My entire life has been filled with advice from experts saying that whole wheat, oats, and brown rice are good for you. These “whole” grains are supposed to be better for you than their “bad” counterparts like enriched wheat and white rice. Some of this is based on a study in 2010 that found that eating brown rice instead of white rice may reduce the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes:

Qi Sun, MD, now an instructor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues at Harvard estimate that replacing 50 grams daily of white rice (uncooked, equivalent to a one-third serving) with the same amount of brown rice would lower the risk of type 2 diabetes by 16%. Read more at WebMD

Then there is this gem from “The Top Ten Benefits of Brown Rice:”

Brown rice is considered a whole grain since it hasn’t lost its “wholeness” through the refinement process. Wholes grains are proven to reduce the buildup of arterial plaque and reduce the risk of heart disease and high cholesterol. Read more at Veggie Kitchen

So why should we cut out wheat, even whole wheat?

New science is shedding some light on the problems caused by this popular food group, but of all the habits that you can develop regarding your health, dropping the grains from your diet is probably the one that will pay off the most. Read more at PaleoLeap

Of course, the list goes on.

However, I’ve cut out all wheat, oats, and rice (along with rye, barley, corn, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa. – See more at Whole30). Why? Because it’s not so much that it is high in carbs (we’ll get to that in a moment) but because of this:

Grains aren’t bad because they have carbs. They’re bad because they contain various antinutrients and gut irritants that humans aren’t designed to digest. Carbohydrate-dense foods that don’t contain these compounds are called “safe starches.” Safe starches include potatoes (yes, even the white ones!), sweet potatoes, plantains and bananas. Read more at PaleoLeap

Now, I don’t eat white potatoes because it’s a food I have no brakes for. When I eat potatoes, I eat, eat, and eat. It’s hard for me to stop, even when I’m full. Sweet potatoes, yams, and plantains? Yeah, I can stop.

Back to grains: the brown ones have an outer coating on them that contain micronutrients, but also microtoxins. This is what is harmful. To make white rice, that coating is removed to reveal the inner portion of the rice which is all carbohydrates. This is why plain white rice is considered bad.

What to eat instead of wheat, oats, and rice?

Good news! There are lots of options that Sherry and I have adopted, and with some trial and error, we’ve found things we really like. Are they going to taste exactly the same? Of course not. This is not about finding perfect matches for the foods you can no longer eat. To try to do so gets around the main point: we’re trying to change our lifestyle to allow us to eat healthy for the rest of our lives, in a manner that is sustainable for us.

What are these foods already?

First and foremost is the wonder food cauliflower. HOLD ON! Don’t leave! Stay with me here. I know that cauliflower isn’t the most appealing of vegetables. It’s kind of bland, and that’s the beauty of cauliflower; it’s a culinary chameleon. Sherry has made riced cauliflower (boiled in water and put through a ricer) to act as a sort of rice for foods normally served with rice, and I have a recipe I’ve perfected to make a delicious faux mashed potato. Then, you can roast them in the oven with some olive oil and salt on top, or perhaps with some Italian spices. Then, there are the soups that can be made with cauliflower, or it can be put into salads. And the list goes on. Seriously; we get at least two bunches of cauliflower every week (and sometimes more). To show the versatility of cauliflower, Sherry has even made tortillas from it! Pulled pork tacos were pretty amazing on the cauliflower tortillas with cilantro. YUM!

Another power player in our eating plan? Sweet potatoes. This is a side that seems to work well for me. I don’t lose control and go nuts with it the way I do with regular potatoes. I find sweet potatoes to be quite delicious with some butter and salt. This is a good thing as sweet potato is almost always available at restaurants. When we eat out and have steak, I always order a sweet potato as the side (but make sure to ask for regular butter instead of the sugar butter with cinnamon that most places put into their sweet potatoes).

Broccoli is quite delicious, and in my opinion, gets a bad rap. Brussels sprouts are a new love of mine; oh, Brussels sprouts, where have you been all these years?

There are other vegetables we eat regularly: spinach, lettuce, green beans, squash, asparagus, bell peppers, celery, cucumber, onion, zucchini, and more! The list is long (and for what I recommend as a good list of vegetables you can eat) and available at Whole30. This is the list Sherry and I use, and this is what has been working for us.

Do I miss rice, oats, and wheat? You bet I do. But not as much as I did perhaps three months ago, and I’ve been able to teach myself that while there are foods that are off-limits for me, there are so many more that I can have that are just as delicious, if not more. I don’t allow myself to concentrate on the foods I can’t have: I let my mind wander to those I can have. It makes dealing with the “loss” of what, oats, and rice much easier.

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In the coming days, weeks, and months, I’ll be posting recipes and ideas for foods that Sherry and I have found that we enjoy and find delicious. I’ll also be posting information about the “low-hanging fruit” of eating healthy which is food you already enjoy or can order at any restaurant that is good for you and can stay on your healthy eating plan for life.

I’ll also post sources for information if it’s something that has science behind it. This site is written by me and is based on my personal experiences and preferences which may help you, but in the end, we all have to find what works best for us. I will do my best to point out when something is my opinion vs. something that has science behind it.

Got questions? Ask in the comments or email me!