Why Grains Are Not The Best For Us

As you probably know, we’ve been eating grains, refined or whole, only since the beginning of agriculture some 10, 000 years ago. The problem is that our genes where formed about 2 million years ago and haven’t changed much since then, nor did our digestive systems. Eating structurally and chemically different foods is therefore more often than not asking for problems. Grains are miles away from what our bodies should be processing.
In fact, grains aren’t really a good thing for any mammal. We’re better off leaving them to the birds, who have a system adapted to them.
The problem is that our food system is so skewed in the wrong direction that everybody now thinks that grains, especially whole grains, are healthy and nutritious. Grains, a food group that we didn’t eat for 97% of our human existence are now at the bottom of the USDA food pyramid with a recommended 6 to 11 servings per day. This is amazingly wrong!
Be aware that the reason why governments pushed grains in the first place where economical. They are cheap to produce (although not without environmental costs), they can be stored for much longer and they can be sold overseas much more easily. In fact, it’s now one of the few things that the US successfully sells overseas, so I wouldn’t count on them to stop promoting them as the healthiest thing around. Sad but true!