Eight grains are on Dr. Sebi's nutritional guide: amaranth, fonio, kamut, quinoa, rye, spelt, teff and wild rice.
Most people arriving at this list have cooked two of them at most. Here is what each one is, what it tastes like, how to cook it — with ratios and times — where to buy it, and what it costs.
The quick reference
Ratios are grain to liquid by volume. Times are for a covered pan at a low simmer.
- Fonio — 1:1.5, 5 minutes plus 5 resting. The fastest.
- Quinoa — 1:1.75, 15 minutes plus 10 resting off the heat.
- Quinoa flakes — 1:3, 3 to 5 minutes, stirred. Porridge.
- Amaranth — 1:3, 20 minutes, stirred occasionally.
- Teff — 1:4, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Rye berries — 1:3, 45 to 60 minutes. Soak overnight to cut it.
- Spelt berries — 1:3, 45 to 60 minutes. Soak overnight.
- Kamut berries — 1:3, 60 to 75 minutes. Soaking is not optional.
- Wild rice — 1:3, 45 to 55 minutes, until the grains split open.
The eight, one by one
Quinoa
The one to start with. Widely available, quick, and it works under anything.
Rinse it. Quinoa carries saponins — a natural bitter coating — and most of the complaints about quinoa tasting soapy come from skipping this. Rinse in a fine sieve until the water runs clear, thirty seconds.
Toast it. Dry-toast the rinsed grain in the pan for two minutes before adding water. It is the difference between fine and good.
Then: 1 cup quinoa to 1 3/4 cups water, pinch of sea salt, covered, 15 minutes at a low simmer. Take it off the heat and leave it covered another 10 without lifting the lid. Fluff with a fork.
White is the mildest, red holds its shape best in salads, black is nuttiest. One cup dry makes about three cups cooked.
Amaranth
Tiny, and it behaves more like a porridge grain than a fluffy one — small beads in a creamy base, closer to tapioca than to rice.
1 cup to 3 cups liquid, 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Higher in protein than most on this list and naturally creamy, which makes it good for breakfast. Amaranth greens are separately on the approved vegetable list — same plant, different part.
It can also be popped: a tablespoon at a time in a very hot dry pan, shaking constantly, for a few seconds. Good scattered over a salad.
Teff
The smallest grain in the world and the most iron-dense on the approved list, which matters on a plant-based diet where iron takes attention.
1 cup to 4 cups liquid, 15 to 20 minutes. Dark, malty, almost chocolatey. Excellent as a breakfast porridge with dates and walnuts. Teff flour is what injera is made from, so if you have eaten Ethiopian food you already know the flavour.
Fonio
A West African staple, and the fastest cooking grain here by a distance.
1 cup to 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil, cover, cut the heat, and leave it five minutes. Fluff. Light, mild, slightly nutty — texturally close to couscous, which makes it the easiest substitute for anyone who used to eat that.
Works sweet or savoury. Underrated, and worth ordering if your shops don't carry it.
Wild rice
Not rice at all — it's the seed of an aquatic grass, Zizania, harvested traditionally across the Great Lakes region of North America, where it is known as manoomin.
1 cup to 3 cups water, 45 to 55 minutes, until the grains burst open and curl. Chewy, smoky, distinctly savoury.
Read the bag. Most supermarket "wild rice" is a blend, usually mostly brown rice with a scattering of wild. Check the ingredients — if brown rice is listed first, that's what you're buying, and brown rice isn't on the guide.
Spelt
An ancient wheat relative, and the most useful grain on this list for anyone who misses bread and pasta.
Whole spelt berries: soak overnight, then 1 cup to 3 cups water, 45 to 60 minutes. Chewy and nutty, good in grain salads.
Spelt flour, spelt bread and spelt pasta all exist and are the reason this way of eating is survivable for most people. Two warnings on labels: a lot of "spelt bread" is spelt blended with ordinary wheat, and spelt contains gluten — it is an ancient wheat, not a gluten-free grain.
Kamut
Another ancient wheat, larger-grained than spelt, buttery and notably chewy. Kamut is a trademarked name for khorasan wheat.
Soak overnight without exception, then 1 cup to 3 cups water for 60 to 75 minutes. It stays firm however long you cook it, which makes it excellent in salads and poor as a porridge. Also contains gluten.
Rye
Whole rye berries: soak overnight, 1 cup to 3 cups water, 45 to 60 minutes. Dense, sour-edged and hearty.
Rye bread is widely available, but check it — many commercial rye loaves are mostly wheat flour with rye for colour and flavour. Also contains gluten.
Making them part of a real week
- Batch on Sunday. A big pot of quinoa or teff keeps five days in the fridge and turns weeknight cooking into assembly. This is the single habit that decides whether people sustain this.
- Soak the big three overnight. Spelt, kamut and rye berries. Cover with water before bed; drain in the morning. Cuts cooking time by a third and makes them easier to digest.
- Salt the water. Sea salt in the pan, not on the plate. Grains cooked in unsalted water taste flat no matter what you do afterwards.
- Dress them warm. Grains absorb dressing while they're still hot. Olive oil, key lime and sea salt onto warm quinoa is a different thing from the same dressing on cold quinoa.
- Freeze portions. Cooked grains freeze well in flat bags. Useful for the long-cooking ones you won't make on a weeknight.
- Cost. Quinoa and rye are the cheapest; teff, fonio and kamut are speciality prices. Build the week on the cheap ones and use the others when you fancy them.
Where to buy them
Quinoa, wild rice and rye are in most supermarkets. Spelt and kamut are usually health food shops, often as flour and pasta as well as whole grain. Teff and fonio are health food shops, African and Caribbean grocers, or online — and the grocers are considerably cheaper.
Buy the speciality grains in larger bags if you'll use them; they keep six months or more in a sealed jar somewhere dark.
What's not on the list
Wheat, white rice, brown rice, oats, barley, corn, millet and buckwheat are all outside the guide. Oats catch people out the most, because they are the default healthy breakfast almost everywhere.
The usual swaps: oats → quinoa flakes for speed, or teff for something richer. Rice → quinoa or wild rice. Couscous → fonio. Pasta → spelt or quinoa pasta. Bread → spelt, kamut or rye — label permitting.
Common questions
Are any of these gluten-free?
Amaranth, fonio, quinoa, teff and wild rice are. Spelt, kamut and rye all contain gluten — being ancient grains does not make them gluten-free, and that matters if you have coeliac disease.
Is quinoa a grain?
Botanically it's a seed, which is also why it's higher in protein than true grains. On the guide it sits with the grains.
Why does my quinoa taste bitter?
Saponins. Rinse it properly before cooking.
Can I eat these every day?
Yes, and rotating between them is better than eating one exclusively — different mineral profiles, and teff in particular is worth including for the iron.
What about sprouting them?
Spelt, kamut, rye and quinoa all sprout. Rinse twice daily for two to three days until tails appear. Some people find sprouted grains easier to digest.
Is couscous allowed?
No — couscous is wheat. Fonio is the closest approved substitute and cooks even faster.
Next
- Breakfast ideas, including porridge from four of these
- The grocery list, aisle by aisle
- A 7-day meal plan
- The complete approved food list
Not sure whether a bag qualifies? The Ackaline app scans any product and tells you whether it's approved and why — useful in the aisle when a label says wild rice and means something else. Free to start. The full system, with batch cooking and the first week, is in The Alkaline Healing Blueprint.
For education, not medical advice. Restrictive lists can leave gaps — vitamin B12, iron, calcium and omega-3 are worth attention. Talk to your doctor or a dietitian before following one long-term.
