Grains in a Nutshell

In this post, whenever I say 'grains', I mean:

- grains

- legumes
- beans

- nuts

- seeds

so just include all those when I use the word 'grain', got that?

You might have noticed that my posts could sometimes say things like 'This is paleo so I'll eat it' or 'Preferably, soak/sprout the grains' and it might pique your interest as to why I tend to shy away from grains.

I would like to stress that I AM NOT ON A LOW CARB DIET. I don't do diets. Especially low carbs, because you need carbs for energy.

The reason why I put grains to the side is not because of what they give you (lots of energy), but what they take away from you. There's more to those nasty little buggers than meets the eye.

I could go on for hours about why you shouldn't eat grains, which grains are better for you, who can eat more grains than others, ways to sub grains, grains that aren't actually grains, health benefits of grains, but I just wanted to make a short little post so that you guys can get a bit of a taste as to why grains aren't as great as they're made out to be.

Have you ever wondered
why those seeds in your fridge never start growing like some of your fruits and veggies might (I'm thinking garlic and chokos at the moment)? Remember, seeds are those things that you plant in the ground to make a tree. Grains are made the same way; they were designed to start growing new grain plants. So why don't you have a tree in your fridge by now? And no, the answer is not the soil or the sunlight.

Grains have these chemicals in them called antinutrients and basically what they do is suck nutrients out of your body, instead of putting nutrients into your body. Sometimes, if they can't take nutrients from the food you just ate with it or a few hours before, it can suck out the good stuff in your body like calcium in your bones, or iron or magnesium in your blood. Which you don't want!

Still don't want to give up your grains? You can have your grains and eat them too, thankfully. To kill (deactivate) these antinutrients, the best way is to soak them. As a general guide, 1 part grain to 2 parts water plus a bit of cultured stuff or vinegar does the trick.

For the right amount of acid, add a tablespoon per cup of water (not too much or they'll smell yuck! It's not nice.). For the types of acid you can use, feel free to use anything like apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, white vinegar, whey, but yoghurt, kefir and buttermilk are supposed to be better as they start digesting the grains for you. But that's a whole other story! I'll have to read more on that later.

This is obviously a part one to a million part story; I have a heap more to say (and to find out) about grains! If you want to read more about how grains ruin our tummies have a read through the articles down below :)

Sources

http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/be-kind-to-your-grains

http://www.sott.net/article/224159-Plants-Bite-Back-The-Surprising-All-Natural-Anti-Nutrients-and-Toxins-in-Plant-Foods

http://www.allaboutfasting.com/soaking-grains.html