Are Grains Good or Bad?

Image by Jayne and D

I’ve talked a whole lot about grains on here — going grain-free, eating grains again, sprouting them, soaking them, and so on.  I haven’t even gotten down to the nitty-gritty, though: are grains good or bad?  What do you do with them if they’re good…and why?  Today we’ll look at the first part of that question.  Next week we’ll talk more indepth.

The USDA Food Pyramid

Most of us grew up thinking grains were good.  After all, the USDA food pyramid — now a “plate” — recommends that we eat 6 to 11 servings per day.  Each serving is about 1 slice of bread of 1/2 cup of cereal or pasta.  The recommended amount of carbs per day is around 300g.  That’s…a lot.

It’s also true that, despite more recent recommendations to get the majority of your grains from whole-grain sources, most people get the majority of theirs from white sources.  Sources like:

• Pizza
• Pasta
• Cereal
• Bread
• Tortillas
• Rice
• Corn (yes, it’s a grain)
• Oats
• …etc.

Most meals are based around grains.  Breakfast foods (bread, pancakes, biscuits, muffins), lunch foods (sandwichs), dinner foods (pastas, sandwiches, pizza).  It’s rare to find a meal that isn’t grain-dependent or served with a grain (like dinner rolls).  The vast majority is white flour.  Even “whole wheat” products that are commercial are still largely made from white flour, with a small amount of whole grain wheat.  The rule is often no more than 1 part wheat to 2 parts white, lest the bread not rise as well.

Everyone knows this isn’t healthy — eating a large amount of white flour products.  Nobody thinks it’s a good idea.  Yet, it’s so ingrained in people that eating grains is good, and most of what’s available is white, so…that’s what they eat.  White flour is generally nutritionless, and, in the vast majority of cases, not even worth eating.

Whole Grains are Better?

This has been promoted for several years now — “Eat whole grains for your health!”  There are claims all over different foods that eating this whole grain or that whole grain improves heart health or improves overall health or whatever.

It’s true — to a point. 

Regular whole grains are better for you than white grains.  White flour is the endosperm of the grain, which has been stripped of its bran and germ.  The majority of the nutrients are in the bran and germ.  The endosperm is primarily starch.  It spikes the blood sugar because it is absorbed rapidly, and heavy consumption over time can lead to insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes.

When doctors realized this several years ago, they began to research and compare whole grain products to their white counterparts.  And they found that in comparison, the whole grain products were healthier.  They did not study the effects of reducing or eliminating grains on health at all. Therefore, they’re leaving out a crucial part of this study when they state, “Whole grains are good for you!”  It’s a “Yes, BUT” situation.

Why Are Grains ‘Not So Good?’

It’s important to understand that even whole grains are carbohydrates, and all carbs break down to sugar (glucose).  Eating a large amount of grains can spike your blood sugar.  Consuming grains along with plenty of fat and protein reduces this effect, because these slow the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream.  Fat also aids the absorption of important fat-soluble vitamins, like A, D, E, and K.

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