Last week I came across the greatest book! It's called Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health, by William Davis, MD.
Dr. Davis is a cardiologist that witnessed many of his patients regaining their health after giving up wheat. In this book he explains how eliminating wheat from our diet can prevent fat storage, shrink bulges, and reverse a lot of health problems.
Okay, okay. I know this sounds extreme. I think if I had found this book before I started this transformation three months ago I would have laughed it off, and considered it too extreme, or just a big fad. But the thing that I'm amazed with is how time and time again what he explains in the book I HAVE EXPERIENCED. I am reading this book after the fact, and what he's saying is right.
He starts off by bringing out the point that men & women in the 1950's and 60's were much thinner, but they didn't exercise much at all (especially women- it was considered unseemly). Today many people are exercising like crazy, but they're much heavier than people from back then- many even overweight (YES! That was me!)
Here he brings out the point that our wheat of today is much different that wheat of 50 years ago, altered by genetic research. He makes the case against wheat by stating documented peculiar effects of wheat on humans such as: appetite stimulation [makes complete sense! I am not abnormally hungry any more! I feel in control!], exposure to brain-active exorphins, exaggerated blood sugar surges that trigger cycles of satiety alternating with heightened appetite, the process of glycation that underlies disease and again, inflammatory and pH effects that erode cartilage and damage bone, and activation of disordered immune responses.
He states that a complex ange of diseases result from consumption of wheat, from celiac disease, to an assortment of neurological disorders, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, curious rashes, and schizophrenia. He talks about "flop over the belly fat" vanishing when his patients eliminated wheat from their diets [YES! I did too! You know how low rider pants are popular for women? I've hated that style because of my roll of blub hanging over the edge. Now? 3 months after no wheat? Not a problem any more. I mentioned this to Jimmy- how amazed I was that I could get so flat with out tons of sit-ups and ab work- Sorry Jillian.] And he says that typical weight loss totaling 20, 30, or 50 pounds within the first few months was common [Right there, too!]
Here is the Table of Contents:
Introduction
PART ONE WHEAT: THE UNHEALTHY WHOLE GRAIN
Chapter 1 What Belly?
Chapter 2 Not Your Granma's Muffins: The Creation of Modern Wheat
Chapter 3 Wheat Deconstructed
PART TWO WHEAT AND ITS HEAD-TO-TOE DESTRUCTION OF HEALTH
Chapter 4 Hey, Man, Wanna Buy Some Exorphins? The Addictive Properties of Wheat
Chapter 5 Your Wheat Belly Is Showing: The Wheat/Obesity Connection
Chapter 6 Hello, Intestine. It's Me, Wheat. Wheat and Celiac Disease
Chapter 7 Diabetes Nation: Wheat and Insulin Resistance
Chapter 8 Dropping Acid: Wheat as the Great pH Disruptor
Chapter 9 Cataracts, Wrinkles, and Dowager's Humps: Wheat and the Aging Process
Chapter 10 My Particles Are Bigger Than Yours: Wheat and Heart Disease
Chapter 11 It's All in Your Head: Wheat and the Brain
Chapter 12 Bagel Face: Wheat's Destructive Effect on the Skin
PART THREE SAY GOODBYE TO WHEAT
Chapter 13 Goodbye, Wheat: Create a Healthy, Delicious, Wheat-Free life
Epilogue
Appendix A Looking for Wheat in All the Wrong Places
Appendix B Healthy Wheat Belly-Shrinking Recipes
Acknowledgments
References
Index
So, even if you're skeptical, read this book! I would love to hear your take on it.
The main that I've had to grapple with is how this book ties in with my church's Word of Wisdom, which is
revelation that contains specific instruction about beneficial and harmful health practices. In one of the church manuals on gospel doctrine it states: "Each of us will be healthier as we follow the Lord’s counsel to (1) use herbs, fruits, and vegetables, (2) use grains as a central part of what we eat, and (3) eat the flesh of animals sparingly. Each of these groups of food provides essential body nutrients."
I wrote to a fellow Mormon blogger, Newell Wright at http://www.lowcarbwisdom.blogspot.com/ after I found a post he did on the word of wisdom and low carb eating. He had a great take on it.
In his email to me he said:
I have had some issues with the Word of Wisdom and wheat, and Wheat
Belly effectively gave me a great answer: the wheat in 1829 is not thewheat we are eating today. Plus this: in 1829, the average 30-year-old
had consumed as much sugar in her/his lifetime as the average
2-year-old today. Most sugar came from either honey (which had its own
collection difficulties) or from fruits in season. Honey and fructose,
combined with man-made seed oils, have caused a lot of problems.
When we abuse our bodies by eating wheat, fructose, and seed oils, I
am convinced we are violating the spirit of the Word of Wisdom,
whatever it says or doesn't say about wheat. We need to contextually
interpret it: it is about not defiling our temples (bodies). If my
temple becomes diabetic, then I am defiling it when I eat things that
cause it harm.
Well said, Newell. I love the insight.
