poison compared to foods using traditional grain preparation methods.   

Ezekiel brand breads are made from soaked & sprouted grains.  (They are not gluten-free, however.) To soak and sprout grains at home, the traditional grain preparation methods can be found on The Weston A Price website and in the corresponding cookbook, Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon. It's a rather involved process and still does not eliminate gluten from wheat, barley, and rye.  Do I personally soak & sprout grains?  Heck no!  I've got better ways to spend my time. Grains are not a part of my life and I'm better off for it.

A small exception to the rule: White Rice.  There is certainly no reason you should include white rice in your diet; it contains virtually no nutrients. However, it has been stripped of the anti-nutrients, too. It's merely a source of glucose (sugar) that could be consumed in a small part of a healthy dietary plan, especially if you engage in athletics and need a higher amount of starchy carbohydrate.  For blood sugar reasons, it is best not eaten alone, but eaten with a nice healthy fat, like butter, and some protein.  Always buy organic rice, because it's less likely to contain toxic heavy metals. (For further discussion about rice, see How Bad is Rice, Really?)

As far as corn, unless it's organic, you must assume it's genetically modified nowadays.  You can learn more about GMO's in my article Is YOUR Body a Bad Science Experiment? Food Additives, Preservatives, and GMO's.  Corn also contains it's own type of gluten, which can, in some people, be just as detrimental to health as wheat gluten (source).

​In Conclusion:

​While some carbohydrates are certainly necessary for health, it's vital to understand that the modern, refined grains are nutrient-void, health-depleting foods. It is better to get carbohydrates from healthy, nutrient-rich sources such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and starchy tubers. Humans are not missing anything by excluding modern grains from their diet.   
 
Because there is such an enormous span in the quality of carbohydrates, if you're still concerned about which ones are the healthiest and how many carbs to eat, please check out my article,  The Au Naturale Nutrition Guide to Carbs.  


For further Information, visit these sources:

• Why Grains Are Unhealthy 
  
• What's Wrong With Grains
• The Truth About Eating Grains
• Be Kind to Your Grains…And Your Grains Will Be Kind To You
• How to Sprout Nuts & Seeds

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