William Davis's Blog: Dr. Davis Infinite Health Blog, page 72

Turn your yogurt into a SUPER PROBIOTIC

I’ve recently been discussing the fascinating experimental research from MIT detailing the almost unbelievable changes observed in mice when supplemented with probiotic species Lactobacillus reuteri (strain ATCC PTA 6475). Mice developed thicker more luxuriant fur, thicker dermal layers of the skin and thicker overall skin, and increased testosterone levels, as well as dramatically increased skin collagen deposition and doubled oxytocin blood levels. Both the range of changes and their magnitude are jaw-dropping.

I’ve therefore been playing around with the idea of supplementing higher intakes of L. reuteri of various strains. Most commercial preparations of this species provide 100 million to a few billion CFUs. We all know that the stated amount on the label may or may not accurately reflect the real CFU counts at time of ingestion. Even though Lactobacilli species in general are able to survive stomach and bile acids, there is likely at least some attrition on ingestion.

In an effort to increase bacterial counts, I therefore used the method of “feeding” these lactose-fermenting species with a prebiotic fiber, inulin. For instance, I fermented one quart of organic half-and-half with 5 billion CFUs of L. reuteri (NCIMB 30242; LifeExtension) and one tablespoon of inulin. (In other words, I used L. reuteri, rather than a commercial starter culture or live culture yogurt, to ferment the lactose.) After 36 hours of fermentation at around 110 degrees F (in my oven heated for around 60-90 seconds every 4 hours or so), I had an ultra-thick yogurt with no perceptible taste difference from conventionally produced yogurt. I did not perform a formal CFU count but, given the extraordinary thickness of the final product compared to the liquid starting form, it is likely that there are hundreds of billions, perhaps trillions, of CFUs in this final product. And it is delicious and wonderfully filling.

An uncertainty: If you try this method with a probiotic of mixed composition, since most commercial products are combinations of various Lactobacillus, Bifidobacteria, and other species, there may be shifts in the relative counts of each species as they compete for the lactose. But you should nonetheless end up with an end-product with dramatically increased probiotic bacterial counts.

This is also a way to save money. As you know, probiotics can be quite pricey, not uncommonly costing around $40 per month. By growing your own probiotics, you can even skip taking your capsule probiotics for several days at a time and substitute your probiotic-cultivated yogurt.

To keep the inulin from becoming a solid and failing to nourish the bacteria (which it tends to do), start your yogurt by taking only one tablespoon of starting liquid (e.g., half-and-half) and adding the probiotic organisms (removed from their capsule) and inulin and stir to make a slurry. Then add the remaining volume of liquid and stir. If you wish to avoid dairy, substitute canned (full-fat) coconut milk while doubling the inulin and ferment for at least 48 hours, as it takes a bit longer than dairy.

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5 More Common Wheat Belly Mistakes

I’ve talked previously about the 7 Common Mistakes people make when they first start out on the Wheat Belly lifestyle, such as eating gluten-free foods or continuing to avoid fat. Make just one of these mistakes and it can impair your weight loss and health-regaining success. Set it right and wonderful things can happen.

There are, however, several additional landmines that can explode in your path and deprive you of the kinds of extravagant successes you see on the Wheat Belly Facebook page. Among the additional common mistakes people make are:

Continuing to consume soft drinks sweetened with aspartame–Big mistake. We now know that aspartame (as well as saccharine and sucralose) alter bowel flora in such a way that it causes weight gain and type 2 diabetes, even though aspartame itself contains no calories. This explains, for instance, why people who consume diet soft drinks sweetened with aspartame are more overweight than people who drink sugar-sweetened soft drinks. (Please do NOT interpret this to mean that sugar is therefore good. Remember: Less bad is NOT necessarily good—learn from the blunders of conventional dietary thinkers and dietitians.)
Heating prebiotic fibers–We include prebiotic fibers in the Wheat Belly, as well as Undoctored, lifestyles because they nourish bowel flora. Getting bowel flora back in working order is a huge advantage in numerous aspects of health. However, most prebiotic fibers break down into sugar upon heating. A medium-sized green, unripe banana, for example, contains 27 grams fiber, zero grams sugar. Heat the banana in a banana bread recipe (even if grain-free) and nearly all the fiber will convert to sugar. This much sugar will cause weight loss to come to a halt, provoke small LDL particles that lead to heart disease, raise blood sugar and promote insulin resistance, etc.—all the effects you do not want. So, as a general rule, do not heat your prebiotic fibers. (Inulin is the exception, as it can be heated to moderate temperatures such as in boiling water/coffee or low-temperature baking.) Also, don’t fall for the argument that cooling cooked potatoes or rice allows the sugars to reconvert back to fibers, called “retrogradation”; this does indeed happen but only to a slight degree. The great majority of sugars do not convert to fiber.
Failure to include iodine–Around 20% of people starting on their Wheat Belly lifestyle are deficient in iodine. This results in hypothyroidism and will quite effectively block any hope of losing weight or reversing several other health conditioons. Iodine is not an option, any more than, say, vitamin C. No vitamin C and you get the joint degeneration and open wounds of scurvy. No iodine and you will have hypothyroidism, low energy, higher cholesterol values, high blood pressure, higher blood sugar, and heart disease. This is why iodine is one of the handful of essential strategies in the Wheat Belly and Undoctored programs.
Restricting calories–People have been so utterly brainwashed and  continue to believe that eating more calories causes weight gain or eating fewer calories leads to weight loss. In the Wheat Belly lifestyle in which we eliminate all wheat and grains, limit our net carb intake to 15 grams or less per meal, calories no longer matter. The only time calories become an issue is when you cut back on calories which typically leads to the opposite of weight loss: weight gain. This is because caloric restriction causes your basal metabolic rate to drop 10, 20, or 30% and you can gain weight by eating less. (This is precisely what happens to Biggest Loser contestants who initially lose, say, 100 pounds through calorie restriction and extreme exercise, then regain all of it even when they continue a calorie-restricted lifestyle.)  If you are following the Wheat Belly lifestyle, there is no advantage to restricting calories.
Failing to include sufficient salt–Eliminate wheat and grains and you eliminate the gliadin protein that causes sodium retention. You also eliminate the amylopectin A carbohydrate that raised insulin and wheat germ agglutinin that mimicks insulin; when insulin drops, abnormal sodium retention reverses. You therefore lose excess salt, as well as water, during the initial 7-10 days of your Wheat Belly/Undoctored lifestyle. People who fail to salt their food complain of lightheadedness and inappropriate cravings. The conventional advice to restrict salt no longer applies and you should salt your food lightly to moderately.

The Wheat Belly and Undoctored approaches are undoubtedly contrary to most conventional notions of health. Just think: Would your doctor tell you about any of the items in this list? I doubt it.

Just bear in mind that the Wheat Belly and Undoctored strategies–each and every one of them–is there for good reason. While some tweaking is okay, just be sure that your tweak does not disable the wonderful results that you could achieve.

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Watch Out for Hidden Sources of Grains— What to Look for When Reading Labels

You need to be careful when you shop, as grains, especially wheat and corn, can be found in an incredible variety of forms in processed foods—hidden as additives, thickeners, coatings, or cheap “bulk.” Avoiding foods containing hidden grains can be difficult because wheat and corn, in particular, come in some tough-to-recognize names. You will be shocked at how many processed food products contain grains—frozen dinners, bottled salad dressings, dry salad dressing mixes, seasoning mixes, canned soups, instant soup mixes, candy bars, licorice— the majority of foods filling the aisles in supermarkets.

So it is important to recognize these aliases to remain safely grain-free. Of course, the best way to avoid hidden sources of grains is to eat whole foods that don’t require labels in the first place, such as vegetables, eggs, and meats. But on those occasions when you need something with a label, such as premixed salad dressing, mayonnaise, even ketchup, it’s important to be aware of such hidden sources of grains. Also note that many medications and nutritional supplements contain wheat or corn.

Here are the not-so-obvious foods and ingredients that are really wheat. A question mark (?) following an item means it is either variable or uncertain (given manufacturers’ reluctance or inability to specify the source).

Caramel coloring (?)

Caramel flavoring (?)

Dextri-maltose

Emulsifiers

Farina (often in hot cereals)

Fu (gluten in Asian foods)

Gravy

Hydrolyzed vegetable protein

Maltodextrin

Modified food starch (?)

Panko (a bread crumb mixture used in Japanese cooking)

Roux (wheat-based sauce or thickener)

Seitan (nearly pure gluten used in place of meat)

Stabilizers

Textured vegetable protein (?)

 

There are hundreds of common food ingredients derived from corn, such as dextrose, dextrin, maltodextrin, high-fructose corn syrup, fructose, maltitol, polydextrose, ethanol, caramel coloring, and artificial flavorings, that will not be identified on the label as being corn-sourced. However, the process to generate these products from corn reduces zein protein content to negligible levels, so they are generally not a problem for grain exposure for the majority (though these ingredients, especially sugars like fructose, pose problems of their own). Because of the many ways that corn-derived ingredients can make their way into processed foods, the best policy for the ultrasensitive is to avoid processed foods as much as possible.

To see a more comprehensive list of hidden sources of grains look in the Appendix sections of both Wheat Belly Total Health and Undoctored.

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Take your Undoctored experience to the next level

I want as many people as possible to take control over personal health to enjoy life without prescription medications, hospitals, and the interference of doctors. This is part of the Undoctored mission.

In addition to the Undoctored book, the collaborative community of the Undoctored Inner Circle, and the Undoctored Facebook page, we have also created several online learning experiences to help you become as confident and effective as possible in living your life Undoctored.

The Undoctored learning courses include:

Two 21-day e-courses that take you step-by-step through the Undoctored program with videos, recipes, and bonus content
Undoctored Home Health Tools course that takes you even deeper into the Undoctored philosophy and lifestyle
A special segment devoted entirely to managing small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO

By completing these courses, you will gain a level of knowledge that makes it highly likely that you will achieve a full, extravagant success in health and weight loss for you and your family. You will further appreciate just how powerful the tools you have can be when applied properly and just how little the doctor actually knows in delivering health. The Undoctored learning courses give you an unbeatable level of confidence and knowledge in managing personal health.

Go here to find out more about the Undoctored learning courses and to sign up at the reduced rate.

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L. reuteri: It gets even better

I recently posted Wheat Belly and Undoctored Blog posts about the probiotic species, Lactobacillus reuteri, that in experimental models (aged mice) generated some fascinating effects, including thicker hair, no weight gain (compared to obese controls), more muscle preservation, increased dermal (skin) thickness and increased testosterone. They observed that the L. reuteri-supplemented mice looked and acted more youthful. What made the findings even more surprising was the magnitude of these effects: the increase in dermal thickness, for instance, was an unprecedented 35%, the increase in skin thickness 100%, the increase in testosterone nearly 8-fold.

Another study from this same MIT group supplementing L. reuteri (strain ATCC PTA 6475) to aged mice makes some additional fascinating observations:

Wound healing time was cut in half, essentially restoring youthful capacity for repair. Hair regrowth was more rapid.
Collagen deposition was dramatically improved. (Recall that collagen loss/destruction in skin and other organs is part of the aging process.)
Oxytocin blood levels in females more than doubled, likely explaining the acceleration of wound healing (as well as increased grooming behavior).

Consistent with their observation that L. reuteri supplementation yielded youthful effects, vigorous wound healing is a marker for health and youthfulness, as is collagen deposition in skin. Oxytocin levels also decline as we age and, beyond impairing wound healing, lack of oxytocin can have other effects that include impaired insulin responses, higher blood sugar, and weight gain.

In other studies, oxytocin has been demonstrated to exert substantial weight-reducing effects when administered intranasally (24 units four times per day resulted in more than 18 pounds lost over 8 weeks with no change in diet). This oxytocin-raising method, i.e., L. reuteri supplementation, suggests another way to obtain the varied benefits of higher oxytocin levels. (I shall be discussing the importance of oxytocin in weight, emotion, and sexual interest management in future.) Oxytocin is known to be anorexigenic, i.e., it reduces or eliminates the desire to eat.

Once again, we have to bear in mind that these observations were made in mice and there was no parallel human study. We also need to be careful about the judging the effects of a single species of microorganism, as they do not exist in isolation but in a complex microbial community with multi-faceted interactions with each other and the host. Nonetheless, the effects were so dramatic that it is tempting to wonder if any of these effects translate to human benefits.

I shall soon be reporting on my personal high-dose L. reuteri experience, as some interesting things happened.

 

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Lactobacillus reuteri: Key to youthfulness?

Microbial species in the genus Lactobacillus, found in the human intestine as well as in fermented foods like yogurt and kefir, are known to provide health benefits to us. A number of important health benefits have been associated with increased populations of intestinal Lactobacillus, such as protection from fungal/Candidal overgrowth and vaginitis, reduction of the dysbiosis of irritable bowel syndrome/small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, and reduced unhealthy oral bacteria (e.g., Streptococcus mutans) that cause cavities.

Of the nearly 200 known species of Lactobacillus, however, one species is beginning to stand out: L. reuteri. There are about a dozen studies that demonstrate that L. reuteri probiotic supplementation (typically around one billion CFU doses) reduces intestinal inflammation, reduces constipation, and reduces the severity and duration of diarrheal diseases and unexplained abdominal pain in children. But a new collection of observations in experimental models coming from MIT and the University of Thessaloniki in Greece suggest that L. reuteri strain in particularly may also yield some dramatic age-reversing effects. While supplementing experimental mice with this microbial species, the investigators noted that the mice began to appear younger in as little as one week. They therefore pursued this line of research and documented that L. reuteri supplementation:

Increased blood testosterone levels in males dramatically (by up to 800% over the negligible levels seen in aged mice), as well as increasing testicular size and Leydig cell volume. (Leydig cells produce testosterone.) A reduction of Leydig cells and testicular size, along with a reduction in testosterone, are among the changes that occur in aging human males, effects associated with reduced libido, sexual interest/performance, increased visceral fat accumulation/weight gain, decreased muscle and bone density, and cognitive impairment.
Caused thicker, more luxuriant fur to develop in aged mice that was associated with increased sebum production, increased number of sebocytes that produce sebum, and (markedly) increased dermal thickness. Thicker hair and smoother skin, of course, are hallmarks of youth. Incredibly, these changes began as early as one week after probiotic supplementation, likely due to the increased sebum and sebocyte density.
Was associated with anti-inflammatory effects (increased levels of anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 and decreased interleukin-17) that may account for the increase in testicular volume (since hypogonadism or testicular atrophy can result, in part, from inflammation) and normalizes intestinal immune responses.
Was associated with marked acceleration of wound healing. (Note how quickly children recover from an injury compared to older adults.)
Was associated with slenderness, in comparison to overweight/obese unsupplemented mice.
Was associated with greater physical activity and increased muscle mass.

(Notably, the L. reuteri strain ATCC PTA 6475 was used.)

Whether parallel hormonal changes develop in females is not yet clear.

These are unprecedented observations with magnitudes of changes that are staggering. The tantalizing question is, of course, whether humans will likewise experience smoother, thicker skin with thicker, more luxuriant hair, and whether human males will experience increased testosterone levels via increased testicular Leydig cell volume? And, if such age-reversing effects develop via some metabolite produced by L. reuteri, what other potentially age-reversing effects might develop?

We need to bear in mind that these observations were generated in mice, not humans, though most microbiome observations that have made in mice have held true in humans, also.

Next: My high-dose personal L. reuteri experiment.

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Lactbacillus reuteri: Key to youthfulness?

Microbial species in the genus Lactobacillus, found in the human intestine as well as in fermented foods like yogurt and kefir, are known to provide health benefits to us. A number of important health benefits have been associated with increased populations of intestinal Lactobacillus, such as protection from fungal/Candidal overgrowth and vaginitis, reduction of the dysbiosis of irritable bowel syndrome/small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, and reduced unhealthy oral bacteria (e.g., Streptococcus mutans) that cause cavities.

Of the nearly 200 known species of Lactobacillus, however, one species is beginning to stand out: L. reuteri. There are about a dozen studies that demonstrate that L. reuteri probiotic supplementation (typically around one billion CFU doses) reduces intestinal inflammation, reduces constipation, and reduces the severity and duration of diarrheal diseases and unexplained abdominal pain in children. But a new collection of observations in experimental models coming from MIT and the University of Thessaloniki in Greece suggest that L. reuteri strain in particularly may also yield some dramatic age-reversing effects. While supplementing experimental mice with this microbial species, the investigators noted that the mice began to appear younger in as little as one week. They therefore pursued this line of research and documented that L. reuteri supplementation:

Increased blood testosterone levels in males dramatically (by up to 800% over the negligible levels seen in aged mice), as well as increasing testicular size and Leydig cell volume. (Leydig cells produce testosterone.) A reduction of Leydig cells and testicular size, along with a reduction in testosterone, are among the changes that occur in aging human males, effects associated with reduced libido, sexual interest/performance, increased visceral fat accumulation/weight gain, decreased muscle and bone density, and cognitive impairment.
Caused thicker, more luxuriant fur to develop in aged mice that was associated with increased sebum production, increased number of sebocytes that produce sebum, and (markedly) increased dermal thickness. Thicker hair and smoother skin, of course, are hallmarks of youth. Incredibly, these changes began as early as one week after probiotic supplementation, likely due to the increased sebum and sebocyte density.
Was associated with anti-inflammatory effects (increased levels of anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 and decreased interleukin-17) that may account for the increase in testicular volume (since hypogonadism or testicular atrophy can result, in part, from inflammation) and normalizes intestinal immune responses.
Was associated with marked acceleration of wound healing. (Note how quickly children recover from an injury compared to older adults.)
Was associated with slenderness, in comparison to overweight/obese unsupplemented mice.
Was associated with greater physical activity and increased muscle mass.

Whether parallel hormonal changes develop in females is not yet clear.

These are unprecedented observations with magnitudes of changes that are staggering. The tantalizing question is, of course, whether humans will likewise experience smoother, thicker skin with thicker, more luxuriant hair, and whether human males will experience increased testosterone levels via increased testicular Leydig cell volume? And, if such age-reversing effects develop via some metabolite produced by L. reuteri, what other potentially age-reversing effects might develop?

We need to bear in mind that these observations were generated in mice, not humans, though most microbiome observations that have made in mice have held true in humans, also.

Next: My high-dose personal L. reuteri experiment.

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Do You Have the Visceral Fat of a Wheat Belly?

The consumption and wheat, grains, and sugars provokes release of blood insulin, a process that stimulates accumulation of visceral fat. Although you cannot directly view visceral fat that encircles the abdominal organs, you can see the “spare tire” or “love handles” that commonly accompany deep visceral fat.

Having visceral fat is a very unhealthy factor that raise potential for type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and dementia substantially. It results from consumption of wheat, grains, and sugar, commonly developing in people who have been told that a low-fat diet is healthy. Low-fat diets are destructive and inflammatory, with results that include an expansion of inflammatory visceral fat.

Regain control over health by ignoring conventional dietary advice to cut fat and eat more “healthy whole grains.” Instead, eat NO grains or sugars, include more fat in your diet, and eat real, single ingredient foods such as green peppers and pork chops.

Find the Wheat Belly approach summarized in the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox book.

Transcript:

Do you have the visceral fat of a “Wheat Belly”? Let me tell you what that means. Visceral fat is the fat, mostly in the abdomen, that surrounds the abdominal organs, like the liver, the spleen, the kidneys, and lines the intestinal tract also.

This fat is highly inflammatory, as compared to subcutaneous fat (that’s fat in the layers of the skin that provides warmth, and it doesn’t seem anywhere near as damaging to overall health as visceral fat). It’s not entirely clear why visceral fat is such a different thing than subcutaneous fat, but it’s clear that people who have visceral fat are at much greater risk for cancer, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, heart disease, dementia.

In other words, that visceral fat is not just a cosmetic issue. It’s a real serious health issue. It’s quite common. If we were to biopsy that visceral fat, and look at it under a microscope, you would see that’s filled with white blood cells — kind of like pus — it’s all inflamed. It has inflammatory white blood cells, and, the fat cells and inflammatory cells, are emitting, producing, inflammatory factors, that gain access to the bloodstream and further increase inflammation body-wide.

Visceral fat can lead to inflammation at the heart, lead to inflammation in the arteries, in the brain, other parts of the body. That’s why the visceral fat is not just a problem of appearance, or a big tummy. It’s a body-wide problem. Recall, for instance, that a big driver of dementia risk, and heart disease, and cancer, is inflammation, and visceral fat is inflamed.

Now you really can’t see visceral fat, because it’s deep inside the abdomen, but typically it’s expressed as a protuberant abdomen, and/or the kind of spare tire look, or love handles, as some people call it. You know, that itself is not a visceral fat. That is highly indicative that you have visceral fat inside, deeper inside. Having that kind of pattern: spare tire / love handles / protuberant belly is highly suggestive of having abundant quantities of visceral fat.

Why do people get visceral fat? Well, because we’ve been overexposed to the amylopectins of grains: wheat and related grains, and sugars. Those foods dramatically increase insulin, and that sets in motion a series of responses that cause visceral fat to grow.

Once visceral fat gains a foothold in your body it tends to do things that make it grow. Visceral fat is inflammatory. It further blocks insulin. It causes your triglyceride blood level to go higher, and other effects, all of which make insulin resistance even worse — make your blood sugar go higher, and make visceral fat get worse. Visceral fat sets in motion a vicious cycle that makes a visceral fat get worse, and worse, and worse.

It’s very important, if you’ve got visceral fat, to stop this. You start by removing the original cause, which is grains and sugars. Most people are shocked at how quickly the visceral fat (or what I call a Wheat Belly because it comes from wheat and other grains largely) will recede.

There’s more you can do to accelerate, and go further in improvement, in reducing visceral fat. These are all the components of the Wheat Belly and now the Undoctored program. These are factors like

• normalize your vitamin D level and

• cultivate healthy bowel flora and

• supplement magnesium (because it’s been taken out of your drinking water) and

• make sure you get iodine, and

• normalize your thyroid status.

All the basic components of the Undoctored Wild-Naked-Unwashed program, a lot of things I talked about in the Wheat Belly Total Health book, a lot of strategies delivered in a kind of an encapsulated get-it-done-quickly program in the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox — these are all the strategies we use to reduce, or remove, or minimize visceral fat.

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Make a resolution that will change your life forever!

Get ready for a New Year’s challenge that will change your life forever. How many times have you promised yourself to finally lose that unwanted weight? How many times have you failed? This is nothing more than an exercise in self-destruction. This annual ritual results in lowering your self-esteem, not your weight.

You can feel good about yourself again. You can achieve a physical makeover that makes you look 10, even 20 years younger without Botox, filler injections, surgery, or without any unwanted health consequences. You can actually enjoy shopping for clothing. You can eliminate the need for a multitude of prescription drugs. You simply need a plan. Not just any plan, you need a plan that is backed up by facts and results.

The Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox is unlike all other detox programs. It does not involve cleansing your body with various juices or a magical concoction of supplements purported to remove body “toxins,” nor is it a timetable of daily enemas that complicate your meeting schedule. It is a detoxification process from the toxic effects of wheat and grains, a detoxification in the truest sense of the term. It is not just a matter of not eating wheat and grains or of eating “gluten-free” (as critics often perceive it).

Once the toxic effects of wheat and grains have been removed, additional steps are necessary to undo the entire range of ill effects accumulated from their consumption.

This 10-Day Detox distills all the wisdom of the original Wheat Belly books and the lessons learned by the millions of people who have adopted this approach— incorporating the most insightful, cutting-edge, and effective strategies, and sharing them with you so that you can begin your path to weight and health success in a short 10 days.

This challenge brings with it a community of people who understand what you have gone through and are here to support you as you become the healthy person you desire to be. It all begins with committing to the 10-Day Challenge. Just 10 days! Don’t you owe it to yourself?

No excuses…

The next challenge begins on January 3rd.

So you still have time to prepare!

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Green Bean Casserole

Here’s the Wheat Belly version of a traditional holiday favorite side-dish, Green Bean Casserole.

In the Wheat Belly version, there are no grains, of course, and net carb exposure is low, as the onion, carrots, and green beans are the only substantial carbohydrate sources. If divided into 6 servings, each serving yields approximately 6 grams net carbs, well within our limit of no more than 15 grams net carbs per meal. And, unlike many recipes for Green Bean Casseroles you’ll find online and in some cookbooks, no canned soup is used, thereby avoiding the grain landmines commonly contained, especially wheat flour and cornstarch.

Note that you should feel free to use more olive or other oil at the start and never pour off the bacon grease—keep it to cook the vegetables. It increases the flavors, health benefits, and satiating effect of the dish. And remember: We NEVER count calories on the Wheat Belly lifestyle.

Makes 6-8 servings

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil

6 strips bacon

1 yellow onion, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped or shredded

1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk

1 teaspoon sea salt, more to taste

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 pound green beans, ends removed, cut in half

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In large frying pan over medium-high heat, cook bacon in oil until fully cooked. Remove bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces, and set aside. (Do not discard oil.)

In same pan, add onion, celery, and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions softened and translucent. Stir in coconut milk, salt, pepper, and cut bacon pieces.

Stir in green beans, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Transfer green bean mixture to 9×13 inch casserole dish. Spread cheddar cheese over top, followed by Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes.

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