Are We Meant to Eat Grains

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Are We Meant to Eat Grains? The Natural Human Diet,

Part 1

January 6, 2011

Feathered hair, wussy synthesizers, and the USDA Food Pyramid. For those of you around in the

1980s, other memories may define that curious decade, but for me these three stand out.

The Food Pyramid lodged in my brain because it displaced the famous Basic Four Food Groups

(meat, dairy, fruits & vegetables, and bread). The Basic Four were stamped into us children of the70s in the form of cutesy cartoons and posters anthropomorphizing members of each of the quartet.

With the 80s came the end of those lovable dancing milk cartons and wisenheimer pork chops,

replaced by the more complicated and way less entertaining Pyramid, which cajoled us to eat as

many grain products as we could stuff in our face (611 servings per day to be exact).

Given these turn of events, one will imagine the consternation of Drs. Boyd Eaton and Melvin

Konner, a physician and an archaeologist who were studying the diet of our hunter-gatherer

ancestors of the Paleolithic era.

Also known as the Old Stone Age, the Paleolithic era is the period of archaeological history thatbegins about 2.4 million years ago, when the first humans (genusHomo) emerged, and ends with

the appearance of farming about 10,000 years before now.

Hold onto that thought about farming.

Now, 10,000 may seem like a large number, but compared with 2.4 million its actually quitesmall. In fact, if you divide 10,000 by 2.4 million, you get a measly 0.004, or 0.4%, which is like

half a yard on a 100-yard football field. Thats great, you say, but what does this have to do with

anything?

Well, if weve been around for 2.4 million years but farming for only 0.4% of it, the doctorsargued, then this means for 99.6% of our existence we ate a diet that contained no products of

agriculture. Moreover, archaeological evidence indicates that, genetically speaking, no significant

changes in our digestion or metabolism have occurred since before we went agro.

Thus, they said, the ideal human dietthe one truly natural to the human bodyis that of our pre-

farming, hunter-gathering, Stone Age ancestors.

So what does a Stone Age diet look like? Well, for one, it does not include any grain

agricultures most prominent contribution that presently accounts for over 50% of worldwide

calorie consumption.
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Wait a minute, you say. Grains might be bad for us? How could that be? Didnt agriculture

revolutionize humanity, allowing our population to soar and civilization to arise? These things are

true, yes, but evidence indicates that they occurred at the expense of individual health.

Contrary to the notion that the lives of Stone Age people were nasty, brutish and short, as the

philosopher Thomas Hobbes once wrote, the archaeological facts paint quite a different picture.

As Dr. Loren Cordain, a leading authority on Paleolithic nutrition, points out, whenever cereal-

based diets replaced animal-based diets in hunter-gatherers, people became shorter; their bonesbecame weaker; infant mortality increased; they got more cavities; and infectious diseases

increased. And, their average lifespan decreaseda lot.

Thats right. We shrank, got sicker, and started dying earlier after we switched to an agriculture-

based diet. None of these facts are contested within the field of archaeology.

Since grains appear to deliver benefits in small amounts, proponents of a Paleolithic diet debate

whether they should be minimized in the diet or cut out completely.

Those in the latter camp claim that the benefits of grains are outweighed by the negative effects of

their many anti-nutrients and toxinscompounds the plants developed to purposefully thwartdigestion of their seeds by insects and herbivores. With no evolutionary defense against these

compounds, our digestive system is a sitting duck against their destructive effects.

Youve probably heard of one of these toxins. Gluten, a protein found in wheat, is not only one of

the most difficult foods for human beings to digest, in many people it is actively destructive to thedigestive system, causing an array of nasty symptoms that are often misdiagnosed. Some claim

gluten intolerance is even linked to weight gain.

So, are you sensitive to gluten? Should you get off it? What about grains in general? Ill discuss

these questions and more in my next post as Selene Nutrition continues its series on the NaturalHuman Diet.

Gluten: Better Safe Than Sorry (The Natural Human Diet, Part 2)

On Weight Loss: The Natural Human Diet, Part 3

Considering Paleolithic Nutrition: The Natural Human Diet, Part 4

References

Good Calories, Bad Calories, Gary Taubes, Knopf, 2007.

Humanitys double edged sword, Loren Cordain, World Rev Nutr Diet 1999; 84:1973.

News and Views on Nutritional Therapeutics 19972009, Judith DeCava, Selene River Press,

2009.
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Gluten: Better Safe Than Sorry (The Natural Human Diet,

Part 2)

January 11, 2011

Well, by now a few readers have informed Grandpa Patrick that the USDA Food Pyramid was

released in 1992, not in the 1980s as Id seemed to recall in my last post. I blame my failing

memory on gluten. Just kidding. But take my advice, kids: dont get old.

Although the Pyramid was not released until the 90s, the high-carb diet it advertises is based on thefamous 1980 governmental decree Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which reflected the opinion

ofsome researchers that we would all benefit from eating more carbohydrates, specifically grain

carbohydrates.

The USDA Grain Fest

The notion that human beings should be eating large amounts of grainand perhaps any grain at

allflies in the face of the Paleo Diet, a growing nutritional movement rooted in the

archaeological observation that for 99.6% of our existence, humans ate a pre-agricultural, hunter-gatherer diet.

That is to say, no grains.
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Caveman geometry?

While there is evidence that in times of starvation our Paleo ancestors ate a miniscule amount of

wild grasses (the predecessors to modern grains), for all intents and purposes our digestive andmetabolic systems had no significant exposure to grains before we began cultivating them via

agriculture some 10,000 years ago.

Were You a Seed of Grain

It might surprise you to know that the aim of a seed of grain is not to be used as food by a plant-

eating animal. Nope, the seeds goal, if eaten, is to pass through the animals digestive system and

be deposited on a nice patch of real estate where it can lay down some roots and reproduce.

What's my motivation here?

Consequently, grains have developed a host of chemical deterrents to thwart the digestive effortsof their consumers and help them get to the end of the gastrointestinal rainbow. In turn, evolution

has bestowed seed-eating herbivores various physical systems to defeat the plants chemical

defenses and digest the seeds.

Bully for them.
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Human beings, however, have not had sufficient time, evolutionarily speaking, to develop

digestive mechanisms that counteract the aggressions of grain seeds. Being gifted with opposable

thumbs and a knack for thought, however, our agricultural ancestors did devise certain preparatorytechniques that break down or neutralize many of the grains defensive compounds.

These methods, e.g., soaking, sprouting, and fermenting, appear to have allowed ancient societiesto benefit from the nutritive compounds in grains without suffering too terribly from their

digestion-thwarting chemicals. (Of course, the definition of too terribly depends on whom youask).

One way of de-fanging grains

While some researchers question how successful the traditional techniques of grain preparationwere, one thing is certain: the methods have been all but abandoned by modernity, which means

todays grain eaters are exposed to a daily barrage of intact antagonists assailing their digestive

system.

To make matters much worse, most of the grains we eat today are processed and refined bymethods that destroy certain beneficial compounds in the grains that would aid their digestion.

As a result, sensitivities to grain have experienced an upswing during the past fifty years. Or at

least they have in the case of the trouble-making gluten, a protein complex in wheat that by many

accounts is the worst grain anti-nutrient of all.

Lootin Tootin Gluten

There is no debate that gluten significantly impairs health in people with a bona fide genetic

intolerance to itan autoimmune disorder known as celiac that affects an estimated 1% of the

population.

Celiac destroys the lining of the intestinal lining, causing nutrient malabsorption and just aboutevery digestive and autoimmune affliction known to science.
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Where conventional medicine and alternative health butt heads is the matter of how many people

in the population are gluten sensitive, that is to say, not officially celiac but appearing to suffer

from exposure to gluten nevertheless.

Symptoms of gluten sensitivity include the woes one might expect as a result of something

attacking the intestinal tractdiarrhea, bloating, flatulence, etc. But they can also include anynumber of extra-intestinal complaints such as headaches, canker sores, fatigue, depression,

muscle or joint pain, skin disorders, weight gain or loss, etc.

Dr. Marios Hadjivassiliou, a neurologist who studies gluten sensitivity and brain disease, has even

gone so far as to claim that gluten sensitivity should be entirely reclassed, defining it not as a mere

intestinal disorder but rather a spectrum of diseases that can affect many different organs.

Is your breakfast killing you softly?

With scientific research into gluten sensitivity in its infancy, testing for the condition is notoriously

inconclusive. Based on genetic research and observations in his practice, enteorlogist Dr. Scot

Lewey estimates that between 10% and 30% of the population is gluten sensitive.

Yet, he adds, there seems to be an irrational resistance [among physicians] to a more widespread

recommendation for gluten avoidance.

Irrational resistance in the medical field? Shocking.

Should You Be Worried About Gluten?

In talking about this post with Dr. Mark Southwell, a nutrition-oriented chiropractor in Denver, Istarted by asking him how many of his patients come to him because of digestive complaints.

About half, he said, which wasnt all that surprising. After all, illness begins in the gut, as the

old saw goes.

But when I asked him how many of his digestion patients have trouble with gluten, his answersurprised me.

One hundred percent, he said matter of factly.
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Really? So everyone who comes to you with a digestive problem is gluten sensitive?

Yup.

So, should you be concerned about gluten? If you have any sort of digestive problem, yes, Id sayyou should probably consider the possibility that gluten is a factor, possibly the factor, in your

condition.

In addition, if you have any of the symptoms listed above or you have allergies or other foodintolerances (often secondary effects of gluten sensitivity), gluten could be a culprit.

Of course Im not saying that gluten is definitely the cause of your problems. Heck, even if wheat

is ailing you, gluten still might not be the main player. There are plenty of other gastrointestinal

meanies in wheat other than gluten.

I am saying, however, that it wouldnt be surprising if gluten is as big a deal as some claim givenwhat practitioners are reporting and the fact that, from an evolutionary perspective, gluten is

practically foreign to the human body.

Not to mention that, thanks to some fancy engineering done back in the 1960s and 70s, the wheat

sold today has considerably more gluten than the stuff grown only fifty years ago.

Fortunately, the best way to tell whether you are gluten sensitive is simple to do at home, and it

can also be used as a first step in a healthy weight loss program. Isnt that nice? Its like a two-for-

one wellness deal.

Ill get into the details of a gluten challenge as well as how to take it a step further toward weightloss in my next post, as Selene Nutritions Natural Human Diet series rolls on.

Are We Meant to Eat Grains? The Natural Human Diet, Part 1



References
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Gluten: What You Dont Know Might Kill You, Dr. Mark Hyman.

Gluten Sensitivity: A Gastroenterologists Personal Journey Down the Gluten Rabbit Hole, Dr.

Scot Lewey.

Gluten Sensitivity: Celiac Disease is the Tip of the Iceberg, Dr. Stephan Guyenet.

Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon, New Trends Publising, 2001.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/gluten-what-you-dont-know_b_379089.htmlhttp://www.celiac.com/articles/1101/1/Gluten-Sensitivity-A-Gastroenterologists-Personal-Journey-Down-the-Gluten-Rabbit-Hole-by-Dr-Scot-Lewey/Page1.htmlhttp://www.celiac.com/articles/1101/1/Gluten-Sensitivity-A-Gastroenterologists-Personal-Journey-Down-the-Gluten-Rabbit-Hole-by-Dr-Scot-Lewey/Page1.htmlhttp://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/12/gluten-sensitivity-celiac-disease-is.htmlhttp://www.seleneriverpress.com/products/books/nourishing-traditions-the-cookbook-that-challenges-politically-correct-nutrition-and-the-diet-dictocratshttp://www.seleneriverpress.com/products/books/nourishing-traditions-the-cookbook-that-challenges-politically-correct-nutrition-and-the-diet-dictocratshttp://www.seleneriverpress.com/products/books/nourishing-traditions-the-cookbook-that-challenges-politically-correct-nutrition-and-the-diet-dictocratshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/gluten-what-you-dont-know_b_379089.htmlhttp://www.celiac.com/articles/1101/1/Gluten-Sensitivity-A-Gastroenterologists-Personal-Journey-Down-the-Gluten-Rabbit-Hole-by-Dr-Scot-Lewey/Page1.htmlhttp://www.celiac.com/articles/1101/1/Gluten-Sensitivity-A-Gastroenterologists-Personal-Journey-Down-the-Gluten-Rabbit-Hole-by-Dr-Scot-Lewey/Page1.htmlhttp://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/12/gluten-sensitivity-celiac-disease-is.htmlhttp://www.seleneriverpress.com/products/books/nourishing-traditions-the-cookbook-that-challenges-politically-correct-nutrition-and-the-diet-dictocrats


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January 17, 2011

In the last few posts I talked a lot about whether we humans are meant to eat grains. Many

compounds in grains are evolutionarily foreign to our gut, the argument goes, and they tend to

aggravate or even damage our GI tract.

Yet I dont mean to imply that grains are the sole cause of poor digestion. Stomach or intestinalupset can be caused by any number of problems, from a lack of lactic acid in the bowel to an

overtaxed liver or pancreas to a general mineral deficiency in the body.

Moreover, properly prepared whole grains might be a healthy food for some people.

But properly prepared is not how most of us eat grains, especially our favorite one, wheat.Instead of soaking or fermenting or sprouting wheat berries, we tend to eat them in the form of

refined flour, a substance that is likely at the root of much modern illness, along with refined sugar

and refined vegetable oils.

And refined flour is almost certainly linked to weight gain.

In the past thirty years, the obesity rate in America has climbed from 15% of the population, where

it had held steady for decades, to a mind boggling 33% at present. The typical American eats about

300 more calories in a day than she or he did in 1980with almost the entire increase coming in

the form of flour and sugar.

It just so happens that thirty years ago is precisely when the U.S. government started telling us to

lower our fat consumption and eat more complex carbohydrates such as refined wheat flour. Now

you might think a raging obesity epidemic would cause our public health officials to rethink their

high-carb policy, but that aint happening anytime soon.

So figuring out how to stop craving all those extra calories and how to shed our extra tonnage is up

to you and me.

Fortunately, I have a plan.

Past Perfect?

Some ideas just make sense. One of them is the notion that the hunter-gatherer diet we evolved on

for 99.6% of our existence might be ideal for our health. The idea starts to make even more sense

when we consider that such a diet is naturally devoid of refined carbohydrates like flour and sugar.
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And the idea becomes downright attractive when we consider the results of scientific

investigations comparing low-fat (i.e., high-carb) diets with low-carb ones akin to many hunter-

gatherer diets.

Studies show that while people lose weight on each type of diet (with the low-carbers usually

losing a bit more), the low-fat dieters must actively limit their calories to achieve weight loss. Inother words, they go hungry. People on low-carb diets, on the other hand, eat as much as they feel

like and still lose weight.

Moreover, traditional markers of heart health such as the ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) to

triglycerides in the bloodone of the true risk factors for cardiovascular diseasetend to improve

on a low-carb diet, while they stay the same or get worse on a high-carb diet.

So, would you rather lose weight by going hungry while doing nothing for your health andpossibly worsening it, or would you prefer to slim down by eating as much as your body tells you

to while it naturally moves to balance?

Resetting with Paleo

Adopting a hunter-gatherer diet offers an additional benefit. According to Paleolithic nutritionists,there hasnt been sufficient time for all of us to have adapted genetically to the new foods

introduced by agriculture ten thousand years agograins, legumes and milk.

The negative effects of such foods may be obvious, as for someone with a wheat, peanut or milk

allergy. Or they may be more subtleand being attributed by you or you doctor to some othercause.

By going Paleo for a few weeks and then reintroducing these foods back into your diet, youmight discover whether any of them have been aggravating your system. And if you are affected,

you can test whether traditional methods of preparation (such as soaking and sprouting, which Illdiscuss in a future post) alleviate your sensitivity.

Okay, so from the perspectives of weight loss, general health and identifying food intolerances, a

Paleo diet seems like a pretty good idea. But what exactly does such a diet look like? In Part 4 of

the Natural Human Diet series, Ill discuss what archaeologists think our Paleo ancestors ate andhow we might translate that to modern times.




References

News and Views on Nutritional Therapeutics 19972009, Judith DeCava, Selene River Press,

2009.

Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon, New Trends Publising, 2001.
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Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Weston Price, Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, 2008.

Considering Paleolithic Nutrition: The Natural Human Diet,

Part 4

January 25, 2011

One of the frustrating things about nutrition for most people is the lack of a basic starting point, afundamental diet to hang their hat on, a natural baseline that says, Begin eating here!

In the 1960s a group of professors believed they had found that fundamental diet. In the spirit of

their time, they began by chemically classifying the basic fuels of human lifefat, protein,

carbohydrate. They then proclaimed that the secret to good health is to eat little of the first and alot of the last.

Although the Low-Fat Theory was based on scant evidence, in time it took hold, especially when

its advice to reduce animal products dovetailed with the burgeoning vegetarian movement of the1970s. These sister philosophies would combine to dominate conventional nutrition thinking for

the next 40 years (a phenomenon that continues to this day).

Some years later, just about the time Low-Fat Theory was adopted as official policy by our

government, another theory about the fundamental human diet was born, one that was quitedifferent in perspective from the low-fat idea.

In 1985 Drs. Boyd Eaton and Melvin Konner published a now-famous paper in the prestigious

New England Journal of Medicine titled, Paleolithic Nutrition: A Consideration of Its Nature and

Current Implications.

The doctors point was as simple as it was profound: Genetically, human beings have changed verylittle in the past 40,000 years (less than 0.02% to be precise). So if were looking for a baseline

human diet, the place to look isnt a place but a time.

Specifically, that time is the Paleolithic era, which runs from about 2.4 million years ago, when thefirst human-like beings appeared (or the emergence of the genusHomo for you archaeology buffs),

to about 12,000 years ago, by which time the blueprint for the human body had been pretty muchlaid out.

With the Paleolithic era covering virtually all of our physical development, its not unreasonable,the researchers argued, to assume the foods eaten during that time constitute the fundamental diet

for human health. After all, every other animal on the planet thrives best on the foods to which it is

adapted. Why should we be any different?
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How would a wolf do on a diet of rice and tofu?

Lots of Hunting, Some Gathering

The idea of eating what we were designed to seems so logical you might wonder why you didnt

hear about it two decades ago. Well, figuring out what people ate a million years back is a bit of a

trick.

One thing archaeologists know for sure is that the humans of the Paleolithic era were not farmers.

Since agriculture was invented only about 10,000 years ago, the original human diet pre-dates the

likes of grains, beans and cheese. You would not find a box of primitive corn flakes in the Paleo

pantry.

Nope, our Paleo ancestors were strictly hunter-gatherers (HGs). And, evidence indicates, they were

naturally omnivorous, meaning they ate both plant and animal foods. But just how much of each

did they eat?

With the fossil record sketchy on these details, Eaton and Konner turned to modern HG tribes toget an idea. Based on observations of the 229 HG societies in existence, the researchers concluded

that humans were born of a diet of mostly low-fat plant foods.

Bells! Whistles! The vegetarians and low-fatters were ecstatic. Their enthusiasm would be short

lived, however.

Turns out the investigators made a mistake. In estimating how much of the HG diet is animal, they

forgot that HGs, unlike us post-moderns, eat almost every part of the animals they kill. This

includes the liver, heart, brains, kidney and virtually every other organ; even the marrow inside the

bones gets devoured.

(Those of you familiar with Standard Process supplements now know why theyre so effective for

nutritional therapy. From cow liver to pig brain to sheep spleen, their ingredients read like a Paleo

pu-pu platter.)

When the organ factor was taken into account, the picture of the typical HG diet changedradically. Of the 229 modern HG tribes, a whopping three quarters were now shown to obtain the
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majority of their calories from animal foods, with an astounding 20% getting virtually all their

calories (86100%) from animals.

Got Organs? SP's multi is a Paleo smorgasbord.

Recent isotopic analyses of human remains from the Paleolithic era confirm the meaty implication

of modern HG diets. One study of the remains of Cro-Magnon humans from just 12,000 years agoright before the dawn of agricultureindicates humans of the time were top-level carnivores

on par with the wolf and the arctic fox.

In contrast, no modern HG societies get 86100% of their calories from plant foods. That it is to

say, it is highly unlikely that any of our Paleo ancestors were either vegetarian or low-fat eaters.(You can probably guess what most conventional nutritionists think about Paleo Theory.)

Eating Paleo in the Modern World

In spite of its political incorrectness, Paleo Theory boldly states that the original, natural human

diet involves a lot of meatabout 3035% of total calories to be exact. But what other foods did

the Paleos eat?

Its not a long list. Theres fish, eggs, fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Thats about it. Oh, and

some insects and larvae, which Im guessing wont be making your gather list.
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In spite of this simplicity, simulating a Paleolithic diet in todays world has its challenges. For

starters, theres the humongous matter of avoiding foods foreign to our Paleolithic constitution.

These include refined sugar, grains and vegetable oils as well as pasteurized-milk products.

In real-word terms, this means pasta, bagels, breakfast cereals, rice, muffins, yogurt, cheese, milk,

soy milk, tofu and just about anything that hails from the inner aisles of the supermarket. All told,were talking about 70% of the typical Americans diet.

And theres the fact that few foods today resemble their counterparts of the Paleo era. For instance,the wild game our HG ancestors ate were much leaner than todays factory farmed animals, and

they ate grass not grain, which means more anti-inflammatory omega-3s and fewer pro-

inflammatory omega-6s.

Same goes for wild-caught fish versus farm-raised fish.

Also, the wild fruits of Paleo times were considerably less sweet than most modern fruits, which

contain unnatural amounts of that shifty sugar fructose, a likely culprit behind many modernmetabolic disorders (and the subject of a future post).

And then there are vegetables. In spite of the celebrity of leafy greens in todays world of nutrition,these are not particularly popular among hunter-gatherers, who seem to prefer starchier roots and

tubers. Which raises the question

Were the Paleos Low-Carbers?

Though most versions of the Paleolithic diet out there are low in carbohydrates, in truth researchers

report a wide range of carbohydrate consumption among modern HG societies: 2040% of total

calories. While this is far below the 55% recommended by Low-Fat Theory, its fairly up there inthe eyes of low carbers.

The reason for the low-carb Paleo diets is simple: weight loss. Whereas hunter-gatherers tend to be

lean and can easily process a significant amount of natural carbs in the forms we were designed on,most Americans are looking to shed a few pounds after eating unnatural versions of carbs their

whole lives.

Since the key to jump-starting weight loss for most overweight people is cutting out carbohydrates

of any kind (as Ill be discussing next week), many Paleo diets downplay the consumption ofsugary fruits and starchy Paleo-type vegetables such as sweet potatoes and carrots.

Other Paleo diets recommend less protein and more saturated fat than theory would suggest.

(Strictly speaking, Paleo Theory recommends a diet high in protein (2035% of calories) andmoderate in fat (3050% of calories)).

For folks accustomed to the narrow confines of Low-Fat Theory, Paleo Theorys wiggle room with

respect to fats and carbohydrates may be a bit disconcerting. But the variability speaks to the fact


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that the original human diet isnt defined by singular percentages of fats or carbs. Its defined by

the types of foods we ate.

While Paleo Theory says that lean meat and fish should be the main staples of a persons diet, itrecognizes that some people might thrive on a fair amount of fruits and starchy vegetables or nuts

in addition, while others will discover they do best on almost all meat and fish. Some geneticallylucky individuals might even find they can tolerate some new foods such as wheat or beans.

In any case, as the Low-Fat Theory sputters to its inevitable demise, Paleolithic Theory makes aconvincing case for the starting point that nutrition has been after for so long. Meat, fish, fruits,

vegetables, nuts, eggs: begin eating here.




References

Cereal Grains: Humanitys Double-Edged Sword Loren Cordain,Rev Nutr Diet1999; 84:19-73.

Food and Western Disease: Health and Nutrition from an Evolutionary Perspective, Staffan

Lindeberg, Wiley-Blackwell.

Good Calories, Bad Calories, Gary Taubes, Knopf, 2007.

News and Views on Nutritional Therapeutics 19972009, Judith DeCava, Selene River Press,2009.

Origins and Evolution of the Western Diet: Health Implications for the 21st Century, L. L.

Cordain et al.,Am J Clin Nutr, 2005;81, No. 2, 341-354.

Plant-Animal Subsistence Ratios and Macronutrient Energy Estimations in Worldwide Hunter-

Gatherer Diets, L. Cordain et al.,Am J Clin Nutr2000;71:68292.
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