William Davis's Blog: Dr. Davis Infinite Health Blog, page 52

Is wheat really THAT bad?

Because it has become such a frequent item in everyday meals, suggesting that something so commonplace must be fine, people often ask: Is wheat really that bad?

Let’s therefore catalog the health conditions that are associated with wheat consumption.

Health conditions we know with 100% certainty are caused by consumption of wheat and related grains:

Celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis, cerebellar ataxia, “idiopathic” peripheral neuropathy, temporal lobe seizures, gluten encephalopathy, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune hepatitis, autoimmune pancreatitis, tooth decay

Health conditions worsened by consumption of wheat and related grains:

Many if not most autoimmune conditions, type 2 diabetes, overweight/obesity, cataracts, fatty liver, hypertriglyceridemia, hypertension, Alzheimer’s dementia, irritable bowel syndrome, migraine headaches, osteoarthritis, eczema, eating disorders, asthma, eosinophilic esophagitis, autoimmune gastritis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, microscopic colitis, polycystic ovary syndrome, infertility, multiple miscarriages, reflux esophagitis, esophageal spasm, Barrett’s esophagus

Health conditions suspected to be caused or worsened by wheat and related grains:

Plantar fasciitis, calcium oxalate kidney stones, IgA nephropathy, gallstones, intestinal fungal overgrowth, gastrointestinal cancers, chronic sinusitis, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, male gynecomastia, hypogonadism, erectile dysfunction, infertility

There’s another long list of health conditions that are indirectly caused by wheat and grains via such processes as dysbiosis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, endogenous glycation, and other processes set in motion by grains but require other factors to be fully expressed as disease.

Step back for a moment. Are there any other foods that have similar lists of health problems associated with them? Well, sugar (and related products such as high-fructose corn syrup or agave nectar) is a close second with an impressive list of health problems associated with its consumption, too, but still smaller than the health problems associated with wheat and grains. (There are less strong connections, for example, with autoimmune conditions and no dermatitis herpetiformis or temporal lobe seizures.) But pork, hamburger, kale, pistachios, and oranges pale in comparison. Each may have a health imperfection or two (e.g., high sugar content of oranges, high-temperature byproducts in meats from cooking), but are relatively harmless when held up against the long list of health problems associated with wheat and related grains.

What makes this all the more astounding, of course, is that wheat and grains are touted as THE most healthy foods that should be included in every meal, every day, every snack by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the USDA, the American Heart Association, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the American Diabetes Association, a required item in every school lunch for children. In other words, foods that are associated with a long list of health problems are held up as ideal and necessary while your doctor stands by, useless and ignorant in health but ready and willing to prescribe a drug or procedure for every grain-associated ailment.

Do you appreciate the enormity of this insight that you have in your possession?

The post Is wheat really THAT bad? appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Why do we include BAKED FOODS in the Wheat Belly lifestyle?

People often ask: Why do you advocate recreating baked foods like cakes, pies, cookies, muffins, and pizza? Can’t we just eat real, whole foods like beef, chicken, fish, vegetables, nuts, etc.?

Well, yes, you can, of course, and do fine. But too many people struggle during the transition to eating grain-free and would like an occasional safe indulgence without all the adverse health consequences of grain-based products. And it helps navigate holidays, entertaining, and pleasing kids.

If you can make a delicious grain-free pizza, cheesecake, or cookies, for instance, with none of the destructive health effects of grains, it will make navigating this lifestyle easier and keep you and your family on track.

The post Why do we include BAKED FOODS in the Wheat Belly lifestyle? appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Why do so many Americans now have thyroid disease?

An astounding number of people now have thyroid disease in some form sufficient to cause weight gain or block weight loss, cause feelings of being inappropriately cold, fatigue, and add to heart disease risk.

But why? Unfortunately, it is from the combined effect of several trends in the modern human diet and exposures to industrial chemicals.

Addressing your thyroid status is therefore a modern necessity.

The post Why do so many Americans now have thyroid disease? appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Why Your Doctor Won’t Prescribe the T3 Thyroid Hormone

There is a simple reason why doctors typically refuse to prescribe the T3 thyroid hormone and it has nothing to do with science, side-effects, or potential dangers.

As with so many things in healthcare, it boils down to Big Pharma and money. The solution is to find a better-informed doctor.

The post Why Your Doctor Won’t Prescribe the T3 Thyroid Hormone appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

“I need something to dip into guacamole”

Dipping foods into various dips and sauces surely ranks among the favorite ways to enjoy food: dipping chips into salsa, celery sticks into guacamole, crackers into cheese, shrimp into cocktail sauce, etc.

So how do we go about resuming our dipping habits sans wheat and grains? Here are some ideas for foods to use for dipping, healthy choices that contain no wheat or grains and provide limited exposure to carbohydrates, while remaining otherwise healthy. And some, like jicama and asparagus, also provide prebiotic fibers to nourish bowel flora; dip them into hummus and you’ll add even more probiotics to your day. Veggies can also be pickled or, even better, fermented. (Basic starting guides to fermenting foods can be found in the Wheat Belly Total Health and Undoctored books.)

Sliced veggies:

Asparagus stalks, steamed, roasted, or grilled

Bell peppers, raw, grilled, sliced

Broccoli florets

Carrots,sliced

Cauliflower florets

Celery stalks

Cheese, cubed

Eggplant, grilled or roasted, sliced

Jicama, sliced

Mushrooms, raw, roasted, grilled

Olives

Portabella mushrooms (roasted or raw)

Sliced zucchini

Sliced cucumbers

Tomato wedges

Zucchini, raw, grilled or roasted

Fruit

Apples, sliced

Kiwi, sliced

Melon, cubed

Orange wedges

Pears, sliced

Crackers and breads

Flackers (flaxseed crackers)

Flaxseed Crackers–from the Wheat Belly Cookbook recipe, reproduced below

Pita chips (from Wheat Belly 30-Minute Cookbook)

Wheat Belly Focaccia Bread (plained or herbed) dipped into extra-virgin olive oil with Kosher salt, also from the recipes in the Wheat Belly Cookbook

Crunchy Cheddar Pita Chips–from this Wheat-Free Market recipe

Cheesy Breadsticks–from this Wheat-Free Market recipe

Sweets

Dark chocolate (85% cocoa or greater) into peanut, almond, hazelnut, or sunflower seed butters

Scones, e.g., Rosemary Sun-Dried Tomato Scones or prepared from Wheat Belly Cookbook recipes

Meats/fish

Beef, pork, chicken, baked, sautéed, grilled, cubed or sliced (use toothpicks)

Meatballs–beef, pork, turkey, chicken, lamb

Shrimp, boiled, broiled, grilled

.

Flaxseed Crackers

While you can purchase flaxseed crackers without problem ingredients at the store, you can save a ton of money by making them yourself. You can also spice them up with chili powder, sriracha sauce, garlic and others to add more pizzazz.

This recipe yields a quantity of cracker dough that will require 2 baking sheets (approximately 18×13 inches). If you have only one baking sheet on hand, divide the cracker dough in half and bake in 2 batches.

2 cups ground golden flaxseed

3 tablespoons whole golden flaxseeds or sesame seeds

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 large egg

2 tablespoons coconut oil or butter, melted

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, Kosher salt, or mix of spices

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the ground flaxseed, whole flaxseed or sesame seeds, Parmesan, onion powder, and sea salt and mix.

In medium bowl, this together the egg, oil, and water. Pour into the flaxseed mixture and mix thoroughly.

Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon half of the mixture onto each parchment, shape each into a loose ball, and cover each with another sheet of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, flatten to 1/8-inch thickness.

Carefully remove the top layer of parchment paper, sprinkle with coarse sea salt or desired spices, and bake for 25 minutes or until the center is firm. Cool for at least 30 minutes. Break by hand or cut with a pizza cutter into desired size crackers.

The post “I need something to dip into guacamole” appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

The next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge begins Wed March 13th!

Put it off no longer: We are planning our next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge that starts on Wednesday, March 13th. This is your opportunity to seize control over health and weight, maybe even turn the clock back 10 or 20 years, look and feel better, be freed of numerous, if not all, prescription drugs.

In addition to our Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Private Facebook page that provides videos, success stories, and plenty of feedback and answers to your questions, the next Detox Challenge will also include:

1) LIVE Facebook sessions with Dr. Davis and April Duval, our main Facebook page administrator. I will personally kick off the Detox Challenge on March 13th. And because April is herself an example of a fabulous Wheat Belly Detox success, she knows the ins and outs of this lifestyle like the back of her hand.

2) Free access to the Suggestic smartphone app for the first 7 days of the Detox— The Suggestic iPhone app helps you navigate the Wheat Belly Detox with even more recipes, daily suggested recipes, a net carb counter, a restaurant locator to identify eating places consistent with our lifestyle with suggested menu items, all personally customizable. It is your chance to get acquainted with the useful Suggestic app while helping you succeed on your Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox.

Here’s what you do:

Visit wheatbelly.suggestic.com by March 13th
Sign up to get 7-day free access to my challenge on the Suggestic app
On March 13th, go to the app’s homepage and tap “start program” so we can start the challenge together!

Our goal: to help you succeed in turning around your life and health and achieve all your health goals including weight loss, getting off prescription medications, and turning back the clock 10 or 20 years.

Why the Detox Challenge?

Through my New York Times bestseller, Wheat Belly, millions of people learned how to reverse years of chronic health problems by removing wheat from their daily diets. But, after reading the original Wheat Belly or the Wheat Belly Total Health book, or even using the recipes from the Wheat Belly Cookbook and Wheat Belly 30-Minute Cookbook, people still said: “I’ve read the books, but I’m still not sure how to get started on this lifestyle.”

That’s why I wrote the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox  and now help readers along in this Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox CHALLENGE. This is the quickest, most assured way to get started on regaining magnificent health and slenderness by adopting the Wheat Belly lifestyle.

We are kicking off the next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge on Facebook LIVE on Day 1: Wednesday March 13th, 12pm EST/11 am CST/10 am MT/9 am PT. Come join us on the private Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/52751...

You will also be given free access to the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Suggestic smartphone app for the first 7 days of the Detox!

The Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox supplies you with carefully designed meal plans and delicious recipes to fully eliminate wheat and related grains in the shortest time possible. Perfect for those who may have fallen off the wagon or for newcomers who need a jump-start for weight loss, this new addition to the Wheat Belly phenomenon guides you through the complete 10-Day Detox experience. And we will kick off this next Challenge with a live Facebook session with Dr. Davis!

In addition to this quick-start program, I’ll teach you:

How to recognize and reduce wheat-withdrawal symptoms,
How to avoid common landmines that can sabotage success
How to use nutritional supplements to further advance weight loss and health benefits

The Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox also includes:

Inspiring testimonials from people who have completed the program (and have now made grain-free eating a way of life)

Exciting new recipes to help get your entire family on board

To join the Detox Challenge:

Step 1

Get the book. And read it (at least the first 5 chapters).

Detox Challenge participants should be informed and active in order to get the most out of the challenge and private Facebook group. READING THE WHEAT BELLY DETOX BOOK IS REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE. PLEASE DO NOT PARTICIPATE IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK or else the conversations will not make sense and you will not enjoy full benefit. It is a very bad idea to try and piece the program together just from our conversations. (Note that the Wheat Belly Detox program is NOT laid out in the original Wheat Belly book.)

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

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/wheatbelly10daygraindetox-bn

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 Tuesday, March 12th (the day before the official start of the Challenge) and onwards for tips, videos, and discussions to help you get through your detox and reprogram your body for rapid weight loss and health. Dr. Davis and site administrator, April Duval, will be posting video instructions and answers to your questions. Or just join the conversation now, as we discuss the ups and downs, share recipes, and just have fun every day!

 

The post The next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge begins Wed March 13th! appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

The REAL Story Behind Man Breasts (And How to Get Rid of Them)

Abnormal breast enlargement in a male, gynecomastia, is a common sign of distorted hormonal status triggered by visceral fat, i.e., inflammatory fat housed in the abdomen that converts a male’s testosterone to estrogen. “Love handles” therefore nearly always accompany man breasts.

In addition, consumption of wheat and related grains yields something called the A5 pentapeptide that provokes hypothalamic release of prolactin: pro-lactation, i.e., it prepares the breast for breast feeding.

These are vivid illustrations of just how far wrong the American diet has gone. It is caused by diet, it can be reversed in nearly all instances by diet.

The post The REAL Story Behind Man Breasts (And How to Get Rid of Them) appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Can you slash risk for complications of type 2 diabetes? Yes: Become NON-diabetic!

You likely know that after several years, type 2 diabetes commonly leads to serious complications. Common complications include diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy, kidney disease and kidney failure, heart disease, and increased potential for dementia, not to mention an average of 8 years lost off your life. Prescription drugs have only a modest effect on reducing risk, sometimes none, for these complications.

But there is a way to dramatically reduce potential for diabetic complications: become a NON-diabetic. We’ve done it many times, as have others. But you cannot accomplish this by just following conventional diets and drugs, and you cannot rely on your doctor who is almost always ignorant on how to use diet, supplements, and other strategies to reverse diabetes and its complications.

Despite type 2 diabetes and its complications reaching epidemic levels, the Wheat Belly and Undoctored lifestyles have resulted in reversing diabetes in so many people.

The post Can you slash risk for complications of type 2 diabetes? Yes: Become NON-diabetic! appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Wheat Belly, Bagel Face, and Pretzel Brain

There’s a lot more to the destructive health effects of wheat and grains than gluten.

And there is no organ system in the body that is not adversely affected by wheat/grain consumption from brain all the way down to the rectum.

The post Wheat Belly, Bagel Face, and Pretzel Brain appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Why you should NOT count calories

Counting calories is a painful and useless exercise. Yes, it can lead to short-term weight reduction, but it leads to long-term failure.

In the Wheat Belly and Undoctored lifestyles, we never count calories, limit calories, or say silly things like “move more, eat less” yet have enormous success in restoring health and losing weight.

The post Why you should NOT count calories appeared first on Dr. William Davis.