eliminating grains for health?

Dave198lbs

I am not talking about just losing weight. I understand that it isnt what you eat but how much you eat if ALL you are doing is losing weight.

but for overall health, I am seeing alot of the primal/paleo stuff that is anti grain.

Has anyone eliminated grains and seen improvement with their health?

I know that grains are tasty and all that. But are they really needed? I dont concern myself with the deprivation argument because I dont crave grains or really feel compelled to eat them. I do love fresh made bread but it isnt something I eat on a regular basis.

I was eating ezekial sprouted grain bread but the paleo arguments against grains of any kind seem logical. are they?

spngebobmyhero

for me, cutting out grains and legumes has made a huge improvement in my health. My gut is much happier. I used to have so many issues that I didn't even realize were out of the ordinary. I almost never get gas, bloating, or diarrhea anymore. I also don't get those drops in blood sugar that I used to get that would cause me to get cranky, tired, and light headed. I just feel hungry, but if I have to wait to eat, its no big deal.

There is also the Weston A Price foundation side of things, where they don't recommend cutting out all grains, but they do promote soaking or sprouting grains before consuming.

Lots of people think this is totally crazy and that you should be able to eat your favorite junk foods and still be healthy, but I think that cutting out processed junk (including grains) and eating real foods is a way to create a much healthier you. I mess up sometimes, but I eat this way about 80% of the time and my body is much healthier because of it! Feel free to message or friend me if you have more questions

Captain_Tightpants

I was diagnosed as diabetic ten years ago and pretty much cut out all refined carbs and a reduced complex carbs back then. I still ate grains, just less and whole grain only. Didn't see any improvement in health other than slightly better blood sugars. My triglycerides, LDL/HDL and serum cholesterol all stayed the same or went up. My weight didn't change much either.

By comparison now, ten years later I decided to stop worrying about carbs and just use common sense - increased veg and fruit, increased fatty fish, increased nuts, as much whole food as possible and gym. I've seen more improvement in my health over the last 6 months than I did in a decade of low carbing.

Dave198lbs

thanks. I am not so much thinking low carb really although eliminating grains will lower my carb count. I will still eat the veggies and some fruit. It just seems the "grains dont add much to our health" argument has some valid points

neanderthin

On a calorie for calorie basis replacing grain with say veg, root veg and some fruit would be more nutritious overall.

FabCheeky

Eliminating grains completely changed my life. Yeah, I lost weight. But I'm talking overall health. I feel AMAZING. I have Celiac's...so, of course, I have to be gluten free. But that wasn't enough to make me feel good. I had to eliminate all grains (except for the occasional white jasmine rice---gut neutral, but I can't have much of that either) in order to get to the best health that I've ever experienced in my life. I eat real food: fresh fruits, fresh veg, meat, fish, eggs, raw nuts, extra virgin olive oil, extra virgin coconut oil, 4 ounces of good coffee, white wine at night... and not much else....and I feel AMAZING. Seriously. The only time that I have issue any more is when I've somehow gotten cross-contaminated with gluten OR when I eat too much rice for too long. (That causes blood sugar fluctuations which causes problems with my PCOS.) I keep my carbs between 60g and 80g per day and never lack in energy or variety in my food.

Dave198lbs

Eliminating grains completely changed my life. Yeah, I lost weight. But I'm talking overall health. I feel AMAZING. I have Celiac's...so, of course, I have to be gluten free. But that wasn't enough to make me feel good. I had to eliminate all grains (except for the occasional white jasmine rice---gut neutral, but I can't have much of that either) in order to get to the best health that I've ever experienced in my life. I eat real food: fresh fruits, fresh veg, meat, fish, eggs, raw nuts, extra virgin olive oil, extra virgin coconut oil, 4 ounces of good coffee, white wine at night... and not much else....and I feel AMAZING. Seriously. The only time that I have issue any more is when I've somehow gotten cross-contaminated with gluten OR when I eat too much rice for too long. (That causes blood sugar fluctuations which causes problems with my PCOS.) I keep my carbs between 60g and 80g per day and never lack in energy or variety in my food.

thanks and congrats...was their a transistion period as far as your energy level after you cut out grains?

mfreeman918

So, I guess I have question that relates to this topic. I have been playing around with the idea of doing atkins because I know 3 people now who have lost weight and kept it off . My question is do you all think it would be better to just count the calories or count the carbs like with atkins? I really don't know what to do.

Dave198lbs

So, I guess I have question that relates to this topic. I have been playing around with the idea of doing atkins because I know 3 people now who have lost weight and kept it off . My question is do you all think it would be better to just count the calories or count the carbs like with atkins? I really don't know what to do.

I dont really know much about Atkins other than it is carb restirction. Im not really worried about carbs in general...I plan to continue eating veggies including sweet potatoes, etc but I am curious about the grains

kyt1206

Your body needs a good balance of carbs, proteins, and fats. This will not change. Ever. As a medical professional (biomed scientist), I see metabolism as a bunch of gears working to allow you to do the things you do every day. You would not cut engine oil out from your car because you mostly drive on gas, this is the same concept. You need carbs, just not a lot, you need carbs, just not refined (milled, bleached). So moderation is the key and making sure that your body has all the vitamins it needs to keep you running by eating more *variety* of foods is far more important than worrying about how much of one to eat.

If you were a cave man, you wouldn't know where your next meal came from. Seriously (I did a bunch of anthropological/historical human evolution reading), they ate whatever seemed edible. Mushrooms, seeds, fruits, greens, bugs. Their ability to gain large game meat was *very* low unless they lived in a large enough clan to hunt down large game using tools so they wouldn't eat steak or any type of red meat unless they came across a dead animal in their wandering around for forage. This left to them to eat red meat every few days and surviving on much smaller game and vegetation. So all that paleo diets that people keep spouting about, you have to look at it with a little skepticism.

Summary:

1) Paleo humans were always starving. I'm not kidding. They didn't have farms and their life span reached 30 yrs of age and that's OLD. If that's how long you plan to live, then that's about right.

2) Paleo humans rarely ate red meat. They ate a LOT of insects, grubs, etc for protein. They also ate "seafood" if they lived near the sea, otherwise, lake fish is the best they hope for. Oh and they ate whatever they found on their path (primal road kill or some animal that just laid down and died).

3) It is a fact that cavemen did not suffer the ravages of epidemics because they never lived in a large enough population to cause one. My anthropology professor loved to restate that "farming is the worst invention of humanity" because it introduced dental problems from too much carbs and not enough variety, vitamin problems from the same issue, crowd disease, resource hording, large warfare...etc etc etc But never has he said, "We should eat like cavemen", because cavemen lived to about 30 from vitamin deficiencies and starvation.

So, you know, ALL THINGS IN MODERATION, EAT LOTS OF VEGETATION, GET SOME FISH, EAT STEAK NO MORE THAN ONCE A MONTH and you should be good to go.

Dave198lbs

thanks but I am curious about grains, specifically

kyt1206

grains are like any other seeds/carbs, dependent upon the species (I could go on and on about the 100 varieties of rice, maize, wheat and their MUCH different percentage of protein versus carb content), eat sparingly, but do eat it, there's some very necessary vitamins in them, stay away from bleached, milled as much as possible, charred/grilled/fire exposed food has the most radicals (causes aging) in them so moderation in that as well, then you're good to go

Sabine_Stroehm

I don't eat much bread. I do eat oats, rice, quinoa etc.

When I don't eat bread (wheat/gluten) my tummy is much happier. Less gas. More daily elimination (weird, but true).

That said: I don't eat ANY "gluten free" replacements. No fake breads etc. blech.

Dave198lbs

but do eat it, there's some very necessary vitamins in them,

as in vitamins I cant get anywhere else? never heard this before.....thanks....what vitamins?

kyt1206

Please see this chart:

http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/nut-seed-nutrition-chart.html

The "grains" I common think of when I speak is: oats, barley, wheat, and rice.

And it's not vitamins you can't get anywhere else, just vitamins you won't be able to get in the same dosage per calorie. It's about the "efficiency" of eating. You want the *most* amount of daily required vitamins per the *best* amount of calories for your daily intake. (I said best, not least, best is to be determined by your doctor or nutritionist.)

Also remember, you may take multivitamins, but chances are reality-speaking, absorption is not 100% so you may not get everything you need. Multivitamins are a backup/bandage for those times when you know you're not eating well, it is not a fix/excuse for not getting the variety that you need.

Dave198lbs

Please see this chart:

http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/nut-seed-nutrition-chart.html

The "grains" I common think of when I speak is: oats, barley, wheat, and rice.

And it's not vitamins you can't get anywhere else, just vitamins you won't be able to get in the same dosage per calorie. It's about the "efficiency" of eating. You want the *most* amount of daily required vitamins per the *best* amount of calories for your daily intake. (I said best, not least, best is to be determined by your doctor or nutritionist.)

Also remember, you may take multivitamins, but chances are reality-speaking, absorption is not 100% so you may not get everything you need. Multivitamins are a backup/bandage for those times when you know you're not eating well, it is not a fix/excuse for not getting the variety that you need.

thank you

ThickMcRunFast

Your body needs a good balance of carbs, proteins, and fats. This will not change. Ever. As a medical professional (biomed scientist), I see metabolism as a bunch of gears working to allow you to do the things you do every day. You would not cut engine oil out from your car because you mostly drive on gas, this is the same concept. You need carbs, just not a lot, you need carbs, just not refined (milled, bleached). So moderation is the key and making sure that your body has all the vitamins it needs to keep you running by eating more *variety* of foods is far more important than worrying about how much of one to eat.

If you were a cave man, you wouldn't know where your next meal came from. Seriously (I did a bunch of anthropological/historical human evolution reading), they ate whatever seemed edible. Mushrooms, seeds, fruits, greens, bugs. Their ability to gain large game meat was *very* low unless they lived in a large enough clan to hunt down large game using tools so they wouldn't eat steak or any type of red meat unless they came across a dead animal in their wandering around for forage. This left to them to eat red meat every few days and surviving on much smaller game and vegetation. So all that paleo diets that people keep spouting about, you have to look at it with a little skepticism.

Summary:

1) Paleo humans were always starving. I'm not kidding. They didn't have farms and their life span reached 30 yrs of age and that's OLD. If that's how long you plan to live, then that's about right.

2) Paleo humans rarely ate red meat. They ate a LOT of insects, grubs, etc for protein. They also ate "seafood" if they lived near the sea, otherwise, lake fish is the best they hope for. Oh and they ate whatever they found on their path (primal road kill or some animal that just laid down and died).

3) It is a fact that cavemen did not suffer the ravages of epidemics because they never lived in a large enough population to cause one. My anthropology professor loved to restate that "farming is the worst invention of humanity" because it introduced dental problems from too much carbs and not enough variety, vitamin problems from the same issue, crowd disease, resource hording, large warfare...etc etc etc But never has he said, "We should eat like cavemen", because cavemen lived to about 30 from vitamin deficiencies and starvation.

So, you know, ALL THINGS IN MODERATION, EAT LOTS OF VEGETATION, GET SOME FISH, EAT STEAK NO MORE THAN ONCE A MONTH and you should be good to go.

Thank you, I hear a lot of people parroting the idea that grains will disrupt nutrient absorption, or that they are empty calories, and unless you have a food allergy or intolerance, its simply not true. This is a good review post on not only why grains aren't bad for you, but the benefits of eating them.

http://www.laststopfatloss.com/why-grains-and-gluten-arent-bad-for-you

wackyfunster

About 40% of people of European descent will see SOME improvement from cutting out grains. For most of them, it will be very marginal. Most people do not have any inflammatory response to grains, despite what some primal/paleo snake-oil salesmen may try to tell you. There is a medical test for inflammatory food responses, and if everyone was sensitive to grains, we would know (I personally have been tested, and have no issue with them... legumes on the other hand...).

reyopo

I cut out all grains except a little quinoa (actually a seed) about 6 weeks ago, and I feel amazing! have wheat/gluten, and corn sensitivities that I've known about for 25 years. since then, I was careful to avoid them ONLY when I was experiencing symptoms and felt run down. I would continue until things got better, take lots of probiotics and EFAs and then gradually go back to eating whatever I wanted. I'd get away with it for a while and then stress and poor diet would catch up with me again. About 5 years ago I went gluten-free permanently and felt great...for a while. Then with added stress from a divorce and cross country move, my body became ultra sensitive to foods again and I found a great doctor and had extensive testing done. I ended up needing to eliminate sugar, caffeine, soy, dairy, most nuts, tomatoes, and cabbage from my diet on top of the gluten grains and corn. But I only felt slightly better. I'd have minor improvements between huge setbacks (I get eczema flare ups on my hands that drive me crazy and make work and everything else very difficult, and gas and bloating so painful I can't walk, as well as fatigue and brain fog). I was having gluten-free steel cut oatmeal for breakfast every morning on weekdays, and it finally occurred to me that maybe I was reacting to that. When I dropped the oats, my skin cleared up immediately. A week later I started a cleanse to kickstart a weightloss effort , a week of fruits and veggies only, lots of juicing and smoothies, pureed soups etc. I felt wonderful with this right away. When I finished and started adding back proteins and fats, I decided to stay off grains for a while. Well, I seem to have found my "trick"...my head is clear and focused, my energy is through the roof, I feel positively bionic! I can't do the red meat heavy Paleo thing, but I eat lots of fish and some poultry, eggs, as well as legumes, nuts and seeds. I agree that everyone's systems work differently, and without my sensitivities it might not make a difference, but for me? I wish I'd done this years ago... one of those 40%, I guess.

FabCheeky

Eliminating grains completely changed my life. Yeah, I lost weight. But I'm talking overall health. I feel AMAZING. I have Celiac's...so, of course, I have to be gluten free. But that wasn't enough to make me feel good. I had to eliminate all grains (except for the occasional white jasmine rice---gut neutral, but I can't have much of that either) in order to get to the best health that I've ever experienced in my life. I eat real food: fresh fruits, fresh veg, meat, fish, eggs, raw nuts, extra virgin olive oil, extra virgin coconut oil, 4 ounces of good coffee, white wine at night... and not much else....and I feel AMAZING. Seriously. The only time that I have issue any more is when I've somehow gotten cross-contaminated with gluten OR when I eat too much rice for too long. (That causes blood sugar fluctuations which causes problems with my PCOS.) I keep my carbs between 60g and 80g per day and never lack in energy or variety in my food.

thanks and congrats...was their a transistion period as far as your energy level after you cut out grains?

Not for me, but I was in such bad shape that everything was an improvement. My worst timeframe was when I cut out caffeine cold turkey. (I used to drink several Cokes and a pot of coffee per day. I quit all at once. The migraine seemed to last for 4 weeks, but when it stopped...I felt like a new person all over again.) I say this in all honesty: my food was killing me. Verified by TWO doctors: my cardiologist and my rheumatologist. Both of whom lost me as a patient when I changed my diet. YMMV, but for me...this is the only way that I'll live.

neanderthin

Your body needs a good balance of carbs, proteins, and fats. This will not change. Ever. As a medical professional (biomed scientist), I see metabolism as a bunch of gears working to allow you to do the things you do every day. You would not cut engine oil out from your car because you mostly drive on gas, this is the same concept. You need carbs, just not a lot, you need carbs, just not refined (milled, bleached). So moderation is the key and making sure that your body has all the vitamins it needs to keep you running by eating more *variety* of foods is far more important than worrying about how much of one to eat.

If you were a cave man, you wouldn't know where your next meal came from. Seriously (I did a bunch of anthropological/historical human evolution reading), they ate whatever seemed edible. Mushrooms, seeds, fruits, greens, bugs. Their ability to gain large game meat was *very* low unless they lived in a large enough clan to hunt down large game using tools so they wouldn't eat steak or any type of red meat unless they came across a dead animal in their wandering around for forage. This left to them to eat red meat every few days and surviving on much smaller game and vegetation. So all that paleo diets that people keep spouting about, you have to look at it with a little skepticism.

Summary:

1) Paleo humans were always starving. I'm not kidding. They didn't have farms and their life span reached 30 yrs of age and that's OLD. If that's how long you plan to live, then that's about right.

2) Paleo humans rarely ate red meat. They ate a LOT of insects, grubs, etc for protein. They also ate "seafood" if they lived near the sea, otherwise, lake fish is the best they hope for. Oh and they ate whatever they found on their path (primal road kill or some animal that just laid down and died).

3) It is a fact that cavemen did not suffer the ravages of epidemics because they never lived in a large enough population to cause one. My anthropology professor loved to restate that "farming is the worst invention of humanity" because it introduced dental problems from too much carbs and not enough variety, vitamin problems from the same issue, crowd disease, resource hording, large warfare...etc etc etc But never has he said, "We should eat like cavemen", because cavemen lived to about 30 from vitamin deficiencies and starvation.

So, you know, ALL THINGS IN MODERATION, EAT LOTS OF VEGETATION, GET SOME FISH, EAT STEAK NO MORE THAN ONCE A MONTH and you should be good to go.

Pretty stereotypical view of our ancestors.....it's like picking one city now with one population and using that as an example of modern humans in 50,000 years. Many populations today also have a life expectancy in their 30's and 40's.