William Davis's Blog: Dr. Davis Infinite Health Blog, page 124

A Tribute to Dr. Wayne Dyer

You likely have heard by now that Dr. Wayne Dyer passed this past Saturday in his home. I was stunned by this news, as I last saw him less than a year ago and, despite his prior diagnoses of a form of leukemia, coronary disease, and chronic neck pain, he looked energetic and vibrant.

While I have been a fan of his work ever since I read his first book, Your Erroneous Zones, in 1976, I lost track of his message for a number of years, given my time demands during college, medical school and training, then cardiology practice. I got reacquainted with him when I stumbled on one of his many PBS TV specials–I was again captivated by his message, his palpable presence, his magical ability for storytelling.

So it came as a surprise when I was traveling to speak and had just arrived at a hotel in downtown Toronto around two years ago and received a call on my cell phone. The caller ID said the number was from the Boca Raton, Florida area. The only person I know who would call my private cell phone from Boca was my daughter. So I picked it up and answered “Hey, Sweetie-Pie!”

After a moment’s pause, the caller, answering in a deep, sonorous voice said “This is not Sweetie-Pie. This is Dr. Wayne Dyer.”

Well that threw me. Nonetheless, I laughed at my goof and we began talking. He told me that he had eliminated all wheat from his diet after he met with Paul and Anne MacInnis, a couple in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who arranged speaking events for him in Canada. He said that, after not having seen them for two years, he was surprised at how healthy and slender they now looked. “How did you do it?” he asked. Paul and Anne told Wayne that they had brought me to Halifax a few months earlier to speak about Wheat Belly and, since then, they had stopped all wheat in their diet, prompting substantial weight loss and looking and feeling better: freedom from mind “fog,” sleepiness, muscle and joint aches, inflammation, skin rashes. They were all seated at a restaurant table and a waiter brought a basket of bread to them. Wayne turned to the waiter, put up his hand and declared “None of us eat wheat at this table.” After that, Wayne himself read the Wheat Belly book, eliminated all wheat from his diet and turned around a number of minor health conditions, including losing around 30 pounds, much from his waistline. He asked one of his daughters to try it and she lost 16 pounds during the first two weeks. He asked his wife, Marcelene, to try it and her weekly adult-onset grand mal seizures and premonitory seizures all stopped within a week.

He told me that he called because he felt that the benefits he and his family experienced were so unexpected that he wanted to support the Wheat Belly message, including helping me create a Wheat Belly TV special for public television. Wayne said that he was going to talk to his public TV producer, Niki Vettel, who had produced all 11 Wayne Dyer public TV shows. What was special in a Wayne Dyer-way about this was that, just days earlier, an executive from the Atlanta PBS affiliate, GPB, had called me and said that they wanted to help create a Wheat Belly public TV special and they knew the perfect producer to get it done: Niki Vettel. When I mentioned this, he replied in his signature Wayne Dyer fashion, “There are no accidents in this universe.”

We did indeed go on to create the Wheat Belly Total Health public TV special, produced by Niki, with a DVD recording of an hour-long Q&A between us, Wayne providing his unique thoughts on the Wheat Belly lifestyle, still part of the package of materials provided to PBS viewers with pledge drive donations. During one of our off-air conversations, Wayne mentioned that he had received a coronary stent a few years earlier. I therefore told him that, while the Wheat Belly no wheat, no grain lifestyle was a big part of creating a truly effective program to halt coronary disease, there was more to do, such as vitamin D, fish oil, have thyroid status assessed, and cultivate bowel flora. We ended not having time to pursue that conversation further, both agreeing to have that conversation in future.

Unfortunately, we never got that chance to talk and, as most of you now know, Wayne died in his sleep just this past Saturday, August 29th. I don’t know if, had that conversation occurred, whether he would have followed my advice or whether it would have made a difference (as I believe the cause of death was only a matter of speculation), but it will be a painful reminder to me that there is no better moment than the present to seize control over health.

I am grateful for having met this giant of a man whose generosity and humanity was matched only by his genius for captivating the people who took the time to listen to his message.

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Brandie’s impressive Wheat Belly success

Brandie endured a lot of hurt before she found her path back to health and weight loss:

“Today marks one year being wheat/sugar-free. A year ago I was 308 lbs. I was disgusted with myself, I was depressed, and I was very sick. I had pre-diabetes, PCOS [polycystic ovarian syndrome], hypertension, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and overall just felt bad each and every day.

“Since age 24, I was on blood pressure meds, as well as anxiety/sleep meds since about age 20. At age 27, I knew I needed to change my life or I wouldn’t be around for my kids to grow up and honestly just woke up one day and decided I was going to quit bread and pasta. I started researching and found Wheat Belly. My aunt Melissa Ann had done it, so I decided to give it a shot.

“That first day was Labor Day. I went to a cookout and remember, after telling my family why I wasn’t eating bread, that my dad asked me ‘Well what can you eat then?’ Or people commenting saying they would see how long I lasted. In the beginning, those are exactly the things that kept me going, not to mention a couple days later calling Missy bawling my eyes out because I was emotionally detoxing.

“The road hasn’t been easy. My weight loss stalls and I get discouraged, but I know I never want to feel like I did back then ever again. I am no longer morbidly obese. Today, I weigh 211 pounds and I no longer take any medication. My periods are normal for the first time in my life and I am comfortably wearing the same size clothes I was when I graduated high school. I may get frustrated when the weight loss stalls but honestly, even if I didn’t lose another pound, I would never go back to eating grains/sugar. I don’t need them to sustain my life.”

Not only did Brandie lose an impressive 97 pounds in one year, but she now no longer “needs” the prescription drugs with all their awful side-effects. Look at Brandie’s list of health conditions now reversed with this lifestyle and you get an idea of just how many health problems are caused by consumption of wheat and grains, reversed with their removal. She has added years to her lifespan and will make her future years far healthier. (I’d love to hear discussions between Brandie and her doctors when they realize how much healthier she is–blood pressure, blood sugar, triglycerides, testosterone levels (PCOS), inflammation markers–now that she is OFF her medications!)

Despite the discouraging comments from family, Brandie found support from our old Wheat Belly friend, Melissa Ann, who also experienced a dramatic turnaround in health and weight with this lifestyle:

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Shanda’s life and health turnaround on the Wheat Belly lifestyle

Shanda shared her impressive experience living the Wheat Belly lifestyle:

“I am in shock right now. I just found a picture of me before starting my journey in 2012. You gave me my life back.

“I used to have IBS symptoms, UTI [urinary tract infection] symptoms (with no infection), debilitating lower abdominal pains that no doctor could ever figure out. I was taking massive amounts of pain killers. My anxiety got to the point of panic attacks (I felt like I couldn’t breathe). I had chronic depression that I had since childhood. I also had horrible PMS problems, and absolutely no energy to do anything. To top it off, I weighed 230 pounds (and am 5’2!) and eating an incredible amount. At one point I was taking the ‘pill’ for PMS symptoms, anti-depressant, thyroid medication, and Celebrex. I was at the doctor’s office constantly since I was a child. I think this list could be longer with all the things that were wrong with me at 20.

“Within 5 days of starting, I found complete relief of EVERYTHING. You quite literally gave me life again. I have more energy now than I did when I was 6! I NEVER get sick. Not even the usual cold. It’s been an amazing experience. I have also lost 110 pounds, 17″ gone, and I went from a size 22 to a size 0.”

Bowel urgency, urinary urgency, abdominal pain, depression, PMS, fatigue, appetite stimulation, weight gain–such an impressive array of destructive health effects develop with wheat and grain elimination because such foods are not just a source of gluten–they are sources of dozens of toxic compounds.

For example, we can blame gliadin-derived opiates for Shanda’s increased appetite, anxiety, and depression. We can blame the amylopectin A starch for the increased visceral fat visible on her “before” photo. We can blame wheat germ agglutinin for bowel urgency and abdominal pain. Thankfully, Shanda found the answer by eliminating all wheat and grains and did not fall into the trap of going “gluten-free” that does not provide full relief from all grain-induced problems. She was also able to lose an impressive amount of weight by avoiding weight increasing gluten-free replacement foods, allowing her to drop from a morbidly obese body mass index (BMI) of 42.1 to a very slender BMI of 21.9 . . . and a size zero!

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Ali’s fiery red inflammation receding on the Wheat Belly lifestyle

Ali shared her photos and comments a few weeks ago after she was freed from back pain, as well as fibromyalgia, just 2 weeks into her Wheat Belly lifestyle, changes that were already reflected on her face.

Ali provides us with an update, now 6 weeks into her Wheat Belly journey:

“Just wanted to give an update on my wheat-free, grain-free journey. I’ve lost about 3 lbs and 4 inches but more importantly I’m losing the red bumpy skin. I feel better every week.”

Ali provides another terrific example of how even a modest amount of weight loss can still be accompanied by substantial changes in appearance, especially reduction in waist size due to receding inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract and abdominal visceral fat. And look at the skin on Ali’s arms: fiery red at the start, now nearly returned to normal skin color.

The inflammation so obvious on the skin was also raging in her muscles and joints–“fibromyalgia,” her gastrointestinal tract, and likely at least several other organs. Wheat and grains are powerfully inflammatory; removing them is powerfully anti-inflammatory.

And nobody here is achieving such extraordinary results by resorting to prescription drugs, medical procedures, reducing calories, or exercise. They are achieving all these wonderful results by completely banishing the “foods” that we are all advised to eat every day, for every meal: wheat and grains, the indigestible seeds of grasses.

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Lori down to a size 4 and healthy

Lori shared her photos and experience in following the Wheat Belly lifestyle:

“After 7 months on Wheat Belly, I went from a size 11 to a size 4.

“At 51, I feel the best I have felt for years. My fibromyalgia is gone along with my bloated belly, IBS, mood swings, depression and rash!

Here are Lori’s “before” and “after” facial photos:

Lori had several of the “signature” problems of wheat and grain consumption, health problems that are, to a substantial degree, so common in so many people who eat wheat/grains that reverse entirely with their elimination. In particular, fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are, for all practical purposes, problems of wheat and grain consumption with only occasional exceptions.

But also note that most people with the conditions that Lori had also have varying degrees of dysbiosis, or unhealthy alterations in bowel flora, as well as vitamin D deficiency. This is why cultivation of bowel flora and vitamin D supplementation are among the several steps required after wheat/grain elimination for full long-term health recovery.

So it goes with the Wheat Belly lifestyle: down several dress sizes without hunger, without counting calories, without extreme exercise, along with relief from multiple health conditions. How many size 4s in your neighborhood? There are plenty around the Wheat Belly neighborhood.

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Too skinny . . . in the midst of the world’s worst obesity crisis

Michelle first communicated with me because, after seeing one of my interviews on Dr. Oz, began the Wheat Belly lifestyle, lost weight, but was then concerned that she was too skinny:

“After losing 43 lbs, I’m too thin. What to do, I don’t want to lose anymore?

“I’m down to 118 pounds–hard to believe. Thanks Dr. Davis and Dr. Oz. My only complaint is migraines from accidental exposure.”

I’ve discussed this question before, the idea that someone might be too skinny. Let’s put this question into perspective: We’re asking whether someone is too skinny in the midst of the worst epidemic of weight gain and obesity ever witnessed in the history of humans living on this planet. The world has NEVER witnessed overweight and the health problems associated with weight on such a scale–yet we are talking about being too slender.

This question highlights an important aspect of the Wheat Belly lifestyle: Comb through the Wheat Belly books, Wheat Belly cookbooks, Wheat Belly Blog, the Wheat Belly Facebook page, Wheat Belly Pinterest page, or elsewhere, and you will never hear me advise anyone to limit or reduce calories, reduce portion sizes, or cut down on fat–NEVER. At 118 pounds, I would not advise Michelle to deny herself second helpings, avoid a return trip to the food buffet, or deny herself a slice of delicious Wheat Belly Cheesecake. She should follow her body’s signals to eat as much as she likes whenever she likes, provided wheat and grains are not part of the equation. Remove the unnatural stimulation of appetite created by the components of wheat and grains, such as gliadin-derived opiates, and you eat for sustenance, no more, no less.

It is truly an ironic situation created by the human consumption of wheat and grains: “foods” we originally resorted to in desperation when real food was in short supply now stimulate over-consumption.

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No more “dumpling face” for MariaAurora

MariaAurora shared her 3-month Wheat Belly photos and comments:

“I probably looked thinner much sooner than August, but I used to avoid taking pictures unless I was ‘forced’ to take them because I was ashamed of what my mother and aunts affectionately call my ‘dumpling’ face. We’re all very happy that my dumpling face is gone. Now I can stop being self-conscious of my cheeks when I smile in pictures. I’m also down 12#, 4 inches around my waist, and 2 dress sizes.

“I wish your book would’ve come out in 2007, when I first started university. I might’ve avoided gaining my freshman 20 (and another 15# over the course of undergrad) in the first place. Sandwiches, pasta, toast, and waffles were my favorite things to eat in the dining hall. Now I’m well on my way to being even thinner than I can ever remember being.

“I’ve always suffered from wheat bloat, even as a little kid. Back then, people would tell me to just wait for my ‘baby fat’ to go away. It never really did (probably because I was told I needed to eat at least 8 servings of grains, especially wheat, a day).

“Thank you for teaching me that what we think of as ‘baby fat’ may actually be inflammation from wheat. I definitely won’t make that mistake when I have my own children someday.”

It’s the same person, of course, but she looks different: facial edema, MariaAurora’s self-described “dumpling face,” are now gone. She lost a modest 12 pounds but, more than that, she has lost the inflammation of wheat and grain consumption. If wheat and grains underlie such inflammation in the face and skin, imagine what it does to the gastrointestinal tract, blood vessels, joints, airways and lungs, brain, and other organs.

This is because wheat and grains are inappropriate for human consumption. If consumed, you strike a deal with the devil, exchanging cheap, available calories for long-term health compromises from inflammation, autoimmunity, gastrointestinal havoc, and high blood sugars.

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Wheat Belly Survey Update: It’s Better Than We Thought!

I recently reported the crude numbers from the Wheat Belly Survey that revealed some impressive results. Of the 4200 responses received–thank you!–1200 came from people who had not started the Wheat Belly lifestyle yet. (Most newcomers also did not provide full data.) Having so many newcomers therefore skewed the results a bit.

If those 1200 newcomers are excluded, then another round of analyses of the remaining 3000 people demonstrate:

70.0% reported increased energy
51.3% reported improved sleep
48.8% reported partial or total relief from chronic headaches
63.4% reported partial or total relief from mind “fog” and/or improved ability to concentrate
32.0% reported relief from chronic nausea
30% reported partial relief from joint pain, while 31.6% reported total relief from joint pain
26.74% reported partial relief from gastrointestinal struggles, while 47.2% reported total relief from gastrointestinal struggles
86.8% reported partial to total relief from acid reflux/heartburn/esophagitis
86.1% reported partial to total relief from irritable bowel syndrome symptoms
81.3% reported partial to total relief from chronic constipation
72% reported improved mood
74.1% lost weight, while 22.61% experienced no change in weight. (The amount lost on average will be reported in future.)
72.0% experienced a reduction in waist size, while 25.5% reported no change (The inches lost on average also to be reported in future.)
40.4% reported a reduction in systolic/diastolic blood pressure
54.8% reported improved skin health/reduced redness/reduced rash
32.7% were able to reduce number of prescription medications

The amount of time living the Wheat Belly lifestyle ranged from as short as 10 days to several years. There were also some fascinating and insightful comments shared, as well, that I shall share with the Wheat Belly audience in future (if permission was provided to do so).

Just look at some of those numbers: 86.8% of people obtaining relief from acid reflux, 86.1% obtaining relief from irritable bowel syndrome–astounding! Bear in mind that most of the conditions covered in this survey are typically regarded as causes for prescription medication to “treat,” yet it is clear that many such conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, are synonymous with wheat/grain consumption, reduced or reversed entirely in the majority with wheat/grain elimination.

Looking at such impressive percentages of people who feel better in so many ways, you can appreciate how disastrous the advice to “eat more healthy whole grains” has been. It also explains why it’s so darned easy to receive and share so many success stories on the Wheat Belly lifestyle.

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The Great Glycation Race: An Excerpt from Wheat Belly

Here’s a discussion on a very important–and empowering–topic: hemoglobin A1c, or HbA1c. It sounds dull and tedious, I know, but if understood and put to work properly yields enormous power in health, preservation of youth, and weight loss.

I was planning on writing a new discussion about it, but decided instead to share an excerpt from the original Wheat Belly book that provides the essential background information on this important number. (The full discussion can be found in Wheat Belly on page 130, Chapter 9: Cataracts, Wrinkles, and Dowager’s Humps: Wheat and the Aging Process).

The Great Glycation Race

There is a widely available test that, while not capable of providing an index of biological age, provides a measure of the rate of biological aging due to glycation. Knowing how fast or slow you are glycating the proteins of your body helps you know whether biological aging is proceeding faster or slower than chronological age. While AGEs [Advanced Glycation End-Products] can be assessed via biopsy of the skin or internal organs, most people are understandably less than enthusiastic about a pair of forceps being inserted into some body cavity to snip a piece of tissue. Thankfully, a simple blood test can be used to gauge the ongoing rate of AGE formation: hemoglobin A1c, or HbA1c. HbA1c is a common blood test that, while usually used for the purpose of diabetes control, can also serve as a simple index of glycation.

Hemoglobin is the complex protein residing within red blood cells that is responsible for their ability to carry oxygen. Like all other proteins of the body, hemoglobin is subject to glycation, i.e., modification of the hemoglobin molecule by glucose. The reaction occurs readily and, like other AGE reactions, is irreversible. The higher the blood glucose, the greater the percentage of hemoglobin that becomes glycated.

Red blood cells have an expected life span of sixty to ninety days. Measuring the percentage of hemoglobin molecules in the blood that are glycated provides an index of how high blood glucose has ventured over the preceding sixty to ninety days, a useful tool for assessing the adequacy of blood sugar control in diabetics, or to diagnose diabetes.

A slender person with a normal insulin response who consumes a limited amount of carbohydrates will have approximattely 4.0 to 4.8% of all hemoglobin glycated (i.e., an HbA1c of 4.0 to 4.8%), reflecting the unavoidable low-grade, normal rate of glycation. Diabetics commonly have 8, 9, even 12% or more glycated hemoglobin–twice or more the normal rate. The majority of nondiabetic Americans are somewhere in between, most living in the range of 5.0 to 6.4%, above the perfect range but still below the “official” diabetes threshold of 6.5%. In fact, an incredible 70% of American adults have an HbA1c between 5.0% and 6.9%.

HbA1c does not have to be 6.5% to generate adverse health consequences. HbA1c in the “normal” range is associated with increased risk for heart attacks, cancer, and 28% increased mortality for every 1% increase in HbA1c. That trip to the all-you-can-eat pasta bar, accompanied by a couple of slices of Italian bread and finished off with a little bread pudding, sends your blood glucose up toward 150 to 250 mg/dl for three or four hours; high glucose for a sustained period glycates hemoglobin, reflected in higher Hba1c.

HbA1c–i.e., glycated hemoglobin–therefore provides a running index of glucose control. It also reflects to what degree you are glycating body proteins beyond hemoglobin. The higher your HbA1c, the more you are also glycating the proteins in the lenses of your eyes, in kidney tissue, arteries, skin, etc. In effect, HbA1c provides an ongoing index of aging rate: The higher your HbA1c, the faster you are aging.

So HbA1c is much more than just a feedback tool for blood glucose control in diabetics. It also reflects the rate at which you are glycating other proteins of the body, the rate at which you are aging. Stay at 5% or less, and you are aging at the normal rate; over 5%, and time for you is moving faster than it should, taking you closer to the great nursing home in the sky.

Foods that increase blood glucose levels the most and are consumed more frequently are reflected by higher levels of HbA1c that in turn reflect a faster rate of organ damage and aging. So if you hate your boss at work and you’d like to hasten his approach to old age and infirmity, bake him a nice coffee cake.

Get your HbA1c measured–a common and inexpensive blood test–and you will know how rapidly you are glycating. Levels often regarded as “normal” or benign, such as 5.5%, are still associated with increased health risks and accelerated glycation and aging. This is why, in the Wheat Belly lifestyle, we work to keep HbA1c no higher than 5.0%.

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Ann still going strong

Ann provided these photos, a “before” on the left and her most recent update on the right.

“That’s a picture 5 years ago that was not at my heaviest. I was about 300 pounds in the picture.”

You may remember Ann from two previous Wheat Belly Blog posts: April, 2015 and a June, 2015 update. Ann began her Wheat Belly journey in October, 2014 after being put on a waiting list for gastric bypass surgery while plagued with rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), migraine headaches, chronic hives, asthma, chronic pain and other conditions. She did not proceed with the gastric bypass procedure and, within weeks of starting her Wheat Belly journey, reversed her health conditions.

Ann also shared this Facebook post that she made before she began:

Ann explains:

“That was a post from last year that I had made to Facebook at one of the lowest points in my life. I honestly didn’t believe I’d be here talking about this now. It’s amazing how much my life has changed in that time. Reading your book and realizing that it was what I was eating, not how much, that was causing not only my weight issues but also my many health issues.

“One year later here I am still on my journey, but down over 133 lbs and pain-free, and except for gallstones, I no longer have any medical issues. Without your book, none of this would have been possible. Thank you for saving my life.”

Ann’s story should serve as an inspiration to the millions of people who struggle with weight, even extreme obesity, and multiple health problems and feel as if they have lost hope, resigning themselves to a lifetime of impairment, limited mobility, pain, medications and medical procedures. She is left with gallstones that required decades of misguided diet to create, but one small issue remaining from years of life plagued by far worse.

Just think of it: Ann reversed rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, the phenomena of polycystic ovarian syndrome, migraine headaches, chronic hives, asthma—without a doctor, without medication, without surgery. She did it on her own and she accomplished all this by defying all conventional dietary advice.

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