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What Grain Is Doing To Your Brain
Forbes ^
| 11-14-2013
| Gary Drevitch
Posted on 11/21/2013 4:24:03 AM PST by Renfield
Its tempting to call David Perlmutters dietary advice radical. The neurologist and president of the Perlmutter Health Center in Naples, Fla., believes all carbs, including highly touted whole grains, are devastating to our brains. He claims we must make major changes in our eating habits as a society to ward off terrifying increases in Alzheimers disease and dementia rates.
And yet Perlmutter argues that his recommendations are not radical at all. In fact, he says, his suggested menu adheres more closely to the way mankind has eaten for most of human history.
Whats deviant, he insists, is our modern diet. Dementia, chronic headaches, depression, epilepsy and other contemporary scourges are not in our genes, he claims. Its in the food you eat, Perlmutter writes in his bestselling new book, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar Your Brains Silent Killers. The origin of brain disease is in many cases predominantly dietary....
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
TOPICS: Food; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: alzheimers; atkinsdiet; carbohydrates; grain; obesity
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To: Gennie
101
posted on
11/21/2013 8:03:26 AM PST
by
Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
To: Jane Long
I count “wine” as fruit....I refuse to give up red wine or 80% chocolate...which just means the fat is falling off a LITTLE slower...
102
posted on
11/21/2013 8:03:41 AM PST
by
goodnesswins
(R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods.)
To: cuban leaf
Yes. Our diet should be mainly meat, fruits, vegetables and Scotch.

The last part tastes like crap you know...
103
posted on
11/21/2013 8:05:29 AM PST
by
GraceG
To: Mase
I really think when many people say “carbs” they are talking about bread and grains....legumes have plenty of carbs, as do other foods....
104
posted on
11/21/2013 8:06:37 AM PST
by
goodnesswins
(R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods.)
To: mazda77
I started to read the book a couple of days ago. I have always understood the connection between carbs and feeling sluggish and fat and this book is just offering more confirmation. Interesting info about studies on high cholesterol and more confirmation that statin drugs are way over prescribed. Heck I even feed my dogs a grain free food.
105
posted on
11/21/2013 8:09:29 AM PST
by
happyhomemaker
(Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Rom 12:12)
To: dangerdoc
What has changed is that we have much more to eat with our bread.Two things have changed. The wheat we eat today is not the same as the wheat we ate 50 years ago -- it's been hybridized over and over again to increase yields. And in that process, contains much more of a protein called gliadin which affects the brain.
The other is that, with the rise of processed foods, we consume much more wheat because it's used so heavily as a filler in almost all of them. I stopped eating all wheat six months ago, lost 40 lbs and noticed a marked increase in my mood and ability to concentrate.
106
posted on
11/21/2013 8:10:33 AM PST
by
BfloGuy
(The final outcome of the credit expansion is general impoverishment. [Ludwig Von Mises])
To: Dr. Sivana
but the grains bread and rice have been food staples for most of the world at least since biblical timesThe bread we eat now is made from flour which is dramatically different from the grains used in biblical times.
107
posted on
11/21/2013 8:11:32 AM PST
by
BfloGuy
(The final outcome of the credit expansion is general impoverishment. [Ludwig Von Mises])
To: chicagolady
I eat a 1lb block of salt, a dozen eggs and a gallon of coffee each day...
Imma gonna live forever!
108
posted on
11/21/2013 8:12:45 AM PST
by
GraceG
To: Dr. Sivana
Pollan is a shyster. He promotes himself as an expert in biotechnology and is more than happy to insert himself into the GMO debate. He has absolutely no education in any scientific discipline that would allow him to speak knowledgeably about biotechnology -- or nutritional biology for that matter -- and, to make matters worse, he talks out of both sides of his mouth on the issue like some two-bit politician. He will embrace the junk science condemning GMO's, and with the next breath, he will claim to be just a journalist who's bringing objectivity to the debate, and state, unequivocally, that there is nothing wrong with GMO food. He is uniquely unqualified to be offering any advice, whether it is about human nutrition or bio-engineering.
Pollan is about promoting Pollan whatever it takes. He blows with the wind and will be whomever you want him to be as long as you buy his book or pay to see his lecture.
He represents everything that is wrong with scientific debate these days and where the average person goes for their information. This is what happens when you stop teaching science, especially nutrition, in school and replace it with diversity, multiculturalism, and self-esteem.
109
posted on
11/21/2013 8:15:01 AM PST
by
Mase
(Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
To: goodnesswins
You’re right. But consider that the Roman army conquered the world marching on bread. Yeah, they were a feeble and unhealthy society.
110
posted on
11/21/2013 8:18:42 AM PST
by
Mase
(Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
To: Jane Long
Does wine count as fruit?
Absolutely!
To: thesearethetimes...
Add to that, the effects of the ingredient change - from iodine to bromine.
Yup, This concerns me too
I think certain issues could be caused by substitution of certain things..
I don;t think it is preservatives that cause an issue, it is WHAT preservatives that are being used that is the real issue..
112
posted on
11/21/2013 8:20:21 AM PST
by
GraceG
To: GraceG
First time I ever tasted scotch I said it tasted like liquid carboard.
But I understand now that that is a good thing. ;-)
To: dangerdoc
European civilization and diet has been based on bread. Whole grain bread wheat and rye for the most part and people thrived. As soon as they came to the New World they were growing wheat.
How did we get to where so many people cannot digest gluten? The answer is all the junk food over a few generations makes you allergic to gluten. Kinda sucks having to eat expensive rice based breads. I don’t have this problem. I love whole wheat toasted bread with butter. I have made lots of whole wheat breads in my life.
114
posted on
11/21/2013 8:28:15 AM PST
by
dennisw
(The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
To: Mase
Gee...what DID happen to the Roman army? eventually? /s
115
posted on
11/21/2013 8:39:27 AM PST
by
goodnesswins
(R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods.)
To: cuban leaf
I need a scotch just from listening to all the psycho babble. And a piece of my fresh homemade bread made from Pilsbury white flour and 4 tbls of wheat gluten. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm! :-)
116
posted on
11/21/2013 9:04:27 AM PST
by
Georgia Girl 2
(The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
To: happyhomemaker
If you have just started, just keep going and get ready for chapter 6, but don’t cheat, he is building a step by step case.
117
posted on
11/21/2013 9:18:01 AM PST
by
mazda77
To: BfloGuy
but the grains bread and rice have been food staples for most of the world at least since biblical times
The bread we eat now is made from flour which is dramatically different from the grains used in biblical times.
Which is why two lines later I wrote:
I suppose that you can argue the unhybridized grain then was different, but that is a different argument than the author is making.
He actually might have been making your point, too. But the main thrust of the article is that man isn't meant to eat grains. I didn't see a section that allows for legacy grains or alternative grains such as spelt or quinoa.
118
posted on
11/21/2013 9:41:31 AM PST
by
Dr. Sivana
(There's no salvation in politics.)
To: Mase
He promotes himself as an expert in biotechnology and is more than happy to insert himself into the GMO debate.
I read two of his books. Nowhere did he claim to be an expert in biotechnology. I cannot address what he says on the lecture circuit. He does insert himself into the GMO debate, but then again, so do a whole lot of people here on FR, with excellent points being made by "non-scientists" from time to time.
I received my education mostly from private prep schools and half my college at a place that is conservative enough to accept NO federal funding. I received less "diversity, multiculturalism, and self-esteem" ed than almost anyone who is not yet at middle age (save home-schoolers). I read Pollan critically. The books were not, and did not pretend to be scientific treatises. I also appreciate that (unlike lefties) Pollan doesn't pretend to have all of the answers.
I am actually much more cncerned with the scientists who have an alphabet after name, and use those letters to shut up anyone with fewer letters, or the wrong letters. They have their agendas just as often, or are completely unable to overcome their own pre-conceived notions regardless of the quality of their scientific training.
119
posted on
11/21/2013 9:50:41 AM PST
by
Dr. Sivana
(There's no salvation in politics.)
To: mazda77
Actually, I was just agreeing with your observation that doctors often write unclearly.
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