As a society, so often we hear, “that’s so good for you, this helps your heart, this can help with digestion…” all the time. No wonder we’re confused and overwhelmed! We’re literally inundated with information about fad diets, food, what to eat, what not to eat, but nobody really tells us why.

This book might help:

I asked for this book for Christmas five years ago, and my subconscious must have known at the time where I’d be in life five years later.

Dr. Bowden says: “You may be puzzled by the almost complete absence of grains on my list of 150 healthiest foods on the planet. In fact, it may seem like nutritional heresy. After all, aren’t whole grains supposed to be nutritious and healthy?”

He then introduces Loren Cordain, Ph.D., a renowned scientist doing groundbreaking research into the original human diet:

In 1999, he wrote a 100+ page paper called “Cereal Grains: Humanity’s Double Edged Sword.” Some of the highlights of his paper: The natural diet of humans is food that could be hunted, fished for, gathered, or plucked.

As the population of the world increased and the supply of wild game became more limited, it became necessary to provide an alternative or supplementary means of nourishment-and about 10,000 years ago, agriculture was born. Agriculture has made it possible for humans to live in cities, and literally, for civilization to flourish. Eight cereal grains (wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum, oats, rye, and millet) now provide 56% of the calories and 50% of the protein consumed on earth. Without these crops, the planet could not support 6 billion people. So here’s the double-edged sword: On the one hand, without cereal grains we would not have cities, civilization, industry, or the planet as we know it. Take away rice, wheat, and corn, and half the people on earth will not eat.

He then proceeds to talk about how grains are a nutritional compromise, and “whole grains” aren’t any better than refined.

Much to my surprise, after grabbing the book from the bookshelf (okay, so Seth had to do that) and dusting it off, it completely supports the Paleo Lifestyle and is jam-packed full of useful knowledge (consider it a dictionary of foods). The next time someone says that something is good for you, now you can look and see why it is, and how it fuels your body!!