Healthy Food Chart

Q. What is the purpose of eating grains?  If you are tracking your nutrition and getting all of the necessary nutrients, is there any reason that you couldn't eliminate grains from your diet?

A. What?! You want to eliminate one of the five basic food groups? Grains are the foundation of the Healthy Food Pyramid.  They must be essential to a healthy diet.

I'm kidding, of course. As far as I'm concerned, grains (such as wheat, corn, oats, rye, etc.) are not essential to a healthy diet.  I think the main reason that grains have long been counted as a basic food group is that dietary policy-makers have viewed them as an innocuous way to cover one's calorie needs (plus maybe some pressure from agricultural lobbies and interests).

You see, the powers-that-be don't want you filling your calorie needs with fat–especially saturated fat from animal products–because fat has long been seen as the villain in heart disease and obesity.  And it would be challenging to meet your calorie needs eating nothing but fruits and vegetables because, while they're packed with nutrients, vegetables are notoriously low-calorie.

Grains would seem to fill the void nicely. They're plentiful, filling, fat-free, shelf-stable, and relatively inexpensive–thanks in part to a government-subsidized agricultural industry.

They don't, however, provide any nutrients that can't be gotten from other foods. More to the point, many argue (ferociously) that the saturated-fat/heart-disease theory has been completely discredited and that carbohydrates–especially the refined, processed type) are the true culprits–in heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.  See for example Steve Parker's post "Are Saturated Fats All that Bad?" on the NutritionData Heart Health blog.

Although the carb-bashers can get a little strident, I'm on board with the basic concept.  I suspect that refined carbohydrates do a lot more damage than saturated fats, per se, do. I also think that being overweight, in and of itself, is more harmful than the foods you overeat to get that way. 

To get back to your question: Anyone who chooses to eliminate grains from their diets does so with my blessing, providing, of course, that they're covering their nutritional needs. But I'm not dogmatic about it.  Although grains are not essential to a complete diet, I think a healthy diet can include grains, ideally, whole and minimally processed. 

More importantly, the total number of calories you consume needs to be in line with what you need to maintain (or achieve) a healthy body weight. To repeat an opinion I expressed in a recent post, I think maintaining a healthy body weight is ultimately more important than what percentage of the diet is protein, fat, or carbohydrate.

I'm sure you've got some opinions: Let's hear 'em!