Are you currently grain free or on the full GAPS Diet to heal your allergies or another autoimmune issue?
Fear not, this can and should be only a temporary situation!
Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride MD, author of groundbreaking book Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS), writes that almost half the population reports some sort of “allergy” to a food or foods.
Despite this sobering statistic, she estimates that only 1% of people cannot recover from these food allergies (yes, this includes celiac).
This means that only 1% of people really need to be grain free forever.  Going grain free to reverse allergies should be only a 1 1/2 to 2 year process, not a lifelong sentence in the vast majority of cases!
The important thing is to know how to prepare your grains traditionally when you re-introduce them!
Plenty of Traditional Societies consumed grains, some like the Swiss obtained a large share of their calories from sourdough bread.  Hunter-gatherers from Canada, the Everglades, Australia, Africa, and the Amazon consumed a variety of grains, tubers, vegetables and fruits that were available in addition to plenty of animal foods, so don’t fall for the incorrect notion that ancestral societies didn’t eat grains and that it is unhealthy to do so.
And, if you haven’t yet learned to prepare your grains traditionally and are still consuming plenty of modern grains on a daily basis, you better learn quick as the autoimmune/allergy train is coming down the tracks at full speed and it’s headed straight for you (if it hasn’t flattened you already)!
Knowing how to prepare grains traditionally is the only way to consume them long term without autoimmune illness inevitably cropping up, unless you are part of the 1% who needs to avoid them forever.
For most of us, then, traditional preparation of grains is an essential skill in the kitchen, one that must be mastered to experience vibrant health.
Please note that freshly grinding your flour and baking your own bread with yeast is not traditional preparation of bread!
Fresh bread that is homemade does not necessarily equal healthy bread!
Bread and other grain based foods must be sprouted, soaked, or sour leavened to be digestible and healthy!
So, go with the grain, not against it. It is not necessary to be grain free to be healthy and it’s certainly not very fun – at least not long term.
Eating, after all, is meant to be a pleasant and enjoyable experience and grain based foods no doubt play a big part in that.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources and More Information
Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, 2009
Nasty, Brutish and Short? by Sally Fallon Morell
Wheat, modern or not, sprouted or not, contain toxic proteins and when ingested the body produces antibodies, antibodies often attack the tissues like the gut lining, the blood brain barrier, cartilage. It manifests itself systemically. The antibodies are in your blood, they go where ever blood goes. The antibodies cause inflammation. If you continue to eat wheat you are adding fuel to the fire. If you stop eating wheat and put the fire out, why would you want to start the fire again? I have lived 3 years grain free now and dont miss the pain and suffering it inflicted on me.
I’ve been mostly grain free for about eight months with a few lapses with flour based foods and experiments with soaked gluten free grains. All grains aren’t created equal, as in some gluten free grains with low phytic acid being easier to digest. Aren’t flour based foods are harder to digest and more like a starches to our bodies than the whole grain? Sifted, soaked, and soured is better, but possibly not exactly a health food and it takes the place of more nutrient dense foods. As far as dental health goes, the grain and starch category of foods also may upset the balance our bodies need.
Ann Marie mentioned about having red dots on her skin as a sign on low thyroid function coming from low carbs. I’ve got red dots too and never knew what caused this. Where did you get this info? I used to be on GAPS, and now am just GF still, so I think I’m getting enough carbs.
“Despite this sobering statistic, she estimates that only 1% of people cannot recover from these food allergies (yes, this includes celiac).”
Sarah, are you saying here that celiac cannot be cured by the GAPS diet to the point that you can eventually go back to eating gluten afterwards? I don’t want to put all that effort into the diet and then mess myself up again if I should avoid gluten for life.
Kathy, as a celiac sufferer, you have damaged villi in you gut lining called villous atrophy, The only way to know for certain if you can go back to eating gluten containing grains is to do a biopsy. Why put yourself through that. The chance of your gut healing to the point where you can reintroduce grains is very slim. Dr. Thomas O’Bryan is on the Teaching Faculty at the Institute for Functional Medicine. He was interviewed on the underground wellness radio show with Sean Croxton. I recommend you listen in on this excellent podcast. Toward the end of the podcast callers call in to ask the Dr. Questions, there are a few that are in the same boat as you. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/undergroundwellness/2012/01/13/prps–the-secret-weapon-in-treating-neurological-disorders
i’m no expert but i was watching a youtube video by dr. peter osbourne and he discusses this. he said the biopsy test is really not a good indicator and the only way to know whether you need to avoid gluten forever is a genetic test to see if you are gluten sensitive from a genetic standpoint.
I agree- the wheat we eat today is different than the one we use to eat before. What about spelt as an alternative? It is still pretty much untouched… as of right now. I also wanted to ask about wheat germ- does that need soaking? Just wondering- I’m new to the soaking world!
Thanks for the great info and videos- love them.
Peas,
Sharon
Yes, wheat germ needs soaking.
Thanks- I appreciate your response!
In the article I never saw a reason “Why you should be eating grains”? Sarah, why do you think we need them? What do you think the problem is with not eating them? Thanks!
I guess this point is just not getting through. The wheat being eating today (the 2 1/2 foot semi-dwarf compact head variety) is not even close to the wheat our grandmothers and great-grandmothers ate (the 4 1/2 foot natural head variety). Wheat changed SIGNIFICANTLY in the 1950s and 1960s. The wheat genome is completely different. It isn’t even close to the wheat that was around in Dr. Price’s time. Continuing to tout the benefits of such a horribly unhealthy grain when you have not educated yourself is similar to the folks that tell us that CAFO meat is the same as pastured raised meat. It’s just not true. I would feel better about someone calling a book another “fad book” if they had taken the time to read it and actually investigated the science, research and studies that it cites. Wheat belly is not a fad book and has solid science and research behind it. It was written by a Preventive Cardiologist, Dr. William Davis. I hope you take the time to read it and see for yourself.
Well said Tina!! I completely agree and find it really disappointing that people are giving their typical reactions and seem closed-minded to new information….just what they criticize others for doing! I would appreciate also a thoughtful response to the information from Dr. Davis as well as Dr. Thomas O’brien, gluten expert. People don’t need to have a belly for there to be gluten issues. Many celiacs don’t have digestive issues and many studies show others have neurological reactions to this “new and improved” gluten.
I haven’t read Wheat Belly yet and I do plan to.
It should be pointed out, though, that a number of people have already discredited this book. Even anti-wheat, staunch paleo folks:
http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/2011/10/slam-dunked-and-wheat-belly.html
http://thatpaleoguy.com/2011/10/02/wheat-belly-why-we-shouldnt-ignore-this-book/
have you read it?
Thank you Ann Marie. While I disagreed with quite a few things about the book, I thought his information on how wheat has changed was very interesting. I appreciate the links and will read them. best, Pam
So I read your links Ann Marie and people are dissing the book because there is some faulty science in it. Fine, it isn’t perfect. What I keep coming back to though are the radical changes in wheat that have occurred. Sean from Underground Wellness has two great summaries about all the changes. These changes were not tested for human safety…..mucking with nature is always asking for trouble IMO.
blog post summarizing: http://undergroundwellness.com/these-aint-the-same-grains/
video version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mS5SvHg7M4&feature=relmfu
So you and the paleo guy are discrediting the book before you both even read it?
“However, as yet, I have not read the book — I have it on order from Amazon, and when I get it, I will read it with a relatively open mind. Until I do so, I’m not really in a position to make much of an informed comment.”
This is a direct quote from “That Paleo Guy” – so, no, he isn’t discrediting the book.
Yes, soaking/sprouting/souring is a critical step of grain preparation. However, little is ever made of Price’s concurrent finding that all cultures left their bread to age for 2 weeks following cooking, before they were eaten. I find it very interesting that we make so much of one part of the process (a very important part) and yet miss this.
@Lori Do you have a source for this?
After reading all the comments, I have come to the conclusion that one should definitely limit consumption of grains (even properly prepared) but no need to totally eliminate from diet because they are very enjoyable. If one has weight issues or gut inbalance then they should limit even more if not elimate for a while. Sarah says she doesn’t eat much and she is healthy and fit. I trust her opinion. In my case, I need to lose about 10 pounds so I am limiting grains to see what happens. I think it might even help my inflammation. All the comments have been very helpful to me. Thank you!
@Teresa
Actually if one have weight issues they likely have a hormonal imbalance. In which case they should increase their carbs (very easy to do by adding grains) to help raise the metabolism and thyroid function. See my comment above with the quote from Paul Jaminet.
I agree that if someone has food allergies and a leaky gut, it’s best to avoid grains for a period of time while they heal their gut.
Thank you Ann Marie!
Interesting debate here. I’ve been on a modified GAPS diet (I do eat some starches as I fear I’d disappear if I left all of them out; I’ve gotten too thin as it is) for the past 3 months. Since I ate mostly gluten-free grains for the past year, it wasn’t too difficult to go off grains completely. If you told the carb-addict (pasta and pizza everyday) me that I should not eat grains 3 years ago, I’d have said you were insane…but I dug myself into a hole and now need to get out an heal. I do hope to be able to eat good sourdough again in the future. I used to always say “there’s nothing better than good bread with butter”. But, I’ve also heard that wheat is not what it used to be. I’d love for someone to provide facts/links to data that proves this statement to be true or false (either way, just so there is clarity). Honestly, I wouldn’t have a hard time believing it considering all the other foods we’ve managed to corrupt in the past 100 years. Dr. Catherine Shanahan (author of Deep Nutrition, Why Your Body Needs Traditional Food-excellent book) , who is a proponent of the traditional diet and WAPF supporter also stated in her blog a while back something to the effect that, and please correct me if I’m wrong, grains should be very limited in our diet as it all goes back to what nutrients the food we eat provides and with the depletion of a very large percentage of nutrients from today’s soil, many grains incl. wheat, oats etc. are not as healthy as they once were. When asked why she eats grains at all, her response was “you gotta live”; as in cause they taste good, not because they are nutritious or necessary for health and well-being. So I think both sides of the argument are correct. You really do have to look at your individual situation, how you react to different food. Our genes vary as our ancestors ate varied diets and hence tolerate different foods differently. Also we all differ in how much damage we and our parents have done to our auto-immune systems and how healthy the genes we’ve inherited are. Good luck to everyone on their quest for health. Salut!
I don’t understand the argument that grains should be limited because the soil is depleted.
If that were true, than we should avoid all foods that are grown in the ground including vegetables, because they are also depleted nutritionally due to depleted soil.
Also there is evidence that our genes change over time. It’s called epigenetics. In fact, Dr. Cate writes about it in her book, Deep Nutrition. There is another book called The 10,000 Year Explosion that goes into greater detail about this. I haven’t read it yet but just ordered it.
If you check out Stephan Guyenet’s blog, he has changed his opinion based on this book, and he is no longer anti-grain:
“Update 8/2011: as I’ve learned more about human genetics and evolution, I’ve come to appreciate that many Europeans actually descend from early adopters of agriculture more than they descend from the hunter-gatherers that previously occupied Europe. Also, 10,000 years has been long enough for significant genetic adaptation. Read The 10,000 Year Explosion for more information.”
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/07/grains-and-human-evolution.html