WHO SHOULD EAT GRAINS & BEANS?

I’m not necessarily recommending eating grains & beans to anyone. It’s not guaranteed to reverse cavities or disease if you prepare them with traditional methods. Each person has their own tolerance level to antinutrients. Some people are healthier when they avoid grains & beans altogether, and we all have an upper limit to what we can tolerate.

• Consider your personal health status and listen to your body.
• Limit grains & beans to just a portion of your diet and focus mainly on nutrient dense foods.

HOW DID OUR HEALTHY ANCESTORS PREPARE GRAINS?

1.  They used biodynamic soil practices and ancestral/heritage varieties of grain. They didn’t use commercial pesticides or fertilizers. They grew ancestral varieties like einkorn as opposed to GMO grains.
2.  Careful harvesting that often included slow-drying in the sun which acted as an initial stage of fermentation and germination.
3.  They stored grains carefully (often with the outer hull) to preserve freshness, and they avoided rancid grains.
4.  They ground the grains fresh before preparation.
5.  They removed most of the bran and germ from grains by sifting. Much of the phytic acid is contained in the bran and germ. Our healthy ancestors didn’t eat whole grain foods.
6.  They used various methods to soak, ferment, germinate, and cook their grains to further reduce phytic acid content.
7.  They combined grains with foods rich in specific nutrients to protect from nutrient loss.

HOW CAN WE APPLY THESE PREPARATION TECHNIQUES TODAY?

ALL GRAINS

• Source your grains from organic/biodynamic farms like Lundberg, Jovial, or else local and Amish farms. Avoid commercial and GMO grains.
• Avoid all whole grain products. If you’re going to eat unfermented grains, you can still cut down on phytic acid by avoiding whole grains. For example, eat white rice instead of brown. Don’t eat anything with added bran or wheat germ.
• Only eat cooked grains. Cooking is an important step in reducing additional phytic acid content. For example, don’t eat overnight soaked raw oats.
• Combine grains with other nutrients to counteract the negative effects of phytic acid and other antinutrients.

Calcium – Ancestral pairings include sourdough bread with cheese, and fermented oats with a seafood rich diet. Dairy has the highest calcium content – cheese, milk, yogurt, etc.

Vit C – In the same way that Vit C supplementation protects against scurvy, it protects from all kinds of antinutrient mineral loss. In addition to raw grass-fed liver, citrus fruits, berries, tropical fruits, and cruciferous vegetables are all high in Vit C.

Vit D – Wild-caught fatty fish and fish oils have the highest content. Vit D is one of the fat-soluble activators found in all the sacred foods.

WHEAT & RYE

• Avoid bleached white flour and commercial wheat products.
• Real sourdough bread is the most common traditionally prepared grain we see today. Purchase real, long-fermented sourdough bread made with ancestral grains. The longer the ferment, the more phytic acid is removed. Ask bakers where they source their flour.
• Keep a sourdough starter and make your own baked goods.
• Either buy whole grain berries, grind it and sift it yourself before baking, or else make sure that the flour you purchase is freshly ground and sifted. (Sifted wheat flour looks like a mix between whole wheat and processed white flour. The majority of bran and germ is removed, but a small amount of color and texture remains.)
• Don’t store flour for a long time. Smell-check your flour – rancid flour smells bad.

RICE

White rice is one of the few grains that healthy ancestral people sometimes ate unfermented. They typically removed the bran and germ, and ate it along with plenty of foods containing calcium, Vit C, and Vit D in order to protect from nutrient loss. Keep in mind that white rice will still contain some amount of phytic acid and should be limited.

CORN

Eat heritage grain, organic/biodynamic corn products that have been nixtamalized (soaked in an alkaline solution) and hulled - bran and germ removed. Even so, Rami Nagel says in “Cure Tooth Decay” that nixtamalized corn probably has around the same phytic acid content of unfermented wheat flour. You might want to avoid corn altogether unless you happen to find it fermented and prepared with truly ancestral methods.

OATS

Oats have the most phytic acid content of any grain. The healthy Gaelics of the Outer Hebrides that Weston Price visited consumed a lot of oats. However, the oats were first germinated, then cooked, and then fermented for up to a week until they turned into a gel-like substance that could be sliced. They also consumed large amounts of seafood, especially cod livers.

Grains like wheat and rye contain the enzyme phytase that helps break down phytic acid. Soaking these grains will activate the phytase to remove phytic acid. But other grains like rice and oats are low in phytase and require a starter culture like yogurt to remove phytic acid.

How To - You can remove some antinutrients from oats by lacto-fermenting and cooking them. You can do this by soaking them overnight for at least 12-16 hours at room temperature in the amount of water required for cooking, plus ¼ C cultured dairy (such as yogurt or whey) for each cup of oats. Then cook as directed. Keep in mind, this won’t remove all the phytic acid, but it will reduce it.

SPROUTING BEANS

To remove most of the antinutrients in beans, our healthy ancestors first soaked and germinated them, next cooked them, and then fermented them for at least a few days. Examples of traditionally fermented beans are miso paste, natto, and lentil dosas.

How To - You can remove a significant amount of antinutrients from beans by soaking and cooking them. Sprouting your own beans is simple and easy. Just cover dried beans with water and soak overnight for at least 12-16 hours at room temperature, then drain the water and cook until completely soft.

Optional Reading  

Rami’s book is a good resource if you want to dig deeper around different types of grain preparation and the scientific research linking seeds to various diseases. It also teaches you how to remineralize your teeth.

I'm not a licensed doctor, therapist, nutritionist, or dietician. This content is for information purposes only and is not a replacement for seeking medical treatment and expert advice. Don’t start any nutrition, lifestyle, or physical program without first consulting your physician. 

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