Are grains bad for us?
Humans can’t easily digest grains, which causes a whole host of issues within the human body. Grains have only been a part of the human diet for 10,000 years – not enough time for our bodies to adapt evolutionarily to this “new” food.
If you follow of a traditional, Weston A. Price diet, you know there are ways to prepare grains that make them easier to digest. For me personally, however, I avoid grains as much as possible because these traditional methods are so time-consuming!
That’s one of the reasons I believe in going grain-free. Here’s the rest:
1. It’s easy to gain weight, but hard to lose weight
If you’re eating a lot of grains but having trouble losing weight, you may want to try removing them from your diet.
When we eat grains, our bodies turn them into glucose. Eat too much and you’ve got a lot of extra glucose floating around. In order to get rid of it, your body stores it as fat.
2. Fruits and veggies have MORE fiber
It’s been hammered into our heads that in order to get fiber, we HAVE to eat grains. That’s not true. Eating vegetables and fruit will actually give you more fiber than whole grains.
Start small: replace just one serving of grains (your sandwich at lunch, for example) with a serving of vegetables. You could take that sandwich and turn it into a salad!
3. Present-day wheat is not the same as ancient wheat
Gluten-free is not just a trend. There are a TON of people out there who have been diagnosed as gluten-intolerant (like me!).
Today’s wheat hybrids are way harder to digest than ancient wheat (the wheat we started eating 10,000 years ago).
4. Grains don’t want to be eaten
Grains, as well as nuts and legumes, contain what’s known as phytic acid. It’s a protective substance that plants use to protect themselves from predators (such as humans!).
Phytic acid actually binds with nutrients in humans’ digestive systems and holds them hostage. This prevents our bodies from absorbing these important nutrients.
Soaking, sprouting, and souring (i.e., properly preparing) grains can help reduce the amount of phytic acid, but often these methods are laborious and take a lot of time. You rarely see any of this in modern kitchens!
5. Grains leave you hungry again in an hour
Grains are carbohydrates. Carbs are used more rapidly for energy in your body than proteins or fats. If you eat mostly grains all day, you’re likely to be hungry again soon after eating – and it’s likely that your energy is always crashing!
Start your day with some protein and healthy fats, such as bacon and eggs, instead of your normal oatmeal, cereal, bagel, or toast.
6. Grains have replaced nutrient-dense foods
Vegetables, healthy fats, well-sourced meats, and raw dairy all have way more vitamins and minerals than grains. If you’re eating grains instead of these things, you’re missing an opportunity to nourish your body with much-needed nutrients.
If you do indulge in grains, make sure to eat them with a healthy fat, which makes them easier to digest (although not as well as properly preparing them!).
7. Grains have ruined our rich soil
Ancient farmers used to rotate their crops in order to preserve soil quality and nutrients. Now-a-days, grains are grown as mono-crops (the same crop is grown in the same field year after year), which depletes the soil of nutrients.
Because the soil is depleted of nutrients, farmers have to add man-made fertilizers in order to continue growing the same crop.
Synthetic fertilizers and soil depletion are causing our foods to carry less and less actual nutrition.
8. They don’t really taste good
Do you have to add stuff to your oatmeal in order to make it edible? Have you ever eaten plain pasta with no sauce or butter or pesto? Or pancakes without fruit or syrup?
But a carrot is edible by itself, right? Or how about roasted butternut squash? Or a ripe peach just off the tree?
Most of the time, we’re adding sugar in order to make grains edible. This negatively impacts our health. No thank you!
9. You don’t have to eat them to be healthy
There is nothing in grains that you can’t get from other sources like vegetables. Grains are not a necessary part of the diet and in some cases, can actually impair your health.
For optimal health, chow down on vegetables, well-sourced meats, healthy fats, and a little bit of fruit instead of grains!
10. Properly preparing grains is so time-consuming!
I mentioned this above, but I wanted to add this reason so I could have a nice, even 10 reasons to give you!
Properly preparing grains makes them more digestible and allows for the nutrients contained within the grain to be more available. Finding properly soaked, sprouted, or soured grains in a grocery store is very difficult and probably expensive! You might waste a lot of time hopping from store to store looking for them.
Also, trying to properly prepare grains yourself is very time-consuming. It’s doable, but most of us simply don’t have the time.
How about you? Have I convinced you to try eliminating grains from your diet?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!