I started reading the Wheat Belly book a couple of days ago and I was hooked (I believe I have some level of wheat/gluten intolerance). Some of the stuff in there is pretty shocking at how wheat itself (not just gluten) affects mind/body- I've not read Grain Damage by Doug Graham but I assume it's a similar read.

A few things though...

1. Wheatgrass- what affect can this have? Obviously it's in an unprocessed form compared to the bread/bagel/pasta wheat referenced through the book, but it's still wheat, right? In it's raw form could the side effects be more potent? Is all wheat 'equal'?

2. Being a raw forum I kind of assume there's lots of people here who sprout and have wheatgrass fairly regularly- have you ever noticed a difference in your health by omitting the wheat/adding wheat back in?

Thanks

Wheat is a grain.
Wheatgrass is a green vegetable.
Green vegetables do not contain gluten.
The grain has gluten, the grass does not.
Although grass was germinated from grain, it undergoes a complete transformation into a vegetable.
Wheatgrass is very potent in maintaining overall health.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2015 06:00PM by RawPracticalist.

this is the author of the wheat belly book

BEFORE



AFTER (WITH A NON WHEAT BELLY)

Panchito- they're both 'after' photos judging by the captions. I guess the guy just didn't keep practicing what he preaches. Lots of health 'gurus' at some point look puffier than what they did before.

RawPracticalist- I get they're different- grass vs refined, but as much as I have loved wheatgrass in the past, I can't help wonder if potent shots of the grass juice aren't a good thing. It takes a lot of grass to create 1 shot. Sometimes I have felt ill after them.

Also, just to add- the book isn't just about gluten, it's about wheat itself.

He looks like another American 'expert' that experienced that his/her theories were wrong but made a living from them. I cannot keep up with counting how many of these self apointed gurus are out there. This site exposes many of them. He stopped making videos about a year ago probably because he does not look good (like many of the experts that do not pass the time test). In the videos he recommends intermittent fasting to lose weight just like Atkins. His face is looking round (fat) and lacking muscle.

[www.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2015 10:07PM by Panchito.

Wheat have sustained a lot of people, and made them live in good radiant health. Wheat is in my opinion a good food. Grains does not deserve the bad criticism.

Vitality Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wheat have sustained a lot of people, and made
> them live in good radiant health. Wheat is in my
> opinion a good food. Grains does not deserve the
> bad criticism.


That's what I thought when I was a teenager and knew everything, too.

Maybe in the past. Now most wheat is hybridized and contains 70-80% more gluten than in the old days.
Gluten cannot possible be good in any form

littlemermaid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Maybe in the past. Now most wheat is hybridized
> and contains 70-80% more gluten than in the old
> days.
> Gluten cannot possible be good in any form


And why is that? And I'm not talking about GMO wheat.

there are many negative aspects of grains if you care to investigate.

opioids for one.

digestive problems, skin problems caused by grains.

gluten presents many problems - available widely on the net for you to investigate and believe or not, it's up to you whether it's logical.

but you don't need to get into technical details to determine whether a food is good or not. evolution has directed bodies and foods to be compatible based on the design of the body and what is efficiently eaten.

grains do not qualify from a taste, chewing, collection standpoint. humans have deteriorated over time since agriculture began. the confusing part is that we are so adaptable, and negative symptoms are often not obvious and negative effects take time so it appears that "people do fine" on a lot of things.

any food that doesn't satisfy qualities like taste and acquisition efficiency and digestive efficiency and more is likely to have negative aspects.

just as cows eating squirrels would present a problem for them.

but we humans just think that we should eat anything on the planet.

fresh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> there are many negative aspects of grains if you
> care to investigate.
>
> opioids for one.
>
> digestive problems, skin problems caused by
> grains.
>
> gluten presents many problems - available widely
> on the net for you to investigate and believe or
> not, it's up to you whether it's logical.
>
> but you don't need to get into technical details
> to determine whether a food is good or not.
> evolution has directed bodies and foods to be
> compatible based on the design of the body and
> what is efficiently eaten.
>
> grains do not qualify from a taste, chewing,
> collection standpoint. humans have deteriorated
> over time since agriculture began. the confusing
> part is that we are so adaptable, and negative
> symptoms are often not obvious and negative
> effects take time so it appears that "people do
> fine" on a lot of things.
>
> any food that doesn't satisfy qualities like
> taste and acquisition efficiency and digestive
> efficiency and more is likely to have negative
> aspects.
>
> just as cows eating squirrels would present a
> problem for them.
>
> but we humans just think that we should eat
> anything on the planet.


Yes but since agriculture began we have also been moving less, eating more and more animal products, etc. There are studies out there finding that ancient men 45,000 years ago ate wheat. Don't forget the asian countries etc and other populations whose, animal intake was very low, almost nonexistent whereas the rice/grain consumtion was very high.

But I agree with you, and I believe fruits are the best food on the planet. Grains are bland (though I love them, especially oats). Grains are poor food compared to fruit.

I read alot of old books written by people who traveled and their conclusion is often times that populations that lived on starches were very vigorous people.

>Grains are poor food compared to fruit.
Sprouted grains may be better than fruits.

I try not to eat grains at all. And if Doug Graham is accused of killing an old lady or if he is a muslim terrorist (system can do that, it is a piece of cake for them), I will still not eat grains.

Thank you very much.

Well some people do not eat sprouted grains for religious belief

RP said:

"Sprouted grains may be better than fruits."

Grains need to have the ground scalped to plant them and have a short Life of only one season and do not reseed themselves i.e., they do not occur and cannot exist in the Wild without our pampering hands. You then need to harvest and store said grains for sprouting, (double farming)...

Fruits can be established into the Wild in a short time and shower down food year after year especially when grown with other co-cooperative food crops and grown in Permaculture Food Forests.

Pick your poison, seasonal, hard labor short lived grains, OR long lived continually bearing fruit crops? Really a no-brainer for those with brains. Weak grass fields OR strong soil building trees?

"By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread"...blah blah suffering.

Exactly correct on fruits
And also on grains because grains are fruits, superior fruits.
Just like gold they are a little harder to get, so precious
Oh grains my precious fruits!!!
I cannot live without you.
When I sprout you, I give you life
And you give it back to me, in love.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2015 05:23AM by RawPracticalist.

RP stated:
"And also on grains because grains are fruits, superior fruits. "

TSM you're so silly...

No Grains of Course, but abundant food...

Health Benefits of Sprouted Grains

Quote

The body of research detailing the health benefits of sprouted whole grains is growing daily. Although it's important to remember that no standard, uniform definition of sprouted grains was observed from one study to another, it's intriguing to see — even with a wide range of definitions – how many different benefits seem to be associated with sprouted grains.

[wholegrainscouncil.org]
You cannot harvest fruits indoor.
You can sprout grain indoor.

RP said:
"You can sprout grain indoor."

The farmer that is growing said grains so you can spout them is certainly not indoors. Who wants to be indoors? Isn't the point of eating a "natural" diet to connect with "nature"? I personally would rather be OUTSIDE in that beautiful food forest, nest'ce pas?

My work keeps me in the city, in the heart of downtown.
Farmers have modern gadgets, tv, internet because of the work done in the cities.
In exchange we get the food they grow.
There is nothing wrong buying their grains and sprouting indoor.
A tiny green forest overlooking the city at the 46th floor downtown Manhattan.
I feed my body with those greens the farmers made possible.
I can walk into the forest when I am on vacation or during some weekend breaks.
You must be going to the farm harvesting your own fruits, I mean walking not driving.
La vie est un choix.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2015 03:08PM by RawPracticalist.

Why are so many "natural" eaters not into nature...

"We may think that much of what we accept is of little consequence. Indeed, our culture urges us to accept things that our forefathers and foremothers would have found abhorrent, for example, being inside a building all day, day after day."

Thoreau:
I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits unless I spend four hours a day at least — and it is commonly more than that — sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields absoutely free from all wordly engagements. You may safely say a penny for your thoughts, or a thousand pounds. When sometimes I am reminded that the mechanics and shop-keepers stay in their shops not only all the forenoon, but all the afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them — as if the legs were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon — I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide long ago.

“Lose yourself in Nature and find Peace.” -Author Unknown

Lose yourself in Nature and find Peace - that’s exactly what I do when I go on long Bike Rides along the Bayou - Lose myself in Nature and find Peace.

"Fruits can be established into the Wild in a short time and shower down food year after year especially when grown with other co-cooperative food crops and grown in Permaculture Food Forests."

You always talk about food forests...

1.) Are you helping to achieve abundant fruit forests in any way or do you just endlessly talk about it without taking any action?

2.) Not everyone lives in an area of the world where they can establish food/fruit forests.

3.) You live on the road so I'm guessing you buy all of your food at grocery stores - eating week/month old refrigerated fruit that's traveled thousands of miles isn't natural or fresh.

jtprindl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Fruits can be established into the Wild in a
> short time and shower down food year after year
> especially when grown with other co-cooperative
> food crops and grown in Permaculture Food
> Forests."
>
> You always talk about food forests...
>
> 1.) Are you helping to achieve abundant fruit
> forests in any way or do you just endlessly talk
> about it without taking any action?
>
> 2.) Not everyone lives in an area of the world
> where they can establish food/fruit forests.
>
> 3.) You live on the road so I'm guessing you buy
> all of your food at grocery stores - eating
> week/month old refrigerated fruit that's traveled
> thousands of miles isn't natural or fresh.

Personally I hope he isn't trying to plant food forests unless he knows what he is doing and has permission to do so. Many now consider Johnny Appleseed to have been a bioterrorist as he introduced foreign trees to other ecosystems in a deleterious way.

jt wrote:
"You always talk about food forests...

Yes I want to promote the "idea" of it to begin with...

"1.) Are you helping to achieve abundant fruit forests in any way or do you just endlessly talk about it without taking any action?"

In the area I live in California there are a large number of abandoned orchards, and wild fruit trees as well as a number of different kinds of berries that I have found and have access too. I harvest and eat them whenever possible. Plums, Komquats, 5 different berries, Persimmons, Almonds, Walnuts, Olives, Cherries, Apples, Pears, Goji Figs etc., all WILD.

As I mentioned my grandpa owns 400+ acres of land that he purchased turn of the century from a Japanese family. The Japanese man knew how to plant tree crops without irrigating, old school knowledge.

I moved onto that land for several years and the trees were all growing and producing almost a hundred years later. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it. Figs, apricots, oranges, pomegranates, olives, a walnut grove of 10 trees that produced so many walnuts each year it was insane.

TRUE ABUNDANCE!

2.) Not everyone lives in an area of the world where they can establish food/fruit forests.

BS. Any land can be made productive. Some people are living where they shouldn't be and abusing their health yes, but that's a different story. Everyone should migrate seasonally in my opinion and stay in the warmth and Sun/Light year round especially in the US, the North should be almost abandoned in the winter.

Re-Greening The Deserts

3.) You live on the road so I'm guessing you buy all of your food at grocery stores - eating week/month old refrigerated fruit that's traveled thousands of miles isn't natural or fresh.

No, in California I have access to farmers markets and tons of Coops and health food stores that sell locally grown produce. I grow different micro-greens but the weather has been cold so I just getting back into that. I wnat to upgrade to a 5th wheel toy hauler so that I can be self sufficient in greens, mushrooms, some vegetables in the near future.

I do intend to participate in creating and planting Food Forests. My dream is to establish RV Park Health Resorts for eco councious nomads that have community gardens, grey water recycling, Permaculture Food Forests, off grid power generation etc. That way people can come and go, but there is always someone there to maintain things.

We would build the community buildings Earthship style and use the front facing greenhouse to propagate inside the trees and seedlings to turn the surrounding landscape into an Oasis. I don't believe in land ownership whatsoever thus the nomadic bent on things. All land and water should be common..


Suez spouted:
"Personally I hope he isn't trying to plant food forests unless he knows what he is doing and has permission to do so. Many now consider Johnny Appleseed to have been a bioterrorist as he introduced foreign trees to other ecosystems in a deleterious way."

Permission, ha are you joking. People buy and then rape the land because they "own" it. Fences are a sin and a sign of mental disturbance (I own)...

I thought about doing that guerilla thing before, but wouldn't want my "work" to be chopped down, thus the above route. I couldn't care less about "native" species, food trees, vines etc., enhance any landscape and make it better.

Suez your cynicism is unhealthy...

"Permission, ha are you joking. People buy and then rape the land because they "own" it. Fences are a sin and a sign of mental disturbance (I own)..."

Wait until people start squatting out at "your" campground and start eating all "your" food without paying you rent for "your" campground and "your" internet service.


"I thought about doing that guerilla thing before, but wouldn't want my "work" to be chopped down, thus the above route. I couldn't care less about "native" species, food trees, vines etc., enhance any landscape and make it better."


Ha ha ha your "work". Planting fruit trees is the work of the wildlife. They do it best and fertilize as they plant.

Authentic nomads don't waste their lives and wreck the soils by pounding stinking toxic tires into the ground. They use portable tents and yurts. But the more fly by night vagrants you can get off the streets the better, so good luck with your project.

"BS. Any land can be made productive. Some people are living where they shouldn't be and abusing their health yes, but that's a different story. Everyone should migrate seasonally in my opinion and stay in the warmth and Sun/Light year round especially in the US, the North should be almost abandoned in the winter."

Please tell me how you plan on growing an abundance of fruit tree's in an area where its below 50 for 8 months of the year, with many of those months being between below zero and 30. Also, not everyone has the ability to migrate seasonally. If everyone abandoned their homes during winter to go to warm areas of the U.S., those places would be extremely overpopulated.

"In the area I live in California there are a large number of abandoned orchards, and wild fruit trees as well as a number of different kinds of berries that I have found and have access too. I harvest and eat them whenever possible. Plums, Komquats, 5 different berries, Persimmons, Almonds, Walnuts, Olives, Cherries, Apples, Pears, Goji Figs etc., all WILD.

As I mentioned my grandpa owns 400+ acres of land that he purchased turn of the century from a Japanese family. The Japanese man knew how to plant tree crops without irrigating, old school knowledge."

Again, are YOU doing anything to help humanity achieve an abundance of fruit/food forests? Not eating off your grandpa's land or eating wild food, but taking action in doing what you tell everyone else we need to do.

Suez quipped:
Wait until people start squatting out at "OUR" campground and start eating all "OUR" food without paying you rent for "OUR" campground and "your" internet service.

You misspelled OUR, I fixed it for you. Since it is OUR, that cynical scenario won't happen...



"Authentic nomads ... They use portable tents and yurts."

New Natives don't long for the past but use the current tech as it is superior. An RV is a vast upgrade to a tent or a yurt, water tanks, power on board, comfortable climate etc.



JT barked:
"Please tell me how you plan on growing an abundance of fruit tree's in an area where its below 50 for 8 months of the year, with many of those months being between below zero and 30."

Ummm, you don't. Maybe some seasonal berries so when we go to those places in the summer months we can harvest those.

Ehret:"God’s “heaven on earth” was originally in Paradise, the Garden of Eden; which literally means that man’s living, man’s eating, man’s happiness, man’s living, man’s absolute health, has existed and can again only exist under “fruit bearing trees”.



"Also, not everyone has the ability to migrate seasonally. If everyone abandoned their homes during winter to go to warm areas of the U.S., those places would be extremely overpopulated."

They don't currently have the ability BUT if WE ALL cooperated they would. Give up land ownership, scrap most of the cities, turn them into Venus Project centers where we do the manufacturing/recycling.

As far as population, Aurthur has addressed this here:

"The issue is not overpopulation - there is more than enough land available for every family to have a hectare (2.5 acres Kin-Domain) to care for. The land of Australia can provide a Kin-Domain for every family across Earth, each with a food forest, clean fresh drinking water and plenty of space for building natural do no harm habitats and with plenty of land left over. "



JT:
"Again, are YOU doing anything to help humanity achieve an abundance of fruit/food forests? "

I'm just one man bro, and maybe my wife. I can't even get health Nutz t.m. excited about the idea. See what WE're up against?

"Where there is no vision, the people perish".

(Its been fun



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2015 09:50PM by NuNativs.

"I'm just one man bro, and maybe my wife. I can't even get health Nutz t.m. excited about the idea. See what WE're up against?"

And as for your goofy fractured fairytale utopia?


The End