Why You Don't Need Grains

Alright folks, it's time for another rant.  Something's gotten me really fired up lately.  Now I don't want to mention any names... but let's just say that there are a lot of people out there who are really attached to grains.  I mean, grains do make up over 1/4 of My Plate.  They're a major part of nearly everyone's diet: pasta, rice, bread, corn... there's no question that these foods make up the bulk of the American diet.  But does that mean they're good for us?  No.  Just because everyone eats them doesn't make them healthy.  If you look at the history of the human diet, and read this Jared Diamond article, you'll learn that adopting agriculture and grains as a major part of the human diet may have been "the worst mistake in the history of the human race."  That's a pretty grand statement, but there's no debating the huge decline in human health that followed the agricultural revolution.  It's very clear that when we as a species decided to adopt agriculture and make grains a part of our diet, we traded health for the ability to support a larger population.  So I ask you again... just because everyone eats grains, does that make them good for us?  NO!

5 Fake Health Foods

When people decide to "go on a diet", there are a number of so-called healthy foods that they typically turn to.  Some may be healthy, others simply are not.  But inevitably there are a few myths out there that just won't die, thanks in large part to clever advertising and labeling.  Heck, all food manufacturers have to do to convince people their product is healthy is to slap an "All Natural" or "Low in Fat" label on it.  Here is a short list of 5 of these "healthy" or "weight-loss" foods that dieters typically turn to and why they're not all they're cracked up to be. 


1.  Veggie Burgers

Ohhh veggie burgers... if I had a nickel for every time I've seen a health-conscious, well-intentioned dieter opt for a veggie burger instead of a real one... well I'd probably have about $10.  But that's a lot of nickels.  Veggie burgers are absolutely not a healthy alternative to beef burgers.  If you look up the ingredients of a typical veggie burger, like the Morningstar Farms Grillers Original burger, you'll learn that these things consist of largely soy and other isolated vegetable proteins.  This is a problem.  Soy is not a health food, especially when it's undergone as much processing as the soy in these burgers has.  There are too many risks of soy to fully explore here, but just to name a few...  1. Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.  2. Soy phytoestrogens are potent antithyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer.  3. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.  4. Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing and additional amounts are added to many soy foods.  Check out the Weston A. Price Foundation for more of this information.  Soy is not good for you, and veggie burgers are made up almost entirely of ingredients made in a food science lab.  Not a good choice.  Just eat a real burger.