William Davis's Blog: Dr. Davis Infinite Health Blog, page 90

DIY Vitamin D

Given the critical importance of vitamin D in overall health—prevention of fractures, increased bone density, reduced insulin levels, reduced risk for multiple forms of cancer and dementia, reduced cardiovascular mortality, etc.—you’d think that doctors would be experts in managing it correctly. Sadly, that is not the case—most doctors are either indifferent or largely ignorant of how to best manage vitamin D. They typically, for instance, accept the (absurd and unfounded) “reference range” of 10-30 ng/ml quoted by many labs as the accepted value, failing to recognize, for instance, that levels in this range are actually associated with greater cancer risk.

If the doctor is nearly useless in helping you manage vitamin D, including often refusing to run the blood test or giving you flawed information on how to manage it, why do you need the doctor? Why not take the Undoctored DIY Healthcare approach and DIY vitamin D?

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The next Wheat Belly Detox Challenge starts Tuesday, May 30th!

The next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge is scheduled to start Tuesday, May 30th!

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. Now, I have created an easy and accessible 10-Day Detox Program.

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.

In addition to the brand-new 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.

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

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

Indiebound: http://bit.ly/1KwcFTQ

Or grab the course from Rodale.

https://www.rodaleu.com/courses/wheat-belly-10-day-grain-detox

(The PLATINUM level INCLUDES the book.)

Using the code DETOX saves you $20+ when you checkout.

Step 2

Come join the Private Facebook Group.

http://bit.ly/WheatBelly-PrivateFBGroup

Step 3

Head back to the Private Facebook Group starting Monday, May 29th (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 will be posting video instructions and answers to your questions.

Need support? Lapsed and want to get back on board? Join the thousands of people who are losing weight and regaining health by following the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox. Join us if you desire support through the sometimes unpleasant process of wheat/grain detoxification and withdrawal or if you are among those who previously followed the program but lapsed, and now want to get back on board as confidently as possible—this Detox Challenge was made for you.

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DIY Thyroid

Doctors very commonly refuse to fully explore thyroid status, even if you have clear-cut symptoms of thyroid dysfunction/hypothyroidism such as inappropriately cold hands and feet, fatigue, and unexplained weight gain. They declare, for instance, that your TSH of 3.8 MIU/L is just fine, even though you know that this level of hypothyroidism is sufficient to block weight loss and add substantially to cardiovascular risk.

Or, also commonly, your doctor has prescribed levothyroxine and refuses to assess your free T3 and reverse T3 status to explore other facets of hypothyroidism.

Doctors are trapped in an old thyroid paradigm largely dictated by the drug industry and refuse to embrace new ideas in thyroid health. But that does not have to stop YOU from doing it yourself.

This video explains how to start this journey on your own and DIY Thyroid: how to identify hypothyroidism, how to obtain the lab tests yourself without the doctor.

These are the sorts of conversations I provide in my new book, Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor

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Sharon thinner and healthier DESPITE the doctor

Sharon shared her wonderful story of success living the Wheat Belly Total Health lifestyle and the feeling of showing her doctor how real health and slenderness are achieved.

“On the topic of ‘undoctored’:

“Saw a doctor today I haven’t seen since 2015. She said in a confused, joking voice while looking at my chart, ‘We must’ve had your weight wrong in 2015 unless you lost over 60# since we saw you.’ She chuckles. I laugh and reply, ‘Yup, I did.’ Actually I’ve lost almost a hundred since 2014. Her jaw just dropped.

“This was my very first doctor visit in 25 years where I didn’t get a weight loss lecture or made to feel unhealthy and all of the other things you’re made to feel when your 100+ pounds overweight…felt pretty good I must say. They were all curious on how, what, why, so I shared. They said that must’ve been so challenging. I said no, actually it’s been the easiest thing I’ve done. Once I realized the advice I’d been given on weight loss my whole life was actually wrong and killing me, it was easy to change. I shared how much I love the foods I eat and encouraged them to make the changes before they’re sick. Of course I also shared what started my journey, one purchase changed my life, Wheat Belly Total Heath!

“Was a great visit. I skipped right out of that office. I have the freedom found only when you no longer need doctors because you understand your health is in your hands. Have a great day!”

Wheat Belly Total Health laid the foundation by detailing the steps to take beyond wheat elimination. But stories like Sharon’s fill my inbox every day, people who have reversed impressive amounts of excess weight, gotten rid of lists of health conditions and prescription medications, while looking and feeling better than they have in decades. Sharon’s experience perfectly illustrates the evolution of the Wheat Belly and, most recently, the Undoctored, books and programs.

One of the things that impresses me is that people like Sharon succeed in weight loss and regaining magnificent health despite their doctors. In other words, it sounds like Sharon got the usual health advice to “move more, eat less,” “cut your calories and fat,” none of which works for weight loss and certainly does not restore health. So Sharon did it on her own, essentially doing the opposite of what doctors told her to do. And look what happens.

Sharon is slender and healthy despite the blundering advice of the medical community. If you have good information, the potential for participating in a collaborative community (like this blog, the Wheat Belly Facebook page, etc.), and can begin to incorporate some of the new health tools that are appearing every day (e.g., self-inflating blood pressure devices, health apps that track sleep quality and can be used for biofeedback; direct-to-consumer lab testing, etc., much of which is discussed in the Undoctored book)—magnificent health and slenderness can be easily achieved.

Sharon pays her doctor to receive blundering advice. Imagine you took your car to the auto mechanic and he failed to fix your car, giving you useless advice such as “You don’t need to change the oil,” or “I don’t know why the car doesn’t start–it’s probably your fault.” Would you still pay that mechanic and keep going back for more insulting, useless advice?

Then why do you need the doctor?

 

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Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

The benefits of prescription drugs and procedures are commonly exaggerated 10-, 20, or 30-fold over the real benefits through statistical manipulations.

The doctor is often told, for instance, that “This statin drug reduces heart attack by 36%,” when the real value is more like 1%. But the doctor hears “Of every 100 heart attacks, 36 will be prevented,” a wild exaggeration of the real data. And that is what the doctor passes onto his/her patients.

Imagine a stockbroker told you that he could return 36% per year in your stock portfolio–you’d be thrilled . . . until he only returns 1%. You would be very upset. Yet that is done commonly, every day, in healthcare. Doctors accept such false advertising and pass it onto you.

In my new Undoctored book, I show how such misleading numbers are generated and why it is important for you to recognize such exaggerations, among the first steps you take in freeing yourself from the predatory practices of the healthcare system. Only when you accept that healthcare does not have your best interests at heart can you begin to take the steps to free yourself and live your life Undoctored.

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It is all just one BIG FAT LIE

Undoctored and Wheat Belly Wisdom.

This is a story about how the grain and processed food lobby has successfully manipulated our governmental agencies into feeding us so many lies about consuming fat.

 

Let me begin this story with some with some basic facts.

FACT: Fats, unlike carbohydrates, are essential, and are as necessary as water or oxygen.

FACT: We are, at the core, carnivorous creatures, a product of our unique evolutionary past, thus consuming the fat of animals is also part of our natural physiology.

FACT: Consuming fat, particularly the saturated fat of butter, animal flesh and organs, does not makes us fat and cause diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, but grains do.

FACT: The evidence used to advance the low-fat message was incomplete, epidemiological, and riddled with methodological flaws—none of which stopped overenthusiastic dietary fanatics sold on the low-fat message in the 1970s and 1980s.

While grain consumption was a mistake we made 10,000 years ago, limiting fat consumption was a mistake we made starting 50 years ago, a man-made blunder based on misinterpretation, misrepresentation, the leanings of dietary zealots, and politics.

Here’s how it all began…

When such fanatical leanings reached the ear of Senator George McGovern, chair of the United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, he then decided that all Americans should engage in a low-fat lifestyle.

The McGovern committee pushed through legislation, written by a staff member with no background in health or nutrition, that charged the USDA, an agency whose mission had been to support agriculture and monitor food safety, to lead the charge in providing dietary advice to the public. This created an odd collision of responsibilities: Regulate an industry while also promoting consumption of the industry’s products.

Despite resistance from the scientific community over the potential hazards of government-driven dietary advice, the USDA proceeded to fulfill its charge. In addition to delivering McGovern’s pet agenda of limiting fat consumption, the grain and processed food lobby was allowed to weigh in on the details of the USDA’s final draft, doubling grain intake over that recommended by USDA nutritionists.

The low-fat movement gained further momentum when the processed food industry recognized what a financial bonanza had been thrown into its lap, paving the way to create thousands of foods to suit the reduction in fat created by government advice. Revenue growth at Kraft, General Mills, and companies represented by the Corn Refiners Association leapt to double-digit annual rates as they introduced low-fat cookies, low-fat yogurt, and margarines made with corn, soybean, and other processed oils (you’d better believe it’s not butter). It made the 1980s and 1990s an era of unprecedented growth in Big Food. Low-fat products proliferated, even gaining health endorsements from the FDA, the American Heart Association (AHA), and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. It meant that products that contained liberal quantities of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup but were low in fat could acquire the appearance of health with, for example, the AHA “heart healthy” Heart-Check mark endorsement affixed to them (Berry Berry Kix, Count Chocula, and Cocoa Puffs breakfast cereals, to name a few)—for a fee, of course.

Government advice, industry profiteering, and the innate human love of anything sugary (a genetically programmed survival mechanism taken to perverse extremes during times of plenty) all combined to create epidemics of disease that go beyond weight gain, with conditions such as diabetes (both type 1 and 2), autoimmune diseases, joint deterioration, and dementia. Incredibly, even while the USDA and other agencies continue to promote the low-fat, plenty-of-grains message and food companies continue to sell tens of thousands of low-fat products, the science has become clear: There are no clinical trials demonstrating that limiting fat or saturated fat provides any health benefits or reduces cardiovascular risk. Likewise, red meat consumption has no relationship to cardiovascular risk if the effects of cured processed meats (salami, sausage, lunch meats, hot dogs) are factored out.

And as this experiment in cutting fat and increasing grains and carbohydrates has played out on a worldwide stage, the data revealing how destructive this advice has been are now overwhelming. But as in many things in health care, this scientific revelation has not yet graced the ears of John Q. Primary Care, who still manages to obtain most of his ongoing medical education from the drug industry. Even in the face of societal and scientific evidence that contradicts the low-fat message, most of the medical community still sends their patients to the dietitian (i.e., the dietary professional whose “education” was largely subsidized with support from Big Food) for counseling on cutting fat and eating more “healthy whole grains”—you know, a “balanced” diet, all in “moderation.”

This dietary pyramid has begun to crumble. After decades of dietary misinformation, the latest 2015 dietary guidelines concede that restricting total fat and cholesterol is not beneficial, thereby removing that woefully outdated and destructive advice, though the saturated fat limitation remains. The number of servings of grains recommended every day was also reduced from the 6 to 11 servings per day to just 6. (Such a slow and stepwise backpedaling on previous bad advice, by the way, is how you manage damage control and avoid the liability that could result. Imagine if all the guilty agencies admitted that their dietary advice not only did not provide health or reduce cardiovascular risk but also contributed to the nationwide epidemics of obesity and diabetes? Liability, loss of credibility, and loss of revenues would be huge.) However, how much faith can you put in advice that has been flawed for so long, having made substantial contributions to the deteriorating health of the public? Should we suddenly accept that they were wrong on such a colossal scale, only now to have finally gotten it right? I think you’d have to be nuts, or at least incredibly naive, to believe anything they say.

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The Most Powerful Weight Loss Tool

No, it’s not a treadmill or other expensive exercise equipment. It’s not costly protein shakes or meal replacements. It involves no counting points or TV celebrities.

This is one of the concepts advanced in my new book, Undoctored: Why the Health Care System Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor.

Why didn’t your doctor tell you that a powerful tool for weight loss could be so easy, effective, and inexpensive (often free)?

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DIY Healthcare

Through my new book, Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor, I am launching a movement I call “DIY Healthcare”–health you regain on your own using natural and inexpensive efforts. And you do so WITHOUT the doctor, without the hospital, without the predatory, profit-seeking tactics of the healthcare industry.

Doctors will warn you that DIY Healthcare is dangerous. But, as you get acquainted with this concept and the details provided in the Undoctored book, you will come to realize that not only is DIY Healthcare not dangerous, but you can achieve a level of health, weight, and appearance that is SUPERIOR to what the doctor or healthcare system would have achieved.

You can achieve normal blood pressure without drugs, with better values than the partial correction provided by ACE inhibitors, diuretics, and beta blockers. You can achieve far superior cholesterol values than that provided by statin drugs. You can enjoy reversal of many forms of joint pain without the heart attack, bleeding ulcers, and kidney damage risk of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or prednisone. You can drop blood sugars and HbA1c to the ideal range (90 mg/dl or less; 5.0% or less) without insulin, metformin, or injectable agents. You can reverse numerous forms of skin rashes without topical corticosteroids, look 10 years younger without collagen injections or plastic surgery, have huge surges of energy without amphetamines or antidepressants.

But I must be absolutely clear: Undoctored and DIY Healthcare are not diagnose-your-own-health condition programs, nor are they a pharmacopoeia of do-it-yourself treatments. We achieve magnificent health by reversing the factors that allow hundreds of health conditions to appear in the first place—sounds like a subtle distinction, but therein lies an astounding and powerful insight. Understand this concept and you have the power to absolutely transform your health and appearance.

Join me in taking back individual control over health to enjoy a level of freedom from health conditions, slenderness, and life functioning that you may have thought was not possible.

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Early reviews of the new Undoctored book

Some early reviews of Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Be Smarter Than Your Doctor are coming in on Amazon. Here’s a sample:

DH22:

Dr. Davis is hero.

Being an MD, I can tell you that the medical profession has unfortunately become an industry. Of course if you get hit by a bus or shot, you need the medical services but regarding treating chronic disease the medical profession falls way short. It is crucial to take responsibility for one’s own health. In general it is all about the diet. The diet is under your complete control I have been on a ketogenic diet for several years and after all my research, it is the way to go. Limit carbs to no more than 50 gms per day and preferably less than 25. As Dr. Davis states to ditch all the grains and carbs except for high fibrous vegetables.

Dr. Davis brings to light the fact that the medical industry is about profit. Big pharma is not to be trusted as they very misleadingly claim spectacular results by using relative risk vs. absolute risk. This is clearly seen in the advertising of the statin studies. In my opinion, this is the biggest hoax. Cholesterol is not the culprit. It is sugar/carbs as Dr. Davis states. Big pharma does not spell out all the side effects of which there are many.

Forget about the USDA which has given us the food pyramid. It is the exact opposite of what we should be eating. I met a PhD biochemist for the USDA. This man was morbidly obese. Right, we should take advice from him. These guidelines have caused significant damage, deaths, and disabilities. Just look around and you will see it is rare to find a thin person. We have been eating extremely excessive amount of carbs and frankenfoods for decades now and we have never been fatter. Please take Dr. Davis advice and you will be on the road to health.

Loretta:

Read this book!

I’m not all of the way through this book yet, but I’m thrilled, more than thrilled that this information is finally available for the average person to read and to learn. I watch too many people with chronic diseases – some are actually dying and nothing is being done for them except to increase and stuff them full of drugs. I live in deep south Texas which has the highest rate of diabetes in the world. The diet recommendations are to eat more and more carbs, cut out fat (which does not raise blood sugar) and take drugs, drugs and more drugs. It’s insane and unethical and happening everywhere.

Years ago my husband and I embarked on a pretty much undoctored lifestyle. We are 66 and 60, respectively and we do not go to the doctor unless something (like a bone) is broken. We have health issues, but understand they are unlikely to be improved by drugs and that’s all modern medicine offers. We changed our diet to a Paleo style diet and our blood sugar, cholesterol and inflammation dropped. We added magnesium and our blood pressure dropped. Wow, there’s a world of health out there that most people don’t know anything about. Dr. Davis is simply trying to tell us all the truth. The American public is being hoodwinked and bamboozled.

Maybe he should take some words from the Movie, Terminator – “Come with me if you want to live.” Austrian accent inserted. Read this book and do what Dr. Davis is trying to tell us all to do – Think for ourselves and break the stranglehold that the current medical system has on most of us. Most chronic diseases, including autoimmune and cardiovascular disease can be cured or greatly improved without drugs. I know, my husband and I have done it. We are looking forward to using Dr. Davis’ systems to improve over what we’ve been doing on our own.

April:

Take your health back!

AMAZING! Life changing information to take your health into your own hands. I have been living the Wheat Belly Lifestyle for a year. I stopped following conventional advice to restrict calories, I no longer exercise to balance out food intake, no more following my plate guidance!! Undoctored takes the Wheat Belly Lifestyle to the next level!!

By following Dr. Davis’s key strategies I am 44 pounds lighter, down almost four clothing sizes and feel healthier them I have ever felt!! Thank you Dr. Davis!

Amazon Customer:

A fresh look at how we eat.

I bought the Kindle version and am well pleased with this viewpoint. I felt like I was talking to a doctor that really in interested in my health and not pushing meds on me to get me out the door. It doesn’t say you HAVE to have only organic, grass fed, etc in order for this way of eating to work. Dr Davis gives an ordinary person who doesn’t have unlimited funds or access to more than the local grocer a way to give their health a boost and possibly become independent of big pharma.

I mean, who doesn’t want to be healthy and not running to the doctor constantly? And if you can gain health benefits by following his advice, why not? I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking understand why/how and to change their way of eating.

IrishPersuasion:

THIS BOOK CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE. NO LIE.

READ THIS BOOK!!

Dr. William Davis has literally saved my life. Wheat Belly lifestyle: no more diabetes, PCOS, psoriasis, IBS, high blood pressure, acid reflux, arthritic joints and bones, and 60 pounds gone. Gut health, blood sugar, supplements, it’s all outlined in the book as to how these things can be healed in order to get healthy.

He’s telling you how to do it, not telling you to buy his own line of food, supplements, shakes, pills, all that BS. I wished I’d had this knowledge decades ago, I could have saved myself a lot of time and pain. Thank you Dr. William Davis!

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Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Here’s a recipe from my new book, Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor.

Undoctored carries on the Wheat Belly tradition of providing recipes that allow you to indulge without paying a health or weight price. I learned long ago that asking people simply to eat real, whole foods like meats and vegetables quickly backfired. Someone would be doing great, for example, until Thanksgiving rolled around, and they’d return 14 pounds heavier, inflamed, with disastrous labs (sky-high small LDL, increased insulin and blood sugars, etc.)–a metabolic mess–from indulging in pumpkin pie, biscuits, stuffing and other off-limit foods. That’s when it became clear that I needed to show people how to create such treats using benign ingredients that yielded none of these adverse effects. It meant that people could entertain, enjoy holidays, and keep the kids and grand kids happy by serving goodies without health problems.

In Undoctored, I also provide a number of what I call “prototype recipes,” i.e., recipes meant to illustrate some method useful in grain-free, no-added-sugar, only-healthy-ingredient cooking and baking. (This is not one of them; this is just a simple recipe for some delightful cookies!)

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

There’s something magical about the flavor combination of peanut butter and chocolate, here combined into a chewy cookie that kids will love. Just don’t tell them they’re healthy!

Makes 16 cookies

3 1/2 cups All-Purpose Baking Mix*

2 tablespoons coconut flour

Sweetener equivalent to 1/2 cup sugar (e.g., 2 tablespoons Virtue Sweetener)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup peanut butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup water

4-ounce bar 85–90% cocoa chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the baking mix, flour, sweetener, and salt and mix thoroughly.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs. Whisk in the peanut butter, oil, and water. Add to the dry mixture and mix until dough forms. Dispense the dough into approximately 16 mounds, flattening by hand or with a large spoon. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick withdraws dry.

Meanwhile, melt the dark chocolate in a microwave on high-power in 20-second increments or in a double-boiler setup. Transfer to a shallow bowl.

Remove the cookies from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Then immerse the top half of each cookie into the chocolate and set aside to cool. If any chocolate remains after dipping each cookie, cool the cookies in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes and then dip in the remaining chocolate for an extra-thick layer.

*All-Purpose Baking Mix

This is the same All-Purpose Baking Mix I shared with Wheat Belly readers that has stood the test of time, yielding breads, muffins, cupcakes, and other baked products without the problems of grains. For convenience, you can also purchase pre-mixed All-Purpose Baking Mix from Wheat-Free Market.

Makes 5 cups

4 cups almond meal/flour

1 cup ground golden flaxseed

1/4 cup coconut flour

3 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground psyllium seed

In a large bowl, mix together the almond meal/flour, flaxseed, coconut flour, baking soda, and psyllium seed. Store in an airtight container, preferably in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

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