Feeling your oats

After many years as a media darling, grain has been under attack lately. "Wheat belly", gluten intolerance, insulin resistance, etc. The key to healthy grains however remains unchanged - grains that are whole and as ancient / not messed with as possible, processed in traditional ways, in small quantities - good stuff for sure.

Processed grains however - cereals, pasta and breads, cakes, cookies, chips, crackers, etc - all manufactured by Food Inc come from modern high starch white flour - minimal nutrition / maximum insulin spikes - All processed grains are best avoided.

Whole grains, especially heirloom "ancient grains" not engineered by man, like those listed below however, now that's how to fuel your next workout.

Eliminate Grain?
Grains lack the nutrition all star status of most vegetables and often come with a glycemic load that raises blood sugar throwing a body's metabolism into turmoil. This is especially true of white / enriched wheat flour which is helping drive our epidemic of diabetes and obesity.

Thus today many folks are "going Paleo" and totally eliminating all grains from their diet. They say so long to bread, breakfast cereals, pasta, rice, refined flours and potatoes too. Their resulting weight loss numbers, especially in the short term are often quite impressive.

Some Perspective
Historically a wide variety of grains have been an important part of our diet for 10,000 years and counting. Until quite recently, proper preparation has been emphasized. Why? 

Grains contain phytates that block nutrient absorption in the gut and enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with their digestion. These are part of the plant's defense mechanism - it can't run away and it made those seeds to reproduce itself, not to provide us a free lunch so it does its best to dissuade us from eating it.

Traditional Solutions
Traditional societies developed countermeasures to unlock all of a grains hearty nutrition. Typically this involved soaking the grain overnight, rinsing it clean and then cooking. Other helpful methods of traditional processing included sprouting and souring. 

Not only have we largely forgotten these important grain prep techniques, modern processing makes things worse. The extrusion process used to make novel shapes like puffed wheat, rice cakes, breakfast cereals and extruded crackers like Triscuits - it appears to be very problematic. 

Glycemic Load
Modern wheat has been highly altered through selective breeding and is now very high in starch, low in protein. We then dry and grind it into flour and remove most all of its nutritional components to make "enriched flour". All this dramatically increases the spike in blood sugar it can impart, not good for us. 

GMO Rodeo
And ever wonder where most GMO wheat winds up? As flour in processed foods and restaurant foods. Cookies, cakes, baked goods, crackers, bread, pasta - many folks now avoid all prepared / boxed foods skipping the white flour, trans fats and GMOs. 

The Good News
If we choose whole grains instead of highly processed ones, If we choose ancient / heirloom grains that are the same as they have always been and if we eat them in moderate quantities - then grains can be delicious and health enhancing - plus they pack a lot of fiber, much appreciated by your gut. 

Good Fuel
Whole grains also fuel activity like running, cycling or your brisk 20 minute daily walks.... You are walking 20 minutes each day right? 

If you are exercising and keeping your weight within your healthy BMI / target range - feel free to include some whole grains in your diet. 

Glycemic Load
To minimize any bump in blood sugar just eat grains in small amounts of a half cup or less or right after a workout during the "glycemic window" when your body can process carbs without the typical spike in blood sugar.

Also, try eating your whole grains cold - that lowers their glycemic index. Shorter cook times do the same. Thus a cup of cold al dente pasta salad you make at home is better vs a cup of restaurant pasta that's been on a long boil and served piping hot. 

You can also add fat to your whole grains - butter, olive oil, full fat dairy. Fat slows the digestion of the grain lowering its relative glycemic index.

Grain adds lean protein

• oatmeal 8 grams /protein / cup

• lentils 10g/p/c

• beans 14g/p/c

• wild rice, brown rice 12 g/p/c

• quinoa  12g/p/c 

Steel cut oatmeal - part of a quick breakfast
Hot chewy steel cut oats with butter, raisins, nuts and a touch of cinnamon and honey make an excellent addition to a fillining protein packed breakfast. Good for your microbiome too! You can even make them in a big batch the night before and simply reheat, eat and go.