There are several popular diets these days that prohibit eating any grains. In particular, The Paleo Diet, The Ketogenic Diet, and Whole30 Diet are three of the hottest diets right now, and none of them allow for any grains.
It is true that cutting out grains will help with weight loss in the short term, but eliminating whole grains is detrimental to long-term health.
The evidence clearly shows that whole grains promote health and should be a part of any effective eating plan.
Specifically, eating just 2–3 portions of whole grains per day has been shown to reduce the risk of getting a heart attack or prematurely dying of heart disease by 30%, and lower the risk of all forms of cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke, or the need for a procedure to bypass or open a clogged artery) by 21%.
Those numbers mean that eating enough whole grains daily is as powerful as high blood pressure medications in alleviating hypertension.
Considering 75 million American adults have high blood pressure — one in every three American adults — we would be smart to consume more whole grains, not less.
But whole grains do much more than just lower blood pressure.
Eating at least 70 grams of whole grains daily has been shown to lower the risk of total mortality by…
