The Wheat-Free Prepping Paradigm: Life After Bread

by Todd Walker

“Few things are more irritating than when someone who is wrong is also very effective in making his point.”

– Mark Twain

Can you survive TEOTWAWKI without a basement full of 5 gallon food-grade buckets of wheat? Conventional prepper wisdom frowns upon me bashing the grains. So, let the gnashing of teeth begin.

I fully understand the appeal of storing grains in the preparedness community. Grains offer a long storage life, cheap calories, and are widely used on America’s dinner table regardless of the negative nutritional effects. In a SHTF world, eating wheat is better than slowly starving to death. I get it.

I also get how we’ve been lied to.

We are all familiar with the USDA Food Pyramid. It’s been plastered in Health books and institutional green walls for decades. You may not be able to quote it, but the grain based diet it promotes for healthy living is not fit for human consumption. Some animals are meant to eat the pyramid’s foundational food. We (homo sapiens) are not one of them. You don’t have to look far to see the disastrous effects of eating the American way.

Mrs. Obama, in her infinite health wisdom, destroyed the 1992 food pyramid and replaced it with the Food Plate guide. Lipstick on a pig won’t change the farm animal’s behavior. The new plate leaves essential fats off. Follow the USDA recommendations and you’ll find the fat in pockets of cellulite all over your body. Turn the government’s eating advice on it’s head to find food freedom.

Life after bread

The faithful few that have read my rantings about going primal understand my 180 mind-set. Over two years ago, my life was transformed in just under three months. No more IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), aching joints, bloated stomach, or excess body weight. My blood pressure normalized. Midlife for me is so non-typical-American-midlife. Stress is low. I learned to play again. I’m not addicted to chronic-cardio. I exercise smarter. I don’t train in the gym 6 days a week (conventional wisdom says eat less, exercise more). I feel functionally fit. When I’m hungry, I eat. Giving up grains was my first step towards taking my health into my own hands.

I’m I advising you do the same? No. I’m speaking from my personal experience on what worked for me. Research based information confirms what I and many others have discovered since life after bread. It’s a huge prepping paradigm shift. If you’ve made it this far, please don’t stop reading.

Take a look at the science

In an CBS interview, “Modern wheat a ‘perfect, chronic poison,’ doctor say“, Dr. William Davis lays the smack down on wheat.

Some health resources, such as the Mayo Clinic, advocate a more balanced diet that does include wheat. But Davis said on “CTM” they’re just offering a poor alternative.

“All that literature says is to replace something bad, white enriched products with something less bad, whole grains, and there’s an apparent health benefit – ‘Let’s eat a whole bunch of less bad things.’ So I take…unfiltered cigarettes and replace with Salem filtered cigarettes, you should smoke the Salems. That’s the logic of nutrition, it’s a deeply flawed logic. What if I take it to the next level, and we say, ‘Let’s eliminate all grains,’ what happens then?

“That’s when you see, not improvements in health, that’s when you see transformations in health.”

Mark Sisson, the godfather of primal living, offers ongoing researched based articles (somehow he makes research fun to read) on the dangers of grains. His site, Mark’s Daily Apple, would be a great place to start for anyone searching for answers, ideas, and support on reaching optimal health. Below are a few links to get you started:

• Why Grains Are Unhealthy
• Top 8 Most Common Reactions to Your Grain-Free Diet
• From The Definitive Guide to Grains  “The point of the Primal Blueprint is this: When you understand the metabolic effects of eating grains, you’re empowered to make informed decisions about the role grains will have in your diet. You’re free to enjoy good health and self-selected compromises with a clear conscience and full epicurean gusto!”

Amber waves of pain

If you give up grains, what in the world will you do for long-term storage options? Glad you asked. That’s the topic of an upcoming post. Ideas and suggestions are always welcome.

Keep Doing the Stuff!

Todd

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