I Don't Understand How The Healthy Stuff Is Bad

[Dawneekoz]

So, long-story short, I have been reading about Celiac and have found out enough that I feel I should get my 5 year old son and myself tested. I have even been entertaining the idea of going on a gluten-free diet regardless of the results because of all the potential benefits I keep reading about. (I definitely am tired alot, have brain fog, some intestinal issues, etc.) Anyway, here is what I can't wrap my brain around. All the nutritional advice out there for being healthy and losing weight include eating whole grains. How is it that illuminating them can be good for you? Isn't there so much that whole grains offer that we would miss out on? (vitamins, fiber, etc.) I just don't get it. I can see eliminating processed foods and such, but really, even barley? Whole Wheat? Oats? What do I do if I am trying to be "heart smart" as well? Those whole grains are supposed to help lower cholesterol right? It isn't that I think that eating gluten free would be difficult to do, there are obviously a lot of options out there, but it sounds like eating gluten free cuts out a lot of healthy stuff as well as unhealthy. Does anyone just stay away from the processed stuff and only eat the whole grains and find that they feel better with that compromise?

Please enlighten me.

Dawn

[Ridgewalker]

I'm sure there are lots of people who feel better off processed foods, but that's not nearly good enough for a Celiac. Whole grain wheat bread is poison for a Celiac... no exaggeration. But that doesn't mean you can't eat whole grains other than WBRO.

You've got to look outside the bread box. Okay, that was a little lame, but...

There are a lot of gluten-free grains out there that have wonderful health benefits. While it's true that many gluten-free breads and baked goods have a lot of empty starch in them, it all depends on what you put into them. In other words... if you're concerned about nutrition and heart health, you're likely going to want to experiment with baking from scratch.

A couple quick points of the top of my head...

Just like brown rice (a whole grain) packs a better health punch than white rice, so does brown rice pasta, as opposed to white rice pasta. My family's favorite pasta is Tinkyada brand brown rice pasta. Healthier than the plain old pasta we used to eat, even disregarding gluten status. Other options include corn pasta and quinoa (another whole grain) pasta.

Gluten free bread mixes and recipes abound. Because there are so many flours available, each recipe is going to have different nutritional values. Bette Hagman created a recipe for "Cornstarch Bread," which although it's delicious is pretty devoid of nutrition. I only make it once in awhile.

On the other hand, the bread recipe I almost always make includes rice flour, sorghum (another whole grain) flour, and flax seed meal (a fantastic thing to add to your baked good, for extra fiber and Omega 3s.) Again... it's much healthier than the bread I used to buy.

You can choose to use white rice flour, or brown rice flour.

Other whole grain flours I haven't tried yet:

Teff

Buckwheat

Quinoa

Millet

You are going to need to add starch to your flour, to make gluten-free baking edible. That's pretty much a fact you can't get around. Potato starch, corn starch, and tapioca starch are common. Experimenting with different amounts to reach a balance of taste and nutrition... well, it's kind of a constant process.

I hope I haven't completely overwhelmed you... I just wanted to say, Don't worry. There are plenty of whole grains out there that are safe for us.

There are even specialty safe gluten-free oats that can be ordered online, and found in some health food stores.

[darlindeb25]

To begin with, what makes you really believe that whole grains are so good for you? They also tell us soy is good for us. If you read about the horrors of soy, you may change your mind about it too. The wheat of today has been genetically changed over the years, and they keep trying to improve it. I do not understand why people do not realize the "whole picture" of hybriding grains. If scientists make a grain that grows faster, bigger, has more of this or that---doesn't it stand to reason, when we eat that grain, we are also eating what they used to make the grain what it is????? The wheat of 200 yrs ago is totally different from what we get now. Why do you think so many people are developing so many intolerance's???

Try googling corn allergies/intolerance, soy allergies/intolerance, etc. You may be surprised what you find out. I truly feel we should not be eating grains. My mom always says, "Corn is for fattening hogs!" A good read is "Dangerous Grains".

As Ridgewalker says, gluten is poison for we celiac/gluten intolerant.

[dadoffiveboys]

So, long-story short, I have been reading about Celiac and have found out enough that I feel I should get my 5 year old son and myself tested. I have even been entertaining the idea of going on a gluten-free diet regardless of the results because of all the potential benefits I keep reading about. (I definitely am tired alot, have brain fog, some intestinal issues, etc.) Anyway, here is what I can't wrap my brain around. All the nutritional advice out there for being healthy and losing weight include eating whole grains. How is it that illuminating them can be good for you? Isn't there so much that whole grains offer that we would miss out on? (vitamins, fiber, etc.) I just don't get it. I can see eliminating processed foods and such, but really, even barley? Whole Wheat? Oats? What do I do if I am trying to be "heart smart" as well? Those whole grains are supposed to help lower cholesterol right? It isn't that I think that eating gluten free would be difficult to do, there are obviously a lot of options out there, but it sounds like eating gluten free cuts out a lot of healthy stuff as well as unhealthy. Does anyone just stay away from the processed stuff and only eat the whole grains and find that they feel better with that compromise?

Please enlighten me.

Dawn

Ok - whole grains are better for you that's ALWAYS true. However, if you are allergic to a particular grain (aka wheat, barley, etc) then the HARM they cause is far worse than the benefit. Since you malabsorb (don't take in nutrients well) when you eat them - they cause great damage. WORSE - those grains cause you to malabsorb all of the OTHER non-grain food you eat as well. Have you ever wondered why the doctors have been recommending MORE whole grains (like wheat) and the obesity epedemic has gotten WORSE? Probably TONS of allergic people out there listening to the govt. Not that they are wrong, they are right as long as you are NOT ALLERGIC to wheat (which like 40% of us are I think....)

There are many whole grains which are not gluten - corn is a whole grain and rice too for nice low costs. But there are others. My cardiologist recommended (and I recommend too!) eating Quinoa. The boxes look small but don't let that fool you. That grain is a 'complete' grain and very heart healthy - healthier than any other whole grain you'd probably get.

You can use Buckwheat flour to make great pancakes and add Flax Seed to them. Doing this gives you all of the Omega 3's and they taste pretty good too! Contrary to the name, Buckwheat is a "seed" grain (if I'm correct?) and has nothing to do with "Wheat".

Oatmeal is good but CROSS CONTAMINATED with Wheat - that's why it's a problem. You can get (like I do) Gluten-free Oats ($$$) but I don't have any problems with the ones that come from Wyoming.

For some medical backing, since I've cut out the gluten in my diet (and I'm allergic to it), my Cholesterol has DROPPED nearly 100 points from over 200 to now 134. My heart risk index went from moderate high to LOW (Cholesterol Ratio). I also went from a BMI of 33 to one of 27 and still dropping.

I eat gluten-free Oatmeal, Quinoa, Corn, Rice and Pamela's Bread Mix Bread for my grain intake.

BTW - all five of my boys (which can't have gluten) - have PERFECT BMI's and are not overweight although both my wife and I grew up overweight, haven't been sick at all since we cut out gluten. I don't think that's a coincidence either! Both my wife and I are SLOWLLLLY returning to normal weights as we cut out the wheat. Interesting that we are probably ALL thin people but alot of overweight people are that way (I THINK) because of allergies to grains.

Hope this helps!

[Jestgar]

I'm pretty sure fruits and veggies are gonna offer you a lot more fiber and vitamins than grain ever could.

[home-based-mom]

So, long-story short, I have been reading about Celiac and have found out enough that I feel I should get my 5 year old son and myself tested. I have even been entertaining the idea of going on a gluten-free diet regardless of the results because of all the potential benefits I keep reading about. (I definitely am tired alot, have brain fog, some intestinal issues, etc.) Anyway, here is what I can't wrap my brain around. All the nutritional advice out there for being healthy and losing weight include eating whole grains. How is it that illuminating them can be good for you? Isn't there so much that whole grains offer that we would miss out on? (vitamins, fiber, etc.) I just don't get it. I can see eliminating processed foods and such, but really, even barley? Whole Wheat? Oats? What do I do if I am trying to be "heart smart" as well? Those whole grains are supposed to help lower cholesterol right? It isn't that I think that eating gluten free would be difficult to do, there are obviously a lot of options out there, but it sounds like eating gluten free cuts out a lot of healthy stuff as well as unhealthy. Does anyone just stay away from the processed stuff and only eat the whole grains and find that they feel better with that compromise?

Please enlighten me.

Dawn

Your post is an advertising campaign's dream come true. All the food ads you see on TV are carefully crafted to make you believe that by buying and eating the product advertised you are doing the right thing for your family and your health, which of course everyone wants to do. The goal of every advertisement you see or hear is to separate you from your money - to take money out of your pocket and put it into the coffers of the makers of whatever product is being advertised. They absolutely could not care less about your health or well being. What they actually say - again very carefully crafted choice of words - must not be false. It must be the truth, but need not be the whole truth. They are allowed to leave out everything they don't want you to know and so they do, because if you knew that you wouldn't buy the product, and their only goal is for you to buy the product. It's sort of like viewing knowledge through a knothole. You don't see much of the picture.

What the other posters have said is good information, and can point you toward more research on your own.

And always remember that no matter who (medical profession, TV or magazine ad, clerk in health food store, relative, neighbor, or co-worker, anybody) tells you what, if something makes you sick, it is not good for you!

The advertising is telling you that whole wheat is good for you. You body is telling you that wheat makes you sick.

Who are you going to listen to?

[gfp]

Anyway, here is what I can't wrap my brain around. All the nutritional advice out there for being healthy and losing weight include eating whole grains.

The nutritional advice being paid for by the grain industry perhaps. The diary industry still maintains cups full of gunky fat are good for us... so it depends which advice you want to take.

The bottom line though is that gluten is a toxin for you... whether its really good for anyone is another story.

[Phyllis28]

If someone has Celiac Wheat, Rye, Barley and Non Certified Gluten free Oats are poison. I agree with Home_Based_Mom: If it makes me sick I don't eat it. My body is the final deciding factor on whether a food is good or bad for me.

[tarnalberry]

the advice is there because those grains are common and they have fiber. but you can get lots of good nutrients from lots of other sources - other grains, or fruits and vegetables. it's only four things you're getting rid of, while you're still eating hundreds of others, some of which are nutritionally superior to wheat and barley. (wheat really isn't that great. quinoa, buckwheat, and millet are nutritionally far better in their composition. whole grain wheat is better *in comparison to refined wheat* but that's a loaded comparison.)

but if you have celiac, when you eat those four grains - wheat, barley, rye, or oats - you have an immune system reaction that attacks the lining of your intestines, preventing you from absorbing proper nutrition from any food, causing systemic inflammation, and making your gut (which should be separated from the rest of your body) leaky allowing things to pass into the blood stream that shouldn't. that's not particularly healthy.

take a look at the nutritional content of foods - rather than believing marketers, 'cause they know their job well - and you'll find that there's really not a problem giving up those items.

[gfpaperdoll]

Actually, if you do not eat any grains your heart health will be perfect as well as your cholesterol. & corn syrup is the worst for clogging up your arteries.

If you want to see some real information about food & your health & the myths that the government & the pharmaceutical companies have touted read the book "Good Calories Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes

"Dangerous Grains" is also an excellent book, but "Good calories Bad calories" goes into the whys as to the way that the general public thinks today. & he backs it up with the original "studies" etc. VERY interesting book.

I sometimes just laugh out loud at some of the food commercials & prescription ads. Once you start looking for the hype you will see it. If you never bought another grain, dairy, or soy your health would greatly improve...

What most people do not know is that $6.00 box of cereal & that $4.00 jug of milk that they are serving for breakfast is killing them.

[Mango04]

The nutritional advice being paid for by the grain industry perhaps.

Yeah - General Mills has a lot to do with nutrition-related education in the US. (I read somewhere that they actually founded one of the first schools of nutrition).

[Fiddle-Faddle]

It's actually a CROCK for the grain industry to tell us that grains are necessary nutrition for us.

Read the ingredient list of any bread in the supermarket, including bakery breads. The only breads that have any nutritional content are the ones that have vitamins ADDED (in chemical form).

Look for fiber. Only breads that are 100% stone-ground whole wheat and breads that have fiber ADDED have any fiber at all. The rest have practically no fiber. You'd get more fiber in an apple than you would from two slices of Wonder bread, which is basically like eating glue sprayed with vitamins and then mixed with sawdust (although I grant you that it does taste better than that--it's the nutritional content I'm talking about here).

[TestyTommy]

Humans have been around for about 1,000,000 years, but first started eating grains less than 10,000 years ago. So for more than 99% of the time humans have existed, they did just fine without these so-called "healthy" foods. Humans started eating grains because grains offer the advantage (over meats and vegetables) of being storable over long periods of time. That's still the main reason we eat them -- a bag of flour or box of crackers will last for months or years on a grocery store shelf, while meats and vegetables will only last for a few days. Which do you think makes more profit for the manufacturer?

In contrast to what Big Food wants you to believe, eliminating grains from your diet is actually very good for you. I get really mad when I hear people bash gluten-free eating -- I've actually heard it referred to several times as "dangerous" -- simply because they've been conditioned my government and big business to blindly eat every starch that the food companies can throw at them.

There's no diet healthier than a gluten-free diet (except maybe a gluten-free, dairy free, soy free, corn free diet).

[GFinDC]

Testing is a good idea. You can get a blood test for the antibodies that will show if your body is reacting to gluten. Unfortunately some people don't show the antibodies but still have the problem. If you have the blood test do it before going on a gluten-free diet, or the results would be unreliable. There is also a gene test they can do with the blood. I think in Europe they have more gene markers that are thought to be celiac related than the American doctors accept. It would be best to find a doctor who is known to work with celiac patients for the testing. Many doctors aren't familiar with it and may not give you the right tests, or recognize symptoms.

In the end run if testing doesn't show celiac but you still feel better after going on a gluten-free diet, then listen to your body is good advice. Medical science has not advanced to the point that doctors/scientists know everything yet, or even approach it. If they did, it wouldn't take an average of 10 years to diagnose celiac disease.

There is an awful lot of money invested in marketing wheat, rye and barley products. And what you don't see is that they put it in many foods other than the obvious ones like breads, flour, beer etc. The bakery area in a grocery store is like the big poison marketing section to me. For that matter, most of the processed foods are the same thing, poison. Not because they are processed, but because they hide gluten in them somewhere.

I have thyroid nodules now after years of gluten poisoning. Don't wait to find out, because if you have celiac disease you are damaging your body every time you eat gluten. That's not healthy!