There is a lot of speculation about what foods are considered healthy and what foods are detrimental to us.
We are taught in school from a young age about the food pyramid.
According to this, the bulk of our diet should be grains, followed by fruits and veggies, then meat and dairy, then oils and sweets sparingly. This is what is recommended on a daily basis. And while it's true that most people don't even eat this well, there are definite flaws in the food pyramid's recommendations.
First problem: Grains as the bulk of the diet.
We are not told any specific type or form of the grains we should be eating. If you are told to eat lots of bread, pasta, cereal, crackers, etc., the average person will choose to eat white bread, white semolina pasta, processed (if not sugary) cereals, and white flour based crackers. These types of grains are EMPTY of nutrients. They have been processed so that all of the fiber and nutrients that were once in the grain are taken out. What is left is empty calories, which are not metabolized by the body until nutrients are taken from the individual's body to balance out the empty food. These foods, along with white sugar, are considered "robber" foods because they are so imbalanced that the body has to pull nutrients from other areas of the body and use them to balance out the empty calories. In this way, you lose nutrients from your body when you eat these foods rather than gain nutrients. It's like when you eat a piece of dried fruit. This piece of fruit use to have water in it, but it was dehydrated. If you were to put it in some water it would soak it up. So when you eat dried fruit, it has to drawn some of your body's water into itself so that it can be in a balanced state before the body can break it down, and in that way dehydrates your body. The same is true with empty foods. They suck your body of nutrients, especially when consumed day after day.
Also, these empty calories act just like sugar in the body, causing blood sugar spikes. Making these type of grains the bulk of your diet is a high carb diet, and a recipe for fat-storing insulin. Constant output of insulin into the bloodstream from simple carbs causes the body to store fat - especially belly fat. This is a huge reason for obesity in the U.S.
The other problem with making refined, processed grain products the bulk of your diet, is that white flour products are like glue in the body. They turn into a pasty substance that wallpapers your intestines, causing constipation and a layer of plaque on the intestinal wall which smothers your intestinal villi, decreasing your body's ability to absorb nutrients.
If you are going to make grain products the bulk of your diet, make sure they are whole grains that still contain their fiber and nutrients. Companies attempt to enrich foods that they have processed and refined by adding some vitamins or minerals back in, but they are only adding a minuscule amount compared to what was originally in the grain, and the minerals are not in a very assimilable form.
Even if you use whole grain products, I don't suggest making them the bulk of the diet. Many people develop allergies to wheat and other gluten-containing grains, which shows that there is still something off about the way grains are used.
When a grain is harvested, it is surrounded by a hard outer shell. This makes it useful for storing for long periods of time. The hard shell protects it from going bad. But, to try and eat the grain in that state would be insane. So man decided to grind up the grain and turn it into flour. While the nutrients are still there, the grain is still in the same sort of state it was while in it's storing phase.
In nature, the grain would get put into the soil and water would saturate the grain, softening the hard outer shell. The water activates the life in the grain, allowing it to sprout and grow into a new plant.
To put it simply, when the grain has it's hard outer shell, it is in an acid state - making it dormant. When you grind up the grain, it is still in an acid state, lifeless. When you eat flour from a ground up grain, the result is an acidic condition in the body. When you eat acid-forming foods, it creates mucus in the body. Mucus is a protectant for your organs and cells - protecting them from the acids created by acid-forming foods. But mucus is congesting and suffocating to the immune system, so the body must expel it.
If you were to soak your grains overnight, it would soften the hard outer shell, and activate the life in the grain, turning it into an alkaline food rather than an acid food. Food that is alive is alkaline in the body, and life-giving. After soaking the grains, you can then blend them up and make bread or other grain products with them. These are considered sprouted grain products - such as Ezekiel Bread, or Manna Bread.
If you want to make grains the bulk of your diet, the absolute best way to eat them is in their soaked or sprouted form. This way your grains are full of fiber, living nutrients, enzymes, and are alkalizng for your body (which will help prevent illness). And most people will not develop allergies or gluten intolerance when eating grains this way.
Evenso, I would put grains up a level on the food pyramid. They should be "the staff of life", or something you lean on, but not your base.
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