Going Against the Grain -Roger Mason

Folks, you want to hear about the stupidest, most asinine, ignorant book in print? It is "Against the Grain" by Melissa Diane Smith (don't you just love people who need three names? That's so you won't confuse her with all the other Melissa Smiths you know). She tells you whole grains are the worst food on earth, and we should all basically stop eating them. That's right; the very foundation of your diet is killing you according to her. She says "Grains are connected with many nutritional problems that most people are completely unaware of. Most of us would experience far better health if we reduced our intake of grains and ate more vegetables. Some of us would do better with no grains at all in our diets." That's a quote.  She then yaps on and on about refined grains. Well, we all agree that refined grains are no good for us; no one is promoting refined grains except the corporations that produce that nutrition-less junk white flour, white bread, white rice, white pasta, degermed corn meal, and the other such foods.  
 
She says whole grains are high in carbohydrates and low in antioxidants like vitamin C and beta carotene. Of course they are high in complex carbohydrates- that is the main food we should eat. This is why we eat green and yellow vegetables to get the other vitamins, sterols, lignans, and minerals we need that aren't in whole grains. Eating whole grains as our basic food along with beans, green and yellow vegetables, salads, soups, local fruit, and some seafood (if you want) is what is called a balanced and varied diet. 
 
She goes on to say wheat is "high in calories". Hardly. All whole grains are low in calories and you would have to eat four pounds of whole wheat rolls a day to get 2,500 calories. Could you eat four pounds of whole wheat rolls in a day? Shows how ignorant she is of basic nutrition despite her claim she graduated from the American Academy of Nutrition. Maybe she slept thru class.  
 
Now she says that whole grains, "also contain more of the anti-nutrients". She never tells us what an anti-nutrient is. Do you know what an anti-nutrient is? I don't. I've never heard of an anti-nutrient after decades of research. It would sure be nice to know more about these awful anti-nutrients. She then keeps ranting on and on about "whole grains are more acidic..." and "the only alkaline foods are fruits and vegetables". Folks, this woman is a complete nincompoop. There's no shortage of stupid, but she takes the cake. If you would eat only whole grains for a month and have your blood pH tested you can bet it would be right at the ideal of about 7.4 (alkaline). If you ate nothing but fruits for a month and had your blood tested, you can bet it would probably be down to a very dangerous 7.0 or lower due to a severe sugar overload. Whole grains produce a healthy alkaline bloodstream and fruits produce a pathological acidic one. Melissa can't figure out a simple fact like this.  
 
She admits that many whole grain eaters are healthier than other people, but credits this to the fact "whole grain eaters tend to live healthier lives" and tend not to smoke, drink alcohol and they eat more fruits and vegetables! Unreal. This woman lives in a fantasy land.  
 
Now she goes on to rant about gluten sensitivity and says up to half of Americans- up to 140 million of us- have gluten sensitivity. Where does she get this amazing statistic? She doesn't say, of course, as she never backs up ANYTHING she says. Gluten intolerance is a very rare condition affecting a fraction of a per cent of people. It can be cured by eating
non-gluten whole grains like brown rice and corn until your digestive system heals. 
 
You'll think I made this up, but here is a quote: "In addition, grains, such as wheat, corn and barley contain morphine-like substances called opioids or exorphins that are similar in structure and function to narcotic-like drugs." Now you think I made that up to make her sound stupid don't you? Believe me, there is nothing anyone could do to make her sound any stupider than she already does. She says we are, "grain junkies", and, "we crave these foods and want more of them to get our 'hit'. We're true grain junkies at that point- just like an alcoholic who needs regular hits of alcohol throughout the day." She actually keeps on ranting and says, "Grain addiction may be a key factor in many cases of alcoholism." This woman belongs in a mental institution. 
 
Parents, if you catch your children eating brown rice, oatmeal, or whole wheat bread please call the narcotic squad and get them into a treatment facility immediately! And all those pathetic addicts you see  in the health food store buying 50 pound bags of organically grown brown rice are just an abomination! Now we can see the whole drug and alcohol epidemic is due to all the whole grains people are hooked on. All these quotes are taken from her interview in Whole Foods magazine so they must have run out of good articles to print.  
 
Please go read my book, Zen Macrobiotics for Americans so you can see why whole grains are THE best single food we can eat, and why they are the very staff of life and basis of our diet and have been in nearly all cultures for the past thousands of years of recorded history. And please also read Dean Ornish, Robert Pritikin, Neal Barnard, Gary Null, Terry Shintani, and Susan Powter to see why they eat lots of whole grains. Whole grains have been the staff of life and always will be. Eat lots of brown rice, whole grain bread, whole wheat and brown rice pasta, oatmeal, polenta, barley, cornbread, buckwheat, and other whole grains for optimum health and long life. The longest lived and healthiest people on earth are the Okinawan Japanese, whose staple food is brown rice. The longest lived people on earth eat whole grains as a staple. Point made.