This past weekend my whole family went grain free. Â Â If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, then you know that I have been avoiding grains for a couple of months now. Â Â I have eaten small amounts a few times at dinners out and have felt really tired and lethargic the next day or two for doing so. Â It has become really clear to me that I do much better completely off all grains. Â There is also a huge difference between eating no grains and eating even small amounts of grains, at least in my case.
It’s amazing that it took me almost 10 years of traditional eating to discover this fact. Â My husband is the same way. Â Â He’s been off grains since Feb 19, 2010 (but whose counting?) and he says he hasn’t felt this good since Middle School. Â Â That’s quite a testimonial especially for someone who was basically raised on organic, biodynamic whole foods (his Mother is amazing and a real pioneer in this area).
Lately, my husband and I have been discussing whether or not to take the kids off grains too, if only for a couple days a week. Â After all, if both of us do better off grains, there is a very strong possibility that there is a genetic component to our digestion not handling grains very well. Â If that is true, then the kids would do better off grains too.
Problem is, our kids really enjoy their grains and seem to show no ill effects from eating them. Â None has any allergies or other issues that could be linked with poor digestion. Â Â They certainly don’t overdo – refined carbs in any form, organic or not, are not welcome in our pantry. Â They do enjoy sourdough bread or sprouted English muffins for breakfast, though. Â With a few exceptions, they basically eat no grains the rest of day. Â Our dinners rarely include a grain (some rice or homemade pizza once a week or so) and consist primarily of meat and veggies. Â Â I rarely serve pasta (maybe once a month), as pasta, unless you make it yourself with sprouted wheat, is just a bowl of sugar to me and not very nourishing fare for anyone.
It seems, then, that removing what little grains my children eat would be pretty easy. Â Â Not so. Â When I suggested it to them, I was surprised at how resistant they were to the idea. Â Â It became clear that I was going to have to use all my ingenuity to get my little experiment off the ground.
Three Days Grain Free
This past Thursday, I decided that Memorial Day weekend would be a good time for our family’s grain free experiment. Â Â For three days, no one in our home would consume anything made of grains, even if properly prepared. Â Â Meals would consist of only meat, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, and fresh dairy.
I made a large batch of honey muffins made with coconut flour, several large pizza crusts made with almond flour, and a huge bowl of crustless pumpkin pie (sweetened with dates, not sugar) in preparation.   I knew I need to entice the kids with very yummy alternatives to avoid 3 straight days of whining about “where is my toast!”  I didn’t have to worry about grumbling for chips, (store) cookies, and crackers as we don’t have those sorts of processed foods in our home anyway.
And so, the experiment began. Â Here is what I observed:
– The kids were noticeably more more cooperative with each other.   They played more games with each other without needing me to intervene and referee some disagreement.   Given that grains are very difficult to digest and any undigested or underdigested bits can cause toxins that spill into the blood and cause irritability, this was not surprising to me.   The books Gut and Psychology Syndrome and GAPS Guide (2 Books)
– Their appetites were ravenous. Â Â This really surprised me. Â Â Particularly my youngest child who is the pickiest eater – typical for a child her age (or so I thought). Â Â She was eating more food than I have ever seen her eat and not being in the least picky about it. Â Â It was like her digestion was freed from bondage and textures and new flavors weren’t bothering her anymore. Â Amazing.
– All of them really loved the pizza made with crust made of almond flour.  I will be making pizza this way from now on as my kids won’t eat almonds any other way.  What a great discovery of how to get nuts into them!
– Little things didn’t seem to bother the kids as much. Â They seemed to laugh more and be grumpy less. Â It was a delightful weekend. Â Â Happy kids are much less stress for Mom, that’s for sure!
Where Do We Go From Here?
Based on the success of our grain free weekend, my husband and I have decided to go grain free as a family every weekend, schedule and travel plans permitting. Â Flexibility in this approach is key, of course. Â Â Militancy in one’s approach to eating is never a good idea. Â Â Giving the kids a regular break from these very hard to digest foods can only be helpful to their growth and development, particularly since both Mom and Dad have issues in that area, at least in the short term.
If any of you have any ideas to share in this area regarding your family’s approach to grains, please share them in the comments section. Â I would love to know about it and I’m sure others reading this blog would too.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Carolyn – I believe that according to NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL DEGENERATION, Price found the Swiss to be among the less healthy cultures he studied, likely due to their high grain consumption. But they still enjoyed good dental health compared to modern societies, thanks to the large quantities of vitamin K2 from grass-fed dairy.
More from Stephan at Whole Health Source:
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/search/label/dental health
And Dr. Kurt Harris on why no grains:
I've been grain-free for over 2 years now and have been feeling great. I have Celiac for which most doctors recommend going gluten-free but I didn't find relief from pain until I got rid of all grains.
I agree, rice is the worst!
I wish as a child my parents didn't allow me so much grain. I lived off bread and cereal. I probably would have been happy and healthy without any grains. You are doing a great service to your children!
Great input, Paula. Thanks!
I would also like to remind folks if they are going on a grain free experiment themselves to not forget the rice! Rice is absolutely the WORST for me .. it makes me more lethargic by a long shot than even improperly prepared wheat. Very surprising as rice seems to be such an innocent grain with no gluten etc. Appearances can be deceptive. I agree, Paula, that until you actually try it, you won't realize what a difference it actually makes. I must warn that going off them caused me to have congestion for about 3 weeks (not a cold and not allergies, just congestion) from the gut rebalancing going on.
Outstanding post Sarah, as usual! Being out of town for the Memorial holiday and partaking of a few things I normally abstain from left me feeling lethargic, cloudy headed, slightly irritable and not my usual self on Tuesday. I have been grain free for 2 years now, when I periodically stray I notice the ill effects for about 2 days. What you said above reinforces that along with why I abstain.
I have no children but have noticed significant results in my clients when they make nutritional improvements and go grain free. The changes are similar to those you observed in your children. I also notice a stabilization in their moods as well as feeling better, calmer, more confident and happier. It literally transforms them right before my eye–some cases are so dramatic they become a "different person" or maybe the person they truly are. . .
On the homefront, my husband who never seemed to be bothered by them is amazed at how much better he feels without them. I don't think anyone will realize this until they take them out for awhile and then put back in and notice the effects.
This may sound wierd, but why not try making idli or dosas the next time you feel like experimenting with grains. Both are made from lacto fermented rice and lentils (two of the easiest to digest "Phytate Foods" in existence) that has either been steamed in an egg poacher (idli) or cooked like a pancake (dosas). There are recipes for both in Nourishing Traditions, as well as videos on Youtube explaining how to make them.
What about the cultures that Weston A. Price studied? The Swiss villagers had excellent health and they ate quite a bit of grains (in the form of whole rye bread).
Carolyn
Hey there Sarah, I feel completey overwhelmed! I've been trying to make things from scratch (breads, cookies, even my husband's favorite Little Debbie Bananna Twins) but no I've been reading how bad flour, even processed wheat flour is for you. Knowing my personality I need to take things one step at a time or I'll get overwhelmed and give up – what first step would you recommend for making these things but using a "better flour?" At some point I do want to attempt sprouting my own seeds but I need to be sure my husband will tolerate what I'm making before I go to the expense of buying seeds, etc.
Also – You mentioned almond flour – I have an oral allergy to raw almonds but do fine on roasted. (I often eat them as a snack) is almond four made from raw or cooked/roasted almonds? thanks so much!! Blessings!
Yes, whole grains are recommended as part of a healthy diet by conventional medical establishment. The problem is that people eat too many of them even if whole grain (they are very cheap food after all) and they are very hard to digest in most cases contributing to all manner of digestive and auto immune illness over time. Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride MD's book "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" discusses the physiology of this in detail. The health of people who limit or even eliminate grains is quite superior to those who eat a lot of them and depend on them as the basis of the diet as put forth by the very misleading US Food Pyramid.
Hi Sarah, an interesting post but I am all mixed up now as I always believed whole grains were good and necessary for a healthy body. Take oats for example which help reduce cholesterol. Maybe you are just referring to refined grains? I know these aren't healthy!
It was interesting to read about how your children reacted to this diet. Thanks for sharing Sarah!
This is great! We have not gone grain free but we have gone gluten free, for the most part and it has made a huge difference. One of my little ones has to be gluten free or he has real issues. Bread is our hardest thing … we are use to sandwiches and such, so we struggle to eliminate the bread.
Great glimpse of your observations, thanks!