Do you need grains to get carbs?

After yearss of being told you MUST have grains or you won't get your fibre and carbs I thought a real comparison of servings would prove enlightening.

To me, grains are fake carbs. The real carbs are our vegetables and fruit.

It is impossible to eat grain without mechanical pre-processing of some sort (such as milling, pounding, etc...) Vegetables can be eaten raw once you shake off the dirt.

To me, this is a huge clue we are not intended by nature or design or by whatever you believe to eat grains as a staple of our diet.

I do eat servings of grain, but I try to limit it to two servings a day. I do so because I do enjoy some grain products like the odd bowl of pasta or a slice of bread to make a salmon sandwich.

However, I completely and utterly fail to see why grain is considered as the base of the food guide for both Canada and the US and why the daily recommended servings are so incredibly high.

Now for Canada, the agency that has put this guide together has said time and again, the Canadian Food Guide is NOT intended as a guide for weight loss. Please keep this in mind as in Canada people utterly fail to lose weight following our guide with over 8 servings a day of grain.

Most of the calories in grain come from starch, which is pretty much identical to sucrose in how the body handles it. My grandma actually called grains and potatoes starches, it was in the 70s people started using the umbrella term carbs, which includes starches, fibre and sugar.

I hope to show with some obvious examples that grains are absolutely not necessary, and that you can feel MUCH fuller, eat MUCH bigger plates of food, get a MUCH GREATER amounts of nutrients, and MUCH fewer calories in your diet

I have compared some daily fruits and vegetables to whole wheat bread. I welcome others to make their own comparison. I welcome anyone to show me a singular grain that most vegetables do not have beat calorie for calorie hands down in fibre AND carbs.

My goal is not to prove grain is evil, just unnecessary, and incorrectly the base of our two country's food pyramid.

--- Comparison ---

I compare 2 slices of whole wheat bread to some of my favorate "God's oven" products.



2 slices of whole grain bread

23.2 g carbs

3.8 g fibre

200+ calories - More than twice the calories of another other serving in this list

Low nutrient value outside of above



Red Delicious Apple

23.8 g carbs (better source than 2 slices whole wheat bread)

3.3 g fibre (almost equal to 2 slices whole wheat bread)

100 Calories

Good nutrient value outside of above

Completely unprocessed, organic version quite affordable



Banana

27 g carbs (better than 2 slices whole wheat bread)

3.1 g fibre (almost equal to 2 slices whole wheat bread)

100 calories

Completely unprocessed, organic version quite afforrdable

Good nutrient value outside of above



Navel Orange

17.6 g carbs (less than 2 slices whole wheat bread, but far better than one slice and wins hands down on a per calorie basis)

3.1 g fibre (almost equal to 2 slices whole wheat bread)

100 calories

Completely unprocessed, organic version quite afforrdable

Good nutrient value outside of above

Green Beans, Raw, 1 serving

7.8g carbs (less than whole wheat bread, until you compare calories to carbs, then beans win hands down)

3.7 g fibre (equal to two slices whole wheat bread, 1 eigth the calories!)

34 calories!!!!

Completely unprocessed, organic version quite afforrdable

Good nutrient value outside of above

Romaine Lettuce

I include romain as it is mostly water, and hardly any calories on its own. You will see why even a mostly water vegetable is better than bread

6 outer leaves

3.0 g carbs (sad right? not so...)

1.0 g fibre (sad again right? again not so...)

20 Calories!!!!

Medium nutrient profile outside of above

Organic version cheaply available

When you compare carbs and fibre to calories romain is better

200 calories of bread gives you 23.2 g of carbs, 200 calories of romain gives you 30g of carbs

200 calories of bread gives you 3.8g of fibre, 200 calories of romain gives you 10g of fibre

Now you would have to eat enormous amounts of romaine, so this is why mixing in other veges such as green beans, carrots, etc... is important.

Feel free to verify these facts for yourself, I do not expect anyone to take my word for it.

I used this database: http://caloriecount.about.com/

Feel free to use your own.

In my mind, grains are NOT an excellent source of fibre. They are NOT an excellent source of nutrients. They are, however, an EXCELLENT source of cheap calories that our infrastructure and industry is heavily invested in.

I have also found it interesting the cycle in Canadian statistics, which you can check for yourself. Go to stats Canada and examine the historical data. And compare to the historical food guides.

The Canadian cycle goes like this

From the 60s on:

New food guide, increased grain, reduced fat
5 years later, increase in both overweight and obesity across the board
New food guide, increased grain, reduced fat
5 years later, increase in both overweight and obesity across the board
New food guide, increased grain, reduced fat
5 years later, increase in both overweight and obesity across the board
And so on...

Now I realize this is not a clinical trial but an observation so scientifically unreliable for showing cause and affect, but it is an interesting correlation between the Canadian Food guides increasing over time recommendation of more grain and less full fat dairy and meat. Again, the data is there to verify for yourself. I will not cherry pick my findings from the full set of data. If you care enough, you will go and look at the entire set of available data.

I hope some food for thought was provided.