You have decided that research findings in one culture have NO implications for another culture. I would imagine, then, you also believe animal research to have no implications for humans either. And in fact, you’d have to throw out all human research, since subjects in all studies will have differences with any individual reader.

Grains are very high in micronutrients, which is well documented, so I don’t know what you mean there. I know of a gentleman named Lester Germanio who eats a diet that is almost exclusively sprouted grains cooked at low temps, the perfect example of the “miracle” (my word) that John and other Biblical folks wrote of in apocryphal texts. He feels great, is highly productive, and last I heard, he’d lost 50 lbs. Thus, “They do not, and cannot, sustain life. Period.” seems far-fetched. My own family’s digestion is clean and untroubled by whole grains; on the other hand, most of us experience digestive revolt when eating meat. (And while you lumped dairy and grains together, I want to say that I AGREE about dairy, and yes, about 90 percent of Caucasians have dairy intolerances.)

That said, I’m aware of increasing sensitivities to grains, especially in Caucasion populations, especially in those with weakened/diseased gastrointestinal tracts. For folks who don’t digest grains well, they can eat the seedfruits like quinoa and buckwheat (gluten-free or low in gluten). You’d want an extensive period of cleansing, before re-trying grains if that’s your objective. For that, I’d do 3-4 weeks of the Arise and Shine cleanse including colonics, and then several months of a clean, vegetable-rich diet (that includes GS).

Robyn

I’ll bet you are a slow oxidizer or sympathetic dominant metabolic type from your insistance that grains are “densley nutritious” etc. I have no doubt you do well with them – and probably better than most. And though I agree with you about Mercola’s insanity you are no different in your blanket statement about grains. But there is simply no denying that many if not most people in the western hemisphere do better without grains in their diet.

The fact that grains can be stored for so long does not make them a miraculous food. It makes them a cheap and easy way to feed a hugely overpopulated nation like China or India a basic, and distinctly non-nutritious pablum. To say they are densly nutritious displays a lack of knowledge about their micronutrient content and basic metabolic processes. They do not and cannot sustain life. Period. They mostly fill bellies and shut complaining mouths. Read Guns, Germs and Steel and Against the Grain, then decide.

The heirloom grains are mostly an exception to the rule, but it is their protein content and lack of protein molecule complexity which makes them valuable. Protein requirements are very well understood and precisely documented, and you can’t get them met with grains. More and more people have derailed Krebs cycles which prevent them from efficiently producing protein from consuming grains and legumes.

Dairy and grains are huge problems for most of the caucasian population. The China Study does NOT AT ALL apply to our western culture. It appears you may not have read it carefully enough, or have missed the learned critques of it.

I trust and believe The China Study to be of tremendous consequence whether you’re Asian or North American, or of “Other” descent. The study has hundreds of statistically significant findings–if you believe (and I don’t) that 90 percent of those findings have no relevance for white people (for example), the remaining 10 percent still powerfully recommend that we stay away from an animal-protein-heavy diet. I think it’s courageous, unbiased research that is refreshingly free of big-industry backing (with resulting motive and manipulation). That’s so unusual in a huge study like that.

Grains have sustained people for tens of thousands of years. They’re really a miraculous food, when you consider that you can store them for 30 years, and they still sprout to become living food! They’re inexpensive, low on the food chain, and densely nutritious. It’s insanity to tell people not to eat them, like Mercola does.

That said, gluten intolerance is becoming an epidemic. Sadly, these sensitivities may be due to a century of hybridization and genetic modifications. Thank goodness for the recent re-discoveries of unhybridized spelt, Kamut, and quinoa (quinoa not technically being a grain, but I use it like one).

Robyn

Only Bill Wolcott’s system can determine ones metabolic type, and Mercola foolishly abandoned his access to Wolcott’s questionnaire over 8 months ago thinking he could rip it off and make big money. He has now competely failed and clearly knows it as evidenced by the fact that he has not mentioned his own system since it was released 6 weeks ago.

Mercola.com is now nothing but the KMart of crummy online health products. Very sad. His greed is ruling his ego driven little universe now without any concern for other’s health and wellbeing.

By the way, the EAt Right for Your Blood Type diet is bogus for a number of major reasons, and the China Study is completely misunderstood by nearly everyone. It ony applies to the Chinese. Would you follow the advice of a study that only looked at Eskimos for example? I don’t think so…

Real metabolic typing is the only way to go at this point, at least until someone finds a way to decode genes to determine metabolic type, and then it would only give your constitutional type, not your real time type which is what you must work with.

I subscribe to Dr. Mercola’s ezine and like much of what he says but much is impractical for me or extreme enough that my wife just rolls her eyes. I have also read Mercola’s “Total Health Program” which was good but not great. I say not great because it was light on content with a significant portion of the book being recipes. I read his Metabolic Typing literature and found it simultaneously vague and complex… if that makes sense. If I remember correctly, determining your type is a trial and error process where you determine your type based on how your respond to certain type of food (protein, carbs, fat??). It just seemed clumsy to me and not many others advocate this approach to diet.

Robyn, what is your advice on grains? Mercola say no grains but I love whole grain bread. Most of the bread in the grocery story has HFCS or other sweetners.

Based your comment and the fact you recommend the China Study (which I’ve read), I assume you do not like whey protein. Right? The China Study data was based on Casein protein so I don’t understand the position. But… that is probably better addressed in a separate post.

It’s been mostly bright sunny in Central Florida the past several weeks!