Would you like to be free of digestive distress, excess weight, headaches, and confusion? If your answer is YES, your first step is to get rid of the grains! But why, you ask? Aren't grains (especially whole grains) good for me and full of needed fiber and other nutrients? The sad news is, this is no longer the case. Many years ago, we would grow and harvest our grains properly, adding back to the earth the correct nutrients and allowing nature to naturally select which breeds would thrive and which may succumb to bugs, fungus, and the like. We could actually harvest the grain without allowing the kernels to crack and thus become instantly rancid.
What we have done to our grains now is mass produce, chemically treat, and incorrectly harvest. And all of this without giving back to the soil what it needs to continue to create proper nutrient filled foods. Once harvested, most of the grains are then stripped of any vital nutrients they have left, bleached so they are pleasant to our eye, and then sprayed with a chemical coating of synthetic vitamins. Putting this in your body is not a happy picture for your cells working so desperately hard to keep a living working environment clean and healthy. What it creates instead is a body that has to work extra hard to break down this 'food' and try to use the deficient parts and pieces to sustain life. Here we can begin to distinguish the difference between merely surviving and THRIVING.
The grains we need to be most suspicious of are wheat and corn (yes corn is a grain, not a vegetable!). You will find these in everything from bread to sauces. In a perfect world, your diet would consist of proteins, fruits and veggies, and good fats. No grains at all. But I realize this is not a perfect world, so if you use a few of the better grains instead of wheat and corn, your world in my opinion could be pretty close to perfect! Listed here are some new, healthier grains to try.
Amaranth: grown throughout Aisa and Africa, this grain is packed with nutrients and protein.
Buckwheat: with it's high antioxidants, this grain is helpful in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Bulgur Wheat: a Mediterranean delight used in tabbouleh and high in fiber. Because it is close in structure to regular wheat, make sure you soak it overnight before using it.
Quinoa: (pronounced keen-wa) this highly digestible grain was a necessity for the Incas due to it's high concentration of protein.
Spelt: 'the good wheat'. Packed with B vitamins and good fiber, but again close in molecular structure to wheat, so consume in moderation.
Teff: full of iron and a little sweet tasting, this makes great wraps and porridge.
If you are steering clear of grains entirely but would still like the occasional grain-like variety here and there, I would encourage you to try using coconut flour. This obviously comes from a coconut (not a grain at all), is FULL of nutrients, and is easily digested.
Try this amazing pancake recipe (courtesy of one of our favorite patients):
4 tbsp coconut flour
4 eggs
4 tbsp coconut oil or real butter
4 tbsp coconut milk
1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
a little sprinkle of sea salt
Blend it all up, heat as pancakes on a griddle, and enjoy! Opt for pureed berries for topping.
