Why Grains Are Not Necessary for A Nourishing Diet

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I am not a Doctor or a Nutritionist. I don’t claim to be an expert on health or nutrition.

I am, however, passionate about learning to nourish my family.  I’ve learned to listen to my body and to use my background in chemistry to sift through the research. Both my body and my research have told me that grains are not the optimal fuel for my body.

I don’t believe that grains are extremely destructive to our health like sugar or rancid vegetable oils. They certainly do have some redeeming qualities.

I just think that their are more nutrient dense foods that we could eat in place of grains.

I have lived on a diet high in refined carbohydrates. I have lived on a diet high in whole grains. I have lived on a diet high in soaked or fermented whole grains. None of these high-grain diets have worked for me.

Grains make me tired, sluggish and foggy. They keep me hungry and increase sugar cravings. Most of all they make it extremely difficult for me to maintain a healthy weight. Insulin and leptin seem to be the key hormones in all of this.

For a while I thought it was because I had eaten the wrong kinds of grains (and lots of sugar) for my entire childhood. I figured I could just lose some of the weight brought on by my childhood and then grains would become a nutritious part of my diet.

But then our family went off of grains, beans and all sweeteners for two weeks at the end of December. We were eating grass-fed meats, pastured chickens and eggs, nuts and seeds, fermented dairy and lots of vegetables and fruits. We all felt really good.

We are now eating this way again. My husband just commented last night that he feels really good since we cut out grains again. And that man could consume large amounts of carbohydrates at every meal without gaining a pound, so weight is not an issue.

Let’s be honest. These are the reasons we eat grains:

  • We are told to by a food pyramid. This pyramid, given to us by our government, was created by a mega-PR firm, Porter Novelli International. Their past clients include McDonald’s and the Snack Food Association. Is anyone else seeing a red flag here?
  • They are cheap. You can use them as a bed for other more nutrient-dense foods like vegetables and grass-fed meats. Basically, they are a filler.
  • They taste good. Who doesn’t love a comforting bowl of oats or rice?

Reasons Not To Eat Grains:

  • They are carbohydrate dense. Carbohydrates can be helpful in supplying energy for those who are extremely physical and active. For the rest of us who don’t work as a field hand all day, carbohydrates can convert into the extra inches on our hips. They can also trigger an insulin response that can leave us hungry an hour after a meal or craving sugar.
  • They contain anti-nutrients. Grains contain both phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors. Phytic acid is an organic acid contained in the bran or outer hull of grains. This acid can combine with minerals such as calcium and zinc and block their absorption in our intestines. It is possible to neutralize phytic acid through soaking in an acidic medium, but for some grains, such as oats, the phytic acid levels are just too high.
  • They are difficult to digest. The enzyme inhibitors contained in grains are just as they sound – substances that inhibit the ability of enzymes to aid in digestion. Grains also contain complex sugars that are difficult to break down as well as allergenic proteins like gluten. Again, soaking grains does aid in their digestion, so if you do eat grains it is very important to properly prepare them.
  • They are not as nutrient dense as other options. Per calorie vegetables contain far more vitamins and minerals than grains. Let’s compare one of the more nutritious grains, quinoa, with one of my favorites – collard greens.

For 49 calories worth of collard greens you take in:

Collard greens, boiled
1.00 cup
190.00 grams
49.40 calories
Nutrient Amount DV
(%)		 Nutrient
Density		 World’s Healthiest
Foods Rating
vitamin K 704.00 mcg 880.0 320.6 excellent
vitamin A 5945.10 IU 118.9 43.3 excellent
vitamin C 34.58 mg 57.6 21.0 excellent
manganese 1.07 mg 53.5 19.5 excellent
folate 176.70 mcg 44.2 16.1 excellent
calcium 226.10 mg 22.6 8.2 excellent
dietary fiber 5.32 g 21.3 7.8 excellent
tryptophan 0.05 g 15.6 5.7 very good
potassium 494.00 mg 14.1 5.1 very good
vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) 0.24 mg 12.0 4.4 very good
vitamin B2 (riboflavin) 0.20 mg 11.8 4.3 very good
vitamin E 1.67 mg 8.3 3.0 good
magnesium 32.30 mg 8.1 2.9 good
protein 4.01 g 8.0 2.9 good
omega 3 fatty acids 0.18 g 7.5 2.7 good
vitamin B3 (niacin) 1.09 mg 5.5 2.0 good
zinc 0.80 mg 5.3 1.9 good
vitamin B1 (thiamin) 0.08 mg 5.3 1.9 good
phosphorus 49.40 mg 4.9 1.8 good
iron 0.87 mg 4.8 1.8 good
vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) 0.41 mg 4.1 1.5 good


For 158 calories worth of quinoa you take in:

Quinoa, uncooked
0.25 cup
42.50 grams
158.95 calories
Nutrient Amount DV
(%)		 Nutrient
Density		 World’s Healthiest
Foods Rating
manganese 0.96 mg 48.0 5.4 very good
magnesium 89.25 mg 22.3 2.5 good
iron 3.93 mg 21.8 2.5 good
tryptophan 0.06 g 18.8 2.1 good
copper 0.35 mg 17.5 2.0 good
phosphorus 174.25 mg 17.4 2.0 good

source

Sprouting grains certainly does increase their nutrient density, however. I am convinced that sprouted grains are optimal if you are going to consume grains.

What Do You Replace Grains With?

I have found that when I first stop eating grains I want to replace them with something higher in carbohydrates, such as fruit or starchier vegetables like sweet potatoes and winter squash. After a while you get used to eating more leafy greens and high-fiber vegetables such as broccoli or cabbage.

Without a doubt I consume far more vegetables when I am not eating grains.

I can’t imagine that anyone would argue with eating more vegetables.

I would recommend going grain free for a couple of weeks to see how you feel. You might just find that your body responds very well. And you might not want to go back.

**************************************************************************

Looking for other ideas that “go against the grain”? Check out fight back Fridays.

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40 Comments

  1. I totally agree with this! I’ve gone through the same grain progression you have, Shannon, and have reached the same conclusions. I, too, no matter how I prepare my grains, cannot seem to keep weight off if I include them. One question for you, though. Do you find that fermented dairy (kefir, yogurt) inhibits weight loss for you? We ferment all of our dairy (whole, raw milk), but I wonder if I shouldn’t cut back?

    Amy’s last blog post..NEWS…and seeds.

  2. Great post.

    We gave up grains for a several months last year when we were on the GAPS diet.

    Now we have introduced grains back into our diet and we really enjoy them very much — but we don’t eat them as much as we used to prior to GAPS. And 90% of the time our grains are soaked or sprouted. I can really tell a difference when they are not.

    We love oatmeal for breakfast a few times a week, but all the other days we eat eggs. We also have rice a few times a week, and rice pasta. I also love sprouted grain bread — it’s a great way to eat butter. 🙂

    Having done both no grains and eating grains, I can say that I prefer to eat grains. It is cheaper and I enjoy it. However, I think grains should be eaten in moderation, with plenty of good fats.

    I think if you flip the food pyramid upside down — eating mostly fats and oils and only eating grains sparingly, that’s a pretty good way to go.

    CHEESESLAVE’s last blog post..Best of Expo West: Healthy Potato Chips

  3. I will occasionally go on a grain-free diet when I feel I need a cleanse or my system is too sluggish. I think it depends on whom you believe, however. According to Joseph Mercola, pretty much no one should eat grains–ever. According to the Eat Right for Your Type diet, certain blood types actually require grains to be healthy. And while they don’t pack the same nutritional punch in terms of minerals, grains apparently have an extremely potent antioxidant value, according to World’s Healthiest Foods . Having said all that, I just posted a recipe for Grain-Free Lemony Almond Pancakes (egg free and sugar free), if you’re interested! 🙂

    Ricki’s last blog post..Please Standby

  5. Wow, we are on very similar journeys! We’ve been reducing grains ever since Christmas, and the past two weeks we’ve gone without them completely. I’m not sure I feel noticeably better yet, but I’m willing to give it a shot. In the very least, it’ll give my gut a chance to heal from all those years of toxic refined and ill-prepared grains.

    Thanks for participating in today’s carnival.

    Cheers,
    KristenM
    (AKA FoodRenegade)

    FoodRenegade’s last blog post..Fight Back Fridays

  7. Okay, I know my post today is about bread but I love what you wrote about. My dad talks to me about the “survivalist” diet he was on when he was young single and a traveling man. It had zero grains. Hard to grow, hard to prepare, hard to survive on- he said. But I love bread. My husband however is not eating grains right now- so your post was a tremendous help.

    vehementflame’s last blog post..Get your 80s back: Win A Fanny Pack!!

  8. Okay, I know my post today is about bread but I love what you wrote about. My dad talks to me about the “survivalist” diet he was on when he was young single and a traveling man. It had zero grains. Hard to grow, hard to prepare, hard to survive on- he said. But I love bread. My husband however is not eating grains right now- so your post was a tremendous help.

  9. Hi there, Thanks for your comment! I haven’t given up whole grains or legumes yet but I’m open to experimenting it at some point. I guess I hadn’t had any reason to so far! But I do try to make veges/fruits my main things and have recently gotten into getting grass-fed beef direct from a ranch! yay!

  10. Thanks for writing this article! As I started experimenting with WAPF this year, I’ve added a few things back into my diet that I am still not sure I should be eating: all things raw or grassfed milk, cheese, butter! I have never done well on grains, so I didn’t even attempt to do the soaking, fermenting of them. I am still exhibiting some strange symptoms so I may need to cut out all the dairy and see if that helps me out. It’s good that you listen to your body.. that’s the biggest key to health! ~Erica

  12. I have found that all grains are not the same for me. Wheat is problematic, but oats are not so much. My husband doesn’t do well with grains either.

    But they are inexpensive…*sigh*. Thankfully in the summer we have enough veggies from our CSA to fill out menus with minimal grains.

    Noelle’s last blog post..Real Food Wednesday

  13. There is a very informative show on television called Know The Cause. It can be viewed Monday-Friday or watched online at http://www.knowthecause.com
    The man, Doug Kaufmann, who hosts this show recommends following a Phase One diet for 1 or 2 months to see if it helps people who are having a yeast, mold, fungus, candida issues. This Phase One plan starves yeast, mold in your body.

    I highly recommend taking one week of your time and watching this program. The show is about 30 minutes. My husband and I watch it all the time on television.

    The Phase One plan is outlined on the webpage under Frequently Asked Questions.

    Helen

    Helen

  14. I guess I’m in the same boat as some of these other ladies. The expense. Do you have any thoughts on keeping growing children filled up easily and relatively inexpensively without grains? They love cheese, fruit, yogurt, etc… for snacks, but buying these things organic/local equivalent sure adds up with the quantities they eat (and they are just 8, 4, 2.5, and 14 months, not teens).

  15. Great post! I gave up grains almost a decade ago and my body is much happier for it.

    I don’t even try to explain to people what I eat, a look of bewilderment crosses their face the moment I go beyond the words “gluten-free.”

    Thanks for shedding some light on an under-exposed subject.

    Elana’s last blog post..Quick and Easy Gourmet Garlic Oil

  16. Great post! It came as a great reminder to me to keep fighting the trend. I love your recipes, too! Keep up the awesome work! 🙂

  17. Dh and I are grain free (as well as starchy veggies/fruit). The kids are not, but I’d love for them to eat less of them.

    I find that even when I make them oats/rice/wheat based snacks, they are still so hungry and are still eating me out of the house. It’s just easier to feed them a protein/veg/fruit snack and have that hold them over till meal time.

    Motherhen68’s last blog post..Food Revolutuion

  18. Giving up grains, potatoes, and beans is the latest thing I’ve done for my health, and I feel wonderful. I have more energy than I’ve had in years, my depression is mostly gone (I’m hypoglycemic so I never ate winter squash type vegetables, and I also found that milk and yogurt have too much carbohydrate for me).
    Thanks for your post, it’s always good to see someone else trying what I am!

  19. I enjoyed this post. I am on the same journey. Hubby and I were on a low carb diet for 1 1/2 years and we felt GREAT. We got off that and lately, I’ve just been trying to implement Whole, Real Foods into our diet and cut out sugar, refined, and processed foods. I want so badly to keep adding grains, but whenever I do, I find myself feeling headache-y and sluggish and bloated, even when I soak the grains. 🙁

    Hubby is having a hard time with no grains. Ever since we were on low carb, my cravings are gone for carbs. I could live without them, except when it comes to eating out. That’s really hard sometimes.

  20. Could you post a little about how to do this, specifically what do you eat in place of this? What do your meals look like? I’d love to try this as I think it would help with weight and energy and also my husband’s skin allergies and asthma.
    Thanks,
    Christy

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  22. We have a tough time keeping weight on here at my place.
    We love our whole grains and don’t have the problems you have mentioned. I soak or sprout most of the time, then other times I don’t.
    I think it’s all about how you feel when you eat certain foods.
    There is a lot of research out there showing wonderful health benefits of increasing whole grains.
    So, you have to listen to your body.

    We also love our raw goats’ milk from our lovely does and fresh organic veggies from our backyard.

  23. Interesting post! Thank you!

    Both my husband and I do better on a low-carb diet, specifically in terms of weight loss, but never went specifically grain-free.

    I frankly could give up most grains, for me they’re filler and are mainly used as a means to eat tastier things (pasta with meat sauce, rice with stir fry, grains as a filler in a salad or burrito . . . ) but I do enjoy my breads. Tortillas, pita, crackers and I’ve been on a sourdough baking journey recently that would be tough to give up, but it is certainly something that I can reduce a bit at a time or eat once a week and I’d be happy with the change. We’ll see!

    This post is great food for thought! Thank you!

    Best,
    Sarah

    PS – Elana’s blog has some good grain/gluten-free cracker recipes . . . maybe I’ll have to experiment with those to eat with my cheese or salmon salad! 🙂

    Sarah’s last blog post..Daybook

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  25. has anyone found that going off grains was at first very very very difficult– as in “withdrawals” difficult?
    i’m experiencing that feeling, along with a major dip in energy. i previously ate vegan so i incorporated eggs back right away. (i’m on day 3 of this experiment.) but i’m finding it daunting. any support you can give would be appreciated.

    ps. i understand quinoa is technically not a grain but is a seed… any thoughts on that?

    THANK YOU! amy

    1. great question! When I went off grains I definitely noticed withdrawals and cravings. The things that helped me were
      1) Do NOT give in and eat them anyways. It will pass eventually.
      2) Eat a TON of good fats. Lots of coconut oil, butter, etc.

      Are you still mostly vegan aside from the eggs? If not I would eat a ton of eggs and full fat healthy dairy (raw if you can get it).

      If you are still a vegan, except the eggs… eat 3-4 eggs per day, lots of coconut oil and avocado and healthy nuts like walnuts, almonds, and chia seeds.

      Honestly I am not a proponent of a vegan diet for health reasons, though I respect the ethical reasons that you may choose to do so.

      Let me know if that helps and if you have any other questions!

    2. @amy r,

      Yes, we become very addicted to grains and you will indeed go through withdrawal at first. It’s very difficult. But after about a week, you start to feel great and the cravings are less and less. If you suffer from Candida, the cravings will be even worse, as the bacteria is in search of sugar/starch. As for quinoa, you are correct; it is a seed. As is buckwheat, amaranth, and chia. I find I do much better on all pseudograins than I do actual grains such as wheat, rice, oats, etc. They are glutinous (even the wheat-free grains) and tend to wreak havoc on the intestines. I’d suggest avoiding them when possible.

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  28. I tend to think grain-free will be the next step for the gluten-freers out there who have felt better since removing gluten, but still have issues (like myself). I know that grain-free is probably the best for me, but it can be hard at times to follow it (time, eating out, etc.).

    I think ultimately, grains are hard to digest for many of us (there seems to be some credibility to different blood types experiencing different reactions) and break down into sugar pretty quickly, even when whole (I find that for myself). But as with everything in life, we each need to find our own balance/comfort with eating, since as we all know, eating is important to our health beyond vitamins and minerals – it feeds our sense of connection with friends and family, and comforts on several levels.

    I just published a great piece from a friend and Wellness Coach who went grain-free at my site, http://www.holisticwithhumor.com/beyond-gluten-free-what-its-like-to-go-grainless. She included tons of resources, which is always helpful.

    Thanks for sharing your experience, Shannon!

  29. Do not eat eggs, contain cholesterol, do not eat grains, contain gluthen, do not eat meat for the same reason, do not do not do not. What shall we eat then? If I eat only veggies, let s say, green salad and tomatoes, I will have alcer in one month and my mouth will be sore for weeks. Grain makes actually a balance in our intestines. A little bit of bread, no matter whole grain or baked out of refined flower is actually healthy to maintain that balance in the digestive system.

  30. I think we need grain to maintain a balance in our digestive system. If I eat only green salad and tomatoes I will have acidic stomach and sore mouth. Do not eat grain – contain gluthen, do not eat eggs or meat – contain cholesterol, do not do not, what we actually are allowed to eat??My parents in law eat grain every day and they are in their ninties and in great health. They never had any health problem. Our ancestries ate grain and lived long and healthy lives. Nowdays, it is a trend to adhere to some diet, yet, more more young people die from cancer and suffer from alergies. I think eating grain and everything else in moderation is healthy. We need “bad comfort” food too time to time.

  31. I don’t eat grains because my body tells me not to. I do love grains and I do miss them, but whenever I eat them my mood and energy go down. It’s so not worth it. Nice to hear I’m not the only one living grain-free.

  34. Usually when someone has hypoglycemia means they need more salt in their diet not table salt you need sea salt or celtic salt that should help you it sure helped me you should try it. I became hypoglycemic because i went on a no processed food diet which i took no salt intake and i became hypo so if u take in less salt try adding some.

  35. Wow ! Great post ! I have been grain free for 35 years. Twenty years ago I gave up all vegetables, meats and fruits. About ten years ago I gave up all liquids including water. Now I just live on air and sunlight. I have tons of energy and everyone tells me how great I look. I have never felt better in my life !

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