Re: Gluten Article/grain-free eating

[Guest guest]

Elaine,

I'm just reading Against The Grain (I've read Dangerous Grains already) and

feel the same way. I had no idea about the fossil fuels! That is a weird way to

eat and so wrong IMO.

I live with someone who cannot be convinced of grains ill effects.

Elainie

[Guest guest]

Don't Asians have higher rates of certain kinds of cancer than we do

(pancreatic for instance)? And i remember reading on this list that they

suffer different sorts of stomach ailments than we do in the West.

I think the biggest light bulb for me is that we don't NEED grains, contrary

to what we have been told our whole lives from every direction. I giggle at

my macrobiotic phase now. After reading the Oil We Eat (Harpers Feb. 2004, I

HIGHLY recommend reading this) and an article in the current (May) National

Geographic, I'm convinced grain farming has done a huge disservice to the

planet and every living being on it, except for a few CEOs. But then again,

I'm sitting in a warm, dry house typing on a computer and enjoying all other

facets of civilization thanks to grain farming (although truth be told i

might prefer living in a cave and spending more time with my husband and the

women folk). Looking at the big picture of grain farming and how we live

today, and how we have created this huge population of poor and starving

people -- well, it gives one a lot to ponder. The bottom line: Eating grains

today requires fossil fuels to make them edible (1/2 gallon of gas just to

produce 2 pounds of breakfast cereal), and that is a pretty weird way to

eat.

Didn't hunter-gatherers cultivate and eat some wild grains some of the time?

How else would they have been inspired to farm it? I just finished Dangerous

Grains this morning and am well convinced gluten grains have no place in the

human diet. As for other grains, i'm thinking they might be ok in moderation

if someone feels deprived without them.

Elaine

>

> Heidi,

> Lets think about those Asian cultures? Are they really that much healthier?

> Evidence does seem to point in that direction as surely they eat or used to

> eat

> a wider variety of foods than US folks have.

> But they have health problems too from what I've studied.

> Elainie

[Guest guest]

>I think the biggest light bulb for me is that we don't NEED grains, contrary

>to what we have been told our whole lives from every direction. I giggle at

>my macrobiotic phase now.

Yeah, I totally agree there!

>After reading the Oil We Eat (Harpers Feb. 2004, I

>HIGHLY recommend reading this) and an article in the current (May) National

>Geographic, I'm convinced grain farming has done a huge disservice to the

>planet and every living being on it, except for a few CEOs. But then again,

>I'm sitting in a warm, dry house typing on a computer and enjoying all other

>facets of civilization thanks to grain farming (although truth be told i

>might prefer living in a cave and spending more time with my husband and the

>women folk).

I loved that article. I've also been reading " Guns, Germs and Steel " which

links civilization to grain cultivation. But ... lately I haven't been eating

grain

much, and I'm working on growing more of my own food. What amazes

me is that, except for the chickens, it really isn't difficult to live and raise

a family without grain. I mean, we COULD have civilization without grain ...

it doesn't necessarily take a huge amount of land or anything else. Calorie

for calorie, potatoes are more productive than grain feilds, I think, and trees

are right up there too. And how much land does it take to raise, say, one

beef a year for my family, vs. how many acres of grain field to grow those

poptarts and snack foods? One or two good fruit trees, some berry bushes,

one cow, some salad vegies, potatoes, a few chickens ... we COULD live on that

(and people did, at one point in time) without the grain.

So I'm not sure exactly where the grain part comes in now. I do keep hearing

it is " necessary " for civilization ... certainly you need civilization to have

grain (because you can store it, then you need an army to protect it, and

big buildings to store it in!) but is the reverse true? I don't think it would

be all that hard to feed the US, at any rate, on a grainless diet, though

it would change the grocery stores a lot. Beef and goats graze in places

you can't grow anything currently.

>Looking at the big picture of grain farming and how we live

>today, and how we have created this huge population of poor and starving

>people -- well, it gives one a lot to ponder. The bottom line: Eating grains

>today requires fossil fuels to make them edible (1/2 gallon of gas just to

>produce 2 pounds of breakfast cereal), and that is a pretty weird way to

>eat.

It is. I'm putting in a garden now, and it's going to be a pretty big one

(my goal is to be self-sufficient on vegies someday) but other than

going to the store to buy seed and lumber, it hasn't taken any gas

at all. The 40 or so lbs of berries I harvested last year didn't take

any gas either. Tho the freezer takes electricity, and the bags I

PUT the berries in had to be manufactured.

>Didn't hunter-gatherers cultivate and eat some wild grains some of the time?

>How else would they have been inspired to farm it? I just finished Dangerous

>Grains this morning and am well convinced gluten grains have no place in the

>human diet. As for other grains, i'm thinking they might be ok in moderation

>if someone feels deprived without them.

Mostly the other grains are empty calories, but sheesh, getting one's family

to eat mainly meat and vegies doesn't happen overnight! They are leaning

that way though, gradually ... my daughter's favorite food right now is

berries and cream. And I think I'd feel deprived if I couldn't have

brownies sometimes.

Considering how much WORK grains are, I tend to think part of the

reason they got farmed originally was *alcohol*. Worldwide, a lot

of the calories people consumed are in the form of alcoholic drinks.

First thing the Pitcairn mutineers did, when they landed on a paridisical

South Seas island, is start fermenting (fruits, in that case). But gluten is

addictive too, it forms opioids. And starches in general raise serotonin

levels. Never underestimate the power of drugs!

-- Heidi Jean