I was listening to Doug McGuff's interview with David Duke (sorry, you'll have to go to the LLVLC blog for your link), and he mentions at one point why grains are so toxic. You see the seed part is the reproductive organ that the plant wants to protect itself from being eaten.
Fair enough. But let's list other "reproductive organs" humans eat:
- Seeds
- Nuts
- Tubers
- Rhizomes
- Legumes (pod seeds)
- Fruits (berries, melons, etc. included)
- Eggs
- The "whole" animal
Need I rinse and repeat? Yes, all but two of those are vegetation, but I mean we could keep the gurus busy for a goodly long time asking just the difference between this "grain" or that "grain". Even foliage distinctions aren't consistent as to equate corn with a grass like wheat is baseless. The truth of the matter is, that unless one truly believes humans are/were obligate carnivores, our species has survived consuming the reproductive organs, especially of vegetation, because that is where the nutrition is!!
If you look at everything bad that can be said about grains, truth be told, you could say the same about, say, walnuts. Lectins, phytates, omega six fats, ... the list goes on. Peanuts/butter used to be an Atkins special ... until paleo came along and demonized the legume. Soy was a staple too ... a few still eat some soy in secret corners. Black soy beans are a low carbers dream to have "beans" ... I'd never heard of them before someone suggested them in, where else, a low carb forum. Flax, a low carb staple, must be ground to even be digested such as it even can be.
This is but one of the seemingly arbitrary distinctions made regarding foods that puzzle me. All of the above except 8 contain some sorts of protective "antinutrients", and yet ALL are sources of high quality nutrition. That grains have been turned to dust, combined with sugar and or fat into highly processed crap, is no more a reflection on those grains themselves than spiked eggnog is a proper reflection on eggs.
This is but one of the seemingly arbitrary distinctions made regarding foods that puzzle me. All of the above except 8 contain some sorts of protective "antinutrients", and yet ALL are sources of high quality nutrition. That grains have been turned to dust, combined with sugar and or fat into highly processed crap, is no more a reflection on those grains themselves than spiked eggnog is a proper reflection on eggs.