Are grains good or bad?
While perusing the internet for real food recipes, you’ve probably come across recipes titled “grain-free”. You’ve also probably read a few articles or books on the subject of grains and a recommendation for avoiding them completely.
There’s a lot of confusing information out there on whether or not grains are meant for human consumption. The nutritional pyramid tells us that grains should be a good portion of our diet, yet, many nutritionists and bloggers recommend eliminating grains completely.
So, why such opposite views? And what’s the REAL scoop on whether grains are good or bad for us?
Today, I’m going to give ya’ll my opinion on grains. First, let’s go over the arguments AGAINST grains:
- Grains have phytic acid – phytic acid inhibits the absorption of minerals from grains and the foods eaten with grains. A high consumption of phytic acid will make the body deficient in minerals.
- Grains have enzyme-inhibitors – we need enzymes to digest our food and simply put, without enzymes, grains can’t be fully digested.
- Grains have lectins – Lectins are sugar-binding proteins, and as protectors of the grain, can produce toxic effects in the body.
- Some grains have gluten – Wheat, Spelt, Barley, & Rye all contain gluten, which, can irritate a sensitive gut and produce inflammatory responses for those who are sensitive.
Sounds pretty bad right? Are you ready to jump on the grain-free boat now? I’ll admit, all of these arguments can be pretty convincing when it comes to deciding if grains are bad.
So, what do I think about grains?
I believe that grains can be included in a healthy diet, as long as they’re properly prepared. I don’t think we need to eat a diet high in grains, but I think we can find a healthy balance. Do I consider it at the base of my pyramid? No. I eat a balance of whole meat, fats, vegetables, fruits, and grains. I don’t eliminate, I just eat the best version possible of each group.
My argument FOR grains:
- Phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, lectins, and gluten can all be greatly reduced if not completely neutralized by methods of soaking, sprouting, or sour leavening, as well as cooking.
Most of these anti-nutrients are part of the seed’s system of preservation—they prevent sprouting until the conditions are right. Plants need moisture, warmth, time and slight acidity in order to sprout. Proper preparation of grains is a kind and gentle process that imitates the process that occurs in nature. It involves soaking for a period in warm, acidulated water in the preparation of porridge, or long, slow sour dough fermentation in the making of bread. Such processes neutralize phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors. Vitamin content increases, particularly B vitamins. Tannins, complex sugars, gluten and other difficult-to-digest substances are partially broken down into simpler components that are more readily available for absorption. (source)
Here are some of my grain recipes (prepared properly of course):
- Soaked Whole-Grain Donuts
- Soaked Whole-Grain Biscuits
- Soaked Whole-Grain Cornbread
- Soaked Whole-Grain Tortillas
- Soaked Whole-Wheat Bread
- Wild Sourdough Donuts
- Wild Sourdough Bread
- Sprouted Flour Brownies
- Sprouted Flour Cookies
- Sprouted Flour Pancakes
- Sprouted Quick Rolls
- Soaked Granola
- I don’t see lectins as a major concern because they are also found in tomatoes, potatoes, string beans, zucchini, green peas, asparagus, radish, sweet peppers, cucumber seeds, mushrooms, cherries, pomegranate, grape seeds, raspberry seeds, apples, watermelon, grapefruit, banana, lemon, orange, strawberries, currants, plums, garlic, marjoram, allspice, nutmeg, peppermint, cocoa beans, walnuts, hazelnuts, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. The amount of lectins also depends on the ripeness of the plant and the time of season harvested. Lectins are also greatly reduced in properly prepared grains.
- Many healthy traditional societies have consumed grains prepared properly and have thrived for thousands of years.
In India, rice and lentils are fermented for at least two days before they are prepared as idli and dosas; in Africa the natives soak coarsely ground corn overnight before adding it to soups and stews and they ferment corn or millet for several days to produce a sour porridge called ogi; a similar dish made from oats was traditional among the Welsh; in some Oriental and Latin American countries rice receives a long fermentation before it is prepared; Ethiopians make their distinctive injera bread by fermenting a grain called teff for several days; Mexican corn cakes, called pozol, are fermented for several days and for as long as two weeks in banana leaves; before the introduction of commercial brewers yeast, Europeans made slow-rise breads from fermented starters; in America the pioneers were famous for their sourdough breads, pancakes and biscuits; and throughout Europe grains were soaked overnight, and for as long as several days, in water or soured milk before they were cooked and served as porridge or gruel. (Many of our senior citizens may remember that in earlier times the instructions on the oatmeal box called for an overnight soaking.) (source)
When should grains be avoided?
In my opinion, grains shouldn’t be viewed as all good or all bad. You really have to determine if your body can tolerate them and if you can commit to preparing grains properly. Those with Celiac, Crohn’s diease, or IBS certainly need to work on healing their gut before consuming properly prepared grains.
Also, when eating grains, you need to understand that in order to absorb the calcium, phosphorus, iron, B vitamins and others in grains, they need to be eaten with foods that contain fat-soluble vitamins A and D found in animal fats like butter, lard and cream. And honestly, doesn’t it taste better that way too? Fresh, sourdough bread with butter is one of my favorites!
Let me just end here with saying that whether you eat grains or not isn’t up to me. You have to decide for yourself what is best. I have friends who eat all sorts of diets From Grain-free to Paleo to Vegan, and I think the most important thing to remember is that we all have a common goal of eating real food and avoiding processed, factory-farmed foods. A real food diet will always win! So choose if you want to eat grains, and if you do, preparing them properly is the way to go!
In the next 4 weeks, I’m going to share 4 different blog posts all dedicated to teaching you how to prepare grains properly, so if you’re interested, stick around to learn all about it!
What’s your opinion on grains? In your experience, have you found if they are good or bad?
After reading all the bad about grains, and well, because I was trying to figure out why a felt tired all the time, I stopped eating them for about 12 months. I felt fine, I stopped feeling tired, my sleep improved, I lost 61 lbs in weight, and I’d pretty much stopped using my asthma inhaler, but my overall carb intake dropped and my training seemed to suffer(weights/sprints). So, I recently introduced grains back into my diet, rice, whole grain bread etc… My training intensity improved instantly, as did my progression. However, after about two weeks my body was constantly sore, I felt bloated, lethargic and well, just really crappy all of the time. My weight shot up too, even though my caloric intake was the same and water balance stayed constant at 59% – 60%. I reduced protein intake and increased carb intake, in the form of grains, but kept the calories the same. My asthma also got worse pretty much instantly.
I wasn’t overly convinced about the downside of grains before, but now I am. The first week back on grains felt fine, but I now believe that toxicity builds up very quickly and is far more noticeable than it was in the years before I stopped eating grains. Conclusion – grains are bad.
It’s hard to take in enough carbs for my needs without grains, so I’m just going to have to make a few compromises with my training intensity and duration to accommodate for the reduced carb intake.
Someone above mentioned that their mood improved when introducing grains back into their diet. I felt the same for the first week or so. But that was more to do with increased carb intake. Overall, the grains have made things a lot worse for me, and your mood very quickly swings back into the opposite direction. The muscular soreness obviously derives from a constant low level of inflammation, that only seems to increase over time. It is not the same feeling that you get with DOMS related exercise soreness, which only really last a couple of days, and soon dissipates.
So for me, I’m dropping grains back out of my diet again.
It’s not the grains that are bad it’s the way they are prepared before eating them that is bad.
AND one thing to know about the harvest of grains; right before harvest grains are sprayed with a chemical called glyphosate.
This is truly the culprit for all the aches and pains we feel today, gut issues etc.
And that’s why grains make us feel this bad today. It never used to be like this.
I am from France and when I go home I can eat all the grain I want without any bad reaction. We eat a lot of bread in France!
Coming back in the USA I have to be extremely vigilant of the source of my bread or grains so I don’t get any health issues.
Grains are good for us and we crave them.
Hi Marie. Where do you buy your breads and grains?
Darren, I had a similar experience but more extreme – feeling tired and achy like a very old woman (I was mid-thirties) and I also had bad memory problems and brain fog. When I gave up wheat, all that went away. Now I bake sourdough bread made with organic flour and feel better than I’ve ever felt (sourdough is great for gut health too, as all fermented foods are). If I eat anything with bleached flour it it, I get very sick like my body is attacking it (headache, nausea and usually vomiting, exhaustion, etc). A little research into bleached flour will tell you it is bad news. Although no chemicals are technically added to the flour, a toxic substance called Alloxan is formed. Read up about Alloxan and you will be surprised it is allowed in our food. I wouldn’t eat bleached flour if it was the last food on earth. I suspect that it builds up in our bodies over time and could be one of the leading causes of diabetes. I was surprised that I couldn’t find a single scientific study relating the two, even though Alloxan is 100% effective in causing diabetes in lab rats! Prevention doesn’t make anyone rich, unfortunately. We have to think for ourselves in order to stay healthy.
Thank you for a well reasoned and informative article. I am into my second week of an Atkins-type diet. I have managed quite well, and I am happy that I have almost broken my toxic high carb addiction, which is a very good thing. But I can’t throw off this feeling of craving for a slice of good quality bread! I am going to my local food market and find a good high quality whole grain sourdough bread that I can add to my diet in sensible quantities. I don’t want to go back to that plastic white stuff they call bread, but I just know I will benefit from an addition of a good low GI ‘naturally baked’ bread. Thankfully there are some really good products out there if one goes looking.
I went on a paleo / grain-free diet for two and a half years. It messed up my metabolism and gave me anxiety and depression. I’ve just started eating grains again and my digestion, mood and everything just about has improved. I do want to prepare the grains properly as I did have IBS problems before I went on paleo. I’m going to try out your soaking methods. They look great and easy to follow.
Nice article,I like it 😉
Thank you so much for writing this article. I’ve been learning about healthy eating, collecting whole food recipes, and researching effects of eating meat and grains for the past two years and my head is SPINNING with all of the different “don’t eat this, don’t eat that” opinions. I appreciate that you took a neutral standpoint and explained not only what the arguments against/for grains are but the background behind these standpoints. Great piece.
I’m so excited to have found your blog! I’m definitely going to try preparing my grains now. I’ve always felt that if our ancestors have been eating grain for centuries, why all of a sudden are people having problems with it now? So confusing! Thank you so much for clarifying this for me!
Hi DaNelle,
I’ve been researching this question and have been really on the fence about whether to include sprouted grains in our diet or not. I really want to for the sake of traditional comforting foods, but then I’ve seen things like this that say the sprouting actually makes the wheat lectins stronger ( http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/07/05/other-nonwheat-grains-can-also-hurt-your-health.aspx) and other places which say that because of how our modern wheats have evolved we are dealing with a different more dangerous chromosomal variety. What do you think of these arguments? I’d really like them to be false because I do so miss bread!
Thanks in advance for any insight you may have!
Hi Catherine,
The modern version of wheat is definitely harder to digest than the older varieties, I’m not going to argue with that. In fact, I really enjoy eating the older “wheat varieties” like Spelt, Einkorn, & Emer. I don’t discourage the use of modern wheat, because I believe if you aren’t eating wheat constantly with packaged foods, then you are far better off. Also, if the wheat you’re baking with has been prepared properly, that’s even better. Everybody has to make the decision for themselves, and yes, it can be a tough one to make with all the conflicting advice out there:)
I had to stay away from grains for a few months to heal my digestion. Wheat was out of the question for a couple of years. Now I can eat small amounts–not every day–and do fine. Like Nancy, I used to overeat breads–they are so tasty! Now they are a treat and I focus on vegies.
For me, the issue is not digestion but something psychological. I can never have just one piece of bread, or one serving of rice. And it’s weird because I actually sense my brain being in conflict– on the one hand, I know that just one is enough but on the other hand, I seem to lose all self-control! I either have to avoid these foods entirely or make a conscious effort to put everything away and clean up before leaving the kitchen with my plate to go eat.
Thank you!!!!