Replied By Cate (Melbourne, Vic., Australia) on 10/24/2012

Then I dumped grains entirely, and everything in my body and mind has come right. It's called 'going primal' or 'paleo'. Also called 'the ancestral diet', caveman diet, a whole host of names to describe how our modern-diseaseless ancestors ate.

Wheat was modified in the 1960's from ye olde wheat to dwarf wheat. It was for reasons of profit/volume per acre. This so-called 'modern wheat' is causing everybodies illnesses on this page and many more besides. The inflammation flares in more ways than just arthritis. I've heard wheat called 'slow poison', and 'addictive' too.

I sound like a nut, no doubt, but there you are- maybe you might look in to it one day when you've tried everything else. A month of no grains- instead eating tonnes of vegetables for breakfast, lunch and supper, a bit of fruit and some soaked/dehydrated nuts, with just water to drink if you happened to get thirsty.

I only suggest the primal/paleo solution because the impact on my life and health has been profound. My mind was a trainwreck, so was my body. Both clip along at great rates these days. I'm 39. It took about 4 months from first dropping grains 100% to wholeheartedly endorsing the lifestyle to others. Now I keep quiet (10months later) because people look at me like I'm an utter psycho. Maybe they don't have bad enough health problems yet. Maybe people really would rather give up on life rather than face life without grain. I for one would only eat grain if my life literally depended on it- as in a desperate life-or-death war situation for example.

That line, 'I could never give up bread' makes me groan. If I could/did, anyone can. I used to eat it for every meal and every snack. The benefits of a grain-free life outweigh the short-term withdrawals by an infinite amount. Bread with chronic pain? Or pain-free nutrient-dense food twice a day. (One doesn't need as much food, and no more chronic hunger/blood sugar spikes either.)

Don't mean to preach, just spreading the good word! Haha...

Replied By Wayqueries (Motown, Ca/ Usa) on 10/25/2012

**Does soaking grains, as with nuts, seem to alter the composition, and make it more digestible and safer?

**Is there a mycotoxin present in the grain?

**Are heritage, or old grains, any better or safer?

**Are sprouted grains, say like Ezekiel Bread allright?

**What seems to be the source of the problem?

Thank you! And hey, are you eating raw meat on that paleo diet? Steak tartar! Or raw milk? --T.

Replied By Harveyp (Ancaster, Ontario) on 10/25/2012

Replied By Sophie (Dayton, Ohio, Usa) on 10/26/2012

I've been grain free for almost a month now, and the difference in my health is astounding! I've been chasing around a mystery health problem for 2 years now. Long story short, I think it's PCOS, since that seems to run in the family and all my symptoms fit. I'm getting tested next week, so I'll post again and let you all know how it turns out. I went grain free because I saw several posts online about women curing their PCOS and restoring normal hormonal function with a grain free, high protein diet. I had been eating an almost-vegetarian diet with little protein and an "average" amount of carbs.

I gave up all grains (even quinoa and buckwheat, I know they aren't techincally grains but I wanted to go cold turkey). I eat lots of veggies and low-glycemic fruits, and a small portion of chicken/oily fish/grass-fed beef at every meal. I eat all fruit with nuts or nut butter (freshly ground, not jar stuff), to reduce the blood sugar spike. I cut back a bit on the beans, but I do still eat them, mostly chickpeas and lentils since they are less starchy. The results: I have more energy, my skin is clearer, my "brain-fog" is gone, my anxiety and stress is reduced, I've started to lose weight, and my horrible (really horrible!! ) body odor is gone! The weirdest thing though -- my eye color changed!!! I used to have dark reddish-brown eyes, now they are going GREEN! My mom has green eyes, and my dad has hazel, so it makes sense that I would have GREEN eyes... I read somewhere that poor liver function can make your eyes orangy-yellowy, maybe it has something to do with that??? And this is only after about 1 month. Still hoping it will take care of some of the bigger PCOS symptoms, but I think that it will take some time for my hormone levels to normalize now that I'm eating right.

I now also only buy poultry/meat/dairy that is grass-fed, organic, and HORMONE and ANTIBIOTIC FREE! Very important if you have hormone issues!

I definitely say go grain free... But if you do, only talk about it with other people who understand natural medicine. The girls I eat lunch with had a total fit over my grain free lifestyle, they can't understand how I can live without bread and pasta. They wouldn't let it go, it was almost like they took my new lifestyle as a personal insult! It was surreal, I now see how addictive the "new" wheat is, that people can't comprehend a grain free life. Now if people question why I'm eating my sandwich wrapped in lettuce instead of bread, I tell them I have Celiacs! Not exactly true but people seem more accepting of it. Until they start telling you about all the "great" gluten-free rice flour potato starch corn filled products in the "health" food isle! Blech! Just hang in there and know you aren't alone! You are doing it for YOUR health and YOUR life, and you don't have to justify it to anyone!

Replied By Wayfound (Motown, Ca/ Usa) on 10/26/2012

Now, the Paleo diet is where they might look at you a bit squirrely. This is where one attempts to eat foods cooked very little, if at all, including meat, eggs, milk. I have made a couple stabs at it, and all I can say is, maybe it was the cut of beef, but it was darn chewy. I wonder at our teeth, which look like grass-eaters... Exactly like horses' teeth. Fresh raw eggs have been put in smoothies since Jack LaLane's time. I'm after the fresh leche myself.

I am drawn by a line in Revelation: "They shall all eat whey. " Drink milk? It is a sacred cow healing food, when fresh, and pasture-fed cows are used. Same thing with the raw honey products. We even went to visit the pastured chickens where we get our eggs, to see if they were happy!

I am learning that soaking nuts for eight hours, then dehydrating eight hours, yields an entirely different nut butter: awoken, dark brown, oily, digestible, chock full of available nutrients.

But there must be something to sprouting grains? The mixture described in Ezekiel creates a protein, not carbs. Anyway, I agree about the protein part, if one is healthy enough to digest it. Messiah said, "Eat a little fish."

I am struck by the fact that Cain, the vegetarian, slew Abel, the meat-eater. A famous healer verified this emotional component-- that vegetarianism can lead to anger and emotional spikes, whereas meat-eaters (or protein?) are more mellow and even. One would expect the opposite to be true. I am prayerfully asking to be led to the right foods to eat, or not, as I have become a bit uncertain; but, I like fresh and raw more all the time. --T.

Replied By Laura A (Austin, Tx) on 04/27/2014

Replied By Whisperingsage (Northern California, US) on 02/22/2015