William Davis's Blog: Dr. Davis Infinite Health Blog, page 108

The Wheat Belly Public TV Special airing again!

The Wheat Belly Total Health Public TV Special is being aired nationwide again from March 3rd to 19th!

This is a terrific opportunity to get any naysayers to watch and hear the rational behind this empowering lifestyle. Time and again, people say: “Once I heard the rationale behind this lifestyle works, I was convinced.”

As many of you appreciate, people sometimes dismiss the Wheat Belly lifestyle as another low-carb diet or a gluten-free message. Of course, the Wheat Belly lifestyle is about understanding how and why wheat and grain elimination is THE most important strategy for health to have come along . . . in the last 10,000 years!

Check your local PBS listings for time and station posted on your station’s website, or go to the PBS website and enter your area or zip code.

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The Grain Deficiency Syndrome

Beware the dreaded Grain Deficiency Syndrome. This is what will happen to you if you eliminate wheat, corn, and other grains, the foods that the USDA and U.S. Dept of Health and Human services tell us, through their Dietary Guidelines for Americans, to eat more of, every day, every meal and snack. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association also all agree: Terrible things will happen to you if you eliminate grains. You will develop Grain Deficiency!

So what does the Grain Deficiency Syndrome look like? Like any other syndrome, you can recognize this condition by its many tell-tale signs:

Flat abdomen
Rapid weight loss
High energy
Less mood swings
Better sleep, vivid dreams, less restless legs
Diminished appetite, freedom from food obsessions, heightened sense of taste
Reduced blood sugar, reduced insulin
Reduced blood pressure
Reduced small LDL and total LDL
Increased HDL cholesterol
Reduced triglycerides
Reduced C-reactive protein and other inflammatory measures
Reduced joint pain
Relief from acid reflux, esophagitis, and irritable bowel syndrome
Reversal of autoimmune conditions
Loss of facial and leg edema/swelling
Reduced migraine and other headaches
Reduced seizures, especially temporal lobe
Reduced asthma and sinus congestion

Of course, you could choose to cure yourself of this syndrome simply by taking the antidote: foods made with grains like bread, breakfast cereals, pastas, pretzels, crackers, muffins, cornmeal, tacos, tortillas, popcorn, oatmeal. All the signs of the syndrome will then disappear and you can have back your protuberant abdomen, irrational mood swings, exaggerated appetite, higher blood sugar, etc. and you will have satisfied the requirements for a healthy diet as advised by the revised Food Plate.

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Another anti-aging success on the Wheat Belly lifestyle

Barbara shared her 4-month Wheat Belly photos and experience:

Barbara shared her 4-month Wheat Belly photos and experience:

“My end of the month weigh-in and photos. I have been doing the Wheat Belly way of life for 4 months now. I have lost 16 kg [35 pounds] and feel great! No cravings, easy to follow, easy to say no. Feel back in control.

“Have tons of energy! Not falling asleep in my chair after work. And I am starting to get cheekbones again.

“A big thanks to all the members for their support and to Dr. William Davis.”

It is becoming clearer and clearer, as more people submit their “before”/”after” photos and experiences, that the Wheat Belly lifestyle is achieving an anti-aging, youth-restoring effect to many people. The change in Barbara’s face clearly reflects more than just weight loss, the increase in energy and freedom from cravings likewise.

This is why I say that the Wheat Belly lifestyle is a “2 + 2 = 11” effect: the total is greater than the sum of the parts. What other lifestyle can turn the clock back on appearance and physiology like this? Certainly not the misery of cutting calories or pushing the plate away. While the rest of the world gets fatter, becomes increasingly more diabetic, weighed down by more and more prescription medications, we are enjoying rediscovered youth and energy. Pretty cool, I’d say.

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The next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox CHALLENGE starts March 1st!

The next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox challenge starts TUESDAY, MARCH 1st. Join the thousands of people who are losing weight and regaining health, while having the company and support of others who are going through it with you or have recently completed their own Detox!

To join the Detox Challenge:

Step 1)

Get the book. And read it. Detox Challenge participants should be informed and active in order to get the most out of the challenge and private Facebook group.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1JqzMea

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/wheatbelly10daygraindet...

Indiebound: http://bit.ly/1KwcFTQ

Step 2)

Come join the Private Facebook Group.

http://bit.ly/WheatBelly-PrivateFBGroup

Step 3)

Head back to the Private Facebook Group starting February 29th and onwards for tips, video, and discussions to help you get through your detox and reprogram your body for rapid weight loss. Dr. Davis will be posting video instructions and answers to all your questions.

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Kay’s food addictions . . . gone

Kay shared her Wheat Belly experience over her first 4 weeks:

“After over 30 years of battling food addiction and morbid obesity, I had just about given up. You name it, I have tried it, even lap-band surgery which worked temporarily but, of course, did not solve the problem.

“Now, for the first time in my life, I am not struggling with food: I am not craving, obsessing, or even really thinking about food. I’ve been doing Wheat Belly about a month and am down about 20 pounds, but the most striking thing is that my desire to eat compulsively is GONE. I am utterly stunned by this.

“I can’t begin to express how huge it is for me and what a profound effect this way of eating is already having on my life. In addition, I’ve never done a food regimen that is so easy and manageable that I could see doing it for the rest of my life. Dr. Davis, thank you for your incredible, life-saving work.”

Kay understands just how powerful an appetite-stimulant wheat and grains can be, creating obsessive, 24-hours-a-day cravings, always struggling to hold back the floodgates of excessive food consumption. People blame themselves for lack of willpower or weakness of character. But it’s really—for many people—nothing more than, like high blood sugar, an effect of consuming wheat and grains.

Kay’s experience reveals a basic truth about wheat and related grains: They act as opiates. (From here on, when I say “wheat” I really mean wheat and closely related grains, especially rye, barley, and corn, those that have overlapping protein sequences in their gliadin, or “prolamin,” proteins.)

I don’t mean that wheat is an opiate in the sense that you like it so much that you feel you are addicted. Wheat is truly addictive.

Wheat is addictive in the sense that it comes to dominate thoughts and behaviors. Wheat is addictive in the sense that, if you don’t have any for several hours, you start to get nervous, foggy, tremulous, and start desperately seeking out another “hit” of crackers, bagels, or bread, even if it’s the few stale 3-month old crackers at the bottom of the box. Wheat is addictive in the sense that there is a distinct withdrawal syndrome characterized by overwhelming fatigue, nausea, headache, mental “fog,” inability to exercise, even depression that lasts several days, occasionally several weeks. Wheat is addictive in the sense that the withdrawal process can be provoked by administering an opiate-blocking drug such as naloxone or naltrexone.

But the “high” of wheat is not like the high of heroine, morphine, or Oxycontin. This opiate, while it binds to the opiate receptors of the brain, doesn’t make us high. It makes us hungry.

This is the effect exerted by gliadin, the protein in wheat that was inadvertently altered by geneticists in the 1970s during efforts to increase yield. Just a few shifts in amino acids and gliadin in modern high-yield, semi-dwarf wheat became a more potent appetite stimulant.

Wheat stimulates appetite. Wheat stimulates calorie consumption: 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year, for every man, woman, and child. (440 calories per person per day is the average.) We experience this, sense the weight gain that is coming and we push the plate away, settle for smaller portions, increase exercise more and more . . . yet continue to gain, and gain, and gain. Ask your friends and neighbors who try to include more “healthy whole grains” in their diet. They exercise, eat a “well-balanced diet” . . . yet gained 10, 20, 30, 70 pounds over the past several years. Accuse your friends of drinking too much Coca Cola by the liter bottle, or being gluttonous at the all-you-can-eat buffet and you will likely receive a black eye. Many of these people are actually trying quite hard to control impulse, appetite, portion control, and weight, but are losing the battle with this appetite-stimulating opiate in wheat.

Ignorance of the gliadin effect of wheat is responsible for silly comments like this from Dr. Peter Green of Columbia University who declares:

“We tell people we don’t think a gluten-free diet is a very healthy diet . . . Gluten-free substitutes for food with gluten have added fat and sugar. Celiac patients often gain weight and their cholesterol levels go up. The bulk of the world is eating wheat. The bulk of people who are eating this are doing perfectly well unless they have celiac disease.”

Wow. In the simple-minded thinking of the gastroenterology and celiac world, if you don’t have celiac disease, you can eat all the wheat you want . . . and never mind about the appetite-stimulating effects of gliadin, not to mention the intestinal disruption and leakiness generated by wheat lectins, or the high blood sugars of amylopectin A of wheat, or the iron deficiency caused by phytates. And because gastroenterologists don’t know any better, they advise people with celiac disease to consume gluten-free foods made with cornstarch, rice flour, potato flour, and tapioca starch—horrible substitutes that, no surprise, cause type 2 diabetes and weight gain.

If you are following the Wheat Belly lifestyle, you have been freed from the imprecise thinking of gastroenterologists, finger-pointing by primary care physicians, as well as the stimulation of appetite by gliadin-derived opiates.

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Breaking up with Grain

Debbie posted this wonderful heartfelt letter on the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge private Facebook page. It was such a poignant expression of what many go through in our divorce from wheat and grains that I asked her whether I could share it with everyone on the main Wheat Belly Facebook page and the Wheat Belly Blog.

So I was thinking today about how much this is like being in a bad relationship…breaking up…getting back together….breaking up. I decided to officially break up with grain and writing to help myself over the grieving part.

Dear Grain,

You and I have been together my whole life. We grew up together and shared so many memorable moments, ones that I will never forget. Like that time when we were at Nana’s and she made her homemade pasta and sauce, served with Italian bread. Oh, and her apple pie with the crumb topping was always my favorite. Remember those movies we went to and all that popcorn and Sour Patch Kids eaten while watching them? Wow, I feel emotional just talking about those truly great times with you.

But Grain, I’ve changed. I want more out of my life than you can ever give me. I want to feel good and happy and healthy again and I want to be with someone who doesn’t raise me up, only to drop me when I am just feeling good. Grain, you’ve changed too. You seemed more wholesome and pure in our early years together. It seemed like, no matter how much time we spent together, I couldn’t get enough of you. You made me feel good! But you changed into someone I hardly recognize. You don’t make me happy anymore, and to be honest, whenever we spend time together, I feel sick afterwards. I’m sorry to say it like that, but it’s true. You are actually bringing me down and I never thought that it would come to this but I am breaking up with you.

I know, I know, you’ve heard this before, and it lasts for a while but then I see you somewhere, and I feel those pangs in my stomach again. I get weak, and I break down and go back to you, because I remember the good times and think that it can be like that again . . . but it’s not. As soon as I let you back into my life, I feel sick and unhappy and I just hate who I see when I look in the mirror. No, Grain, I am much better off without you and I truly know that now.

Please, don’t wait for me to change my mind. It is already too late for me to turn back. And don’t think that if I run into you here and there that I won’t remember all the good times we had together. But, that was the past and I have a bright future ahead of me . . . without you.

You will always stay in my memories but you will never be in my life again.

Loved you once, but it’s over.

Debbie

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Follow Wheat Belly, look fabulous in a bikini

Bonnie shared her photos and experience living the Wheat Belly lifestyle since late last summer:

“My father and I began your lifestyle program in August, 2015. Since August, I have lost 65 lbs and my father has lost 30 lbs.

“I was also on 9 different medications and, after 2 weeks on your program, I stopped taking all of them and have never been so happy, healthy, and positive. My father who has COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] can breathe much better now.

“Both of us just recently had our annual eye exam and both of us have improved eye sight. His was so good that they had to change his eye glass prescription. My eyesight drastically improved. I was diagnosed with astigmatism and have worn glasses since I was in my 20s. I now show no signs of astigmatism and have 20/20 vision. We have both improved physically, emotionally, and mentally since strictly following your program. Thank You SOOOO much for changing our lives!”

Left: Me before Wheat Belly with my momma. Weight 265 pounds.

Right: Me after following the Wheat Belly lifestyle.

Not only has Bonnie and her dad experienced a dramatic health transformation living the Wheat Belly lifestyle, but it gave her the confidence to show off her new figure in a bikini! And she looks fabulous.

And, as you experienced Wheat Belliers already know, you will not find any advice around here to “eat less, move more,” limit calories, or hear accusations that you are lazy and gluttonous, i.e., all the nonsense that is passed off as dietary health advice elsewhere. Someone like Bonnie simply reverts back to the way she was supposed to have been feeling and looking by removing the powerful health-distorting properties of wheat and grains.

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From Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox: Mediterranean “Pasta” Salad

Here’s a recipe from the new Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox, a dish from day 3 of the 10-day menu plan. Of course, there is no wheat/grain-based pasta here, replaced in this recipe with spiral-cut zucchini. For those of you who miss the flavors of a pasta salad but don’t want the health problems they introduce, here is one delicious way. As with all the recipes in the 10-day menu plan, there is no need to limit calories and you will not feel deprived. (Other dishes on day 3 include Bacon-Toped Meat Loaf With Mushrooms and Gravy and Mashed “Potatoes.”)

You will need one of the low-cost spiral-cutting devices, such as a Spirelli, Spiralizer, or one of the many others now on the market. While you could make do with a knife or mandolin, the spiral cutters are so much easier and quicker to use and generate thinner, more noodle-like slices. If you plan on having these noodles dishes with any regularity, it is well worth the modest investment.

Shorter noodles work best in this dish; spiral-cut the noodles with short strokes to create noodles that are no more than 1 1/2 to 2 inches in length. The flavors in this “pasta” salad are are highlighted by the herbs, so choose fresh herbs whenever possible.

1 pound zucchini, spiral-cut with short strokes

8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved

1 medium cucumber, quartered and sliced

5-6 green onions, finely sliced

1/2 cup black or kalamata olives, pitted, halved or sliced

8 ounces pepperoni, quartered and sliced

2 tablespoons fresh chopped or 2 teaspoons dried basil

1 tablespoon fresh chopped or 1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Optional: 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

In large bowl, combine zucchini noodles, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, olives, pepperoni, basil, oregano, vinegar, olive oil and toss until well mixed. Optionally, top with grated cheese.

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Another wonderful Wheat Belly facial transformation

Carrie shared her Wheat Belly “before” and “after” experience, show us yet another astounding health transformation, also visible as a dramatic change in facial appearance.



“I had not been able to find two ‘selfies’ or pictures that showed my progress well–same lighting, angle, facial expression–until I ran across this pic from Oct, 2015.

“I started Wheat Belly in January. When I saw the comparison, it really sunk in the difference Wheat Belly is making. I always thought my face would stay pudgy. And when you see yourself everyday, sometimes you don’t realize the slow changes.

“My ‘betters’ are: redness, puffiness, I see more definition. Other progress is less joint pain, no cravings, more energy, crazy new hair growth and less headaches. Saw a neurologist who suggested Botox injections [to treat migraine headaches], prescriptions, etc. I am no longer suffering from them to where those options are a consideration. Yeay!!

“Left is Oct, right is this past Friday. If you’re doubting your progress–don’t. It will come!”

I’ve seen these wheat/grain elimination facial transformations countless times, but they continue to astound me. Carrie’s before and after change in just 6 or 7 weeks I’m sure has friends and neighbors doing double-takes: “Is that you, Carrie?”

But it all reflects disappearing inflammation: reversal of skin redness, edema, joint pain, hair regrowth, bigger eyes. What diseases are driven by inflammation? You name it: type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia. Had we been monitoring Carrie’s inflammatory markers, such as c-reactive protein, various interleukins, or white blood cell (WBC) count, we would have witnessed an across-the-board drop in all markers.

Don’t you just love the facial appearance of the wheat- and grain-free?

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Can I eat quinoa?

It’s a frequent question: Can I eat quinoa . . . or beans, or brown rice, or sweet potatoes?

These are, of course, non-wheat sources of carbohydrates. They lack several undesirable components found in wheat, including no:

Gliadin–Degraded to exorphins that exert mind effects and stimulate appetite to the tune of 400 additional calories per day.

Gliadin–Intact, gliadin triggers autoimmune diseases and neurologic impairment.

Amylopectin A–-The highly-digestible “complex” carbohydrate of grains that is no better–-worse, in fact–-than table sugar.

So why not eat non-wheat carbohydrates all you want? If they don’t cause appetite stimulation, behavioral outbursts in children with ADHD, addictive consumption of foods, ulcerative colitis or rheumatoid arthritis, why not eat them willy-nilly?

Because they still increase blood sugar. Conventional wisdom is that these foods have lower glycemic indexes than, say, table sugar, meaning they raise blood glucose less. That’s true . . . but very misleading. Oats, for instance, with a glycemic index of 55 compared to table sugar’s 59, still send blood sugar through the roof. Likewise, quinoa with a glycemic index of 53, will send blood sugar to, say, 150 mg/dl compared to 158 mg/dl for table sugar–-yeah, sure, it’s better, but it still stinks. And that’s in non-diabetics. It’s worse in diabetics.

Of course, John Q. Internist will tell you that, provided your blood sugars after eating don’t exceed 200 mg/dl, you’ll be okay. What he’s really saying is “There’s no need for diabetes medication yet, so you’re okay. You will still be exposed to the many adverse health consequences of high blood sugar similar to, though less quickly than, a full diabetic, but that’s not my problem.”

There are two ways to better manage your carbohydrate sensitivity to ensure that metabolic distortions, such as high blood sugar, glycation, and small LDL particles, are not triggered:

1) Count net carbohydrate grams. Because total carbohydrates listed for any food includes fiber (that is biochemically a carbohydrate), but humans cannot digest fiber into sugars, we subtract fiber:

Net carbohydrate grams = total carbohydrates – fiber

A ripe medium-sized banana, for instance, contains 27 grams total carbs, 3 grams fiber. 27 – 3 = 24 grams net carbs. That’s enough to raise blood sugar substantially, trigger insulin/insulin resistance, turn off weight loss, trigger formation of small LDL particles that persist for one week (unlike the 24 hours of large LDL particles triggered by fat consumption). (And don’t confuse the high net carb content of ripe yellow bananas with the low- or no-carb content of green, unripe bananas that we use for prebiotic fiber effects.)

Most people can tolerate 15 grams net carbs per meal before triggering adverse health phenomena. Only the most sensitive, e.g., diabetics, people with the genetic pattern apo E2, those with familial hypertriglyceridemia, are intolerant to even this amount and do better with less than 30 grams per day. Then there are the genetically gifted from a carbohydrate perspective, people who can tolerate 50-60 grams, even more—but uncommon.

Problem: Individual sensitivity varies widely. One person’s perfectly safe portion size is another person’s deadly dose. For instance, I’ve witnessed many extreme differences, such as 1-hour blood sugar after 6 ounces unsweetened yogurt of 250 mg/dl in one person, 105 mg/dl in another. So a second, more individualized way to manage carbohydrate intake is to. . .

2) Check fingerstick blood sugars. Check a pre-meal blood sugar, then 30-60 minute blood sugar after-meal, and aim for no change. A fasting blood sugar of, say, 100 mg/dl should be followed by a 30-60 after-meal of no higher than 100 mg/dl. Rises above the starting level trigger glycation, insulin/insulin resistance, formation of small LDL particles. If a food or meal triggers a rise to, say, 140 mg/dl, look at the net carbs and cut back next time, or eliminate the causative food.

People will sometimes say things like “I eat 200 grams carbohydrate per day and I’m normal weight and have perfect fasting blood sugar and lipids, so carbs aren’t a problem for me.” As in many things, the crude measures made are falsely reassuring. Glycation, for instance, from postprandial blood sugars of “only” 140 mg/dl–-typical after, say, unsweetened oatmeal–-still works its unhealthy magic and will accelerate development of cataracts, arthritis, heart disease, dementia, and other conditions over the years. (Detect this, by the way, by assessing hemoglobin A1c, HbA1c—pre-diabetic values in people who claim they are healthy are exceptionally common.)

Humans were not meant to consume an endless supply of readily-digestible carbohydrates. Counting carbohydrates is a great way to “tighten up” a carbohydrate restriction.

And, by the way, why the big push for quinoa? Before 2014, I’ll bet 99% of people never even heard of quinoa. Part of the explanation is damage control—in response to all the wheat-bashing going on, the grain lobby and trade groups have launched marketing pushes for quinoa as an alternative. Yup: it’s them again, just with a food under a different name. The Whole Grains Council has even declared quinoa the March Grain of the Month.

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