What Grains Are Safe to Eat?

Grains are the food most strongly associated with mortality. I suggest only eating non-gluten grains – if you tolerate them. Let’s delve into what grains are safe to eat and which are not. 

Most cavemen did not eat grains, so we’re not very well genetically adapted to them. Grains are low in nutrients and contain toxins that promote an unbelievably long list of health conditions and disease. These toxins are called phytates, lectins and gluten. To learn more about these evildoers, see my article Less Grains More Brains. Compared to all other foods, grains have the lowest nutrient content, just beating out sugar in a nutrition contest! Not very impressive.

Grains are also the only food where manufacturers are allowed to make health claims on the packaging – nonsense like grains lower cholesterol. They actually raise cholesterol! Beware of manufacturer claims you see on boxes, as none are backed by credible research. The thinking goes like this: Grains contain fiber, fiber lowers cholesterol, so the leap is made that Grains = Lower Cholesterol. Wrong! This is sales logic. The toxins in grains cause so many other health problems, including skyrocketing your blood sugar, that they in fact cause high cholesterol.

In reality, wheat, of all foods, is the most highly correlated with mortality (3). Please do not eat Cheerios thinking they are healthy or will lower your cholesterol like they claim on the box! I’m ashamed to admit I actually used to buy Cheerios thinking they were a healthy food choice. They were, but only compared to all the sugary poison next to them in the cereal aisle. Additionally, don’t eat oatmeal thinking that it will be a miracle cure for your cholesterol. Not going to happen.

What Grains Should I Eat?

If you’re going to eat grains, some choices are better than others. The graph below indicates what the research shows are grains that promote disease because they contain gluten, grains that are okay to eat every once in a while (if you dare) and grains that are perfectly safe to chow with abandon.

110_chart_grainsIf you do choose to eat grains, they must be prepared properly to make them more digestible. This is accomplished by soaking them overnight with a little apple cider vinegar prior to cooking. Soaking reduces the phytic acid content, but does not reduce lectins, one of the more problematic contents in grains. Groups like the Weston A. Price Foundation have been talking about this for a long time. There’s no traditional or tribal people that ate unfermented, unprepared grains as a regular part of their diet.

I know what some of you are thinking – that I’m completely insane for saying that white rice is better for you than brown rice. But it’s true!! According to The Perfect Health Diet by Dr. Paul Jaminet and his wife, long grain white rice is the only grain you should eat. Brown rice contains the intact grain husk where most of the toxins reside. It may contain the nutrients, but they are not worth the harmful effects of the toxins (phytates and lectins). Remove the husk, and you have yummy starchy brain fuel. This should serve as rice’s purpose. According to the China Study, rice has a -58 percent correlation with mortality. This is incredibly low. Being the least toxic grain, white rice is very safe to eat. I never liked brown rice anyhow.

Grains like quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth and millet are considered pseudograins, meaning they are not really grains. (3) Actually, the are seeds and don’t share some of the inherent problems that plague cereal grains. They are fine for many and may be consumed with abandon. However, I tend to avoid millet because it is one of the most goitrogenic foods, meaning it can interfere with thyroid function. Quinoa is a strange one. I’ve read that it’s a seed, a vegetable, a fruit, etc. Basically, no one seems to know what the hell it is. Just eat it.

Oh yeah, before I forget. All the poor cows and chickens are force-fed grains. That means your meat is full of grains and their toxins. One must be wary of these hidden grains. Most of the meat you buy at the grocery store or at restaurants, even if organic, was fed grains. This is especially problematic if you are sensitive to grains, as this meat will cause health issues for you like you were eating the grains themselves. I know this first-hand, if only because when I feed my stupid dog grain fed meat, she breaks out itching ferociously for two weeks and tears out all her fluff. She is very intolerant of grains. Poor doggy. Grass fed meat is the only choice for those looking to avoid grains.

Grain Sensitivities

Preferences and tolerances vary over gluten-free grains. I regularly eat corn tortillas and blue corn chips (crazy-high in cancer-fighting selenium). A friend of mine can only tolerate sprouted corn tortillas because the corn is predigested, if you will, by the sprouting. This makes the corn much easier to digest. Countless people have a food sensitivity to corn in the US because it is found in so many food products that we eat. (5) In places like England, beet sugar is used in all the processed food so they have a rampant beet sensitivity. This is simply from overconsumption of a single food.

When we eat too much of one food, our bodies are programmed to reject it. You must determine for yourself which grains work for you, meaning to which you do not have a sensitivity. This is easily determined with an elimination and challenge diet. Instructions on how to do an elimination diet can be found on my article Food Sensitivities Make You Sick and Fat. One common hallmark of a food sensitivity is a stomachache within a few hours of eating a grain (or other food). I went to doctors for years to try and figure out why my stomach hurt all the time. None could figure it out! Duh! It was stomach inflammation cause by a gluten sensitivity.

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

If you’re planning to cheat and eat some of the grains we should be avoiding, which we know happens from time to time, I have a couple recommendations. We are all human and it can be difficult to avoid all of grain’s delectable offerings.

I have learned from a Los Angeles-based immunologist, Dr. Bernard Gellar, that sourdough bread and wheat pasta may be tolerated well by people who don’t suffer from a bad sensitivity to gluten. Sourdough bread has been fermented and processed (properly prepared), destroying much of the gluten. Personally, I am able to eat sourdough bread without getting a stomachache even though I am sensitive to gluten. Pasta also undergoes a high amount of processing, making it possible for many to eat this due to its low gluten content.

The Final Word

Even though most people can indulge in less healthy choices from time to time without negative consequences, wheat and other gluten-containing grains should, in my opinion, be completely avoided, especially for those who suffer any kind of autoimmune disease, arthritis, digestive or inflammatory condition. When it comes to things that we humans are not adapted to eat and digest, wheat and its gluten protein is probably at the top of the list.

When you begin to review the evidence stacked up against whole grains, it becomes rather self-evident that our reliance on wheat and other grains may be one of the primary culprits for the poor health of so many. Grains, with the exception of white rice, are the food most strongly associated with mortality (1). Positive changes are often noticed immediately after removing wheat and other gluten containing grains from the diet. Skip them and see what happens.

Gluten Digesting Enzymes

Gluten happens. If all else fails, you fall off the gluten-free wagon or you find yourself at a restaurant where gluten is likely lurking in the food, be sure to have a bottle of Glutenza handy. I always have a bottle with me when I eat out!

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Update 9-8-13

Chris Kresser made a very interesting speech at the Ancestral Health Symposium in 2013. He postulated that the reason we don’t tolerate grains so well is not because we can’t digest them, but because we’re missing the crucial gut bacteria needed for their digestion. Many hunter-gatherer cultures discovered by Weston A. Price thrived on diets comprised of grains. How could this be if grains are so detrimental to our health?

A theory that’s prevalent in the Paleo community goes something like this: the shift from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture led to an increase in disease and a decline in health. There’s no doubt this is true, but the idea that compounds like gluten and lectins were responsible for this decline isn’t very well supported by the evidence.  Significant increases in chronic inflammatory disease didn’t happen for the most part until the last hundred years. Yet, the change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture happened roughly 10,000 years ago.  So there has to be something else that explains this decline in health. If it were true that gluten and lectins in grains significantly increased the risk of disease, they would have done that long ago.

Chris Kresser postulates a very interesting theory that it’s possible that these potentially harmful compounds in new foods are not a significant risk factor for inflammatory disease as long as the Paleolithic microbiome – our gut bugs – is still intact.  When our microbiome is depleted or deficient, then these foods can become risk factors for inflammatory disease. Unprotected from adequate colonies of probiotics, we develop leaky gut, food intolerances, allergies, autoimmune issues, inflammatory conditions like asthma and a host of other diseases.

Chris Kresser went on to say in his speech that if we still had the Paleolithic microbiome intact, we could tolerate grains and all of these compounds with no problem. This point is key because it resolves some of the apparent conflicts in the ancestral paradigm. It can explain the reason many cultures ate grains for thousands of years and the health conditions we attribute to grains were incredibly rare.

You can expand your Paleo diet. Some people who spend time overhauling their gut bacteria are able to introduce grains, dairy or other non-Paleo foods – even if they’ve had previous intolerances – and do just fine. It also explains why some people are able to tolerate those foods with apparently no problems while others can’t. So, work on good gut health (See Probiotics) and you will be able to safely enjoy grains and other foods not Paleo given you don’t have food intolerances to them for other reasons.

Have I left anything out? Did it take you forever to figure out you had a sensitivity to grains? Which grains seem to be working for you? Tell me your story by leaving a comment below.

Click Here for References+

1. Campbell, Colin T. The China Study. Banbella Books, 2005.
2. Campbell-McBride, Natasha, MD. Gut and Psychology Syndrome. 2nd Edition. Medinform Publishing, 2010.
3. Gates, Donna. The Body Ecology Diet. Hay House, 2011.
4. Jaminet, Paul. Jaminet, Shou-Ching. The Perfect Health Diet. Scribner, 2012.
5. Virgin, JJ. The Virgin Diet. Harlequin Nonfiction, 2012.

 

in Articles/Diet/Modern Paleo/Nutrition

Dr Wendy Myers, ND is a detox expert, functional diagnostic nutritionist, NES Bioenergetic Practitioner, and founder of Myersdetox.com. She is the #1 bestselling author of Limitless Energy: How to Detox Toxic Metals to End Exhaustion and Chronic Fatigue . Additionally, Wendy is the host of The Heavy Metals Summit, the Myers Detox Podcast, and the Supercharged Podcast. Passionate about the importance of detox to live a long and healthy life, she created the revolutionary Myers Detox Protocol , and Mitochondria Detox kit after working with thousands of clients, as well as a range of supplements to help you detox from everyday living and maintain a healthy lifestyle!

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tcgconsultant
10 years ago

Blood Type Diet. After working with the updated food list available at http://www.dadamo.com/typebase4/typeindexer.htm… I have to disagree with most of your article.

Having worked with all blood types for the last few years, I can tell you personally that the online list is correct. The BOOK “Eat Right 4 Your Type” is outdated and no longer accurate, doesn’t even go into secretor status, so don’t go by the book anymore. Definitely read it for the additional information in it, but not for the food lists.

Anyone who says the BTD doesn’t/didn’t work for them is either not reading their food labels with full comprehension, going off the original book food lists or both. 😀

Keep it Clean! 😀

Wendy Myers
9 years ago

They are simply on the “eat if you dare” column because of the recommendations per the book Perfect health diet. It’s not a grain that is shown to be as “safe” as rice or other non-gluten grains due to anti nutrients. They do not contain gluten, which is great. I think if properly prepared and soaked and if you tolerate them, they are fine. with grains it’s all about if you tolerate it. Everyone is different.

Sarah
Sarah
9 years ago

The reason people have an issue with corn isn’t because they eat a lot, it’s because it’s injected with pesticide in the GMO process. I have no idea what the deal is with sugar beats, but you’re just way off with the corn thing. It’s dangerous (and waaaay worse than wheat) for its own reasons.

Wendy Myers
9 years ago
Reply to  Sarah

Corn is not dangerous if you eat non GMO corn. It’s a grain that many tolerate just fine. You just have to find if it works for you or not. But it is a very common food sensitivity. The nature of food sensitivities lie in part on a food being eaten too frequently. This is well established.

Jamal
Jamal
8 years ago

So Blue Corn Chips are fine to eat in your opinion?

Wendy Myers
8 years ago
Reply to  Jamal

Yes, they are fine as long as you tolerate them. i prefer if people do an MRT test to see if they are sensitive to corn. Corn is a pretty common food sensitivity http://store.myersdetox.com/functional-medical-tests/mrt-food-sensitivities-test-interpretation/

Jessica
Jessica
8 years ago

I did not even know I had an issue with grains until I did Dr. Sarah Gottfried’s detox. I recommend it to anyone trying to figure out what is causing symptoms. Its easy and you gain tons of knowledge.

Joey
Joey
9 years ago

Is there any more information on Teff that you know of? It’s my country’s national dish and I always thought I was safe with it on the “at abandon” side.

Waldo
Waldo
8 years ago

A box of organc whole wheat pasta or a big bowl of oatmeal is infinitely better than butter, meat, cheese, lard, beef and chicken fat, even if it is organic, grass fed, free range, and any other label there is. In fact, the organic, free range, grass fed is even Worse because they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Yes, most processed refined white flour or anything with added sugar, oil and presrvatives, even if it’s whole wheat, should be avoided, but you cannot compare organic whole wheat pasta or pure oatmeal to any of those! 2 out of 3 people cannot tolerate lactose, and about 9 out of 10 Africans can’t. Why are you focusing on gluten when it’s dairy that should be avoided. At most, 1 in 10 cannot tolerate gluten, and it’s probably way less than that. A box of whole wheat pasta a day keeps the doctor away. You need lots of fiber, at least 40 to 50 grams a day. How much fiber is in meat, butter, and eggs? We need more fiber and yes, more phytates. Phytates are good for us and are anti-cancer. The more phytates a day, the more you keep the doctor away!

Claudia
Claudia
7 years ago

I’m guessing kamut is in the ‘don’t eat’ section. But what about wild rice, black rice and red rice?

Wendy Myers
7 years ago
Reply to  Claudia

Wild rice is a grass so this is fine to eat. Black and red rice are find to eat as long as you don’t have a sensitivy to them.

Lance
Lance
7 years ago

Walter Willet say that Grains like Wheat, Rye and Oats are the only real grains(pre biotics) that can boost gut bacteria to sufficient levels. Consider them a substrate. Add them back in slowly, in moderation, and have perfect looking stools and enjoy a wider variety of food.

Wendy Myers
7 years ago
Reply to  Lance

Well said! I think it’s about finding out what works for your body. I’m not a fan of blanket terms like “Avoid all grains.” There is no one diet right for everyone!

Andrea
Andrea
7 years ago

So do you soak your white rice before hand with ACV?? And what about white sushi rice? is that ok to eat?

Wendy Myers
7 years ago
Reply to  Andrea

HI Andrea!
I am personally sensitive to rice to I try to avoid it. But when I did make it at home I would put it on a setting that soaked it for a bit before cooking in my rice cooker now gathering dust. You can soak rice in ACV for sure.

White sushi rice is fine to eat as white rice is the least associated with disease of all grains. Just note that sushi rice has a higher glycemic index that regular rice. So it can raise your blood sugar if you get too much at one meal.

Andrea
Andrea
7 years ago

oh! And one more question.. what about wild rice?? I have read it is actually a seed, not a grain, would that be ok? or forbidden black rice?

Wendy Myers
7 years ago
Reply to  Andrea

Wild rice is actually a grass. It’s totally fine to eat!! IT’s not a grain.