The Primal Blueprint (34 page)

Grains also contain high levels of mild, natural plant toxins known as lectins. Researchers have found that lectins can inhibit healthy gastrointestinal function by damaging delicate brush borders that allow appropriate forms of nutrients (glucose, amino acids, fats, vitamins, and minerals) to travel from the digestive tract into the bloodstream. Lectin damage allows larger, undigested protein molecules to infiltrate the bloodstream. The ever-vigilant immune system sees these unfamiliar protein molecules (not necessarily lectins, but
anything
you ingest that was supposed to be fully processed in the digestive tract before entering the bloodstream) and sets up a typical immune response to deal with them. Unfortunately, these undigested protein molecules can resemble molecules that reside on the outside of healthy cells, leaving your immune system confused as to who the real enemy is. When your healthy cells come under attack by a confused immune system, you experience what is known as an autoimmune response, something experts believe is the root cause of many diseases.

Understanding that the long-term effects of chronic hyperinsulinemia (high insulin levels in the bloodstream) are such conditions as general systemic inflammation, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer should be enough to convince you that it is critical to pursue a more natural way of eating. Eating low-carbohydrate, grain-free meals will not only result in immediate gratification in the form of regulated energy levels, but it can help you succeed with long-term weight management and quite possibly save your life.

As a reminder, insulin is a “master hormone” that regulates the metabolism of fat and carbohydrate in your body. The single most important requirement to improve your fat metabolism and succeed with long-term weight management is to normalize and balance the general amount of insulin you produce. High insulin levels promote fat storage and disease. Moderated insulin levels (typical with
Primal Blueprint
eating) stimulate fat burning and good health. It’s that simple.

“
High insulin levels promote fat storage and disease. Moderated insulin levels (typical with Primal Blueprint eating) stimulate fat burning and good health. It’s that simple
.
”

At the risk of sounding overly dramatic or redundant on this position, we must understand that the reasonable, “evolutionary” voice challenging Conventional Wisdom about grains is being battled by billions of dollars in corporate and government propaganda pushing us to conform to dietary habits that we are not suited for, that do not nourish us, and that are downright destructive to human health. As Professor Diamond reminds us, humanity is very far down a disastrous road, and righting course is incredibly problematic.

If you are one of the fortunate folks who are less sensitive to glutens, lectins, and phytates than most, you might take exception to my wholesale damning of foods that are a dietary centerpiece across the globe. Absent acute symptoms, I’ll still argue that we are all genetically “allergic” in some way to foods that are not aligned with the
Primal Blueprint
. Perhaps you can try eliminating grains for 30 or 60 days, taking note of any general improvements in your condition. I’ll bet your energy will be more regulated after meals, your digestion and elimination will improve, and the frequency of minor illnesses or inflammation conditions will subside, and you will be more successful controlling your weight. There simply are no good reasons to base your diet on grains—and a lot of reasons never to eat much grains for the rest of your life.

Perhaps the most offensive and dangerous element of the modern diet is the widespread consumption of toxic processed fats: partially hydrogenated, hydrogenated, and trans fats.
Note
: the three are not quite the same but are very similar—and all evil. Throughout the book, we use the term
partially hydrogenated
, because it is more widely used in food manufacturing and a more familiar term on food labels than plain
hydrogenated
. What’s more, partially hydrogenated fats are actually more objectionable than fully hydrogenated fats.

“
More die in the United States of too much food than of too little. —
John Kenneth Galbraith
Canadian-American economist
”

These fats are found in almost every processed food product in the supermarket, including frozen dinners, breakfast foods, sweets, and desserts; packaged snacks (e.g., crackers, chips, and cookies); deep-fried foods; pastries and baked goods (e.g., donuts, croissants, and cupcakes); and, peanut butter, soups, and even grain products (e.g., bread, cereal, pasta, and rice mixes). A commonly cited estimate is that 40 percent of all products in a typical supermarket contain partially hydrogenated oils.

As mentioned in
Chapter 3
, processed fat damage cell membranes and body tissue and hamper immune function. Pr fats are not recognized as foreign by the body, so they are incorporated into cell membranes and asked to function as natural fats. Of course, they don’t function normally; they just take up space usually reserved for healthy fats and wreak havoc on homeostasis.

Many scientists consider the cell membrane to be the brain of the cell (as opposed to the more common assumption that the nucleus runs the show), because the membrane receives feedback from the outside environment (e.g., ingested nutrients like glucose entering the bloodstream, the presence of a virus attacking healthy cells, or increased blood flow due to exercise stimulus) and takes consequent action (e.g., triggers the expression of certain genes or the release of certain hormones).

When you have cell membranes comprising natural molecules and you replace them with synthetic dysfunctional molecules, (trans or partially hydrogenated fats), the intricate signaling system is compromised. Plain and simple, the routine and prolonged ingestion of these toxic agents is a major contributor to the alarming increase in not only diet-related cancers but many other diseases and adverse health conditions. For example, many experts believe there is a direct connection between consuming processed fats and obesity (beyond their contribution to caloric excess), theorizing that insulin resistance could be exacerbated by dysfunctional fat molecules accumulating in cell membranes.

Research suggests that consumption of trans and partially hydrogenated fats promotes inflammation, aging, and cancer. The
New England Journal of Medicine
reviewed numerous studies and reported a strong link between processed fat consumption and heart disease (including the strong tendency for processed fats to significantly raise LDL cholesterol levels and lower HDL levels). Harvard Medical School estimates that processed fats may be responsible for as many as 100,000 premature deaths each year in the United States. The United States Academy of Sciences says that there is “no safe level” of processed fat in the American diet. The good news is that when you change your diet to eliminate these toxic agents, over time your cells will repair or replace these dysfunctional molecules with healthy ones.

Wheat, corn, rice, oats, breakfast cereals, pastas, breads, pancakes, rolls, crackers, and even “natural” grains like barley, millet, rye and the like. Buoyed by Conventional Wisdom, I consumed grains with reckless abandon as a major percentage of my dietary calories for some forty years. It wasn’t until I completely eliminated grains from my diet that some epiphanies occurred. Those occasional stomach cramps that I always attributed to stress? They were more likely due to wheat allergies (their severity triggered by stress, of course). That sluggish feeling I had after pasta dinners that I attributed to fatigue from a hard day training or working? It was actually my brain experiencing glucose depletion from the postmeal insulin flash flood in my bloodstream. The bloating that caused me to loosen my belt buckle after big meals that I attributed to eating too much? This may have represented a mild allergic reaction to gluten. The mild arthritis in my fingers that I first began to notice on the golf course in my forties and chalked up to the aging process? Likely due to the pro-inflammatory nature of the lingering amounts of grains still remaining in my diet. These routine tribulations that I had long considered a regrettable but inevitable part of life completely disappeared once my transition to a completely Primal diet took hold.

I’ve met very few people who eat a lot of grains yet who also claim to enjoy ideal weight, experience perfectly satisfactory and steady energy levels, and never feel digestive distress. At the very least, it’s worth conducting a 30-day test to determine your sensitivity—and get a glimpse of your potential upside—from eliminating grains from your diet. Chances are, even if you are at a decent launching point now, you will experience a noticeable stabilization of daily energy levels, improved immune function, and a reduction in minor digestive distress from reducing or eliminating grains.

Alfalfa, beans, peanuts, peas, lentils, and soybeans. These foods, often incorrectly classified by many consumers as vegetables, are heavily domesticated and were “recently” introduced into the human food supply, much the same as grains. While legumes offer a good source of protein, fiber, potassium, and antioxidants, they also provide significant levels of carbohydrate and increase the overall insulin load of your diet. Furthermore, legumes contain those pesky antinutrients lectins. As
Paleo Diet
author Dr. Loren Cordain explains, “Most legumes in their mature state are non-digestible and/or toxic to most mammals, when eaten in even moderate quantities.”

The fact that legumes need to be altered for human consumption through cooking, soaking, or fermenting should be our best clue to avoid or strictly minimize their consumption (all truly safe fruits and vegetables can be eaten either raw or cooked). To tiptoe into a sensitive subject, the beans that are consumed liberally by many world cultures (kidney, pinto, black beans, lentils) come with the annoying by-product of flatulence, caused by the fermentation of indigestible carbohydrates.

While soy has achieved great popularity as a “healthy” alternative to meat, unfermented soy products contain compounds that may interfere with thyroid hormone production and have demonstrated an estrogenic (feminizing) effect in certain tissue. That said, soy products do have decent nutritional value and certain fermented products may be less objectionable (tempeh, natto, etc.).

I understand that many people have a strong affinity for legumes and that legumes enjoy a reputation as a healthful food category, particularly among vegetarians, who otherwise have limited protein options. It will not be a disaster if you occasionally dip your vegetables in hummus at a dinner party, fry some tempeh with vegetables for a main course, or enjoy side dishes of peas, lentils or steamed beans. However, emphasizing legumes in your diet is an inferior strategy to having vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and animal foods as your primary meal and snack choices.

Anything with chemical additives or that’s been heavily altered from its natural state requires little discussion. Realize that you have been pummeled with marketing messages your entire life to consume branded, boxed stuff that has contributed directly and tragically to the obesity, illness, and death of those in your community. As important as knowing what our ancestors ate is knowing what they
didn’t
eat: Grok never touched refined sugar, trans or partially hydrogenated fats, grains, desserts, processed foods, or anything with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, preservatives, or other chemicals.