by Sean Croxton & Dr. Tom O’Bryan

I know it’s Sunday, but health takes no days off!!

Check out this interview I did with gluten expert Dr. Tom O’Bryan a few months ago.

There’s some great info in there! Enjoy.

Now, back to the Broncos game…:)

Sean

by Sean Croxton

Here I go hating on grains again!

Last month, I posted the written version of this one. You can read it HERE.

Today, as I flipped through Dr. William Davis’ ridiculously awesome (and funny) book Wheat Belly for the 80 billionth time, I got the itch to post this video version.

Be sure to send this to all of your friends who swear by the virtues of whole wheat, and those who assume that the grains we eat today are the same ones consumed during Biblical times.

Oh, how things have changed.

By the way, thanks for the birthday love yesterday. You guys rock!

Later.

Sean Croxton
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss

by Sean Croxton

Last night, I cracked open my copy of Wheat Belly by next Tuesday’s Underground Wellness Radio guest Dr. William Davis. I’ll admit that after reading hundreds of health-related books, I’m becoming quite the book snob. If the author can’t get my attention within the first ten pages, I’m done. Moving on!

Wheat Belly had me hooked from page one. This guy can write! The information is scientifically backed, written in plain English, and absolutely spot-on. I even let out a giggle here and there. Can’t wait for our interview!

You know a book is good when you’re carrying it around the house with you – which is exactly what I was doing around dinner time. While cooking up a lamb burger (no bun), I recommended Dr. Davis’s book to my very fitness-minded roommate Jennifer. She and I have talked about the evils of grains several times before. Despite our discussions, she’s still not sold.

It’s cool. She’ll come around.

To her credit, my roomy brandished what I consider to be the most powerful dogma-defeating weaponry in the entire arsenal: logic.

When confronted with the erroneous misgivings of saturated fat and cholesterol by Real Food skeptics, I routinely respond by wondering aloud how an old school food (or nutrient) can cause brand new diseases. To her credit, Jennifer threw that very same logic right back at me. She wondered how grains – which have been around for at least ten thousand years – can all of a sudden cause so many health problems.

How can something that The Bible refers to as The Staff of Life be the source of so much modern illness? Didn’t God nourish the Israelites with the bread (manna) from Heaven? Well, according to gluten expert Dr. Thomas O’Bryan, seven out of ten people are sensitive to gluten, the toxic protein found in most grains! Were the Israelites somehow exempt from gluten’s wrath? Or was the all-knowing God just a little behind on his research?

The truth is that we are not eating the same grains that Moses may have snacked on as he hiked up Mount Sinai. In fact, we’re not even eating the same grains our grandparents ate! In just a mere 50 years, grains – wheat, in particular – have become a mutant species crafted by the hands of human intervention in the name of increased crop yields, resistance to drought, disease, and heat, as well as an end to world hunger – all of which are honorable causes and tremendous scientific achievements. However, the accelerated evolution of wheat through hybridization – a feat that would make Gregor Mendel proud – has been to the detriment of human health.

To understand how wheat has gone from a comparatively innocent wild grass to what the New England Journal of Medicine recently declared the cause of 55 diseases, we have to go back.

Way back.

Its origins dating back to the year 8500 BC, modern wheat’s eldest ancestor einkorn grew wild in what we now call the Middle East. The Natufians – a semi-nomadic tribe – harvested the wild grain and may have been the first to store its seeds and cultivate it.

This ancient form of wheat was nothing you’d want to bake with, as its genetic makeup was fairly simple with only 14 chromosomes and very poor pliability. In other words, even if the Natufians knew how to bake bran muffins, they would have turned out flat and crumply. Instead, einkorn was ground by hand and served as a porridge.

After a rather long monogamous existence, the now-cultivated einkorn got itself a girlfriend – goatgrass – and made a baby. They named it emmer. According to Dr. Davis, “plants such as wheat have the ability to retain the sum of the genes of their forbears.” The 12 chromosomes of goatgrass combined with einkorn’s dozen, making for a more complex emmer plant containing a total of 24 chromosomes. For thousands of years, einkorn and emmer went unchallenged as the most popular forms of wheat. The latter is likely the grain referred to in biblical texts.

Due to their poor baking characteristics, chances are your lips have never touched either of these ancient crops.

You’re eating something else.

At some point – likely just before Biblical times – emmer wheat hooked up with another grass, Triticum tauschii, and made a 42-chromosome baby named Triticum aestivum, genetically closest to what we call wheat. (Davis, 20) Due to its genetic complexity, this heir to the wheat throne was more bakery-friendly than its predecessors.

For many centuries, Triticum aestivum went fairly unchanged. That is, until science recently caught up to it and elected to exploit its “genetic pliability” to develop literally thousands of varieties – only 5 varieties existed in the mid-18th century.

As mentioned earlier, while the reasons for altering wheat strains through man-made intervention is both understandable and commendable, no studies were ever conducted to confirm their safety when consumed by humans. It was assumed that wheat was, well, just wheat. This, too, is understandable – in my opinion – since the research on gluten-related illness was in its infancy at the time.

To understand just how much wheat has changed in just a mere half-century, I suggest you put your thinking cap on, and let Dr. Davis preach the gluten-free gospel!

“The gluten proteins produced by einkorn wheat, for example, are distinct from the gluten proteins of emmer, which are, in turn, different from the gluten proteins of Triticum aestivum. Because fourteen-chromosome einkorn, containing the so-called A genome (set of genes), has the smallest chromosomal set, it codes for the fewest number and variety of glutens. Twenty-eight chromosome emmer, containing the A genome with the added B genome, codes for a larger variety of gluten. Forty-two-chromosome Triticum aestivum, with the A, B, D genomes, has the greatest gluten variety, even before any human manipulation of its breeding.

“Hybridization efforts of the past fifty years have generated numerous additional changes in gluten-coding genes in Triticum aestivum, most of them purposeful modifications of the D genome that confer baking and aesthetic characteristics of flour. Indeed, genes located in the D genome are those most frequently pinpointed as the source of glutens that trigger celiac disease.

“It is therefore the D genome of modern Triticum aestivum that, having been the focus of all manner of genetic shenanigans by plant geneticists, has accumulated substantial change in genetically determined characteristics of gluten proteins. It is also potentially the source for many of the odd health phenomena experienced by consuming humans.” (emphasis is mine)

In other words, today’s wheat contains more destructive gluten than ever before. We have derailed Mother Nature’s natural order and seemingly created the trans fats of the grain family, trading our health for better baking.

But as Dr. Davis acknowledges, it’s not your fault.

Tune in tomorrow when we’ll discuss how the government’s recommendation to eat more whole grains has been a disaster, and how a slice of whole wheat bread may be worse than consuming table sugar.

I’m out.

Good talk, Jennifer.

Sean Croxton
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss

“99.99% of our genes were formed before the development of agriculture.” – Dr. S. Boyd Eaton, MD, Medical Anthropologist

Grains suck.

It’s really that simple. There is zero human dietary requirement for grains. Most (if not all) people would be better off without them. It was their introduction into the human diet by way of the Agricultural Revolution that shifted us away from the healthful animal-based diet that we survived and thrived on for 99.99% of our history. With this change came reductions in stature and brain size, chronic degenerative diseases, and much longer work days. Many anthropologists agree that the advent of agriculture was one of the worst events in human history. Despite the evidence of such agriculturally-induced human decline, we continue to perpetuate this event with our USDA dietary recommendations and our errant fears of animal fats.

Let’s set aside the whole “are grains fit for human consumption?” debate and just focus on the nuts and bolts of what they do within the human body. First of all, grains are living organisms. And like all living organisms, they have defense mechanisms to discourage predators from eating them. One such mechanism is called phytic acid, which binds to the important minerals in the grain such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc. So even though the label on the loaf of bread says that it is loaded with these minerals, you’re not really absorbing them. In addition, phytic acid can leach minerals from your body, causing mineral deficiencies. Not good.

You can eliminate or significantly reduce the phytic acid by way of soaking, sprouting, or fermenting the grain. This is cool and all, but it doesn’t take care of the fact that grains are 70-80% starch, which eventually converts to sugar and cranks up your blood glucose and insulin. Last night, I read in Primal Body-Primal Mind that one bagel or two slices of bread contain 5 times more sugar than your bloodstream requires. Any sugar that your bloodstream does not need gets stored away as either glycogen or fat. Imagine how much fat you store when you’re eating multiple servings of the stuff because the USDA told you to. You can’t burn fat when your pancreas is always cranking out insulin to counter your almost hourly grain binges!

Next up, we have goitrogens. These guys are also in grains. They work by suppressing thyroid function. Definitely a no-no. You don’t wanna eff with your metabolism!

If you follow my radio shows, you’re familiar with the damage that gluten can do. Most grains contain gluten, which can not only be damaging to the intestinal tract, but also to almost every other organ, tissue, or gland in your body. According to Dr. Thomas O’Bryan, by next year, autoimmunity will be the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the industrialized world. One of the predominant triggers for autoimmunity is gluten. Ouch!

But what about the gluten-free grains like corn, rice, or quinoa (not really a grain, but close enough)? Well, they have their own problems. All grains contain lectins, which are proteins that are extremely hard to digest. These lectins like to stick to your intestinal lining and sneak their way into your bloodstream. This causes inflammation and destruction to the intestinal wall. This destruction can lead to a hyper-permeable gut that literally can no longer tell the difference between the good and bad guys. In other words, the gate is wide open for all kinds of bacteria, fungus, toxins, undigested food particles, and poop to cross over into the bloodstream, the last place they should be. The immune system sees lectins (and all of the other crap I just mentioned) as invaders and mounts a response against them. This can lead to multiple food sensitivities and allergies. To make matters worse, the immune system can get a little paranoid and start to have problems with mistaken identity. Since the lectins or undigested food particles can look very similar to your organs, tissues, or glands, it can start to attack them as well. This is how autoimmunity works. Your body is attacking itself. The breakdown of the intestinal wall is a huge player in this process. Don’t you think you’d be better off getting rid of the foods that cause this breakdown in the first place? Adios, grains!

I mentioned quinoa above. Now, I haven’t done as much research on this non-grain as I would like to. But according to Robb Wolf in his book The Paleo Solution, quinoa contains soap-like molecules called saponins. These guys punch holes in your microvillii, which are critical for proper breakdown of peptide and saccharide chains. Believe me, you don’t want to punch holes in your microvilli. Definitely not a good idea. But again, this deserves more research.

So there you have it, the case against grains in a nutshell. I can go on and on, but I’m trying to keep these blogs pretty short. Be sure to listen to UW Radio TONIGHT at 5pm PT/8pm ET. Nora Gedgaudas, CNS, CNT, author of Primal Body-Primal Mind, will be digging deeper into this topic, including why she differs with the Weston A. Price Foundation’s stance on the healthfulness of grains. Gonna be a good one!

Out!

Sean Croxton
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss

by Sean Croxton

Class is in session!

‘Tis the season to lie in bed and get my read on! These past three or four weeks I’ve had my head in the books. I read Deep Nutrition by Cate Shanahan M.D. three times and can’t wait to read it again. That book is a masterpiece, in my opinion. When I was sick as a dog in the Bay Area, I read Robb Wolf’s Paleo Solution and reread Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint. Then I moved on to Genetic Nutritioneering by Jeffrey Bland. And now, I’m just about done with Primal Body, Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudus. My mind is literally spinning with all of this great information!

In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell states, “…researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.” In other words, to be a true expert you have to spend at least 10,000 hours studying your craft. If I had to guess, I would figure that I’ve put in about 6343 hours. I’ve got a long way to go.

Despite all of those hours, I’m always amazed by how new pieces of information can make me rethink what I once believed to be true. I could probably write a bunch of separate blogs about each of the ideas and concepts running through my brain right now. Actually, I will. But today I’ll try to keep it brief and let you in on what I’m pondering.

Here goes!

As nutritionists, we’ve been taught to believe that glucose is the primary source of fuel by all of the body’s cells. This is extremely hard for me to believe. If it were true, the Ice Age would have been the end for us all. Carbs don’t grow on ice. Try telling an Eskimo that he needs more carbs! In fact, the only cells in the body that actually require glucose are our red blood cells and some areas of the brain. The rest of the body, including the heart, liver, kidneys, and majority of the brain, runs more efficiently on ketones. In other words, the vast majority of our bodies run better on fats! This makes a ton of sense when you consider that for the last 90-95% of human history carbs were hard to come by. Grains are a relatively new food (if you wanna call them that). Even the fruits our ancestors sparingly consumed were nowhere near as sweet and sugary as they are today. Just why on Earth our Creator (God, Mother Nature, the aliens, whoever!) would put us on a planet with so few sources of dietary glucose while at the same time making glucose the supposed primary source of cellular energy really makes little sense to me.

This brings to mind the ridiculous (in my opinion) idea that low-carb diets are causing adrenal exhaustion. The foundation on which this stands is shaky to say the least. The idea is that since so few carbs are coming in, the adrenals have to keep cranking out adrenaline and cortisol in order to keep blood sugar propped up. If this were the case, our meat-eating, low-carbing ancestors would have been royally screwed. Their adrenals must have been a mess! Consequently, they must have had horrendous thyroid function, chronic fatigue, insomnia, and major libido issues. That doesn’t sound a whole lot like the “superhuman” natives written about by the explorers and missionaries, and of course, Weston Price.

At the same time, I do agree that the adrenals can be negatively impacted by low-carbing it. But the impact is transitory. Since we’re a grain- and sugar-addicted society, our metabolisms have shifted away from fat-burning and morphed into fat-storing and sugar-burning by way of insulin and leptin resistance. If you’ve ever tried to switch from a high-carb to a low-carb diet, you were probably hit with a big can of SUCK! You were irritated. You craved sugar. You were tired and listless. Part of that was due to grain and sugar withdrawal. But you were also going through a shift in metabolism. And this shift does not happen overnight. It can take several days, even weeks to switch over to using fat (ketones) as your primary energy source. In the meantime, your body is freaking out wondering where in the hell the glucose went. This is stressful and will crank up the adrenals. But again, it’s transitory. Once the metabolic shift occurs, the adrenals calm down. Actually, the adrenals will be better off since they no longer have to deal with your frequent blood sugar swings from having cereal bars for breakfast, Subway for lunch, and pasta for dinner.

I say the proof is in the pudding! I’ve switched a lot of clients over to low-carb diets and haven’t seen a single one come up with worsened Adrenal Stress Index scores upon retesting. All I see are a lot of people feeling a whole lot better and losing a whole lot of weight once they make it through the SUCK phase.

Speaking of carbs, I’m beginning to rethink grains. Not just gluten-containing grains, but ALL grains. Yes, gluten is a major problem, but why are lectins getting a free pass? Lectins are a component of all grains and they’re not broken down by the normal digestive process. These guys not only damage the gut lining, but once they make it into the bloodstream (they get through intact), they are recognized as foreign invaders and the immune system mounts a defense against them. In the long run this can create autoimmune issues. Not good! Again, lectins are in ALL grains.

Now I can hear the Weston A. Price folks (I love you all!) admonishing me for such blasphemy. The wonderful people Dr. Price visited in the Loetschental Valley did eat whole rye bread. Absolutely true. But that was a long time ago. And those folks more than likely were birthed by healthy mothers, were breast fed, and had the proper nourishment to build strong intestinal barriers. Times have changed. There is no doubt that we live in an immuno-compromised society. Eighty-percent of the immune system resides in the gut. That would mean that we as modern people have some pretty jacked up digestive systems. We don’t have as much room for error as the people Price observed. One of the tests I run in my Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practice is an Intestinal Barrier Function Screen, which gives me a huge window into the gut. I haven’t seen a normal one in the three years I’ve been running them.

Again, none of this stuff is set in stone. It’s just what I’ve been pondering lately. I’ll let my research play itself out and see where it takes me. Any and all of your comments are appreciated. Let’s learn together!

Perfect segue! I was going to write a dedicated blog about this next topic, but I figure a couple paragraphs here will suffice. It’s about what I call Zombies. You may have heard me use the term “Paul Chek Robots” at one point or another on Facebook. These are the peeps who repeat everything Paul says without taking the time to ponder what they think themselves. I’m as guilty as the next robot. If you watch my old YouTube videos, you’re hearing Paul Chek. I would memorize parts of his You Are What You Eat CD-series (great info, by the way) and just repeat them in front of my webcam. In fact, I’ve been a Bill Wolcott robot. Reed Davis robot. Josh Rubin robot. I’ve even run into some Sean Croxton robots. Weird!

Learning is a process. It happens in stages. For most people, one of those stages consists of putting all of our eggs in one basket or one person. This can be an awesome experience until you run into another “guru” saying something completely different. At this point, you go through a state of confusion and don’t know what to think about anything. It can be quite frustrating. I’ve been there. I still go through it. Haven’t you been reading this blog! For example, Ray Peat says fish oil is bad. Weston A. Price and just about everyone else says it’s good. Who’s right? Well, it’s really up to you. This is where you do your due diligence and see what argument YOU resonate with. You also see what works for you. This is the art of being a true student of the nutrition game. No one is 100% correct about everything. There are no health and wellness Yodas out there with all of the answers. You just keep chopping away at those 10,000 hours and see where it takes you. It’s a fun, confusing journey. Just keep your mind open and everything will work itself out. But the worst thing to be is a Zombie. Like Timothy Leary said, “Question authority and think for yourself.” Sometimes you’ll be wrong. Sometimes you’ll be right. It’s all part of the game. I’m 6343 hours deep and I’m still going through it.

Never stop learning.

Damn, this blog was long! Thanks for reading!

Peace.

Sean Croxton
www.undergroundwellness.com
www.youtube.com/undergroundwellness
www.blogtalkradio.com/undergroundwellness
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