William Davis's Blog: Dr. Davis Infinite Health Blog, page 60

How to use the Wheat Belly books during the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge

S0me people find the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox challenging. Not only does it require you to purge your kitchen of (or at least avoid) many common staples, restock with healthier replacements, learn some new ways to prepare foods, but many also endure an unpleasant opioid withdrawal/detoxification process with fatigue, headache, muscle aches, nausea, and depression. We’ve therefore assembled what I think is an impressive collection of resources to help you get through your Detox successfully.

So we host a private Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Facebook page with periodic 10-day challenges that provide advice, success stories, live Facebook events, reminders, Q&As, etc. all designed to make the process a little easier and tip the scales in favor of a huge success. We’ve introduced the Suggestic iPhone app (Android version in the works) for the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox that is offered for free during the challenges, a useful app that provides additional recipes, helps search for restaurants compatible with the Wheat Belly lifestyle, identifies safe menu items, allows you to customize recipes searches, track various measures, etc. Wheat-Free Market offers a Detox Bundle that includes baking mixes, two varieties of delicious breakfast cereals, and Virtue Sweetener and Virtue Prebiotic Mixes for convenience during the Detox.

There are additional resources, also tailored to make this Wheat Belly Detox process easier and more effective:

Wheat Belly Slim Guide: The Fast and Easy Reference for Living and Succeeding on the Wheat Belly Lifestyle

The Slim Guide is a pocketbook-sized portable reference with shopping lists, safe food lists, recipes, and other handy references to make navigating the Wheat Belly Detox and lifestyle easier, especially while out-and-about.

Wheat Belly 30-Minute (Or Less!) Cookbook: 200 Quick and Simple Recipes to Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health

The Wheat Belly menu is expanded even further to include condiments, sauces, seasoning mixes, and plenty of easy, quick recipes compatible with the Wheat Belly Detox and lifestyle. As the title suggests, these are recipes that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less and not further complicate your Detox process. 

 

Once you have completed your Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox and wish to gain even further insight into regaining magnificent health, learn how to use new health tools, and tackle a bit more complex issues like small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, or age-reversal including advanced strategies for improved skin and joint health, dementia prevention, reversal/prevention of an expanded list of health conditions, graduate to the Undoctored conversation:

Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor

And consider membership in the Undoctored Inner Circle membership website for a really deep dive:

Undoctored Inner Circle

The post How to use the Wheat Belly books during the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Now NOT to have high blood pressure

Patient suffers from hypertension. Woman is measuring blood pressure with monitor.

The average American’s lifetime risk for developing high blood pressure is 90%, even using the lax definition of hypertension in clinical studies (that typically don’t label a BP high unless it is 140/90 mmHg or higher, even though we know that, for example, risk for stroke and cardiovascular begin to rise with a systolic, or top, value of only 115 mmHg).

Here’s a checklist that, if followed, allow the majority of people with high blood pressure (BP) to reduce both systolic and diastolic values over time and be freed of the need for prescription antihypertensive medication:

Eat NO grains or sugars–Remember: from a blood sugar standpoint, most grains are worse than sugar in their blood sugar raising potential. The safety of “complex” carbohydrates in grains is complete fiction: their glycemic indexes are higher than sucrose.
Don’t limit fat intake–Yes: eat the fat on your pork or steak, eat bone marrow, have some liver, use more organic butter or ghee, use more coconut oil.
Correct vitamin D deficiency–I aim to achieve a 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 60-70 ng/ml, a level usually achieved with 4000-8000 units (oil-based gelcap or liquids, not tablets) per day. This helps restore insulin responsiveness/reverse insulin resistance.
Supplement omega-3 fatty acids–from fish oil only, not krill oil, flaxseed, or chia. (Flaxseed and chia are wonderful, but do not provide EPA and DHA.) I believe ideal intake is in the range of 3000-3600 mg EPA + DHA per day, divided in two. EPA + DHA blunt the postprandial (after-meal) surge in digestive byproducts (chylomicrons and VLDL) that oppose insulin.
Correct bowel flora–Start with a high-potency probiotic (e.g., 50 billion CFUs per day with at least a dozen species of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria) for several weeks along with enthusiastic consumption of fermented foods, but it is even more important long-term to properly nourish bowel flora with prebiotic fibers/resistant starches, as discussed here. Properly feeding bowel flora yields fatty acid metabolites that increase your body’s responsiveness to insulin and reduce blood sugar.
Supplement magnesium–e.g., magnesium malate, to provide 400-500 mg “elemental” magnesium per day), for a modest advantage in restoring insulin responsiveness. Even better, make your own source of the highly-absorbable form, magnesium bicarbonate, through my recipe for Magnesium Water.
Fast intermittently–Brief periods of fasting, e.g., 15-36 hours, allow fatty liver (present to varying degrees in everyone with high blood sugars) to recede, a huge advantage in restoring insulin responsiveness. Be sure to hydrate more than usual during any fasting period.
Sleep adequately–Not a minor factor, as sleep deprivation increases carb cravings and increases snacking, while also blocking insulin. Most people need 7 1/2 hours per night. You might have to make friends with melatonin and tryptophan to manage your circadian rhythm.
Be active–including avoiding prolonged sitting.

In other words, follow the Wheat Belly Total Health or Undoctored programs and you will be highly likely to no longer have high blood pressure.

If you are taking any drugs for blood pressure, you will need to discuss reducing or stopping one or more agents with your healthcare provider even before you begin the program, as blood pressure can drop precipitously within the first few days and you do not want to risk low blood pressures. If your doctor refuses or dismisses your request, find a smarter doctor, one who acts as your advocate and supporter, not an obstructionist.

Likewise, anyone on insulin or oral diabetes drugs, especially glyburide, glipizide, and glimepiride, should talk to their healthcare provider about an immediate reduction in dosage or even eliminating one or more of them, since you do not want any hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Once again, if your doctor refuses to work with you or tells you this is stupid, find a new doctor ASAP. Doctors should be experts in reversing diabetes but you will find that the majority are not, despite knowing how to prescribe the drugs.

There you have it. Should you give it a try, be sure to come back and report your experience. Know that the Wheat Belly Total Health and Undoctored programs are intended to restore genuine health. It might take the form of freeing you from type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or fibromyalgia. It might mean reversing the phenomena of polycystic ovary disease or irritable bowel syndrome. It typically also means being freed from all the long-term health consequences of high blood pressure that blood pressure drugs do NOT protect you from.

The post Now NOT to have high blood pressure appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

To help restore healthy bowel flora, eat no GMOs

One of the most potentially harmful aspects of genetically-modified crops, or GMOs, are that such crops are often engineered to be resistant to specific herbicides or pesticides. A farmer therefore can spray an herbicide to kill weeds, while the GM crop plant survives. But it means that the plant now has herbicide residues in it. Or it may contain its own built-in pesticide such as Bt toxin, expressed by the plant because the gene for this pest-resistant compound has been spliced into the plant’s genetic code. So GMO crops pose a double-whammy: the crop itself with new genetically-programmed components, especially proteins, coupled with an herbicide or pesticide.

Glyphosate is the most widely applied herbicide in the world, in part because GM corn and soy have been engineered to be glyphosate-resistant. So much glysphosate is being used in modern agriculture that EcoWatch tallied up a total of 2.6 billion pounds having been sprayed on crops in the 20 years between 1992 and 2012. And use of this herbicide has increased since those figures were published. Glyphosate is also used as an herbicide and dessicant in other agricultural applications outside of GM crops, though grains and soy carry the highest levels of glyphosate residues. If livestock such as cows and chickens are fed glyphosate-containing feed, glyphosate residues can be found in meat, eggs, and dairy products. And, to make matters even worse, glyphosate, because of its widespread, high-volume application, is now found in drinking water throughout the U.S.

And, given the bulk of animal and human data, there is no remaining doubt: glyphosate is carcinogenic, increasing risk for non-Hodgkin’s lympnhoma, B-cell lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, in particular. The Seralini study that showed a dramatic increase in breast cancer from glyphosate is also worrisome. (This was the study that was mysteriously retracted by the publishing journal without explanation after threats were made by agribusiness, but has since been rereleased.) But there’s more to the glyphosate story.

There is growing suspicion that glyphosate can act as an antimicrobial or antibiotic. (Monsanto even has a patent for glyphosate as an antimicrobial.) Animal model data demonstrate that glyphosate selectively kills beneficial bacteria, such as Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Bacillus badius, Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Lactobacillus species, while allowing the proliferation of undesirable, even disease-causing, species such as Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella gallinarum, Salmonella typhimurium, Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium botulinum.

Lactic acid producing bacteria that have beneficial effects, such as lactobacilli, lactococci, and enterococci, generate bacteriocins, or factors that suppress growth of undesirable bacterial species. Specifically, the bacteriocins produced by lactic acid producing bacteria help keep Clostridium species at bay, such as C. difficile that often emerges after antibiotics are prescribed. (Farmers in Europe are even seeing an increase in botulism in livestock due to emergence of Clostridium botulinum that is suspected to be due to glyphosate.) This selective effect of glyphosate, killing off lactic acid producing bacteria while leaving undesirable species untouched, may be one of the ways by which humans develop dysbiosis and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, that can cause abdominal distress, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, the intestinal “leakiness” that adds to risk for autuoimmune diseases, and neurological conditions.

In food, glyphosate persists for extended periods, is not removed by rinsing with water, and is resistant to cooking temperatures. Some forms of processing can even concentrate glyphosate residues, such as processing of wheat bran. There are limited data on the concentration of glyphosate in food, but the UK government has performed some studies in wheat products:

 

By eating food or drinking water that contains glyphosate, you are therefore exposed to at least some of these effects, particularly in the gastrointestinal tract. In a nutshell, the problems with glyphosate can be summarized as:

Glyphosate residues in crops, especially grains and soy, and in drinking water in some regions, are at levels too high for human health.
Glyphosate may act as a selective antibiotic in the human gut, killing off beneficial bowel flora species, while encouraging proliferation of pathogenic species.
Glyphosate acts as an antimicrobial in the soil, accelerating the deterioration of topsoil, a major problem for agriculture and a phenomenon that has essentially undone every civilization ever since the advent of agriculture.

Some irresponsible authors have claimed that the only problem with wheat is its content of glyphosate which, of course, is nonsense. If that were true, all the problems of wheat would disappear just by choosing organic wheat products. It means that there would be no high blood sugars, no weight gain, no acid reflux, no bowel urgency, no cerebellar ataxia, no behavioral/emotional effects, no iron deficiency anemia, no celiac disease if you just choose organic wheat—absolutely not the case. But glyphosate is indeed yet another aspect of the wheat and grain issue for humans. And it may be one of the crucial reasons that underlies the epidemic of disrupted bowel flora. Glyphosate is something you need to avoid in order to begin the path back to restoration of healthy bowel flora.

There are similar issues with Bt toxin, found most abundantly in corn and soy. Unlike glyphosate that is sprayed on the crop with only residues persisting in the final food product, Bt toxin is present in food because it has been made part of the plant itself, not just a residue. There is increasing suspicion that Bt toxin, contrary to Monsanto’s assurances and the lax review made by the EPA, USDA, and FDA, has effects on the immune system, potentially heightening phenomena associated with conditions such as celiac disease and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as allergic reactions. Although Monsanto claims that Bt toxin is “natural,” the actual forms used in agriculture are not natural, but include a variety of synthetic forms that have increased potential for adverse human health effects. Shockingly, there are virtually no studies—nor did regulatory agencies request them—examining the effects of Bt toxin on the microbiome, though some critics have asked regulatory agencies such as the European Food Safety Authority to demand that such studies be done.

You can see that, by following the Wheat Belly lifestyle in which we reject all wheat, corn, soy, and grains, you have dramatically reduced exposure to GM-associated foods and chemicals. This is a big first step in taking back control over your microbiome.

The post To help restore healthy bowel flora, eat no GMOs appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Live the Wheat Belly lifestyle, get off prescription medications

Take a look at the list of medications people have been able to stop by following the Wheat Belly lifestyle.

These represent medications prescribed by doctors to, in effect, “treat” the consequences of consuming wheat and grains. They prescribe drugs to treat inflammation, swelling, skin rashes, gastrointestinal irritation, high blood sugars, airway allergy, joint pain, high blood pressure, leg edema and other abnormal effects caused by wheat and grains.

The list includes anti-inflammatory and pain medication, acid reflux drugs, injectable and oral drugs for diabetes, numerous anti-hypertensive agents, asthma inhalers and allergy drugs, drugs for migraine headaches, and others. It is truly an astounding list that represents drugs that were unnecessary, costly, and filled with side-effects, both acute and long-term. This list is a fascinating reflection of how this lifestyle works to restore the human body back to its pre-grain state and thereby reverses so many modern health conditions.

Stomach acid blocking drugs:

Prevacid

ranitidine

Prilosec

Zantac

Protonix

Nexium

Gaviscon

Diabetes drugs:

metformin

Lantus, Novalog, regular insulin

Victoza

Amaryl

Farxiga

Januvia

Blood pressure drugs:

lisinopril

Atacand

Altace

losartan

labetalol

hydrochlorothiazide

diltiazem

methyldopa

atenolol

Diovan

Coreg

Lasix

Allergy medications:

Benadryl

Claritin

Allegra

Zyrtec

Dymista nasal spray

Tavist

prednisone

Asthma drugs:

Advair

albuterol

Singulair

Ventolin inhaler

Pulmicort inhaler

Anti-inflammatory and pain meds:

Neurontin

Baclofen

ibuprofen

Cymbalta

naproxen

Gabapentin

Tramadol

aspirin

Advil

Migraine headaches drugs:

Fioricet

Axert

Immune system suppressing drugs:

methotrexate

plaquenil

prednisone

Enbrel

Cholesterol reducing drugs:

Lipitor

pravachol

Crestor

Anti-anxiety, antidepressant, anti-psychotic medications:

Wellbutrin

Ativan

Diazepam

largactil

Zoloft

Klonopin

Others:

acyclovir

Miralax

Buscopan

Dostinex

The post Live the Wheat Belly lifestyle, get off prescription medications appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

The Wheat Belly Timeline: The First Few Weeks

With all our talk of opiate withdrawal syndromes accompanied by nausea, headache, fatigue, and depression, it can be daunting, even terrifying, to people who face the prospect of tossing all wheat and grains into the trash bin, vowing to never let a Danish, donut, or dish of pasta cross your lips again. So it may help to lay out a timeline of what and when various changes can develop in the Wheat Belly wheat- and grain-free lifestyle.

You can expect different symptoms and health conditions to recede at different rates, since they are caused by a variety of different mechanisms. For instance, the direct gastrointestinal toxic effects of gliadin-derived peptides and wheat germ agglutinin that underlie acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome symptoms typically cease within days of consuming no wheat or grains. The iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium absorption blocking effects of grain phytates stop immediately with grain elimination (with blood and tissue levels rising over weeks to months), while vitamin B12 and pernicious anemia can require months to improve, since the autoimmune destruction of stomach parietal cells that allow B12 absorption require months to recover (if it recovers at all). Different conditions, different causes within wheat and grains, different timelines to recede or disappear.

This makes for substantial variation in the wheat- and grain-elimination experience among individuals. While many enjoy prompt relief from say, acid reflux, joint pain, leg edema, and mind “fog,” as early as the first 3-5 days, others require 6 months to obtain relief from rheumatoid joint pain or psoriasis.

Note that timelines quoted below are approximate, depending on, for instance, the quantity of grains consumed previously, status of bowel flora (and the quality and consistency of efforts to restore), glandular and hormonal status, age, sex, form and intensity of inflammatory or autoimmune response, and other factors. Nonetheless, we can indeed construct a rough timeline to help you anticipate how and in what sequence your grain-free experience may play out.

Week 1: This is, for about half of us, the worst part of the experience of eliminating wheat and grains. This is the period made miserable by withdrawal from the opioids of grains, resulting in fatigue, nausea, headache, and depression—all the features of an opiate withdrawal syndrome—and cravings for foods made of grains. Recognize that this does not represent a need for something in grains—just withdrawal from opiates. Light-headedness and muscle cramps can develop, so be sure to hydrate, use mineral-rich salt, and take magnesium supplements.

Despite the rigors of withdrawal, weight loss can nonetheless proceed, often rapidly. Many, though not all, people experience weight loss at the rate of up to one pound per day for the first week, losing a combination of visceral fat and water. It is also at the end of Week 1 that sleep begins to improve: It becomes deeper and more restful, with fewer restless leg tendencies.

As mentioned above, direct gastrointestinal toxic effects, especially acid reflux (“heartburn”) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), begin improvement during this first week. (Relief from IBS, however, can be limited by substantial distortions of bowel flora; the first week is when you should have also begun a high-potency, multi-species probiotic and prebiotic fibers, as discussed in Wheat Belly Total Health and summarized in the Wheat Belly Blog.

Week 2 through 4: For most people, Week 2 marks a big turnaround in emotions, energy, joint health, and skin health. Typical observations during this period include relief from joint pain in fingers and wrists; relief from depression; relief from appetite stimulation, including the 24-hour-a-day food obsessions experienced by people with bulimia and binge eating disorder; and relief from common skin conditions such as eczema, acne, and seborrhea.

For the majority of people, weight loss continues, though it may slow from the rapid pace of the first week. Most people feel a surge in energy at this time, and many people who experience chronic migraine headaches experience partial or total relief. Women with painful and turbulent premenstrual syndrome symptoms may begin to feel them recede at Week 2 or just beyond, depending on when in their cycle they began the grain-elimination process.

Week 5: The early period of opiate withdrawal should have completely passed by now for everyone, and those people who developed abnormal metabolic reliance on carbohydrates during their former grain-consuming life should begin to acquire higher levels of energy. Depriving the body of carbohydrates, especially grain amylopectins, results in a drop in energy until the body adapts by ramping up the process of fat mobilization. Once that occurs, energy increases further, mood improves, and exercise performance improves.

If you chose to exercise during the first few weeks of grain elimination, you probably noticed that running, swimming, biking, and other activities were difficult during the first few weeks, with reduced energy, slower times, and overall poor performance. Once you reach Week 5-6, though, performance for most athletes surpasses levels achieved prior to grain elimination. Carb loading is no longer necessary and carbohydrate supplementation needs are much reduced or eliminated during prolonged efforts. Less-serious exercise efforts, such as jogging 5 miles, biking 20 miles, or doing aerobics for an hour, do not require carb intake, energy drinks, energy bars, or other supplementation, as your body is more efficient at drawing energy from fat stores.

People with chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia typically respond at about this time, partially or completely, with surges in energy and mood and relief from muscle pain, joint pain, and stiffness. Hormonal issues, such as tumultuous menstrual periods in women and enlarged breasts in men, typically require this long to improve. The hormonal distortions that cause these issues, such as inappropriately high estrogen levels and inflammatory phenomena, recede with visceral fat, which should, by this time, have shrunken dramatically.

Week 6 and onward: Six or more—sometimes many more—weeks are usually required for more complex conditions that involve autoimmunity and inflammation to recede or reverse. Autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, polymyositis, polymyalgia rheumatica, psoriasis, and others typically start to respond at about this time, with continuing improvement over the next several months. (Persistence of such issues often suggests small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO  that will need to be addressed for further recovery.) Inflammatory conditions, such as osteoarthritis of the hips and knees, also respond more slowly, providing relief over the following few months. The degree of response is highly variable, depending on the extent of bony damage, which does not reverse with grain elimination. Neurological conditions also require more time to respond, given the slow and limited potential for nervous system tissue to undergo repair. Multiple sclerosis, the impaired coordination of cerebellar ataxia, and the tingling and pain of peripheral neuropathy can require months to years to respond or, at least, stop progressing further. Neurological impairment from grain consumption should be treated as autoimmune conditions, and the strategies discussed need to be followed consistently over a long period.

Undoing all the harmful effects of wheat and grain consumption doesn’t happen overnight, but unfold over weeks or longer. But know that, by taking this path, you are being given magnificent control over health, weight, and appearance, something that conventional dietary guidelines cannot do. And, the longer you stay on course, the better your health becomes without all the incredible health-disrupting effects of grains.

The post The Wheat Belly Timeline: The First Few Weeks appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Whistleblowers Wanted

 

Something happened to wheat in the 1970s during the efforts to generate a high-yield strain that required less fertilizer to make an 18- 24-inch, rather than a 48-inch, stalk. Multiple other changes occurred, including changes in the structure of  wheat germ agglutinin, changes in alpha amylase (responsible for wheat allergy), increased phytate content . . . to name a few.

But chief among the changes in wheat were changes in the gliadin protein molecule. We know, for instance, that the Glia-alpha 9 sequence, absent from traditional wheat, can be found in virtually all modern wheat. This is likely the explanation underlying the four-fold increase in celiac disease over the past 50 years, since Glia-alpha 9 predictably triggers the immune reaction that leads to the intestinal destruction characteristic of celiac disease.

But modern wheat also stimulates appetite . . . not a little, but a lot. The introduction of modern high-yield, semi-dwarf wheat was accompanied by an abrupt increase in calorie consumption of 440 calories per day, 365 days per year. This is because modern gliadin in wheat is an opiate. But this opiate doesn’t cause a “high” like heroine or Oxycontin; it causes appetite stimulation.

Big Food companies, commanding tens of billions (not millions, but billions, or 1000 millions) of dollars of revenues per year, employ some very smart food scientists. Among their many responsibilities, food scientists are charged with observing the eating behavior of humans who eat their products, often conducting taste tests and trials to observe eating behavior. Surely food scientists noticed that, somewhere around 1985, appetite was enormously triggered by consumption of crackers, breads, pretzels, bagels and the multitude of other test products made of wheat making entry into the marketplace. After all, the business of food scientists is to observe eating behavior.

So why didn’t they sound the alarm? Why didn’t we hear food scientists declare “We think there’s something wrong in some of the new foods we are creating. Specifically, it appears that foods created from the new high-yield strains of wheat are triggering appetite substantially”?

Perhaps they couldn’t, being employed by Big Food companies with a need to maintain proprietary inside information. Or, perhaps they said something like “Shhhhhh! Don’t tell anybody! Let’s just put it in . . . everything!” How else can we explain the fact that, in the 1970s, wheat was only in primary wheat-based foods like breads, cookies, and cakes. But now, wheat is in everything: It’s in canned and instant soups, salad dressings, licorice, granola and candy bars, virtually all fast food . . . you name it, wheat’s there. (Remember: Big Tobacco did precisely this kind of thing when they used to dope their cigarettes with higher nicotine content to increase addictive potential. As with many things wheat, tobacco showed us in how many ways big corporations can bend products and issues to their own agenda, your health be damned.)

Unfortunately, this is just my speculation, given the incredible and difficult-to-explain ubiquity of wheat. So I’m hoping to identify a whistleblower, someone from inside the walls of Big Food, preferably back in the 1980s when this phenomenon got underway. If you have such insights, please post a comment here, anonymously if you prefer.

In other words, it would be priceless to be able to prove that, not only did food scientists in Big Food know about the appetite-stimulating effects of modern wheat, they used this knowledge to increase sales of their products, making the public the unwitting subjects of a massive appetite-increasing experiment.

The post Whistleblowers Wanted appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Coming Wed Nov 7th: A bigger and better Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge!

We are planning our next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge that starts on Wednesday, November 7th. And this Detox Challenge will be bigger and better than ever before.

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 Nov 7th. 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 restaurant locator to identify eating places consistent with our lifestyle with suggested menu items, the ability to track health measures such as water intake and sleep, and 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/challenge by Nov 7th
Sign up to get 10-day free access to my challenge on the Suggestic app
On Nov 7th, 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.

This next CHALLENGE begins Wednesday, November 7th to give you plenty of time to fit into a new slender wardrobe and reclaim control over numerous health conditions so that you can really enjoy this summer.

We are kicking this one off on Facebook LIVE on Day 1: Wednesday November 7th, 12pm EST. 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, November 6th (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.

 

The post Coming Wed Nov 7th: A bigger and better Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge! appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

How to become a diabetic

It’s so easy, anyone can do it!

Becoming a type 2 diabetic and proudly having to finger stick your way to blood sugar control is patriotic, as it builds revenues for Big Pharma and the healthcare industry. What better way to support your country than to help successful industries grow larger, increase shareholder value, and increase the salary and perks for hard working executives?

So if you want to join the growing ranks of people who are becoming diabetic, now the largest epidemic of chronic disease ever witnessed in the history of the world, here’s what you do:

Cut your fat intake — Because it leaves you unsatiated and hungry, you will be left with cravings and the loss of resolve to consume healthy foods, making those chips and cookies irresistible. Celebrate with Frito Lay and Oreos!
Consume high-glycemic index foods — By “high,” I mean any food with a greater than zero or single-digit glycemic index, such as grains and sugars. Also eat more “low-” and “moderate-” glycemic index foods, because they raise your blood sugar to high levels, too!
Consume modern wheat — Because the gliadin protein yields opiate peptides that stimulate appetite and increase calorie intake by 400-800 calories per day, every day, making you want more to eat all throughout the day, paving the road to a wonderful and proud collection of visceral fat.
Listen to your doctor’s advice to not supplement vitamin D or supplement at low-dose and be content with a 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 30 ng/ml, the level you would have with minimal sun exposure and no consumption of animal organs. Ignore the fact that healthy, young, sun-exposed people typically have 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels of 70, 80, or 90 ng/ml. And ask your doctor to take the less effective, non-human form of vitamin D available by prescription!
Give into the joint pain, lethargy, and depression caused by grains. This allows insulin resistance to gain a foothold, sending up blood sugars. And, anyway, think of all the TV you can catch up on not having to worry about exercising.
Eat processed foods made with grains and sugars, also filled with herbicides like glyphosate and imizamox, that cause changes in bowel flora. Cut back on those healthy Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria species and give equal time to E. Coli , maybe even Clostridium difficile!
Eat gluten-free foods made with cornstarch, tapioca starch, rice flour, and potato flour, since they have the highest glycemic indexes of all foods — there’s nothing higher! Your doctor will be shocked at how high your HbA1c can go just by following this simple strategy. Gluten-free foods might even earn you your very own insulin pump!

You’ll know when you’ve succeeded when you have to shop for larger and larger pants and dress sizes and, best of all, your doctor feels good about himself because he is able to do his job and hand out more prescriptions to treat your high blood sugars, high blood pressure, joint pains, skin rashes, acid reflux, and high cholesterol. Maybe he will even have to put you on antidepressants!

Think how much you will add to the bottom line of your friendly neighborhood pharmacy alone.

You can find a number of roadmaps to accomplish this lifestyle. The American Diabetes Association and the U. S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans have excellent programs for raising blood sugars. And don’t read nasty books like Wheat Belly that could actually harm the profit-making potential of grains and drugs. After all, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics are industry-friendly, happily accepting generous donations from Big Food companies like Coca Cola and Kellogg’s and Big Pharma companies like Pfizer and AstraZeneca. Make yourself a type 2 diabetic and watch their stock prices rise!

After a number of years of diabetes, think how much more you can contribute to the nation’s economic success when you need a heart catheterization, stents, or bypass surgery, carotid artery surgery, stents in your femoral arteries, hemodialysis, and foot amputations? Your doctor is happy, high-fiving you for all the terrific fees you generate, the hospital adds your name to its mailing list to keep up-to-date on all its new services, while dietitians congratulate you on how well you adhere to their low-fat, grain-based advice.

See how easy it is? Come on and sing along: “Tresiba ready!”

The post How to become a diabetic appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Amanda’s spectacular Wheat Belly success

Amanda began the process overweight, depressed, struggling with energy, muscle and joint pains, pre-diabetic, hypertensive, and with polycystic ovary syndrome, reliant on numerous medications even in her 20s and early 30s. As you can see now, after starting with the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox, she is now slender and free of ALL her health problems and off ALL her medications.

“The pic on the left is me in my 20’s, 27 to be exact. This was before I ever started my journey.

“That smile was masking physical and emotional pain, suicidal ideation, PCOS, depression, hypothyroidism, ADD symptoms, fibromyalgia symptoms. Basically a lot of symptoms and a lot of meds all because of my diet, toxic overload, stress, emotional toxicity, and lack of movement.

“I was miserable, and lost and got no help from doctors other than meds. The meds kept adding up and when I realized the pharmacist knew me by name, I knew that was a problem.

“The pic on the right: I’m almost 39 and I’m not on any meds! I’m perfectly healthy. All of my levels are perfect and I have healed internally and externally!

“As I had healed internally, I was still stuck with weight loss. As soon as I heard a podcast by Dr. Davis, I knew I had a wheat belly and his advice was exactly what I was missing in my nutrition.

His books were the missing link!

“I follow his WOE and am now the healthiest I have ever been. Thank you Dr. Davis for you info and for caring enough to share truth with us!”

Transcript:

Dr. Davis: Well, Hi Amanda. Thanks again for agreeing to tell your story. Now, I know a little bit about your story, because you’ve posted it on the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Facebook page, but would you mind going through what your health and life was like before you undertook all this?

Amanda: Sure, sure. So I always had weight issues, hormonal issues, growing up. I always had really bad cycles, really bad pain, and so I just had all the horrendous polycystic ovarian syndrome symptoms, and really bad acne.

My dermatologist realized I might have PCOS. I was referred to a gynecologist in college, who put me on birth control pills, which started the issues with other stuff (later on in life), and always, just the weight issues — I just couldn’t figure out why. I mean my mom would be like “You’re eating like a bird. You’re not eating much.” I would just gain weight, and gain weight, and so, really battled.

By the time I hit my mid-twenties I felt like I was 90 years old. I just … and I think it was frustrating because the worse I got, doctors would say “Well, you’ll never lose weight. You’ll be diabetic by 35. You’ll have high blood pressure … like, you’ll never, you’ll never, you’ll never…”

I think, by the time (when you see that picture), I think I’d really just given up. I mean what’s the point? Why not eat the fried food, and all the crap, and all the sugar, and all the soda, because it doesn’t matter anyway.…

D: This is at age 27?

A: Mm-hmm. Yeah the pain was so bad in my 20s and 30s, the physical pain, that I don’t know if I hadn’t changed my lifestyle if I would if I would be here anymore. I had had so many suicidal ideations. And one day, I was just at the very bottom, and my dad, who’s a pastor, he knew, and he called me up and said “I’m on my way. I’m three hours away, but I’m on my way.” I know that was a turning point. If I hadn’t found the nutrition support, and the supplement support, I don’t know if I would be here anymore — I really don’t. I was at that low of a point.

I was just really frustrated because everyone kept saying — I would go to the doctor, go to the doctor, go to the doctor, and I finally got to the point; why? The pharmacist in this larger city knows my name — you know like you shouldn’t be known by the pharmacist when you’re in your 20s. I was like: no, I don’t want to go on another medication. I was on Adderall. I was on (I think) anti-anxiety medication, antidepressant. I was on birth control pills, which I found out later depleted my progesterone, which was causing me to be very moody, and I was just … you know, just on everything.

So, when I found you and your books this past summer, it just totally clicked. I was like: this is it. I’ve lost 22 pounds. I’m almost at the weight I was when I graduated from college in 2002, so, yeah.

D: How do you feel nowadays?

I feel good; I feel good. I teach Refit, which is dance fitness. I teach that twice a week. I do aquatics. I work full-time. I’m a [motion coprocessor?], so I work with clients at night.

In that picture — the before picture — it was me barely able to survive work. I didn’t sleep at night. I would crash after a few nights of not sleeping. And then on the weekends, I would just sleep all weekend — just kind of depression, and just not sleeping for the week. I would just crash. I definitely have a whole lot more energy.

D: What became of all your prescription medications?

A: They went in the trash.

D: How about all the PCOS phenomena?

A: I don’t have the symptoms anymore.

D: Great, great. You don’t have diabetes? You don’t have high blood pressure?

I don’t have diabetes. In fact, I was pre-diabetic, when I had lost my weight, and I was vegan. I was working with the integrative doctor, and he even was like “well, maybe you’re just genetically predisposed.” Well I changed some things, went back the next year for lab work, and I was out of the pre-diabetic level. So, I don’t have diabetes at all. Oh yeah, that was right, they also tried to put me on metformin with the PCOS. That made me so sick that I was like, I’d rather have the hormonal issues than be sick like this all the time. So that one went the trash too.

D: Did you start with the 10-Day Grain Detox?

A: I did. I had listened to your podcast and I started reading Wheat Belly, and then I was trying to figure it all out. I thought I was grain free, but then I read the 10-Day Detox and found out tapioca starch wasn’t. The day that I joined the group, and started reading the 10-Day Detox, I got a lot of help. There were some things that I needed to tweak, that I thought I was doing right, and I wasn’t.

You’re so right: when we get rid of the sugar, and the those grains, that we don’t have the opiate effect on our body. We just don’t crave food anymore. I don’t want the cake. I don’t want that stuff, because I know I would feel horrible afterwards. It is amazing how you get your brain back. It’s amazing that when I found you and your books, I was ready, I was humble. I was so ready. My husband will try to give me popcorn, or he’ll try “um, don’t you want this?”, and, no, act like it’s poison — like get it away from me. I don’t want it. I don’t like the way I felt on that. So, no regrets at all.

D: Great. Amanda, you truly look terrific. You are clearly a grain-free sort of lady. Thank you for taking the time to tell your story.

A: Absolutely. Thank you.

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What happened to the grasshoppers?

When I was a kid, grasshoppers were everywhere. I walked through a field every day to get to school and grasshoppers were everywhere, jumping back and forth across my path, frequently banging off my legs. At night in summer, the backyard was filled with fireflies that we’d chase and capture in jars to watch up close. And there were butterflies of many colors and varieties everywhere, flitting from flower to flower.

Today, I don’t see any grasshoppers. In fact, I haven’t seen one in over 40 years. I saw one—just one—firefly this past summer in my backyard. And I can count the number of butteries I’ve seen in the past year on two fingers.

We have managed to massively alter our external environment with widespread use of herbicides, pesticides, and other factors, sufficient to wipe out huge populations of creatures that used to be plentiful. Just as we have messed up our external environments, so we have also dramatically distorted our internal environments, specifically our microbiome.

Given the many factors that distort the composition of the human microbiome, such as prescription antibiotics, antibiotic residues in meats, acid-blocking drugs, sugar consumption, synthetic sweeteners like aspartame, synthetic emulsifying agents like polysorbate 80, etc., we have changed the species and number of microbes inhabiting our intestines, skin, mouths, sinuses, airways, vaginas, and other areas. As a reflection of how far adrift we’ve come from primitive Stone Age microbiome composition, compare the bowel flora composition of people such as the Hadza of Tanzania or the Matses of the Peruvian Amazon, hunter-gatherer cultures unexposed to antibiotics, processed foods, aspartame, etc. These populations, while exposed to infections and injury, have virtually no colon cancer, ulcerative colitis, constipation, stomach ulcers or esophageal reflux, type 2 diabetes, obesity, autoimmune diseases, hypertension or heart disease, i.e., the so-called “diseases of civilization” that plague modern populations.

The change in the modern human microbiome doesn’t end at shifts in species and numbers. It also involves allowing potentially pathogenic species, primarily those in the order Enterobacteriaceae such as E. coli, Shigella, Salmonella and many others, to ascend up the ileum, jejunum, duodenum, stomach, even esophagus, the condition that I have been discussing a lot lately, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO.

Modern dysbiosis therefore represents a dramatic shift in bacterial (viral? fungal? bacteriophage?) populations, their metabolites, and their location. Obviously, modern health problems are due to a variety of causes such as the absurd “cut your fat and eat more healthy whole grains” diet advice, consumption of sugary soft drinks and aspartame-sweetened diet sodas, vitamin D deficiency, as well as the many diseases caused by modern healthcare (witness the opioid epidemic and prescription medication side-effects). How much can we blame on our altered microbiome?

The answer is not yet entirely clear. But it is likely that a huge amount of human disease has its foundation in alterations of the microbiome. Just as we wiped out grasshoppers and butterflies in most urban and suburban areas, so we’ve caused dramatic shifts in bowel flora that likely underlies numerous health conditions. Gout, Parkinson’s disease, fibromyalgia, restless leg syndrome, diverticular disease, colorectal cancer, and psoriasis, for example, are looking like they are largely due to distortions in bowel flora, while conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, while not entirely caused by changes in bowel flora, are worsened by it. I believe that, by recognizing the enormous potential that the microbiome plays in human disease, we are on our way to enjoy many very powerful strategies to better deal with these conditions. Witness what we are achieving with our Lactobacillus reuteri yogurt: Consumption of 1/2 cup per day boosts hypothalamic release of oxytocin that, in turn, thickens skin and smooths wrinkles starting within weeks, accelerates healing, improves bone density, increases muscle strength and mass, and boosts libido, effects that are essentially age-reversing. I believe that this is just a taste of things to come.

And, even better, because these strategies will largely be nutritional, they are less likely to be co-opted by Big Pharma and its predatory and exploitative ways.

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