William Davis's Blog: Dr. Davis Infinite Health Blog, page 63

“I don’t have a gallbladder–can I still follow the Wheat Belly high-fat lifestyle?”

This question comes up with some regularity, so I thought I’d finally post a response here on the Wheat Belly Blog. It doesn’t help that general surgeons who perform cholecystectomies are among the most desperately ignorant on diet and health and commonly tell their patients that, after removing the gallbladder, they must adhere to a low-fat diet—yes, the diet that pushes you closer to type 2 diabetes, contributes to high triglyceride levels and fatty liver, heart disease, dementia and other health problems.

So can you include plenty of fats and oils in your diet after you’ve lost your gallbladder? Yes, you can absolutely. But there are several things to know.

First of all, with the gallbladder removed, your liver still manufactures plenty of bile that trickles out into the duodenum. The only difference is that you can no longer store up a repository of bile in the gallbladder to release all at once (an effect, by the way, blocked by wheat germ agglutinin in wheat, rye, barley, and rice because this indigestible protein blocks cholecystokinin, the hormone that causes the gallbladder to squeeze out its bile—this is why grain-eaters have more gallstones). So it is conceivable that, should you consume a bunch of fats and oils all at once, you could overwhelm the trickle of bile from the liver, but this rarely happens. The great majority of people are able to consume butter, olive oil, coconut oil, etc. without problems.

Some people think that they have problems with fats and oils but what they typically often really have is dysbiosis and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, that is highly prevalent in people with diseased gallbladders. After all, if you created gallstones in your gallbladder, you have suffered decades of gastrointestinal disruption and inflammation. Disrupted bowel flora is virtually guaranteed. Dysbiosis and SIBO can be responsible for all manner of peculiar gastrointestinal and other symptoms that are often misinterpreted as fat intolerance. So key is to adopt ALL the Wheat Belly strategies to cultivate healthy bowel flora (fully articulated in the Wheat Belly Total Health, Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox, and Undoctored books).

I can count on three fingers the number of people I’ve encountered over the years who needed to supplement bile acids and pancreatic enzymes to compensate for the loss of a gallbladder—it does happen, but it is distinctly uncommon. If you take such supplements because you assumed that you would need to, you can begin to titrate them down to gauge need, provided you have already taken steps to cultivate bowel flora.

If you are just starting out on your Wheat Belly or Undoctored lifestyles and are a bit nervous about your tolerance to fats and oils, you can always build up over time, increasing your intake to gauge your response. But I predict that the vast majority of you without gallbladders will do just fine.

 

The post “I don’t have a gallbladder–can I still follow the Wheat Belly high-fat lifestyle?” appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Probiotics: A DANGER to your microbiome?

Headlines lately have been reading: “Probiotics are dangerous” and “Probiotics might not do anything for your gut microbiome—and could even be bad for it.”

The headlines were prompted by two recent studies performed by an Israeli group that media interpret as suggesting that probiotics don’t work and may be even be harmful. Is their interpretation accurate? Let’s take a look.

The first study, Post-Antibiotic Gut Mucosal Microbiome Reconstitution Is Impaired by Probiotics and Improved by Autologous FMT (fecal microbiome transplant), examined what happened with antibiotic administration followed by a probiotic supplement, fecal transplantation, or nothing, with return to prior bowel flora composition fastest with fecal transplant, delayed by probiotic use. The administration of probiotic in mice and 8 humans was associated with a 5-month or more delayed return to previous bowel flora composition.

The second study from the same group, Personalized Gut Mucosal Colonization Resistance to Empiric Probiotics Is Associated with Unique Host and Microbiome Features, in which bowel flora composition was studied before and after administration of the same probiotic preparation used in the first study, did not show that probiotics were ineffective in altering bowel flora composition, as the media reported. It showed that alterations in bowel flora composition after probiotics were highly variable from individual to individual, some showing no change, others showing dramatic change. It suggests that unidentified individual factors (baseline bacterial populations, mucous composition, prebiotic fiber intake, sugar and other components of diet, etc.?) influence the impact of probiotics.

While these studies are detailed and elegant, the biggest error in logic in the first study is that we should never assume that a return to pre-antibiotic bowel flora status means a return to normalcy. This was the defining metric in the first study: whether or not there was a return to pre-antibiotic or pre-probiotic bowel flora composition. The problem is that the great majority, probably all, modern humans start with at least some degree of dysbiosis, if not small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, that is wildly common. A return to the status quo means a return to some degree of dysbiosis. Passing judgement on whether some collection of species is better or worse based on return to baseline is foolhardy. Interestingly, probiotics after antibiotics favored a return enriched in Akkermansia that is a desirable development, given this organism’s ability to enhance the health of the mucous lining and support other beneficial species. And the reduced return of Clostridia species after probiotics is also not necessarily a bad thing, as many Clostridia are pathogens. In other words, the first study discounts the entire value of probiotics, suggesting that their only potential value is to accelerate a return to a prior dysbiotic state, a deeply flawed assumption.

The only firm conclusion from the second study is that the effects of this one probiotic preparation are highly variable. We cannot generalize this to all humans, all probiotics, and cannot say what factors influence this variability. Also, note that no efforts were made in either study to cultivate healthy bacterial species with prebiotic fiber supplementation, consumption of fermented foods, etc. only administration of a single probiotic. And the effects of one probiotic preparation should not be generalized to apply to all other probiotic preparations, accepting that nobody yet knows what constitutes an ideal probiotic.

The biggest problems in drawing any conclusions from these studies:

A return to “normalcy” is not necessarily a return to a healthy microbiome—it is just a return to the likely dysbiotic status quo.
There is good evidence from several clinical studies that, when probiotics are taken concurrently with antibiotics, there is reduced likelihood of Clostridium difficile infection, a potentially life-threatening proliferation of an organism that emerges in the wake of antibiotics. No, it does not permit full recolonization with the previous microbiome, but it helps prevent C. difficile from gaining a foothold. This alone is a good reason to take a probiotic both during and after a course of antibiotics.

Nonetheless, these studies add a small amount to our overall understanding of the microbiome. Among the lessons learned or, at least, re-emphasized, are:

We still have tons to learn about this hugely important thing called the microbiome.
We really need to identify the microbial species and strains that are essential for overall health. Current probiotic preparations are crude with few products specifying strains, only genus and species. But strain specificity is crucial. To illustrate: You and I have E. coli in our intestines; as long as they are kept from over proliferating by healthy competing species, E. coli is harmless. But get exposed to the E. coli O157:H7 from contaminated lettuce and you can become very ill, even die—same species, different strains. So strain makes a world of difference. Yet most probiotics do not specify the strain contained in commercial probiotic preparations. As we better understand the benefits or lack of benefits of various strains, commercial probiotics will need to specify their strains.
Probiotics are crutches to restore or maintain healthy bowel flora–And we already knew that most probiotic species do not colonize the colon forever, as they are essentially gone within weeks of ingestion. What does that mean? Are we supplementing with the wrong species or strains? Are the probiotics ingested insufficient to overcome resident organisms? Is the modern gastrointestinal tract inhospitable to probiotics because we have disrupted the mucous lining, the intestinal lining, ingest dietary factors that are disruptive, or other factors?
Those of us engaged in more comprehensive efforts to restore healthy bowel flora, as we do in the Undoctored program, and consume lactate-fermented foods, include generous quantities of prebiotic fibers in our diet, and work to remove factors that disrupt the microbiome such as herbicide/pesticide-laden foods and stomach acid-blocking drugs, also recognize that a probiotic is just one component of a broader effort.
We already knew that stool sample analysis does not fully reflect the composition of bowel flora, as there are microbes sequestered in the mucous lining. Also, most methods used to analyze bowel flora do not identify all species.
The temporary colonization of the upper gastrointestinal tract seen in these studies suggest that at least some of the value of probiotic species may be in people with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and not necessarily in altering colon flora composition—a regional difference but not a species difference.

Bottom line: Rather than dismissing the value of probiotics outright, we just need to accept that there are SO many more lessons to be learned about the human microbiome. These studies add to our overall knowledge but raise more questions than answers. The biggest mistake in logic made by these studies—and the simpleminded media—is to assume that a return to pre-antibiotic bowel flora status is not necessarily a good thing—it may even be a bad thing. Also, dismissing the value of probiotics based on a single collection of 11 species is like saying that, because penicillin didn’t work against an E. coli bladder infection, all antibiotics are therefore ineffective—a gross and unjustifiable generalization.

Getting to a place in which we have truly effective strategies to restore a healthy microbiome will not be a straight line, but a zigzagging path with many helpful lessons and mistakes along the way. But we at least have to take the journey, as management of the microbiome is likely to be among the most powerful strategies ever in the history of human health. In the meantime, we need to logically process new developments and not give into the attention-grabbing headlines of media that barely understand what they are reporting.

The post Probiotics: A DANGER to your microbiome? appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

PCOS: A man-made situation

Most mainstream doctors believe that polycystic ovary syndrome, PCOS, is a disease.

PCOS is, after all, associated with markedly increased risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, endometrial cancer, and heart disease, in addition to outward signs that include excessive facial and body hair, tendency to being overweight or obese, irregular menstrual cycles, infertility. A crisis of self esteem commonly and understandably results. Mainstream doctors tell you to not worry because they have plenty of prescription drugs to “treat” it, not to mention various hormones, fertility procedures, and gastric bypass.

PCOS is a situation faced by as many as one in five females, suggesting that, like blue eyes or being left-handed, it is really just a variation of normal, a genetic variation unmasked by diet—–PCOS is a man-made health condition. The diet advocated by “official” sources of dietary advice is a virtual blueprint to create PCOS in the genetically prone female. Indeed, this formerly rare syndrome is now common.

Once again, conventional dietary advice to “cut fat and eat more healthy whole grains” coupled with overexposure to processed foods such as soft drinks led females prone to this condition down this path, doctors ready and willing to prescribe diabetes drugs and insulin, blood pressure drugs, steroids, oral contraceptives, and advise in vitro fertilization costing many thousands of dollars to deal with a condition that got its start with flawed dietary choices. Want to improve blood sugars while losing 80 pounds? Lap band or gastric bypass to the rescue. Yes: modern healthcare is very good at monetizing mistakes in diet and health.

High blood levels of insulin drive many aspects of PCOS. Foods that raise insulin the most thereby bring out PCOS phenomena, worsened further as visceral fat and inflammation snowball and cause insulin resistance to deteriorate further. Disrupted bowel flora develops, making the situation even worse.

Just as in everyone else, banish all grains (and limit dairy, since the whey protein is a potent stimulus of insulin—yeah, the same protein you put in your protein meal-replacement shake) and women with PCOS lose weight, shrink waist circumference, reduce insulin and insulin resistance, reduce high testosterone, watch excessive body hair recede, reverse inflammation, even conceive babies–—the same benefits obtained by women without PCOS but experienced to an exaggerated degree. Incorporate efforts to reverse disrupted bowel flora, as we do in the Wheat Belly and Undoctored lifestyles, and the situation gets even better.

All along, there was nothing wrong with the individual with PCOS–—but there was something desperately and tragically wrong with dietary advice that encourages consumption of “foods” that create the situation.

The post PCOS: A man-made situation appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Bowel disaster

Something like 60 to 100 million of us live with a severe form of dysbiosis called small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO, in which bowel microorganisms have ascended up the ileum, jejunum, duodenum, and stomach, a massive onslaught of infection and inflammation that results in increased intestinal permeability and entry of bacterial lipopolysaccharide, LPS, and other factors into the bloodstream that massively increase body-wide inflammation, absolute bowel disaster.

But what sets this enormous disruption of human health in motion? Why would a perturbation of human health of such huge proportions get rooted in the first place?

We swim in a sea of factors that disrupt bowel flora. They’re in the air, water, food, things we touch. Among the factors that change/disrupt bowel flora, altering the normal order of life and the coexistence of humans and microorganisms:

Antibiotics–There are certainly times when antibiotics are truly required. But there are many more times when they are not. Each and every exposure to antibiotics alters bowel flora in ways that we can only begin to imagine.
Antibiotic residues in food–Because farmers and agribusiness make such enthusiastic use of antibiotics, our food now contains substantial antibiotic residues.
Herbicide/pesticide residues in food—Just as Roundup kills weeds in your lawn, so it does in your bowels. This and MANY other herbicides and pesticides in your non-0rganic food exert peculiar effects on the composition of microorganisms in food.
Stomach acid-blocking drugs—H-2 blocking drugs such as Zantac and Tagamet and proton pump-inhibitor drugs such as Prilosec and Protonix, because they block production of stomach acid, eliminate the first barrier to entry of unhealthy microorganisms into the gastrointestinal tract, while failing to inhibit the ascendance of colon microorganisms up into the small intestine and stomach.
Wheat and grains—Wheat and grains are a mixed bag with some components that help cultivate healthy bowel flora, prebiotic fibers such as arabinoxylan and amylose, but a substantial collection of factors that disrupt bowel health such as amylopectin A, wheat germ agglutinin, gliadin-derived opioid peptides, and many others.
Synthetic sweeteners—Synthetic sweeteners aspartame, sucralose, and saccharine have been shown to alter bowel flora and thereby increase potential for weight gain and type 2 diabetes.
Chlorinated/fluoridated water—Yes, in modern society we must filter our water in order to not be exposed to E. coli, cholera, cryptosporidium and a host of other microorganisms. But, in order to sterilize drinking water, we also in effect sterilize the upper gastrointestinal tract, an open invitation to allowing colon microorganisms to ascend up and create SIBO.
Lack of melatonin—This is a new item on the list. But melatonin is proving to be a major influence over control over stomach acid. While much of the body’s melatonin is produced in the brain (pineal gland), many hundreds of times more is produced by the intestines. Because of its influence over stomach acid production, modulation of melatonin levels may prove to be among the most important factors in regulating stomach acid and thereby bowel flora composition.
Stress—You’ve had stress, haven’t you? For entirely unclear reasons—heightened cortisol, association with unhealthy habits such as smoking or excessive alcohol, sleeplessness, etc.—stress can be a big player in disrupting bowel flora. Stress is one of the most intransigent, difficult factors to resolve, given that not all stressful situations can be fixed or escaped, such as providing care for a demented parent or a child with autism.
Genetically-modified organisms (GMOs)—Apologists for GMOs argue that the genetic changes introduced intro corn, soy, and other crops do not fundamentally change the effects of foods on humans who consume them. But this ignores the fact that the hervbicides/pesticides associated with such crops are KNOWN to alter bowel flora, such as glyphosate (in glyphosate-resistant crops) and Bt toxin, or those that are “stacked,” i.e., containing both genetic modifications.
Smorgasbord—Who knows whether plasticizing agents, xenoestrogens, and numerous prescription and over-the-counter drugs alter bowel flora . . . since there are virtually zero data on their bowel flora effects.

In short, we swim in a sea of factors that modify bowel flora. Just as we no longer see grasshoppers galore in fields or fireflies packing the backyard, suggesting that we have massively screwed up our external environment, so we have also massively disrupted our internal environments. Recognize, then correct, all the factors that led us here in the first place is crucial in your quest to restore health bowel flora and regain control over health, weight, and restore youthfulness

The post Bowel disaster appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

The next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox CHALLENGE begins Wed Sept 12th!

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, September 12th 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 September 12th, 12pm EST. Come join us on the main Wheat Belly Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWhea.... 

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–stay tuned for details!

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, September 11th (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 The next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox CHALLENGE begins Wed Sept 12th! appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Seven things you probably didn’t know about IBS

To an impressive degree, irritable bowel syndrome, IBS, vividly illustrates what consuming wheat and grains do to the human body, as well as the myriad effects of factors such as GMOs containing glyphosate and Bt toxin, veggies and fruits with herbicides and pesticides, water “purified” with awful chemicals such as chloramine (MUCH longer lasting than chlorine in the body and environment), and commonly prescribed drugs like Protonix, Prilosec, and other stomach acid-suppressing drugs.

You may already know that many people obtain relief from IBS symptoms just by banishing wheat and grains from their diet. But some people are left with some residual symptoms and persistence of some of the phenomena associated with IBS, so there is reason to understand and explore these issues further. You may also already know that there are a number of other health conditions that may be associated with IBS that I have recently discussed such as seizures, osteoporosis, and Parkinson’s disease. But there’s more.

Among the things I’ll bet you didn’t know about IBS, even if you are/were among those who have dealt with the bouts of unexpected diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, and bloating, are:

 

Antibiotics such as rifaxamin and neomycin have been shown to reduce IBS symptoms (consistent with its overlap or equivalence to SIBO) in studies such as this. Note that clinical trials make virtually no effort to cultivate a healthy microbiome after a course of antibiotics, virtually guaranteeing recurrence.

Glutamine, 5 grams three times per day, an amino acid known to promote intestinal healing, reduced IBS symptoms and measures of intestinal permeability vs. placebo in IBS developing after an intestinal infection.

Osteoporotic fractures appear to be more common (at least in observational studies) in people with IBS. Could this be yet another manifestation of the dysbiosis/SIBO that characterizes most, if not all, people with SIBO, that impairs calcium and perhaps vitamin D absorption?

Blastocystis hominis is an intestinal parasite that can be identified in about 5% of people with IBS. Blastocystis is more common in people who work closely with livestock, children in daycare, and if coupled with a hives-like rash. Genova testing is one of the methods that can help uncover Blastocystis infection, worth pursuing only if every other effort fails to yield relief.

Aloe Vera has been shown to reduce symptoms of IBS.

Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 may be a strain of bacteria that can reduce symptoms of severe depression in people with IBS, and may also reduce sleep disturbances.

Mainstream gastroenterologists have NO idea how to deal with IBS, or SIBO for that matter, meaning they prescribe pharmaceutical agents that make no sense and do not address the causative factors.

 

For decades, people with IBS were thought to be hopeless neurotics, overly-concerned with bodily functions, a form of neurosis that was meant to be suppressed with anti-anxiety medication and antidepressants. While this attitude is wildly out-of-date, it persists in the minds of many older physicians. But it is becoming clearer and clearer that the emotional/psychological aspects of IBS are yet another facet of dysbiosis, disordered bowel flora that modify emotions and brain function.

 

In contrast, the conventional approach to “treating” IBS symptoms typically includes anti-diarrheal drugs like loperamide (Imodium), antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, adding fiber, other drugs like eluxadoline (Viberzi) and linaclotide (Linzess).

 

The post Seven things you probably didn’t know about IBS appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Magnesium Water: Updated recipe

Below is an excerpt from the recipes in Wheat Belly Total Health, also posted in Undoctored.) The recipes in Wheat Belly Total Health and Undoctored are not all conventional recipes, such as those for soups or entrees; they are functional recipes that provide specific health benefits, from electrolyte restoration to bowel flora cultivation. Here, I reproduce the recipe for Magnesium Water, the best form of magnesium supplementation available that you cannot buy, but with an updated warning to avoid milk of magnesia that contains sodium hypochlorite (chlorine bleach—yes: chlorine bleach, a potent oxidizing agent) that is making its way into more and more products.

While the best form of magnesium supplement is magnesium bicarbonate, in solid form is highly hygroscopic, or water-absorbent, such that it turns to a hard solid, then crumbles, in short order. For this reason, no manufacturer will sell you a magnesium bicarbonate supplement.

But you can make it yourself quite easily in liquid form and at very low cost using common materials. This form of magnesium is so well absorbed that I prescribed this mixture for patients over the years who had severe, life-threatening magnesium deficiencies (from such things as prior chemotherapy or specific magnesium-losing nephropathies, or kidney defects of magnesium reabsorption) that were chronic, requiring them to go to an emergency room or clinic every week for an intravenous infusion of magnesium to avoid the sudden cardiac death (via Torsade des pointes or ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation) that can result. But the weekly infusion was an awful experience, as getting an IV is no fun, it’s a major inconvenience, and costly. Using this Magnesium Water, I was able to keep magnesium blood levels in a safe range using this convenient oral mixture—no more IVs, no more weekly trips, far less cost, and less fluctuation of magnesium levels, since it could be supplemented every day, rather than once per week. This formula is perfectly safe even if you don’t have a life-threatening magnesium deficiency, though your needs will be less.

If we were able to drink water straight from streams that flowed over rocks and minerals, or if we ate wild foods rich in magnesium, none of this would be necessary. But given the fact that water filtration removes virtually all magnesium, modern crop-growing methods mobilize as much as 60% less magnesium compared to older methods, and prior grain consumption blocks nearly all magnesium absorption (due to grain phytates), nearly all of us suffer from magnesium deficiency. Inadequate magnesium intake has real consequences such as higher blood pressure, higher blood sugars, muscle cramps, heart rhythm disorders such as atrial fibrillation (as well as fatal rhythms), and osteoporosis. Because of our poor intake, supplementation is necessary for a lifetime for the majority.

This magnesium water is therefore the best fix I know of.

Magnesium water

This simple recipe yields magnesium bicarbonate, a highly absorbable form of magnesium that restores tissue magnesium with least potential for diarrhea. A 4-ounce serving provides 90 mg of elemental magnesium; 4 ounces twice per day thereby adds an additional 180 mg of elemental magnesium to your diet. Building up to an intake (as permitted by bowel tolerance) of 8 ounces twice per day is ideal, providing 360 mg per day.

Note that the milk of magnesia must be unflavored, as flavorings block the reaction. And look for brands (e.g., Walgreen’s) that does not contain sodium hypochlorite, as it is an unhealthy additive and yields “off” flavors and smells. Be sure to label your bottle to prevent any unexpected guzzling by someone (which results in diarrhea). Magnesium water does not need to be refrigerated if consumed within 1-2 weeks.

2 liter bottle of seltzer or other unsweetened carbonated beverage (not club soda)

3 tablespoons unflavored milk of magnesia

Uncap the seltzer and pour off a few tablespoons. Shake the milk of magnesia, then pour out 3 tablespoons. (Most brands come with a handy little measuring cup.) Pour into the seltzer slowly.

Cap securely, then shake until all sediment has dissolved. Allow to sit for 15 minutes and it will clarify. Start by drinking 4 ounces twice per day. Label the bottle to keep others from inadvertently drinking it (and experiencing diarrhea by drinking too much).

If rapid restoration of magnesium is desired, e.g., chronic migraine headaches or atrial fibrillation, I’ve had patients drink 8 ounces twice or even three times per day. Just be aware that even this great preparation has potential to cause loose stools, so build up to this dose over time.

The post Magnesium Water: Updated recipe appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Constipation Nation

Our ancestors who lived without grains, sugars, and soft drinks enjoyed predictable bowel behavior. They ate some turtle, fish, clams, mushrooms, coconut, or mongongo nuts for breakfast, and out it all came that afternoon or evening—large, steamy, filled with undigested remains and prolific quantities of bacteria, no straining, laxatives, or stack of magazines required. If instead you are living a modern life and have pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast, you’ll be lucky to pass that out by tomorrow or the next day. Or perhaps you will be constipated, not passing out your pancakes and syrup for days, passing it incompletely in hard, painful bits and pieces. In constipation’s most extreme forms, the remains of pancakes can stay in your colon for weeks.

Bran is not the answer.

We have been given advice to consume more fiber. So we eat bran cereal/muffins, whole grain breads or drink powdered fiber supplements. Most of these grain-based foods contain insoluble cellulose (wood) fibers. This does work for some, as indigestible cellulose fibers, undigested by our own digestive apparatus as well as undigested by bowel flora, yields “bulk” that people mistake for a healthy bowel movement. Never mind that all of the other disruptions of digestion, from your mouth on down, are not addressed by loading up your diet with wood fibers. What if sluggish bowel movements prove unresponsive to such fibers? That’s when health care comes to the rescue with laxatives.

Drugs are not the answer.

Laxatives are prescribed in a variety of forms, some irritative (phenolphthalein and senna), some lubricating (dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, Colace), some osmotic (polyethylene glycol, Miralax), some no different than spraying you down with a hose (enemas).

Opiate drugs such as Oxycontin and morphine are commonly constipating. There’s even a new drug being widely advertised to “treat” the constipation side-effect of opiates: Relistor, or methylnaltrexone, an opiate-blocker that requires injection and costs around $700 per month. Those of you who have read Undoctored or Wheat Belly Total Health recall that the gliadin protein of wheat and related proteins in other grains (e.g., secalin in rye) are partially digested to peptides that have opiate (“opioid”) properties, including binding to the opiate receptors in the human intestine. Wheat and grains therefore contain a disrupter of intestinal motility, slowing or halting the normal propulsive peristaltic waves that were supposed to expediently pass food through 30 or so feet of intestines.

Living grain-free is the answer.

Simply remove wheat and grains and constipation, even obstipation (severe, unrelenting constipation with bowel movements occurring every several weeks), can be relieved within a couple of weeks, often within just a few days.

This works because you have just removed the opiates that slow the intestinal passage of food. You will have removed a source of cellulose fiber, as well as the modest content of prebiotic fibers from grains, namely amylose and arabinoxylan, but these are easily replaced.

The Undoctored / Wheat Belly approach to eliminating constipation is simple:

Eliminate all wheat and grains–thereby eliminating gliadin-derived opiates.


Cultivate the garden called bowel flora–by “seeding” with a high-potency probiotic, enthusiastic consumption of fermented foods, followed by “water and fertilizer” to nourish desired bacterial species with prebiotic fibers.


Hydrate well.


Supplement with magnesium. Ever notice that many laxatives are nothing more than forms of magnesium, such as milk of magnesia (magnesium hydroxide)? Virtually everyone begins with a magnesium deficiency that adds to disrupted intestinal motility. This is reversed by supplementing magnesium. However, the degree of stool loosening varies among the different preparations due to their variations in osmotic (water-imbibing) effects.

Here is where choosing a less efficiently absorbed form of magnesium may be preferable. Such forms cause an osmotic effect, pulling water into the intestines, a benign process compared to irritative laxatives like phenolphthalein or senna that exert low-grade damage over time and are even associated with increased cancer risk. Magnesium water and magnesium malate are among our preferred forms, as they are least likely to generate loose stools while softly helping out with regularity. Magnesium citrate can be used if you do indeed need a bit more stool softening and regularity (which can be due to delayed recovery of intestinal motility after removing wheat and grains). Taking 400 milligrams of magnesium citrate two or three times per day is a good place to start. If nothing happens after 24 hours, one or more doses of 800 to 1,200 milligrams will usually do the trick; then back down to the 400-milligram dose two or three times per day.

Supplement with fiber. For most people, prebiotic fibers are the only form of fiber you need. Adding fibers beyond prebiotic fibers is not necessary for the majority of people living the Wheat Belly/Undoctored lifestyle. Only a rare person needs to add fiber beyond the prebiotic fibers that we supplement to cultivate bowel flora. Just by adhering to the simple strategies of consuming nuts; seeds such as pumpkin, sesame, chia, flaxseed, and sunflower; eating plenty of vegetable with limited servings of fruit and legumes like chickpeas, you obtain plentiful quantities of cellulose and other fibers. If you are among those who do better with supplemental fiber for “bulk,” ground golden flaxseed, chia seed, and psyllium seed (e.g., 1 tablespoon added to foods) are benign forms.

You can see that the Wheat Belly/Undoctored approach does not rely on artificial means of reversing constipation to restore normal gut motility. On this lifestyle you will also not have to deal with acid reflux or the bloating and diarrhea of irritable bowel syndrome.

This lifestyle does not load up on unnatural quantities of cellulose fiber, as you would by eating bran cereals and muffins, nor does it rely on intestinal irritants, softening agents, or opiate-blocking drugs. The Wheat Belly/Undoctored approach removes all disrupters of intestinal motility, restores bowel flora, and encourages the consumption of foods that naturally support bowel health.

The post Constipation Nation appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Constipated Society

Our ancestors who lived without grains, sugars, and soft drinks enjoy predictable bowel behavior. They ate some turtle, fish, clams, mushrooms, coconut, or mongongo nuts for breakfast, and out it all came that afternoon or evening—large, steamy, filled with undigested remains and prolific quantities of bacteria, no straining, laxatives, or stack of magazines required. If instead you are living a modern life and have pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast and you’ll be lucky to pass that out by tomorrow or the next day. Or perhaps you will be constipated, not passing out your pancakes and syrup for days, passing it incompletely in hard, painful bits and pieces. In constipation’s most extreme forms, the remains of pancakes can stay in your colon for weeks.

Bran is not the answer.

We have been given advice to consume more fiber. So we eat bran cereal/muffins, whole grain breads or drink powdered fiber supplements. Most of these grain-based foods contain insoluble cellulose (wood) fibers. This does work for some, as indigestible cellulose fibers, undigested by our own digestive apparatus as well as undigested by bowel flora, yields “bulk” that people mistake for a healthy bowel movement. Never mind that all of the other disruptions of digestion, from your mouth on down, are not addressed by loading up your diet with wood fibers. What if sluggish bowel movements prove unresponsive to such fibers? That’s when health care comes to the rescue with laxatives.

Drugs are not the answer.

Laxatives are prescribed in a variety of forms, some irritative (phenolphthalein and senna), some lubricating (dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate), some osmotic (polyethylene glycol), some no different than spraying you down with a hose (enemas).

Opiate drugs such as Oxycontin and morphine are commonly constipating. There’s even a new drug being widely advertised to “treat” the constipation side-effect of opiates: Relistor, or methylnaltrexone, an opiate-blocker that requires injection and costs around $700 per month. Those of you who have read Undoctored or Wheat Belly Total Health recall that the gliadin protein of wheat and related proteins in other grains (e.g., secalin in rye) are partially digested to peptides that have opiate (“opioid”) properties, including binding to the opiate receptors in the human intestine. Wheat and grains therefore contain a disrupter of intestinal motility.

Living grain-free is the answer.

Simply remove wheat and grains and constipation, even obstipation (severe, unrelenting constipation with bowel movements occurring every several weeks), can be relieved within a couple of weeks, often within just a few days. People with autoimmune conditions—such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease—typically start to experience improvements as well.

This works because you have just removed the opiates that slow the intestinal passage of food. You will have removed a source of cellulose fiber, as well as the modest content of prebiotic fibers from grains, namely amylose and arabinoxylan, but these are easily replaced.

The Undoctored / Wheat Belly approach to eliminating constipation is simple:

Eliminate all wheat and grains–thereby eliminating gliadin-derived opiates.


Cultivate the garden called bowel flora–by “seeding” with a high-potency probiotic, followed by “water and fertilizer” to nourish desired species with prebiotic fibers.


Hydrate well.


Supplement with magnesium. Ever notice that many laxatives are nothing more thanforms of magnesium, such as milk of magnesia (magnesium hydroxide)? Virtually everyone begins with a magnesium deficiency. A magnesium deficiency adds to disrupted intestinal motility. This is reversed by supplementing magnesium. However, the degree of stool loosening varies among the different preparations due to their variations in osmotic (water-imbibing) effects.



Here is where choosing a less efficiently absorbed form of magnesium may be preferable. Such forms cause an osmotic effect, pulling water into the intestines, a benign process compared to irritative laxatives like phenolphthalein or senna that exert low-grade damage over time and are even associated with cancer risk.Magnesium water and magnesium malate are among our preferred forms, as they are least likely to generate loose stools while softly helping out with regularity. Magnesium citrate can be used if you do indeed need a bit more stool softening and regularity (which can be due to delayed recovery of intestinal motility after removing wheat and grains). Taking 400 milligrams of magnesium citrate two or three times per day is a good place to start. If nothing happens after 24 hours, one or more doses of 800 to 1,200 milligrams will usually do the trick; then back down to the 400-milligram dose two or three times per day.


Supplement with fiber. This is not necessary for the majority of people living the Undoctored / Wheat Belly lifestyle. Only a rare person needs to add fiber beyond the prebiotic fibers that we supplement to cultivate bowel flora. Just by adhering to the simple strategies of consuming nuts; seeds such as pumpkin, sesame, chia, flaxseed, and sunflower; eating plenty of vegetable with limited servings of fruit and legumes like chickpeas, you obtain plentiful quantities of cellulose and other fibers. If you are among those who do better with supplemental fiber for “bulk,” ground golden flaxseed, chia seed, and psyllium seed (e.g., 1 tablespoon added to foods) are benign forms.

You can see that the Undoctored /Wheat Belly approach does not rely on artificial means of reversing constipation to restore normal gut motility. On this lifestyle you will also not have to deal with acid reflux or the bloating and diarrhea of irritable bowel syndrome without taking acid-blocking or antispasmodic drugs.

This lifestyle does not load up on unnatural quantities of cellulose fiber, as you would by eating bran cereals and muffins, nor does it rely on intestinal irritants, softening agents, or opiate-blocking drugs. The Wheat Belly approach removes all disrupters of intestinal motility, restores bowel flora, and encourages the consumption of foods that naturally support bowel health. It’s your choice.

The post Constipated Society appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Malchemy: Converting health to sickness

Alchemy is an ancient pursuit dating back some 40 centuries, an effort to explore immortality, panaceas that cure any and all human diseases, and the conversion of, say, lead to gold to generate endless riches. It was also a collection of efforts that helped divine scientific exploration and explore early chemistry.

So what is “malchemy”?

Malchemy (mal = bad) is my term for the magical conversion of healthy, slender, well-adapted humans with healthy skin, bones, teeth, and gastrointestinal tracts to that of obese, fatigued, bloated, red-faced, disease-plagued humans, a startling and dramatic transformation. While most aspects of alchemy have never been achieved over the millennia, in the space of 50 years—1% of the time that alchemy was practiced and failed—the magic of malchemy has been mastered.

The wisdom of the USDA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the American Heart Association, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the American Diabetes Association and others have refined malchemy into a science. Having engaged in several decades of advice to cut total and saturated fat, pack the diet with wheat and grains, consume sugar in moderation, move more and eat less, and they have achieved the equivalent of converting a bowl of molten lead into 24-karat gold.

If you would like to view the official dietary version of gold that makes the alchemist hugely wealthy, just go to your nearest Walmart or shopping mall: huge people who walk with feet set far apart given their enormous thighs; arms splayed to the side, suspended by enormous folds of chest and abdominal fat; red, seborrheic faces; hobbling gaits due to painful feet, knees,  hips, and edematous legs; oodles of motorized scooters; prescription pill dispensers filled to the brim.

So where is the gold in this modern version? Well, it’s not gold in the pockets of Walmart shoppers—it’s gold in the pockets of people who sell processed junk food, pharmaceutical companies who “treat” health consequences of conventional dietary advice, multi-billion dollar hospital systems who deliver what is now passed off as “healthcare” for perverse sums, medical device companies who live in the shadows but are among the biggest wealth recipients of all, doctors who drank the healthcare Kool-Aid and believe that they are doing public good but are complicit in this perverted chemistry.

Americans are therefore the victims of a peculiar and perverse form of health alchemy. If you’d like to undo this thing I call malchemy and return to your natural state of being slender, vigorous, healthy without need for medications, doctors, or procedures, I can just wave my magic wand and—voila—you can be restored to your natural, original state. But it means doing the OPPOSITE that all conventional healthcare advisers tell you: DON’T cut your fat or saturated fat. DON’T eat more “healthy whole grains.” Do NOT engage in moderation, do NOT move more and eat less. Do NOT ask your doctor whether “Enbrel is right for you.” Do NOT ask your doctor whether fish oil is safe because it “thins the blood.” Do NOT ask the doctor why you have excessive gas, bloating, and abdominal discomfort when the solutions are an endoscopy, Prilosec, and a pat on the back because you don’t have colon cancer.

You can perform your own version of magic and, like a wizard converting a frog back to a handsome prince, return to the person you were meant to be before these evil spirits got tangled in your life. That is what we do in the Wheat Belly lifestyle: we perform our own version of alchemy and convert big, bloated, inflamed, people reliant on the blundering of the healthcare system into sleek, slender, highly-functioning people, restored to the way you should have been all along.

The post Malchemy: Converting health to sickness appeared first on Dr. William Davis.