Are wholegrains healthy?

[foreverondiet]

I always thought yes, as that's what we've all been taught.

I've just read wheat belly and now I am angry / confused / enlightened ......

In a crux - modern (dwarf) wheat is differs from ancient wheat, it highly addictive, not actually good for us or particularly nutritious and even wholegrain wheat has similar GI to white grain and sugar.

www.amazon.co.uk/Wheat-Belly-Davis-William-MD/dp/1609611543/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329748000&sr=8-1

Has anyone else read this book?

I've monitored what and how I've eaten for years and even though my blood type A - I follow my blood type for health - says Iam alright with wheat (not wholewheat interestingly) giving it up has been the answer to my constip.

DH is actually ILL 2 days after eating any wheat at all and it's so nice to get my personal experiences backed up by scientific research in a book!!!

Wholegrains are a healthy choice for most people. Some might have an adverse reaction to certain grains, but that's the same for any food. Wholewheat contains the wheatgerm and bran - stripped out in the production of white flour - which means far more vitamins and protein. A whole grain takes far longer to break down than a processed grain and so the GI is lower. If whole wheat is part of a balanced diet that contains plenty of other wholegrains - brown rice, quinoa, pulses, oats etc - as well as other foods then you're going to be well-nourished.

There are few 'bad foods'.... plenty of 'bad diets'

foreveronadiet - I followed you to this thread after I saw your post about Wheat Belly in Big/Slim this morning. I've just downloaded sample on Kindle. Too skint to buy it atm, but looks very interesting.

Have you cut them out completely? What has the effect been? Do you think it's OK to cut down gradually or is cold turkey best?

Sorry for all the questions but I really want to lose weight and feel better, this could be it!

No, the point of the book is that he explains that wholegrain wheat is not a healthy choice for most people. I have avoided since I have read, and for me it doesn't generally cause a bad reaction unless I eat a lot of it.

Fair point about wholegrain wheat not being so bad as part of a varied diet including other wholegrains, but I imagine its fairly normal to eat say shredded wheat for breakfast, wholemeal bread for lunch and wholemeal pasta as for dinner - or 2 of these anyway.

Lemonturd - he recommends cutting out wheat, which I have. I have not cut out wholegrain rye, spelt etc. Not really sure about the effect as I have being doing a low / moderate carb diet for a while now (and lost 4 stone and kept it off) and only choosing wholegrains (although limited part of diet). So I guess now I chose wholegrains other than wheat.

It is quite eyeopening, google modern dwarf wheat, and also you can follow him on facebook.

I have 4 stone to lose. I'll Google some more and follow him on fb until I've got some more money. Thank you :)

Lemon DH is terrible with wheat and when he cuts out ALL carbs (or eats rye or spelt etc. them at separate meals like the Hay diet) he looses a load of weight!!

Very interesting. I would think it's all true too. The wheat we eat these days is so adulterated it is not surprising.

Sugar is another one. So processed.

I lost almost 2 stone a few years ago by cutting out anything made from wheat or sugar. Unfortunately I didn't stick to it. Put it all back on.

I think that the current obesity epidemic is as a result of so much processed and messed up crap being eaten. It doesn't satisfy anyone nutritionally so we crave more and more. Eating protein, veg and carbs such as rye, oats etc along with pulses is a much healthier and satisfying way of eating.

Yes I think that's interesting 'cos I'm on the Paul mckenna eating plan and you have to eat slowly and consciously and people who usually eat rubbish find they don't like it when they have to REALLY taste it!

C'mon folks this is a life changing thread!!

In previous years, I've done the Fat Flush Diet which is basically a detox and cuts out many things including wheat, oats, starchy foods and dairy and the weight does drop off and your belly disappears. I also follow Paul McKenna way of eating now, but when I get towards my final weight, I will likely cut out these things in order to reduce my belly.

Did it help yr, health Solo?

Many healthy eating plans tell you to cut out all wheat in favour of other grains. Quinoa is an excellent source of protein; others like pearl barley are so cheap. I did both Gillian McKeith 'You Are What You Eat' and Carol Voderman detox ten years ago and they both advised dropping wheat from the diet.

I think Gillian McKeith's plan was extremely healthy eating and rather lovely.

I'm just a bugger for sticking with things .

Pp if you are meaning my long term illness, then no it didn't. The first time I did the Atkins, I felt fantastic for a couple of weeks and then back to normal (for me). I do like the feeling that the detox gives me, but it's very strict

Yes I'm with you on Mckeith Kinky (i know she's not very popular on here ) her eating plan is what I do basically all the time along with the blood type !!! It does annoy me that although she advocates the Hay diet and the Fit for Life she gives no references to them in her book. (As if she thought them up all by herself ) !!!

Solo it sounds like yr an O type so need to follow the cave man diet It might be an idea to try giving up pork products for a couple of weeks and see what happens! you may well find relief from those horrible pains.

I'm type O ppeat but don't eat meat... What should I eat?

Yes, I am an O type pp :)

Having pork tonight

kinky If you don't eat fish or eggs either then you should take an iron supplement B12 and cut RIGHT back on carbs (esp. wheat[grin) you and Solo are the only blood type which actually is BETTER with red meat not pork products though! Oh Dear solo well you can start cutting it out tomorrow !!
Oh and O types are brilliant with most veg., not potatoes though but fine with sweet pots. - I can't even eat those! I like parsnips and celeriac which is good - and I mash them up as toppings for shepherds pie type dishes! You're good with fruit,fish and meat but need to be careful with dairy and processed foods and sugars. Good news choc is okay!!!

It's actually fascinating when you really study it; a lot of people think it 's a load of crap but I'm the only one i know who is healthy so there must be something in it and thumbwitch on here said she'd cured her IBS and other nasties with it. On FB there's lots of people like that; sorry to go on and on but I'm very enthusiastic about it as you can tell!!!

I'm off choc for Lent - gah! My first ever give something up!

I do eat some fish and eggs.

For example, my tea tonight was blummin lovely: tuna steak with roasted veg (squash, peppers, red onions, black olives and pine nuts in olive oil and rosemary) on a bed of baby salad leaves. It's that sort of thing that I really enjoy, but in the past I have mainly eaten giant bowls of pasta and pesto, which is why I feel so crappy all of the time.

Interesting about dairy, I'm back on it at the moment and feeling shitty, so might return to soya, my old friend.

Kinks O types shouldn't overdo soya; DH drinks rice milk which helps his asthma but he can't give up cheese and cream so still suffers. It's a good time for being dairy free there are lots of substitutes out there.

Your tea sounds perfect O types are good with chilli (not A' types though; ginger and none vinegar mustard are good for us)

My view is that anything processed is not healthy, and that includes whole grain breads and pasta, vegetable oils etc.

Eat a diet consisting of fresh unprocessed foods, meat, fish, fruit, veg & nuts, and you won't go far wrong

I dont know what to think. Back in the war people ate huge slabs of wholemeal bread (the national loaf) and were slim. What they didnt get to eat was sugar or much meat. They had lots of root veg and other veg though.
I wonder if wheat gets a bad press because its generally wraped up in products with sugar - cakes etc.
A decent study would examine a diet with no sugar but with wheat. Like in WW2.
When I was growing up we had few sweets, no fast food or processed food but ate loads of bread and we were al skinny. Seeing fat people was extremely rare.

what does Ben Goldacre say about 'the blood group diet'?

ooops, posted early there. Meant to say, If i could practice what I preach, I might have the figure I want. Unfortunately, I am addicted to carbs