HOW GRAINS DRIVE INFLAMMATION AND GUT HEALTH

Being grain-free not only involves excluding wheat products – which have a myriad of variations like semolina and durum (which you usually see in pastas), spelt, farina, graham, rye, barley and malt, as well as others; but also in gluten-free grains like corn, rice and oats. Oats don’t normally contain gluten, however, today they have a lot of cross-contamination from wheat fields.

Sometimes with all the gluten-free chatter we hear today, many people believe that as long as they don’t have a gluten allergy or Celiac’s disease, then grains are good. However, there is a fair segment of the population that doesn’t have a gluten allergy, per se, but is still gluten-sensitive or intolerant. They usually find this out by trial and error, if they find out at all.

The bottom line is that, if you have a genetic marker that shows sensitivity to gluten, which means that when your immune system comes into contact with gluten, your body’s response will be to produce an inflammatory mediator to destroy the gluten so it doesn’t harm you, then that is a genetic issue for you.

Two proteins (lectins and serpinins) can do the same thing as gluten. According to Dr. Peter Osborne, who is one of the most sought-after functional medicine doctors in the country and author of the best-selling book, No Grain, No Pain, “Grains, by definition, are the seed of grasses. They are designed to protect and preserve their own species. They do not want to be your food.”

These protective mechanisms actually alter the gut lining so that they aren’t digested into extinction. That is the role of these hard to digest lectins and serpinins in the grains/seeds. This is why most people with autoimmune diseases don’t do well with grains or other seeds. They also eliminate legumes for the same reason, which is that they are a form of seed.

The result is often a struggle with gut problems due to antibiotic overuse, toxins, etc., so that digestion is again hampered. We are exposed to antibiotics in conventional meats (which is why we prefer organic, grass-fed meats), antibiotics as medicines, as well as a host of other medications that can disrupt the gut. Our gut bacteria play a big role in grain digestion. They can actually digest the grain for us.

With a diet high in grains, you end up with very little Omega-3 fats and a large ratio of Omega-6’s. That out-of-balance ratio of Omega 3 and 6’s, which should be no more than 1 to 4, is anywhere from 1 to 20-50 in the American diet, depending on who you read. Decreased Omega-3’s and increased Omega-6‘s lead to inflammation – just another reason to avoid conventional meats. Grass-fed meats are high in Omega-3, because grass is 60% Omega-3.

What has been called “grainbesity” has to do with so many grains being highly-processed and highly-glycemic. They trigger blood sugar that alters hormones. If the grain creates an inflammatory response, it will shift those hormones to try and combat the inflammation, which is also going to drive up blood sugar.

And every time cortisol (your stress hormone) increases to fight inflammation, it tells the liver to dump sugar into your blood stream, so that you just have to make more insulin to compensate for that sugar. Then insulin stores your food as fat. It puts you into a vicious hormonal cycle.

There really isn’t much of a risk of becoming nutritionally deficient on a grain-free diet. Nutrient density is not only found in fruits and vegetables, but it is also very high in meats, which you are never told.

Once again, there is no silver bullet. There is no alternative to eating real, whole foods to lose weight and prevent disease.