Your Personal Paleo Code: The 3-Step Plan to Lose Weight, Reverse Disease, and Stay Fit and Healthy for Life (21 page)

Of course, if you don’t care for dairy or you already know you’re intolerant, there’s no need to reintroduce it. However, it’s worth mentioning that many of my patients who can’t digest pasteurized milk are able to tolerate raw dairy products or dairy products that have little or no lactose (like ghee, butter, hard cheeses, and yogurt and kefir). See the next section in this chapter for a specific method of reintroducing dairy that will help you determine which dairy products, if any, you can tolerate.

Human beings thrived for thousands of generations without eating substantial amounts of grain. There are no important nutrients in grains that cannot be obtained by eating a diet rich in animal products, fruits, and vegetables. One myth I’ve seen perpetuated by mainstream nutritionists is that we need to eat grains for fiber. This is not true. We can get all the fiber we need from starchy tubers, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

As I explained in
chapter 4
, grains contain a number of problematic chemical compounds that can damage the human intestinal tract, provoke immune reactions, and interfere with absorption of key nutrients. They are also lower on the nutrient-density scale than meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and dairy products. Keeping this in mind, you might conclude that you should avoid eating grains entirely. I think that’s
a valid choice, and many people simply feel better when they eliminate grains completely.

That said, there are ways of preparing grains that reduce their toxicity, break down antinutrients like phytic acid, and improve the bioavailability of the nutrients they contain. (The exception to this is gluten-containing grains like wheat, rye, barley, spelt, and kamut. If you have celiac disease or are gluten-intolerant, no amount of preparation will render gluten harmless for you.) Indigenous cultures figured out very early on in the history of agriculture that certain steps taken beforehand made these foods easier to digest. They went to extreme lengths—including soaking, sprouting, fermenting, pounding, mashing, and roasting—to process their grains to make them healthy to eat. Those methods are time-intensive, to say the least.

In the modern world, where most people can barely find the time to cook a quick dinner at home, few are willing to go to these extreme lengths to properly prepare grains. Fermenting grains in your home kitchen is a tremendous amount of work, involving soaking them for up to twenty-four hours at specific temperatures, reserving soaking water, and repeating the process extensively. Even then, you may not be successful in neutralizing phytic acids and other toxins, and the food-processing industry certainly isn’t taking these steps. The result is that most Americans end up eating a diet high in unprepared grains, low in nutrients, and high in antinutrients, and their health has suffered as a result.

Because each grain has a different botanical structure and food-toxin profile, each requires a different type of preparation to make it safe to eat. And how safe grains are for you to eat varies significantly based on your genetic heritage, your age, your health (especially your gut health), and what other foods you eat. If you’re generally healthy and you soak or ferment grains prior to consuming them to reduce their toxicity and improve their nutrient density, then consuming a modest amount of grain is unlikely to cause harm—provided it doesn’t replace more nutrient-dense foods in your diet. However, in my experience, people with digestive problems, autoimmune disorders, or other chronic inflammatory conditions often do poorly with grains, even when they are
properly prepared, with the possible exception of white rice and buckwheat. (For links to resources on properly preparing grains through soaking and fermenting, see my website.)

You might be surprised to hear me recommend white rice. It’s commonly believed that white rice is less nutritious than brown rice, but scientific research suggests otherwise. Studies that have compared the amount of nutrients absorbed from each type of rice have shown that humans absorb more nutrients from white rice. Why? Because the antinutrients in brown rice, like phytic acid, interfere with the absorption of the nutrients it contains. Brown rice also reduces dietary protein and fat digestibility. White rice doesn’t have those problems. Phytic acid and other food toxins are found in the husk or the bran (the outer covering) of the grain. In the case of white rice, the bran has been removed, and what remains is mostly starch. Humans produce an enzyme called amylase that allows us to digest starch efficiently.

This is why I believe white rice is an acceptable food, and my experience with patients suggests that it is generally well tolerated. That doesn’t mean everyone does well with it, nor does it mean it should make up a significant portion of your diet or replace more nutrient-dense carbohydrate sources, like sweet potatoes and other starchy vegetables. The point of removing rice (along with all grains) during the Thirty-Day Reset and then reintroducing it is to find out how you tolerate it in moderate amounts. Those with blood-sugar problems, such as hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, or diabetes, may need to minimize or avoid white rice entirely, because of how rapidly it is broken down into glucose. In addition, people who are gluten-tolerant may need to avoid rice. Studies have shown that people who have either celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity are more likely to react to the proteins in rice.

The other exception is buckwheat. Despite its name, buckwheat isn’t even a distant relative of wheat. In fact, buckwheat isn’t even a grain; it’s a plant in the same family as sorrel and rhubarb. While buckwheat does contain some phytic acid, it also contains significant amounts of phytase, the enzyme that breaks down phytic acid. This means that it’s relatively easy to eliminate the phytic acid in buckwheat without extensive
preparation. (I do not recommend eating buckwheat without preparing it properly first, however.) On my website, I have a recipe for sourdough buckwheat pancakes in which I explain how to properly prepare buckwheat to make it safe for consumption. If you’d like to eat whole buckwheat (instead of making pancakes with it), simply soak it overnight, rinse, and cook.

What about the pseudocereals quinoa, amaranth, millet, and teff? In general, these pseudograins do contain many of the same plant toxins that other more common grains, like wheat, rye, oats, and brown rice, have. However, we don’t have good information about how much preparation is required to neutralize the toxins they contain. For this reason, I generally recommend that people do not eat them regularly.

Much of what I said above about grains also applies to legumes. All beans contain phytic acid and thus require a significant amount of preparation. Traditional cultures were aware of this on some level, and reports by anthropologists indicate that they often went to great lengths to prepare the beans before consuming them. In Central America, beans are made into a sour porridge called chugo, which is fermented for several days.

Simply soaking beans at moderate temperatures (78 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight reduces phytic acid by only 8 to 20 percent. Sprouting beans for several days and then cooking them will remove a larger amount. For example, fermenting lentils for three days at 108 degrees Fahrenheit results in about a 70 to 75 percent reduction in phytic acid. Soaking lentils for twelve hours, germinating them for three to four days, and then souring them will likely remove most of their phytic acid. If you’re willing to go to these lengths to prepare them, you are healthy, and you don’t have digestive issues or any chronic inflammatory conditions, moderate consumption of legumes is unlikely to cause problems. If not, I think they are best avoided.

If you removed nightshades or eggs due to arthritis or autoimmune problems in Step 1, you may want to reintroduce them in this phase to
determine whether they cause problems for you. (Though these two food groups are unrelated, I will be discussing them together because they were removed from Step 1 for the same reasons.)

Eggs are an incredibly healthy food when well tolerated, although they can provoke immune or inflammatory responses in certain individuals. The nightshade family includes peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, white potatoes, eggplant, and spices like chili, paprika, and cayenne. Nightshades contain toxins called glycoalkaloids, the most prevalent of which are solanine and chaconine. Glycoalkaloids may cause headaches, diarrhea, cramps, joint pain, and body aches in susceptible individuals.

There’s nothing wrong with these foods when they’re well tolerated. In fact, contrary to popular belief, white potatoes provide substantial amounts of some nutrients, such as potassium, which can be difficult to obtain elsewhere in the diet. But they do sometimes cause inflammation in people with arthritis or immune issues.

Alcohol is another substance that is highly subject to individual tolerance. I advise removing it in the first step not because of its potentially addictive properties but because it can cause leaky gut and other problems in susceptible people.

That said, most research suggests that moderate intake of alcohol is healthy for most people. But not all alcohol is created equal! Beer has gluten, which is probably the biggest offender when it comes to food toxins in grain products. For this reason, I don’t recommend reintroducing beer. There are, however, several gluten-free beers on the market made from sorghum, tapioca, or brown rice. Some of them actually taste pretty good, but you’ll need to experiment to see if you tolerate them.

Wine and spirits like vodka, tequila, and gin are good choices for those who do wish to drink alcohol. Spirits made from grain (such as bourbon) are fermented, significantly decreasing any antinutrient properties they might have.

One of the main things to consider when choosing a concentrated sweetener is its ratio of fructose to glucose. Fructose and glucose are both simple sugars (single-molecule monosaccharides). Glucose is easily absorbed into the bloodstream and taken up as fuel by the cells. Our bodies are designed to run on glucose in moderate amounts. Fructose is a little more complicated. While most people are able to process fructose in moderate amounts (as in whole fruits, for example) without a problem, excess fructose in concentrated sweeteners, juices, and fructose-sweetened beverages can cause metabolic problems and digestive distress.

Fortunately, glucose enhances the absorption and uptake of fructose, so when the two are found together in roughly equal amounts, the body can handle the fructose without much trouble. However, when the amount of fructose in a food or sweetener is significantly higher than the amount of glucose it contains, the excess fructose may be problematic—especially for those with gut issues.

With this in mind, here’s a list of sweeteners to favor and avoid:

Recommended

Coconut sugar

Maple syrup

Molasses

Honey

Dextrose

Stevia

Not Recommended

High-fructose corn syrup
^*

Table sugar (sucrose)
^*

Agave syrup
^*

Brown-rice syrup
^**

Artificial sweeteners
^***

Caffeine is another gray-area food that is highly dependent upon individual tolerance. And individual tolerance is determined by several factors, including adrenal function, mood stability, quality and duration of sleep, and biological factors we don’t fully understand.

Caffeine is a compound present in a number of foods and beverages, including coffee, tea, and chocolate. The amount of caffeine varies considerably depending on the type of product. The information below lists the caffeine content of several common beverages:

Beverage
: Starbucks grande

Serving Size
: 16 oz.

Caffeine (Mg)
: 330 mg

Beverage
: Brewed coffee

Serving Size
: 8 oz.

Caffeine (Mg)
: 130 mg

Beverage
: Starbucks Tazo Awake Tea

Serving Size
: 16 oz.

Caffeine (Mg)
: 130 mg

Beverage
: Red bull

Serving Size
: 8.4 oz. (1 can)

Caffeine (Mg)
: 80 mg

Beverage
: Black tea

Serving Size
: 8 oz.

Caffeine (Mg)
: 55 mg

Beverage
: Green tea

Serving Size
: 8 oz.

Caffeine (Mg)
: 52 mg

Beverage
: Yerba maté

Serving Size
: 8 oz.

Caffeine (Mg)
: 43 mg

Beverage
: Twig tea

Serving Size
: 8 oz.

Caffeine (Mg)
: 5 mg

Since a lot of people consume their caffeinated beverages at places like Starbucks, I think it’s safe to say that they’re getting far more caffeine than they think they are. This explains, at least in part, why I see so many patients in my clinic with burned-out adrenals and sleep problems. If you are generally healthy, sleeping well, and have stable energy levels throughout the day, one to two cups of coffee (brewed at home, not a Starbucks grande!) or tea each day is probably not going to harm you. However, if you’re dealing with insomnia, anxiety, mood swings, or low energy, I’d recommend eliminating or dramatically reducing caffeine until you overcome these problems.

There’s nothing wrong with chocolate itself. In fact, it has a number of health benefits. It’s high in magnesium, it’s a powerful antioxidant, and it has been shown to have positive effects on the brain and cardiovascular and circulatory systems.

One issue with chocolate is that it is often sold as milk chocolate, which contains a lot of sugar; another problem is that it can have a stimulating effect because of its theobromine content. Theobromine is a bitter compound found in cacao beans that has similar effects as caffeine. Theobromine is generally not as stimulating as caffeine, but some people seem to be more sensitive to its effects than others.