50 Shades of Grain

Wow.  When I said I would explain the grain avoidance in a Paleo diet, I had no idea how challenging it would be to take information I've read in 3 different books, multiple articles, and numerous websites and oversimplify it into basic concepts for a blog post. Here's what I tell people when they ask me why I don't eat grains of any type much anymore, and why. 

How can you tell me to avoid something that has vitamins, minerals, FIBER, and that I've heard is heart-healthy?  Gluten has become quite the fallen celebrity over the past decade, and most people are realizing that it's not good for a lot of people, but no one is really sure why.  I know that most Americans like their grains, I do too.  After finding correlations between what I was reading and how I felt, I gave elimination of all grains a try for 30 days.  I felt ridiculously better than I had in years, so I extended the 30 days.  When I have some kind of grain, for whatever reason, I respond with all kinds of negative physical symptoms.  So what gives?

The answer comes from ancestral health, biochemistry, and agricultural studies, and I have attempted to wrap it all up into a non-boring explanation.  Living things all have a natural protection from predators.  We have our spidey senses.  Porcupines have quills.  Rabbits have giant ears and sensitive neurological systems.  Frogs have a nasty odor that apparently tastes horrible (wouldn't know).  Plants also want to keep their species alive.  Poison Ivy protects itself by making you itch all over and get all swolt up (that's how I hear the word "swollen" quite often)  Fruit produces undigestible seeds that are eaten by animals and pooped back out.  Those unharmed seeds sprout new fruit trees.  Nut seeds have a protective shell.  When they land in the ground, if they aren't cracked open, the seed grows into a new tree.  All life forms have some sort of protective mechanism.

Wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, rice and sorghum all have a different type of protection.  Grains also face the challenge of survival.  They only want the wind to blow them around where they can regrow.  The bran (outer layer of the grain) contains anti-nutrients that protect it from digestion.  The bran protects the germ, which is the reproductive part of the grain and contains the most nutrients.  Grains, like poison ivy, don't go down the hatch without a fight.  They contain lectins, which frankly irritate the gut's lining, the microvilli.  What some call high fiber, the intestines see as a scratching, tearing irritant.   Now, your gut becomes leaky.  Bigger, undigestible proteins, including the lectins, go into your blood stream and wreak havoc. Normally, the only proteins leaking through should be the digestible amino acids. 

Now that your intestines are leaking these larger proteins through, your body recognizes them as a bacteria, virus, or parasite.  This bran is still working hard to ensure its survival.  Your immune system launches a counter-attack against the insurgent protein, and destroys them.  In the process, it creates an antibody to go looking for future attackers, which might just be your next healthy bran muffin.  This inflammatory response against these proteins can also lead to attack on similar proteins already in your body, causing an autoimmune response, or friendly fire disease.  These antibodies, created in your body, start attaching to the wrong thing - your thyroid, your gut, your joints, causing anything from a minor disturbance or irritant to Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, eczema, celiac disease, or many, many more.  Systemic inflammation simply wears down your immunity, leading to those unexplainable achy joints, excessive mucous in the morning, adult acne or irritable bowel.  The good news is that with only a week or two of eliminating these from the diet, the gut heals and the symptoms dissipate. 

Ready for more? Here's the interesting ancestral part.  For 150,000 years, humans lived by hunting and gathering.  They did not eat or process grains.  10,000 years ago, the agricultural revolution started, and grains began being consumed.  Interestingly, through many studies, scientists have determined that our DNA is virtually the same as our 150,000 year old ancestors.  So, as a species, we have not evolved into something different.  Our ancestors were taller, and and there is evidence they lived into their 60s, on nature alone.  Infant mortality was low.  No evidence of bone malformation, cancer, diabetes, nearsightedness, cavities, or acne (there are studies upon studies, and part of me thinks I should have been doing a dig somewhere because I find it really interesting.)  Our ancestors died mostly from trauma or old age. Apparently humans have been making dangerous decisions forever.  There's no gene for that. 

Finally, grains are cheap carbs.  You can get all the vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates your body needs from vegetables and fruit.  You can get all the proteins you need from meat.  Your fats? The ones you need can come from nuts, avocados, and seeds.  Our pancreas hasn't evolved to handle all the variety and massive amounts of carbs we fire at it now.  Every time we eat carbs, our pancreas responds by producing insulin.  Over time, our insulin response weakens, leading to insulin resistance.  Under stress, our cortisol levels increase, leading to the tire around the belly.  It's a metabolic downward spiral.  By eliminating these cheap carbs, our insulin response settles down, and our blood sugar normalizes.  No more rollercoaster of high blood sugar (energy, alertness) to low blood sugar (nap time, cloudy thoughts, disorganization).  Throughout the day, the blood sugar remains nicely in the normal range, and we feel leveled. 

One more thing.  Gluten creates the sticky sludge in dough.  It does the same in our gut, before it leaks through into our blood system.  Did you know that gluten is one of the ingredients in wallpaper paste?  Yep, we've eaten that. 

I'm not saying that eating all of these things will kill you or hurt you now.  But the long term inflammatory effects may contribute to the development of illness or health problems.  The occasional dose of some sort of grain isn't going to poison us.  But your gut will shout out loud and clear, after it's been absent for awhile, that it is most definately not a welcome guest. 

Then, there's the whole agricultural component to this argument.  The FDA places grains pretty high up there in the pyramid.  Corn and wheat production help to sustain our wobbly economy.  If everyone ate a paleo diet and rejected grains as part of their diet, can you imagine what would happen to our country's economy? All of the processed food contains it.  High fructose corn syrup is everywhere. Gluten is everywhere. 

Look, I'm not an expert by any means.  I'm a geek that likes to read.  I'm also a testimonial. Even with the workout beatdowns I give myself, I do not have any joint pain anymore.  I no longer get mystery headaches.  I don't wake up with a phlegmy cough.  My skin is clear.  My thyroid is measurably smaller.  It works.  Try it, be strict for 30 days, and see what you think.  If you do, I would suggest reading Robb Wolf's book, because it launches into much more detail.  50 Shades of Grain might start out as enjoyable, but it ends up hurting and leaving its mark in the end - (sorry, couldn't resist.)