How is the grain free diet different from gluten free diet?
The grain free diet excludes the consumption of any grain in your diet. While the gluten free diet focuses mainly on not eating wheat, barley and rye, the grain free diet excludes all grains including barley, corn, durum, kamut, millet, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, spelt, tuff, triticale, wheat (any kind) wild rice, any whole grains, and pseudo grains, like amaranth, buckwheat, chia and quinoa. The grain free diet excludes all of these grains and any foods that may be derived from these foods.
The theory behind it...
Gluten is a mixture of proteins found in grains, which is comprised of two parts; prolamines and glutelins. There is a kind of prolamine in gluten called gliadin, but all grains have prolamines in them, so all grains contain a form of gluten, in different concentrations. Wheat and corn have the highest concentration of gluten. (gluten free society) This is why wheat is the most detrimental of the grains. The goal of the grain free diet is to rid the body of all grains that would cause adverse effects. Our bodies were not initially adapted to eating grains, especially in large amounts. Humans have only been eating grains for the past about 10,000 years since the invention of agriculture. This may seem like a long time, but thinking about evolution, our ancestors have been around for six million years, while modern humans have existed for about 200,000 years. It takes tens of thousands of years to affect our genes. In order for the body to avoid the detrimental effects of gluten the grain free diet restricts all consumption of grains and any foods that are derived from grains. Dr. Peter Osborne is one of the leading authorities on grain free living, he calls this diet the "true gluten free diet." Visit his website,
Gluten Free Society for more information.
What not to eat.
Grainfreeliving.com gives a list of foods that contains grains
Foods that are considered grains, (or are made from grains) are:
- Wheat
- Rye
- Barley, including barley malt
- Bran
- Bulgar
- Couscous
- Farina
- Kamut
- Orzo
- Semolina
- Sorghum (gluten-free)
- Spelt
- Corn (gluten-free)
- Cornflour (gluten-free unless wheaten cornflour)
- Cornmeal (gluten-free)
- Millet – The Body Ecology diet says it is a pseudo-cereal, a gluten free grain like seed. However it is a member of the plant family Poaceae, of which the other cereal grasses belong and is generally recognized as a grain in most sources I have checked. Because of this I have listed it on the grain list and it is up to your own research/opinion as to whether you choose to treat it as a grain or not.
- Rice (gluten-free)
- Wild Rice (gluten-free, this one is open to debate also – some people swear it is a grain, some people swear it isn’t and is in fact another one of the grain-like seeds. I treat it as a grain myself but you are welcome to decide otherwise. See also Millet above)
- Oats
- Beer (yes, beer!)
- Glucose made from wheat
- Teff (gluten-free)
- Montina flour
- Graham flour (wheat)
- Commercially made stock: like chicken, beef or vegetable stock in either powder or liquid usually contains some kind of grain.
- Soy Sauce (contains wheat)
- (this list is incomplete, if I tried to make it complete it would be a list of thousands of items and be unreadable)
So any thing made from these products would also contain grains – like cakes, biscuits, pizzas, bread, pasta, breadcrumbs, spaghetti, sauces, soy sauce, sauces or processed drinks etc
Foods that are grain free, even though they are often used as a flour or look a bit like a grain are:
- Almond meal or any other nut meal. (OK for paleo, GAPS or SCD)
- Amaranth – is grain like seed, from the broadleaf (dicot) plant family. (OK for Body Ecology, or if tolerated, not paleo or GAPS). Is generally treated as a grain when discussing due to being cooked and used much the same way as cereal grains, but is in class Magnoliopsida, while the cereal grain family Poaceae stems from class Liliopsida.
- Arrowroot
- Buckwheat also called Kasha – is grain like seed, related to rhubarb, from the broadleaf (dicot) plant family. (OK for Body Ecology, or if tolerated, not paleo or GAPS). Is generally treated as a grain when discussing due to being cooked and used much the same way as cereal grains, but is in class Magnoliopsida, while family Poaceae stems from class Liliopsida.
- Cassava
- Chickpeas (made into flour)
- Coconut (used in flours) (OK for paleo, GAPS or SCD)
- Cottonseed
- Dal
- Fava bean
- Flaxseed (OK for paleo, GAPS or SCD)
- Gram flour (chickpea)
- Lentils
- Manioc
- Potato Starch/Flour
- Quinoa – is grain like seed, from the broadleaf (dicot) plant family. (OK for Body Ecology, or if tolerated, not paleo or GAPS). Is generally treated as a grain when discussing due to being cooked and used much the same way as cereal grains, but is in class Magnoliopsida, while family Poaceaestems from class Liliopsida.
- Sago
- Sesame – seed
- Sunflower seed flour
- Taro flour
- Soy flour
- Tapioca
- Glucose make from tapioca
- Plantain flour (can get at African grocers)
- Yam (iyan) flour (can get at African grocers)
- Mesquite flour
So any thing made from these products would be technically be grain-free (but not necessarily ok to consume – for many people they would still cause problems for various reasons). For example, bread, cakes or pasta made from grain-free flours do not contain grains. Reading ingredients is therefore important.
Grain free foods are also automatically gluten-free.
Just because something is “technically” not a grain, doesn’t make it automatically ok for many people. Paleo peeps or GAPS-diet folk wouldn’t touch any of the grain-like seeds or most of the starchy grain free alternatives in the above “not a grain list”. It’s really just the nuts and seeds for them. For myself, I do ok on soaked & sprouted quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat and millet, so I eat them sometimes, although not everyday.
What to eat.
Dairy products or anything derived from an animal, such as milk, cheese, butter or meat (with no additives), all fruits and vegetables except for corn (this is technically a grain).
