The 7 Benefits of Going Grain Free Versus Only Gluten Free

In order to ascertain the benefits of going grain free rather than merely gluten free, lets take a look at the history of the gluten free diet.

During World War II in Europe, the incidence of children dying of celiac disease decreased to 0% (about a 30% mortality rate pre- and post World War II). Why? Wheat, barley and rye were very scarce during the war, and the flour utilized during the war was potato flour. The absence of mortality among children was noticed after the war, when wheat flour was available again. You can read more about this chain of events in this article, ‘Gluten-free diets: Where do we stand?’

Through a series of events, the gluten (which is a two part protein component, made of gliadin and glutenin) in wheat was accounted as the culprit. In 1956, this assumption grew to include barley and rye, which along with wheat were the staples of the standard diet until the amalgamation of people occurred in the 70’s on until now. Immigrations worldwide have mixed cultures and resulted in more mixing of cultural eating patters since then.

But what if the problem wasn’t ever just the wheat, barley, or rye? What if the problem was a bit larger? Like it being the family of grains, which a part of an even larger family, the family of Edible Grasses (which in turn is part of the grasses family). What if the problem was the protein structure of the whole grasses family? So, if you have a grass allergy, it would make sense that you could have a problem with grasses that you ate.

The gluten free baked goods and baking mix products are mostly made from flours of other grains (edible grasses), like oat, sorghum, corn, rice, and millet.Not only that, but these products typically are ‘held together’ with lots of chemically-derived ingredients. These different other grains have differing formations of gliadin and glutenin, but they also have these as their protein structure makeup.

Does that get you thinking? It did me, way back 18 years ago when my quest to get and keep my children and I healthy began. We slowly moved towards grain free, and then edible grasses free and voila! We ceased to experience the digestive problems, our bodies shed the inflammation, and our health soared! It was a win-win.

 

With all that said, here are my common sense 7 reasons to go grain free versus only gluten free:

 

1. Less inflammation in your body.All grains are inflammatory in the human body.Inflammation crowds out the body parts and systems we have and makes running properly much more difficult.

2.  Eliminate brain fog (brain inflammation) which improves mental health. Mental health is affected by so many factors, and when we have extra inflammation pressing on our brains it would only make sense that we feel the pressure of thinking and feeling so much more acutely. The fight our bodies are experiencing against the ‘foreign invader’ threat of the foods we are eating not only do not provide proper nutrition, but additionally, are pressing on our nerve receptors and make clear thinking difficult.

3.  Reduce food addictions (grains are very addictive in nature as they cause an elevated glycemic index). When we feel protective about different foods, most commonly with baked goods (savory and sweet), this is not normal. A healthy body eats a variety of foods.

4.  Eating less grains is good for your heart. Blood sugar highs and lows are hard on our hearts. Your heart has to work harder when your blood sugar is not consistent. Those sugar highs and lows come with a coronary price tag.

5.  Reduce food cravings. Grains convert to sugars as soon as they enter your body, and the blood sugar rise and drops greatly contribute to cravings. Cravings is the term cleaver marketing agencies came up with that has a much more positive spin than the term addiction. They are one and the same

6.  Reduce or prevent autoimmune disease problems.Increased inflammation in the body causes a lot of stress on our immune system.Rampant regular inflammation keeps our immune system turned on all the time, which is overload for the body.Just like a car that is run 24 hours a day, our body will develop engine trouble if it doesn’t get proper rest.Any virus or bacteria we run into will have very little resistance upon entering the body.Any genetic tendency we have (i.e. If we carry the gene for celiac, etc.) will have a much easier path to disease development.

7.  Give your gut time to heal, which then reduces IBS, and allows for greater absorption of all the good healthy food nutrients you are now eating.

 

Not sure whether this is right for you or not? That is OK. We have developed an online course to help; Sustainable Clean Eating Made Simple. Take a little ‘walk on the wild side’ and give it a try. You will feel the difference within a week. Have a great day!