What's the Fuss about Grains?
Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 2:14PM 
During our nutrition lectures we talk about the dangerous effects that grains have on many of us. Asthma, Celiac Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, ADHD, Depression, and many other disease processes have been linked to grains. During our current nutrition challenge we have cut out all grains and many people have asked the question "why?"
There are several reasons why grains are bad for us. Since grains are mostly highly processed they create a high insulin response. A high insulin response over time can lead to many health issues such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, metabolic syndrome etc. Grains also have an effect in which they create a high acid load in the body. A high acid load deals with bone de-mineralization IE: Osteopenia and Osteoporosis. Grains also cause gut irritation in a lot of people. What does this mean and why is it important? Grains have a special protein in them called Lectins. A specific lectin in grains is called gluten. Gluten is a protein that is hard to break down with stomach acid and can disrupt the intestinal tract of the intestine. What happens is, lectins destroy the cells that line your intestines, leading to tiny holes in your intestinal lining. These holes allow whole proteins and bacteria to enter the body where they do not belong. As the immune system notices foreign substances in the body, it responds and attacks. The immune response can manifest in an unlimited number of conditions not just in the digestive tract!
Although we teach the negative effects of certain foods in our nutrition classes, we still get questions all the time about "needing grains to survive?" Somewhere some personal trainer, or doctor, or co-worker, or family member is telling us to cut down on fruit and vegetables and eat more grains. Take a moment to look at the following nutritional information which compared grains to vegetables.
These tables are comparing 100g of grains to 184g of broccoli. If you notice there is almost twice the amount of broccoli and the calorie content is nearly 1/5 that of bread. Broccoli has hardly any sodium, compared to 420mg in the grains. More importantly, look at the amount of Vitamins A & C in broccoli. You can get 5 times the calories, 21 times the sodium, and a fraction of the vitamins. Or you can eat the broccoli and not only get more nutritional value out of it but you can also improve your overall health by controlling your insulin levels, decreasing inflammation, and maintaining a healthy intestinal tract.
You decide which is healthier.




