Science Says...

1. Gluten protein triggers many disease processes.
2. Gliadin protein breaks down to opium like compounds that stimulate hunger and craving.
3. Wheat germ agglutinin contains a lectin that can damage intestines.
4. Amylopectin A is the complex carbohydrate wheat responsible for the very high insulin response.
5. Omega 6 is proportionally high and that promotes inflammation.
6. Consumption of wheat promotes visceral fat that is associated with diabetes, heart disease, and inflammation.  Inflammation is the underlying process to nearly all disease.

"Think, think, think. "  -- Winnie the Pooh

This is a powerfully destructive combination.  Even if you aren’t sensitive to gluten.

What do I do?

What does this mean for me and my family?  We don’t eat wheat or wheat products since August of 2010.  We avoid most grain. Rice is our most common compromise and that is much less than ever before.  We eat some “gluten free” products but we have come to realize that those products are full of carbohydrates we don’t need.  They can make us fat and unhealthy too.  We have gotten much thinner and feel better without dieting or changing our exercise habits.  We didn't feel bad before, we just feel better now.

What do you do? 

That is up to you.  I like to teach, not to preach.

For additional information I recommend Wheat Belly, by William Davis, MD,
The Diabetes Solution by Richard Bernstein, MD and The Perfect Health Diet by
Paul Jaminet, Ph.D.  and Shou-Ching Shih Jaminet, Ph.D.  All have good  bibiliographies for reference to research materials.  I recommend reading the papers, source material, but most people just can’t do that.  The above authors have distilled the science into something more understandable.

--Dave

Photo by Dave Carsten

 Why weight loss?

Why would I lose fat with out really making an effort, other than avoiding wheat?
I didn’t feel hungry so it wasn’t calorie deprivation.  I hit the books and the literature.  What did I find out?  Many very interesting facts about wheat and why I lost weight.

Science

1. Wheat is much more glycemic than table sugar (sucrose).  It stimulates insulin about 50% more.  Just avoiding wheat products and bread would decrease my circulating insulin.  More insulin to store fat.  When eating wheat I was more likely to have an insulin trough that creates hunger.
 2. Modern wheat has gliadin protein.  When the protein is broken down, it results in opiate analogues that attach to opiate receptors in the body.  Besides creating a craving, it also makes people hungry.  Hungry?...is that why wheat is in so many products??
3. People that eliminate wheat eat 400 less calories per day on average.

To be continued...

Dave

Could wheat be bad to eat? 

I certainly didn’t think so.  I thought it was one of those rare allergies that troubled a few unlucky people. In my practice I had a number of patients that had celiac disease.  If they ate wheat, they would get sick.  I now know that about 1-2% of the population have celiac disease, most often diagnosed when they are 65, having anemia, osteoporosis, digestive problems, malabsorption problems, and atherosclerosis from eating wheat.  I have seen those people.  They all told me that they got a lot healthier and lost weight when they eliminated wheat.  OK, that’s true for them.  I really like sour dough bread.

Multiple Sclerosis

One of my patients had a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.  She had all the symptoms.  She had it for about ten years, having been diagnosed shortly after getting married.  She had been advised to be very cautious about becoming pregnant so they had no children.  She told me that she read that some people with the MS diagnosis actually had a sensitivity to wheat gluten.  She told me that it occurred to her that it would be worth a try. How hard could it be?  I saw her 6 weeks after she stopped eating wheat, wheat related, or wheat containing products.  My mouth dropped open in shock.  She had dropped weight and she looked healthy!  I asked her what happened and she told me what she had done.  That got me to look in the literature and read that some people acquired neurologic disease by consuming wheat, multiple sclerosis being a misdiagnosis of some of those people.  About three months later, she was pregnant.  Still, that didn’t get me to give up my bran flakes.

Hay Fever

A friend had been diagnosed with gluten sensitivity.  Her husband, in support of his wife, he also went gluten free.  In a period of about a year, all his allergies faded away.  No more hay fever.  He was very enthused because no more allergy meds and more time outside in comfort.  Interesting...but I still really enjoyed my bran muffins.

Gluten Sensitivity

My wife and I have always been careful, trying to eat healthy.  We had gradually shifted to eating organic food and became more motivated when we had a child.  We tried to be very careful with introducing food to him and were very observant what happened when we introduced food.  There were a few things that we avoided.  Some testing had suggested that wheat might not be good.  He would get irritation around his mouth sometimes and it seemed to be related to eating bread.  We decided to mostly eliminate wheat for him.  It reduced my consumption but I still ate some.  He did do better and for me, I felt the same.  After about six months, my wife and I thought, perhaps we should just go 100% gluten free.   We did it with only the idea that it might be a good thing and an interesting experiment.  I was a little reluctant but why not?  I could go back to eating my bran flakes and whole wheat bread after the experiment.

No Diet Weight Loss

In six weeks I lost 25 pounds.  I made no effort to diet other than avoid gluten containing products.  I then very rarely had gas and I felt different.  That got my attention.  How could this be??  I started to read the scientific literature.  (to be continued)

--Dave

photo by Dave Carsten