What to expect if you eat grains...

Hi all,

Some people here on 30BaD eat grains when they can't get enough fruit. Grains are better than meat and dairy, but they are far from perfect.

These are some of the symptoms you will probably experience if you eat grains (or cooked starches)...

Short-term symptoms:

Congestion
Head colds
Weakened immune system
Foul gas
Constipation
Dry skin and lips

Long-term symptoms

Enlarged, overworked pancreas (starches require more digestive enzymes than sugar)
Increased risk of cancer in pancreas, stomach, and esophogus
Nutrient deficiencies
Tooth decay
Damaged intestinal villi
Coeliac disease (wheat specifically)
Increased risk of arthritis
Hardened arteries and tissues (from mineral deposits)

Source: "Improving on Pritikin: Grains are for Birds" (PDF version attached)

The way I see it, the goal of food health is to maximize bodily nutrition while minimizing bodily harm. Fruits and leafy greens are the only foods that do both of those things.

Grains do neither of these things. They are deficient in a number of important nutrients including potassium, calcium, vitamin A, C, E, and K, and they contain phytates that block the absorption of other important minerals including iron and zinc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid). Moreover, grains cause a significant amount of damage to the digestive system and the rest of the body because 1) they are acid-forming--leading to arthritis, cancer, weakened immune system, early aging and hardening of the arteries, 2) they contain substances that resist/irritate digestion--leading to damaged intestines, constipation, gas,etc, and 3) they are high in cooked starch--straining the digestive system and causing the pancreas to hypertrophy 2-3 times its normal size. Unfortunately, this damage occurs regardless of whether the body shows short-term symptoms.

Best,

Danny

Tags: grain, grains, potato, potatoes, starch, starches, wheat

0 members like this

Attachments:

Improving on Pritikin.pdf, 670 KB

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lauren Anderson on January 17, 2012 at 8:43am

Wow... I thought they were so harmless. Thanks for the info!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dovima on January 17, 2012 at 8:47am

I ache and feel moody off of grains too. Not to mention any cooked food awakens food cravings in me.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by 1z9dt31x24k11 on January 17, 2012 at 9:14am

i dont get any of that?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Danny Nelson on January 17, 2012 at 10:34am

I am not saying that grains always cause these symptoms--I am just saying that grain consumption is strongly correlated with these symptoms.

Also, the long-term symptoms often aren't noticeable until much later in life.

Best,

Danny

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Cody Miller on January 17, 2012 at 10:36am

Thanks for the information! I will definitely keep that in mind as I make this transition to 100% HCRV.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by fruit soup on January 17, 2012 at 10:44am

cooked grains are for humans, uncooked grains are for birds. i don't know why grains are demonized so much, they practically built modern civilization. for the few people who actually have digestive and health problems with them they can always turn to potatoes, corn, beans, squash etc. look at the well over a billion people in asia who have lived on rice and vegetables for eons as well as many other cultures. the larger part of the worlds population have grains to thank for their sustenance, along with cooked whole food starches. this is a part of human history, as is fruitarianism which is rooted further back to the very origins of the species before the agricultural revolution started and caused the population explosion

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dovima on January 17, 2012 at 11:06am

I don't care about history but rather my experience with them.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Fruit Yogi on January 17, 2012 at 3:53pm

maybe you were eating glutenous grains...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dovima on January 17, 2012 at 5:27pm

No, I was also referring to rice, corn and quinoa unfortunately.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Fruit Yogi on January 17, 2012 at 5:29pm

nice, that's pretty interesting

i'm fiending for more fruit :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by sunwukung on January 17, 2012 at 11:19am

I think two things are happening here:

one is that grains don't support a level of health a bit similar to fruit without a great amount of greens to compesate some effects of them, and many cultures historically have had serious problems of health in some periods of only grain and legumes diets,

second, I think our general health is colectively worse and worse because of lacking essential things as long lactating, enough exercise from childhood, absence of a systematic poisoning of our blood through vaccines and many other pollutants and drugs, etc, so more and more of us have digestive power really limited and maybe we have come to a point than to recover and mantain us healthy we neccesarily have to eat the best food of all, the easier for the body to digest.

In my case I can eat some grains yet without many bad feelings, but it is not optimun at all, and of course I better don't eat gluten grains, and often (one, two days a week).