If you are anything like me you have probably heard about gluten and people who cannot eat gluten, but really had little idea of what it actually was or what it does to your body. I decided to read the book Wheat Belly because I really wanted to know more about this.Wheat Belly is written by a PREVENTATIVE cardiologist Dr. Davis, which is great to me because his emphasis is clearly based on prevention rather than treatment, something I feel isn’t always seen. In the beginning of the book Dr. Davis makes a great point that if we go back and look through our grandparents photo albums we would be hard pressed to find anyone over 200 pounds The average weight for women during our grandparents time was 110-115 and for men 150 to 165. As clear logic would say he goes on to explain why now the 200+ pound person is not rare and basically why we who exercise a lot are not walking around with 6 pack abs.
The problem with wheat at this time is the fact that it is different from its original form. Apparently wheat over centuries has changed due to changes in its genetic code and the farmers/scientists attempt to make it easier to produce.I don’t get the science behind it that much but his comparison made sense. If you think about humans, we have our 46 chromosomes and we get these from our parents (7th grade science tells you this). Even one change in any one of those 46 causes a change, for example the difference between just one y or x chromosome would change me from a girl to a boy. Small changes make big differences, with humans we don’t add chromosomes, but with wheat and its genetic make-up they just keep multiplying leaving more room for manipulations and what Dr. Davis refers to as “incremental genetic variations”, many of which we don’t even know has happened. Basically with all that, it is different than what was meant for human consumption.
Wheat messes with your blood sugar different than any other food out there. He states that just two pieces of wheat bread can raise your blood sugar just as much if not more than 2 tablespoons of real sugar. Then of course we have heard from other health sources that this stimulates your appetite, causes addictive like reactions to foods, and then creates cravings, usually of the unwanted form.
(source)
Dr. Davis goes on to explain that Wheat, in and of itself, is at the root of many issues including:
Weight gain and obesity
Fatigue
Deep visceral fat (the fat around our organs) – yuck!
Celiac disease
Diabetes
Cataracts, wrinkles, hair loss, Dowagers hump
Heart disease
Autoimmune diseases
The book leaves you wondering what you are supposed to eat and how you can control what you are putting in your body that is causing it to have the cravings and hold on to its fat. Basically what it breaks down to in terms of food consumption is as follows:
RARELY or NEVER: and most of these are a “duh” even if you still eat gluten!
=Wheat products (obviously) but this includes breads, pastas, cookies, cakes, cereals, pancakes, pita, couscous, rye, barley etc.
=Oils of the hydrogenated, poly-unsaturated, corn, sunflower, soy, grape seed, cottonseed kinds.
=Gluten-free foods – I thought this was interesting because so many people who go gluten free go straight to the gluten free foods
=Dried fruits, fried foods, sugar snacks, fructose sweeteners, sugary condiments like jelly and ketchup.
LIMITED QUANTITIES
=Non-cheese dairy like milk, yogurt, cottage cheese
=Fruit and basically when you eat it stick to the northern fruits (berries of most kinds, etc. and this also includes juices)
=Whole corn, beans, potatoes
=Soy products – apparently this is an entire other topic to look into too??
=Non-wheat, non gluten grains – wild rice, quinoa, brown/white rice (because they raise blood sugar fairly high, not because they are particularly unhealthy)
UNLIMITED QUANTITIES
=Vegetables except corn and potatoes
=Raw nuts and seeds
=Oils – olive, coconut, avocado, walnut, flaxseed
=Meats and eggs (the entire egg)
=Cheese
=Non sugary condiments
So with all of that said, I would still highly suggest you read the book if this is of any interest to you. I also gave the book to my Step-Dad who is diabetic. When it comes to diabetes, food is serious business, more so than just the average person and it can make or break how you live.I am not a scientist, and I still have questions, but what the book said and researched, it does not seem that far-fetched in my opinion.
I’m one of those 200+ person and Type 1 diabetic on top of that! Gained most of my weight during my pregnancy but that’s just an excuse… hah!
Thanks for this post, I found it very interesting and I am loving your blog! One of my goals aside from my weight loss is to be able to run a marathon with my son and I bet you guys are going to inspire me many times!
Read you later!
~DiabeticallyYours
We are both not in a having kids stage yet, so it’ll be very interesting to see how everything from weight gain, working out and running go! Glad you found us! A marathon is a GREAT goal – let us know if you ever have any questions!
Thanks for posting this + sharing the love about “Wheat Belly”! Dr. Davis is a rockstar and was a big influence on me in my own journey of going from 270 lbs. to my current sleek physique of 189 lbs., which I write about in my book, the “No-Carb Revolution”.
I also really like that you summarized some of Dr. Davis’ eating Do’s and Don’ts for your readers so they can hopefully start making some changes right away!
Big Love,
John McLean
Austin, TX
Wow. That is excellent weight loss! Glad to see that happen! Thanks for reading and We’ll have to check out your book.
Thanks
Before I read the book I eliminated wheat because of a suspected intolerance. In 13 months I lost 88 pounds and have never felt better. All it takes is a small slip up for me to feel the familiar bloating and digestive issues he talks about, not to mention intense food cravings. I am convinced. Thanks for the post!
Wow, congrats on the weight loss! Guess you’ve really worked it out so you can eat a diet that doesn’t contain gluten then? Thanks for reading!
Very interesting. I have started trying to pay closer attention to the way my body reacts after eating wheat-based foods, after reading about it recently, and I’ve definitely noticed a difference. I need to read this book, for sure.
Yes, please do!! That’s really awesome that you’ve been paying attention to that and just crazy the affects it has on our bodies! Beth’s picking up a copy to read too!
Definately a good read and worthy of your consideration.
Thanks Bill!
Still in the process of reading. We are cleaning out our kitchen! Once it’s gone, it’s not coming back in. This will be really interesting.g for my family. I have two with allergies ( husband and oldest boy). It will be neat to see how it affects allergies and of course our weight. I will need to find a few good baking recipes for the occasional splurge 🙂
Good for you guys! I totally bet you will see a change in health! Keep us posted on how it goes we would love to hear about it. We have also found tons of blogs that discuss how to eat a g-free life and still splurge. Good Luck!
So sounds like we need to eat like squirrels 🙂
ummm gross- we are NOT eating squirrels!
I am not eating squirrels! I don’t like “never”. Never causes me to crave exactly that. But I do like rarely. I can do rarely. So…you didn’t mention tortillas. I just don’t know if I can survive without burritos. That would be hardest for me to give up. Other than that…the rarely category wouldn’t be too missed.
Haha- we don’t like “never” either! Corn tortillas are good as far as we can tell. That rarely category does seem pretty easy- thank god! Thanks for reading lady!
If you mean wheat flour tortillas (I love them too), then yes, they are bad for you. Corn tortillas are also bad, but for a subset of the reasons found in flour tortillas. The gluten won´t be present (I believe), but corn compensates by being made with GMO corn today and GMO corn can have altered lectins that can also (potentially) cause problems. The science regarding possible ill effect due to GMO corn is just starting to be done so nothing definitive can be said at this time. What is definitive is that corn will cause your blood sugar to spike as would flour.
This is really interesting, I will have to get the book for sure. I love books like this, although sometimes they make me feel like EVERYTHING is bad and the world is going to end! Haha.
I recently cut gluten products out of my diet as a trial run–partly because gluten is an inflammatory and I wanted to see if it helps with my joints for running, etc. It has only been a few weeks, but I must say I do feel better. I will keep you posted with any more updates on how it goes!
PS if you are looking for another good book, I just read the new book The Power of Habit, which was all over the news (for the story about Target revealing a 16 year old girl’s pregnancy) and it was REALLY good–very interesting and a good tool to use when trying to change/dump habits!
I was surfing the web regarding Paleo diets and found your book report. I have been off sugar and grains for 14 months. The first 10 days I had headaches – Withdrawal symptoms. The cravings for sugar or flour based foods lasted about 11 months. I dropped about 20lbs. From 222 lb to about 202 lb. I am 6 ft tall. Male. 43 yrs old. Muscular build. I now look “presentable”. The first 12 lbs came off with little more than dietary change. The last 8 took hard gym work outs. I eat tons of fat: bacon, butter, lard (for frying). No vegetable oils. Lots of red meat, pork, chicken and fish. I have solid energy for my work outs and throughout the day. No yo-yo-ing sugar levels after a meal (like I used to get after lunch at work causing me to want to sleep at my desk. Oh, the humanity!). My one concern is a “swollen” belly. I figure it is a food allergy. I still rarely eat some pasta based foods. Doesn’t seem to be correlated. I eat or drink dairy on a regular basis. I worry that is the dairy due to the lactose sugar present or some other irritant in the dairy. Either way, my weight is down and I attribute it to dropping sugar and bread.