Should You Stop Eating Grains?

There have been many arguments lately on the reasons why you should not eat any grains, including wheat, oats, corn, and rice.  Many low carb diet plans rail on grains as the cause of the skyrocketing number of cases of diabetes and many digestive problems.

This revolt against the consumption of our most popular food source has supporters from different diets, including the Adkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Zone Diet, and the very popular Paleo Diet.  The low carb camp backs up their case against eating grains with results of the people on their diets.  Many people who have had serious health problems including diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and heart disease, claim that not eating any grains has made a major difference in their health.

Pro grain advocates say the villain in the health problems of our society is the consumption of too many processed foods and not enough whole grain foods.  Proponents of consuming grains say that whole grains are the staff of life and should be in everyone’s diet plans for a healthy lifestyle.

People need to change their eating habits to focus mainly on whole grains, according to the carb diet proponents, noting that all the negative press brought out by low carb diet plan users is unfounded and can be dangerous to your health.

One of the arguments against eating grains is brought out by Paleo Diet users, stating that man ate mostly meat and vegetables back in the Paleolithic era and were healthy.  Carbohydrate backers are quick to respond that cavemen in the Paleolithic era lived less than 40 years.

Paleo Diet  backers state that when agriculture became prevalent and the human diet switched to grains, more and more diseases started to show up in the population.

There has been many rumors of the late Steve Jobs eating a high carb diet while he was battling cancer and the low carb camp says this is the main reason he lost his life.

There are arguments that eating grains, whether whole grain or not, will raise your insulin level and possibly lead to type 2 diabetes.  The claim by low carb dieters is that any kind of grains will spike your sugar levels and put excess strain on your pancreas, leading to insulin resistance.

Another problem that low carb dieters claim occurs when you eat grains is the problem of leaky gut syndrome, an intestinal problem where there is supposedly an actual “leaky gut” that allows substances like microbes and waste products to leak out of the intestinal wall, causing health problems.  Grains are supposed to be one of the big reasons for the leaky gut syndrome, according to low carb dieters.

One of the leading proponents of a whole grain diet, Dr. Dean Ornish, MD, has written six bestsellers on the importance of a low fat, low meat, and high whole grain diet in defeating diseases like heart disease.  Ornish claims that changing your lifestyle to one of low fats and whole grains will help you lose weight, reduce heart disease, and increase your longevity.

So who do you believe?  One of the best ways to see what works for you is to see what happens when you cut down or eliminate carbs from your diet for a period of time.  It might make a difference or you might decide it is not for you.  The main idea should be to eat healthier, whether or not that includes grains, and if you include  grains, make sure they are whole grains and not processed foods.  Avoiding junk food will help you improve your health profile.