Do you know what barley, buckwheat, corn, fonio, millets, oats, quinoa, rice, rye, sorghum, and wheat all have in common? That's right, they are all grains.

Now that we know what is considered a grain, let's take a brief look at grains are composed of.

The entire seed itself is referred to as the "kernel". As you can see in the picture, the kernel is made up of 3 parts:

1. Bran - This is the tough outer coating of the kernel. It contains proteins, vitamins, minerals, and most of the fiber. Sounds all well and dandy, but it is also home to anti-nutrients and gut-irritating protein constituents.
2. Germ - This is the plant embryo and it contains a fairly dense source of fatty acids (mostly omega-6), some protein, and assorted vitamins and minerals.
3. Endosperm - This is the germ's food supply. It is composed mostly of starchy carbohydrates, some protein, and little in the way of vitamins and minerals.

OK, we should all be on the same page now. Let's get to the good stuff, shall we?

There are several reasons why we so strongly recommend your avoidance of grains.

• Insulin Response - Like all other carbohydrates, grains are eventually broken down into glucose which requires an insulin response. If your body's glycogen stores are full at the time, this extra glucose will be stored as fat. This taxes the adrenal system, the pancreas, and the immune system as well as causing inflammation. Besides, who wants to get fat?!
• Phytic Acid Levels - Grains contain high levels of phytic acid. These phytates are not destroyed during the cooking process and block our body's uptake of key nutrients like calcium, zinc, and magnesium. Your body's ability to process Vitamin D is also reduced by these phytates. There is a reason why most commercial grain products are fortified with so many different vitamins and minerals.
• Fiber - Fiber deserves an entire post of its own, but I will give a brief summary here. Contrary to what big business would like you to believe, fiber is NOT necessary. In fact, fiber can be an irritant to most. This is because it simply passes through your digestive system, scraping up the walls as it moves on through. Your body has no use for it. On the other hand, the nasty bacteria living in your gut, responsible for IBS, lives solely off of this stuff.
• Gluten - Gluten is the large, water-soluble protein that creates the elasticity in dough. Our bodies respond to our ingestion of gluten with inflammation. Overtime, this inflammatory response leads to dermatitis, joint pain, reproductive problems, acid reflux, autoimmune disorders, and celiac disease.
• Lectins - Lectins, by definition, are proteins which bind specifically to carbohydrate-containing receptors on cell surfaces and "do something" to said cells. The "do something" ranges from causing Leaky Gut Syndrome to Autoimmune Disorders to Lactose Intolerance.

Livestock don't handle grains too well either. Their fatty acid profiles become completely altered and they become infected with heat and acid resistant strains of E. Coli. A grain based diet requires plenty of hormones and antibiotics to keep the sick livestock alive long enough to be slaughtered.

There really is no "healthy" justification for consuming grains. They do not provide a single nutrient that you couldn't get in equal or even greater amounts from other foods and they wreck havoc on our bodies.