Are Grains Good for Us?

[Rene Oswald]

This was a recent question from my blog at www.reneoswald.com/blog

Hi Rene,
I’ve been eating lots of spouted wheat berries in so many recipes. I use them in crackers, cookies, burgers, as a breakfast cereal—tossed with raisins and bananas or other fruits or just tossed into a salad. I notice that you don’t use many grains in your TLC program. Is there a problem with eating wheat berries? They are so easy to sprout in a jar, so I sprout them every day.
Marcy from Ontario

Hi Marcy,
Thanks for the great question!

I too loved sprouted grains when I first started on this path. It was exciting for me when I started eating foods in their natural state and noticing the major improvements I was having in my health. Suddenly I noticed I was really tasting the essence of food for the first time. After eating healthier and becoming more in tune with my body, I become more aware of the negative effects some of the foods had on me. I noticed I was very sluggish after eating a meal that contained grains, often feeling bloated and congested with a headache. After eliminating and reintroducing grains I found they were the problem. Since most people do better with less grains in their diets I chose not to use grains in the “Transitioning to Living Cuisine” (TLC) Program. However, it’s great if they are working for you and you are getting positive results. We are all different and we need to do what works best for each of us.

I once read that in nature, only animals with a gizzard consume grains, which makes more sense that they are not a natural part of our diet and why so many people have trouble digesting them. However, if we soak and sprout them, like you have been doing, we can break them down with our teeth and they are much easier to digest.

Another important factor is to alternate your grains. Many people develop allergies to foods that are over-consumed. This is seen in the US, where wheat is the most highly consumed grain and there is a direct correlation in the increased incidence of wheat allergies here. Great alternatives to wheat are quinoa, millet, buckwheat groats, brown rice, oat groats, amaranth, barley, corn, kamut, rye and spelt, . Check out my "Resource" page at www.reneoswald.com for links to companies that sell these grains if you have trouble finding them in your area. You can also find information about sprouting grains on page 214 of the “Transitioning to Living Cuisine” (TLC) Book.

For those that eat cooked foods, it’s best to dehydrate the sprouted grains before grinding them into flour. It seems like a tedious process, but I think you’ll see positive health changes for your efforts. The majority of the grains eaten in the US have been ground into flour and highly processed, removing all the valuable parts, like the wheat germ and the bran and replaced with chemical additives. There are a few reputable companies that sprout their grains and use minimal processing that I recommend for those eating cooked foods. http://www.foodforlife.com/ and
http://www.alvaradostreetbakery.com/


It’s important to listen to your body and eat the foods that work best for you. The cleaner your system becomes, the easier it is to listen to the cues it give you.

Further reading on this subject: “The No-Grain Diet” by Dr. Joseph Mercola and “Grain Damage” by Douglas Graham

Post your great comments and questions here or email them to me at [e-mail] I love hearing from all of you!