Eat your grains! Whole grains are extremely popular because of their heavily advertised health benefits.  But the more research is done, the less attractive they look to doctors and patients?and to me.
While doing a follow-up appointment with a patient, he mentioned that he had eaten bread the day before the appointment.  I said, ?As per my advice, you should not eat bread at all.?  He answered, ?It was whole wheat bread, so should not be a problem.?
He thought that if it is a whole wheat bread, then it?s ok.
Why did he think like that? Because grains are a staple food for many of us.  Because mainstream medicine and government recommends we eat grains. Because advertisers tell us they?re good for us.  
The whole story on whole grains.
But I wondered?how could grains be good for us, when we?re not designed to eat grains at all? Is there something healthy about the endosperm (inner part) of the grain that is in white flour and hence white bread? And what about bran (the outer part of the grain that makes whole grain bread)?  Could it be that bran changes the whole story and really makes bread perfectly healthy?  So I started to investigate the truth about whole grains.
I knew that the problem with wheat is a storage protein called gliadin, which is the bad part of the notoriously known compound gluten. This protein is highly resistant to digestion. Here?s why: grains are the way the plant reproduces, so they aren?t easily digestible. In fact, grains shouldn?t be digestible at all, because they have to survive the passage through the digestive system and be implanted into the soil with feces. According to some research, gliadin interferes with the protein zonulin, which is responsible for maintaining the integrity of our bowel. In other words, gliadin may make holes in our gut. 
A gluten-IBS connection?
So giadin can be made partially absorbable by an enzyme in our bodies known as tissue transaminase.  After that, it may become cross-reactive with our own tissues. That means it triggers an autoimmune response, which develops into digestion and absorption problems. Even though mainstream medicine rarely diagnoses the problem with gluten, it is very well known that so-called Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) that doesn?t have a known cause (as per mainstream medicine), is associated with genotypes DQ2 and DQ8.  But the same genes are also linked to celiac disease.  This fact suggests that IBS may also be associated with gluten sensitivity.
Why whole grain isn?t the holy grail.
But what about the outer part of the grain called bran? Isn?t that good for us?
According to the government and mainstream medicine, bran is very nutritious and rich in vitamins and fibers. That?s why it?s recommended that we increase whole grains in our diet. But how can bran be so nutritious if it is the outer part of the grain that protects the plant from damage? The plant?s survival is dependent on the survival of the bran?you shouldn?t be able to absorb any nutrition from it, because Mother Nature has designed it to survive so it can be planted.
According to my common sense (not the government), it should be even less attractive to our digestive system because it is the bran that should protect grains from digestion in the first place.  So I started my research to find out if bran is really so rich in nutrients as government says.  
What I found was totally opposite.
Have you ever heard the term anti-nutrients? Anti-nutrients prevent digestion and absorption of nutrients. Where are these anti-nutrients? In the bran.
So now it started making sense to me:  bran contains anti-nutrients that prevent grains from getting digested and absorbed.
Anti-nutrients: anti-digestion
Common anti-nutrients to avoid:
Phytates, which are in bran and the hulls of nuts.  They not only aren?t digestible, they also remove valuable metals like iron and zinc from the blood, a process called chelation.
Lectins from legumes.
Tannins from tea and red wine (avoid drinking red wine with dinner and tea after dinner!).
Oxalic acid from spinach (Don?t eat spinach in your salad).
Grain?s good side?
But how about the reported benefits of eating whole grain bread? There must be some, because anti-nutrients from bran can protect us at least partially from the damaging effects of gluten and starch from grains.
New learning from ancient man
But if grains on the whole (pardon the pun) are harmful, then how did humans survive for so many years while eating bread?  Did ancient people know some secret about how to deal with gluten?
In one study, researchers checked the bread from rustic regions of Italy for gluten, knowing that bread-making there hasn?t really changed for centuries.  What they found was surprising. Bread from these rural regions contained less gluten than expected because of a very simple reason:  the yeast strain they used was able to destroy gluten in contrast to than other yeast strains used in the US. Also, these breads take much more time for the dough to rise, which made it possible to destroy gluten.
But were bread-baking techniques enough to protect early man from the toxic effects of gluten? 
I knew that one of the ways to assess the effectiveness of the digestive system is to check a person?s height.  If the person is short, then digestion and absorption problems are a possibility.  So I tried to figure out what the height of prehistoric humans.
One of the documented remains of the prehistoric people was the so-called Java man.  The skeleton was actually that of a boy.  Do you know what the height to that boy was? Close to 6 feet.
Then what was the height of the prehistoric adult? 10 feet? 12 feet? That?s an exaggeration, but the boy?s height does suggest that prehistoric man could have been taller than the average height of modern men. Does it give you a clue what is going on? To me, it suggests that gluten and nutrient absorption was not a problem. Did gluten not affect them? Did they use less of it? Or did they simply not eat gluten foods? 
Here?s my grain of truth.
Stay away from grains especially from whole grains. Humans are not designed to digest grains oat all.
Think twice before ingesting anti-nutrients like tannins in red wine and tea, lectins in legumes and oxalic acid in spinach.
Stick with Paleolithic diet.
Use fermenting and sprouting to get rid of anti-nutrients.
Make sure that your digestive system is healthy.  Otherwise, a Paleolithic diet may be not for you.
Do not make any health decisions without approval of your doctor.
Good luck!