Why a Grain Free Diet?

What does grain free diet mean? Is there a difference between a grain free diet and grain free whole food diet? Is it healthy? What is it?

Let’s start with a list of grains so we are clear on what we are talking about here. A little clarity its a beautiful thing…

The edible grains include wheat, rye, barley, oat, millet, sorghum, teff, triticale, spelt,
corn and rice. They are actually the edible seeds of grasses (the Poaceae or
Gramineae family).

So, what is a grain free diet?

Quite simply it means that you are not eating the above grains. This type of eating is
different from a gluten free diet, which is actually just avoiding the wheat, rye and barley grains.

Eating grain free means you are not eating the grains in their whole state; for example rice, corn and oatmeal. It also means that you are not eating foods that are made with grain flours.

In case you are unaware, white flour, unless otherwise specified, is usually made from the endosperm of the wheat kernel and then bleached to make it really white. Whole wheat flour is made from the wheat kernel using all three parts (the bran, endosperm and germ). It isn’t bleached.

Any other grain type of flour is labelled by the grain it is. For example; corn (maize)
flour, rice flour, oat flour, etc.

Quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth are non-grain seeds (pseudograins) from other kinds of plants so technically they are ok to eat. Start out with them in small doses and see if you digest them well if enth5jyou haven’t ever had them.

What can I eat on a grain free diet?

Everything else. You can literally eat all meats, all dairy, all vegetables, all fruits, all
nuts, and all oils. Baking mixes and baked goods made with tapioca flour, coconut flour and any nut flour that you like, if you eat nuts (If you have. problem with molds, then nuts are not a good idea as they can mold easily and you may not even know it.). Other grain free flours are chickpea flour (also called garbanzo bean flour), green banana flour, tiger nut flour, plantain flour and all kinds of vegetable flours (like beet flour).

Again, your mindset is key. Focus on what you can eat and then choose accordingly.

The biggest hurdle whenever you make an eating preference change (I like this
terminology better than the word diet) is to embrace it with your mind first. Otherwise
you run the risk of mentally rejecting it before you have even given it a good try.

Sounds easy, right? It is pretty straightforward.

Hungry to learn more?  Check out our online course, Sustainable Clean Eating Made Simple.