I don’t avoid grains, dairy and legumes 100% of the time. I used to eat grains, dairy and legumes daily. Cereal with milk for breakfast? Check. Sandwich, usually Peanut Butter and Jelly, for lunch? Check. Pasta, pizza, meat imitators with LOTS of gluten? Check.
Prior to avoiding these food groups I probably did not go a single day in my life without eating at least something from one of them. I find that amazing. I literally do not seek out any food from these groups outside of butter and whey protein powder. The former is awesome and a health food while the latter is, well, not the best. It’s great for smoothies.
I used to drink 3-6 glasses or more of milk a day. I would eat ice cream frequently too. It was NOT your raw milk from grass-fed cows, which is one of the greatest foods on earth if you can handle dairy. It was pasteurized 1/2% milk. In other words, junk. It gave me acne. I know this because when I ditched dairy my skin improved dramatically. And there are countless studies that show dairy is linked to acne. Most dermatologists will want you to believe otherwise… surprise!
This is cool, in my humble opinion, but why do I avoid these foods today?
Many reasons. I’m going to tell you the most important reasons that are on my mind right now. This list is not all inclusive, but as I think of more reasons I will write another post. I would love it if you left a comment below with your reasons for avoiding these foods too!
If you tell me that you don’t eat them because they are not paleo then I may trash your comment. I’m serious.
Whole Grains…
- Have gluten. Gluten almost destroyed my gut.
- Gave me IBS. Gluten did not. Grains did.
- Have loads of anti-nutrients. These things rob vitamins and minerals from my body. Not cool.
- Take a lot of time to prepare in order for them to be an adequate food.
- Are bland. Have you ever eaten plain wheat? It’s disgusting.
- Are not sustainable.
- Take up valuable land that could be used for grass fed beef.
- Are not nutrient dense, while meat and vegetables are.
- Are not cheap. Shredded coconut is.
- Are high in carbs. This has nothing to do with why I don’t eat grains!
Dairy…
- Makes me breakout when consumed.
- Has casein protein. I am casein intolerant.
- Has the sugar lactose. I am lactose intolerant (you probably are too).
- Can cause insulin resistance. This leads to diabetes which leads to an early death. No thanks.
- Leads to sinus infections, congested nose (it does!!)
Legumes
- Make me fart.
- Have loads of anti-nutrients. These things rob vitamins and minerals from my body. Again, not cool.
- Take too much time to prepare.
- Soy is one of the world’s most misinterpreted foods and plays a huge role in breast cancer!
Grains disgust me today. I never loved them. I loved the food that I enjoyed with them. Pasta? It was all about the sauce, meat and veggies. Pizza? It was all about the sauce, cheese and toppings. Bread? It was all about the peanut butter and jelly or turkey and avocado. Cereal? It was all about… um… feeling like shit?
I eat butter. I love cheese but breakout. I love ice cream but will never go out of my way to enjoy it and so I eat it no more than once per month. I was never a big fan of beans but I do eat sugar snap peas, green beans and peas.
What about you? If you avoid these food groups, why? If you eat still eat them, why? Do you have any idea? If you don’t, then consider thinking thrice about your decision to eat them or avoid them.
About Toad
I avoid wheat because I do not consider it a safe/real food since the modern type has been messed around with way too much. I avoid grains in general because it takes a ton of grains to fill me up with more discomfort than benefit. I also find grains to be flavorless. When I did eat grains, they were mostly just the vehicle for other foods anyway.
I avoid beans/legumes because I also find them tasteless/bland. When these were eaten before, it was as a “filler” food and to help up my vegetable intake. I’m no longer concerned about getting “enough” vegetables as I consider my current diet nourishing (yes, I eat veggies…I just don’t freak if I don’t have some with EVERY meal).
I consume dairy. I am considering eliminating it from my diet for a length of time, but have not been willing to give it up. I love butter and cheese..the rest I mostly avoid. The research I’ve done tells me I should give it up completely at least for a trial period, but so far the wonderful varieties of cheese and the versatility of butter has kept me from doing so. I have started to replace dairy in appropriate recipes with coconut (coconut milk or oil) and so my dairy intake has decreased lately.
Do they make coconut cheese?
“When I did eat grains, they were mostly just the vehicle for other foods anyway.” – Well said!
I still eat butter and if I find out I can’t really handle it – if I keep getting acne then I will go with ghee! I love cheese too and won’t go my life without it but when I eat it it will only be a bite or 2 with some wine!
I have to say, I have been following grain free for a while because of an autoimmune disease I have, this week I had a popcorn three days in a row and I gained 5 pounds! Crazy..Grains make me fat for sure, they also make my gut feel inflamed, Not worth it for me.
Ditching grains can do wonders for your health!
You are funny Toad, I love your honesty about legumes – I couldn’t stop laughing.
I use to avoid dairy all together because I noticed it made me gain weight. But now I decided to give it a try again, but only Goat Milk. I did try to avoid grain for a while, and It made me loose muscle. Then I tried eating it again, and I learned as long as I keep a great balance such as – 3 days of some grains and 4 days of no grains, this seems to work better.
Another food group I completely avoid is processes sugar, soda of any kind ( hate the taste ), and processed meats, pretty much anything that has ingredients that I don’t understand.
Tatianna –
Grain intake (or lack thereof) shouldn’t affect your muscle mass. Unless when you cut out grains you are not replacing those calories with something else (vegetables, fats, or proteins), grains provide primarily carbohydrates, which are not used for muscle building. You might want to make sure you’re eating enough food to satisfy your energy needs when you eliminate grains in order to avoid muscle loss. Good luck!
Thank you for your help Hal, I’ve been trying to find an answer to that question, cause I was pretty confused that I was loosing muscle. It seemed that I was eating a lot of grass fed meat, eggs and lots of veggies ( I love veggies ), but I didn’t eat any potatoes sweet potatoes either, maybe that was a problem.
Hey, I am an honest dude
Sugar… yuk!
I’m still very early on in this process but I expect the body transformation proof to be in the pudding so to speak..the reason why I don’t eat grains, dairy, legumes, and processed anything is because smart, hot people tell me to. I want to look like they do! I’ve never lost weight without being hungry until now. It was a major reason for my numerous previous failures. I love beef. I can eat beef? What a blessing. I can’t imagine a more sustainable way to eat such that I can lose the fat and KEEP IT OFF. Oh…and I don’t have to be a slave to exercise? Are you kidding me? SIGN ME UP.
Lol. Yea, just move! Eat lots of grass fed beef! It will help for sure.
Hi! Love your posts and recipies!!! I started avoiding grains when i started crossfit in Dec. 2010. I never knew i had any type of intolerance to grains until my gastritis, IBS and acid reflux went away when i began to cut them out of my diet! Imagine that..all the docs would do when i complained about painful stomach aches would give me another pill to take, which never helped! No one ever suggested i change my diet. I do consume some dairy…mostly in the form of half and half/cream for my coffee and greek yogurt, but that is it. I seem to be able to tolerate dairy, and it doesn’t seem to affect my performance level, so i eat it. I have also cut out all legumes….not even peas or green beans (which i had previously loved). Keep posting!
Congrats on your success! You are lucky to have discovered this community!! It’s about to kick some ass
I avoid gluten like the plague. Now if I even breathe in particles of wheat flour I’m sick for days. Ugh. I avoid other grains due to IBS issues, but they don’t affect me nearly as badly as gluten grains.
Legumes? Mostly. I eat miso every once in a while, and GF tamari. Other than that they just make my stomach upset.
Dairy, well, I avoid it 99% of the time. We have access to raw milk; my kids drink it daily. I have a serious intolerance to casein, though, so although I can occasionally tolerate ghee I stay away from dairy. Besides, coconut milk is better.
Yes, coconut milk is way better! I use almond milk a lot for my smoothies
I also found that dairy caused my acne. I initially cut out grains and dairy. My acne went away, but I didn’t know which thing was causing it. I added milk back in while I was trying to put on some muscle weight, and the acne came back within a couple of days. Cut out the milk again, and the acne is gone. Wish someone would have told me that in high school.
Yes, ditto! It is a huge cause and most are clueless thanks to drugs like accutane…
I try to avoid these foods because, well, they make me feel like crap. However, even knowing they make me feel sick, I occasionally have “small” amounts only one day a week. I grew up on this stuff not knowing that it was the reason I always felt blah. I got away from it and discovered how good I felt. Oh…and this stuff kept me a hefty girl!
Ay, we all have small amounts here and there! We all need to live life and not stress about every moment that we eat gains unless there is a chance we may die from ingesting them!
great post Toad. I went Primal about six months ago but lately the carbs have been creeping back, some oats here, some bread there. My digestion was really beginning to improve on primal, and now it’s become really bad again…………….. The grains have got to go. I feel so much better without Gluten/grains,. Also I hate to say it because I LOVE dairy, but it makes me feel like I have a stuffy nose, does anyone else get this? It’s amazing the effect that supposedly healthy foods can have on our bodies!
Alice… excellent question about the dairy… the answer is YES! MANY people do. In fact, I should talk about this in a post. Or, actually, I am going to add it to the list – thanks for bringing this up!
I have noticed eating dairy – particularly ‘normal’ milk (yes I know it’s crap) – results in thick mucus in my throat (yes, yuuuk!). If I have a cafe latte in the morning I feel this horrid mucus in my throat for the whole day – has anyone ever experienced this? I’d love to hear.
I am beginning to believe that dairy causes mucus buildup for me too. I am about to avoid all daiiry 100% strictly aside from ghee and MAYBE 2-3 servings of 100% grass fed whey protein powder a week.
Yeah, I do! Dairy has always made me stuffy headed, mucus laden and bloated. Funny thing….so do grains! I love eating primal/paleo… it is really freeing and I feel incredible!
I avoid grains because I discovered that they were the cause of my health problems. Had I known this years before, I could have avoided a stroke and two painful surgeries.
But you are doing great now, right?
I started to avoid dairy first because I am breastfeeding and it was affecting my son. He was having horrible gas pains and was starting to try and refuse nursing. As soon as I cut it out, he was fine. My older son (almost 3) had a skin condition that looks similar to baby acne. I can’t remember the actual name of it, but it was a viral thing. The doctor’s tried to tell us it was not diet related, but then it started to clear up when we cutout dairy. My skin cleared up and I was no longer bloated… which I never even realized I was bloated to begin with. I’ve personally never drank milk anyways, have never liked it. I don’t really care for ice cream. It was cheese and greek yogurt for me. So, cutting out dairy wasn’t too hard for me. A little for my son who was drinking a massive amount of milk, cheese, and yogurt. He was pretty much living off dairy.. and grains/gluten.
We then cut out grains/gluten because I started to read about how horrible it is for you. We immediately all felt better. We never really ate legumes to begin with, besides green beans, snap peas and peas. They’ve always upset all of our tummies.. and now that I learned they anti-nutrients it’s just another reason. It was after I started eliminating these thing that I even found out about paleo/primal diet, and was so impressed and excited that I was not alone.
At first my son had a difficult time, because I pretty much just took away everything he ate. We then started to really explain why he needed to eat different foods. Now, he is an amazing eater… and it’s only been a little over a month. He will tell you his favorite thing for breakfast is eggs. He is pretty much addicted to avocados. The best part is he added on an hour to his sleep.. which means I added on hour to my sleep too.
That’s a great story Amanda! You kind of invented the paleo diet yourself – that’s totally cool!!
It makes me want to ask you… would you want to publish your success story on my blog? I’ll shoot you an email!
OMG, I totally could have written this!!! EVERY word! I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE green beans!! can’t stop eating them ;p
Lol. They are awesome!
I avoid gluten because I like living thank you. With my Celiac I have no other option. I am a dairy addict but am trying to kick that habit because it causes me lots of acne that just doesn’t work for me I want clear skin but it will be a long journey for me kicking it to the curb. I eat legumes to be honest I used to eat peanuts but a lot of them are manufactured in the same place as wheat I found that out the hard way when I got sick and my skin itched all over. I avoid caffeine because it doesn’t mix with my medicine and gives me an accelerated heart rate. Really? If I wanted to accelerate my heart rate I would rather be moving my body not just drinking a cup of coffee. By the way I don’t do Starbucks anymore because they don’t cater to me and they have HUGE issues with cross contamination it’s ugly! I am having a tough time giving up Gatorade but would love to know of other ways to get electrolytes I was born low in them. I am giving up sugar day by day it’s a long process and I have a lot of cravings but I know I can do it! I LOVE to eat meat and love it it’s a great source of iron and B12 and with anemia you need these things. Just yesterday I had ribs, steak, and bacon what a trifecta of yumminess!
I avoid all of these things because I like to stay healthy and feel good I spent years being sick on gluten and it’s time I will never get back but now I can just smile and know I am on my own journey of health the right food and the right movement will get me going in the right direction and that makes me doubly happy!
“I avoid gluten because I like living thank you” – I love it!!
I wish I was a true celiac – really! Then I wouldn’t have a choice. You are on the right track Hannah – keep going!
I avoid grains, legumes, sugar and dairy (can’t drink it raw either) because I FEEL ALIVE AND AMAZING without them.
I am honestly the happiest I have ever been in my life. All day. My moods are just absolutely incredible and have been since the day I said “I’m going to eat Primal” a few months ago. I imagine myself to be like our ancestors were, strong and healthy and HAPPY.
Thanks for sharing Crystal!
gyday mate;
i reckon you are right on with what you preach mate.
i lost 12kg without breaking a sweat after a crippling parachute injury in the army…
i simply gave up all grains and milk….
thats it.
when i slimmed down i got back into gymnastics and beach running…..whilst my mates kept up the chronic cardio and yo-yo diets…..i laugh at them..with love.
im 46……
i have vego mates that are overweight and have appalling skin problems and constant gut issues….and inflammation…..but ive discovered the hardest thing is to convince a vego they are hurting themselves to no end……i use to be one…..but never again.
i dont however buy into the “primal’ thing…..its actually irrelllevant to being a healthy person what people ate 6000years ago,( neanderthalls also probably killed there retarded children and ate them) ..doesnt mean we should do that……all you have to do is give the idea of Primal a go….
good stuff mate;
zeph.
What? That’s a crazy idea that I will never be. And, yes, finding out our wild diet is very necessary. If we are able to make an educated guess how we ate for more than 2 million years then you would think that diet would be optimal for us.
Hi Todd!
Great post!!! I am not eating grains anymore because they make me bloated and hungry all the time. I have started a new blog too. I will put you on my new blogroll!
Hey Carla! How many blogs are you going to start ?!
I’m loving ‘no pasta carbonara’ these days. Bacon (!), peas, onion, cream, egg yolk. Doesn’t get much better than that.
That sounds beyond spectacular!!
THANK YOU for this post! I avoid ALL those foods like the plague! The only dairy I eat is nonfat, sugar-free ORGANIC greek yogurt. I freeze it, and it tastes like ice cream:) It has no sugar, and unlike butter, it doesn’t upset my stomach. I don’t drink milk, and have been soy, grain, gluten, and sugar free for almost eight years. I still break out from yogurt, but feel 100% better when I eat it and my digestive system works better. I can’t tolerate any other types of dairy. Fruit and grains make me fat, I mean I literally can gain 5-8 pounds in one week if I eat them daily. I’m a health nut and even if I eat them healthfully, I still gain weight, have gas and feel sluggish. I bake ONLY with coconut. Even nuts make me gain weight though I love them. They also make me sluggish. Legumes give me gas and personally, the only type of legume or bean I tolerate is green beans, which I LOVE. I pretty much live off eggs, a SLEW of green veggies and leafy greens, the yogurt I mentioned, organic chicken and turkey, and lots of fish. This way of living has kept me vibrant, thin and energetic for so many years, I wouldn’t go back for anything. I also love to cook with coconut oil when I need it, but usually just flavor foods with lemon juice for a nice acidity and zest. I use tons of herbs and natural spices, and eat 100% cacao chocolate bars for a nice dose of healthy saturated fat , which is actually what most people fear. I don’t even miss bread anymore. This lifestyle has done wonders for my PMS, sleeping regulations, energy levels, and my depression. I get so sick of hearing “you need your whole grains and fruits.” PLEASE= the nutrients in those foods are found in ABUNDANCE in other foods I eat. Thanks for sharing this post. I wish more people could enjoy this lifestyle too.
You can eat yogurt just fine but not butter? Interesting. I love my butter
Thanks for your comment Heather! I don’t do particularly well with too many nuts (which is not much!) but I love them as well. Macadamias seem to be the best. It is amazing how a primal eating plan can make on feel so alive, isn’t it?
I KNOW I love butter, but it gives me a terrible stomach ache. I guess the probiotics in yogurt help it digest better but I’m IN LOVE with me some Greek yogurt:)
I do love yogurt too… great for smoothies!
Hi, Ive just started on my Paleo journey, however have been following a similar lifestyle choice without realizing for the past year. I avoid Sugar and processed foods because they give me instant headaches, not to mention messing with my guts healthy bacterias. Grains make me bloated and lethargic.
Dairy is probably my worst enemy, I know that it affects my asthma and makes my brain foggy however being a dairy farmers wife and having all that beautiful raw milk to consume, it’s just too hard to avoid. I have no willpower when it comes to dairy. I don’t drink large amounts of milk but do eat the cheese made from milk and butter is my friend!
Well, butter rocks and most people do fine with it. But, as you said dairy can be many peoples worst enemies. We want it but its not the best for most of us due to the lactose and casein. I enjoy it once in a while. There is not way I would give it up for life!
I avoid those foods because they have too many ingredients in them. The fewer the ingredients, the more efficient my brain is and the perkier my moods are. Grains are poisonous for humans!
Yes, they certainly are
I’ve spent the last few years fighting with Fibromyalgia. I’ve had IBS for as long as I can remember. After several months of the worst IBS I’ve ever had I finally reached out and found someone to test me for food sensitivities. It came back with wheat, yeast, milk, whey & eggs, go figure. I removed them all. I did juicing only for a week and have spent the last 6 or so weeks (since the first of this year) on an almost all vegan (minus grains) diet. I thought I’d be keeping grains in my diet (the non-gluten ones like rice) but then when I’ve had them they make me feel like crap. I feel like I’m all bound up and I gained 5lbs in 4 days (from just eating 2 servings of grains – rice one day and granola another). So, I’m adding grains tot he foods I’m giving up. I’m not totally vegan, I eat some meat, I just limit it greatly and eat it when I really want it rather than feeling like I have to eat it at every meal. I know that doesn’t fit with how most approach the Paleo diet but the Paleo way is the closest I’ve found to what it going to work for me.
Even a little meat can help. Some is better than none at all. You can be eating a paleo diet without eating much meat too. It’s mostly more about what you avoid and it sounds like you are avoiding junk food and eating real food.