Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health

by William Davis

many gluten-free foods are made by replacing wheat flour with cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, or tapioca starch (starch extracted from the root of the cassava plant).

Foods made with cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, and tapioca starch are among the few foods that increase blood sugar even more than wheat products.

The gliadin protein of wheat gluten, present in all forms of wheat from spongy Wonder Bread to the coarsest organic multigrain loaf, has the unique ability to make your intestine permeable. Intestines are not meant to be freely permeable. You already know that the human intestinal tract is home to all manner of odd things, many of which you observe during your morning ritual on the toilet.

So what happens if various obnoxious compounds mistakenly gain entry into the bloodstream? One of the undesirable effects is autoimmunity—i.e., the body’s immune response is “tricked” into activation and attacks normal organs such as the thyroid gland or joint tissue. This can lead to autoimmune conditions such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and rheumatoid arthritis.

you contract diseases of wheat by eating some nicely packaged pretzels

people develop diabetes because of too many muffins, bagels, breakfast cereals, pancakes, waffles, pretzels, crackers, cakes, cupcakes, croissants, donuts, and pies.

diabetes should be regarded as a disease of carbohydrate intolerance

no wheat, cornstarch, sugars, potatoes, rice, or fruit,

Why does Campbell indict animal foods in cardiovascular disease (correlation of 0.01 for animal protein and -0.11 for fish protein), yet fail to mention that wheat flour has a correlation of 0.67 with heart attacks and coronary heart disease, and plant protein correlates at 0.25 with these conditions? Why doesn’t Campbell

Wheat is the strongest positive predictor of body weight (in kilograms; r = 0.65, p<0.001) out of any diet variable.

wheat has the capacity to reach into the human brain and cause changes in thought, behavior, and structure, occasionally to the point of provoking seizures.

overwhelming temptation and obsession, obstructed by opiate-blocking drugs, are not directly due to gluten, but to exorphins, the breakdown product of gluten.

accumulate visceral fat and show neurological impairment from wheat.

Any dermatologist can tell you that skin is the outward reflection of internal body processes.

cultures without acne consume little to no wheat, sugar, or dairy products.

Ironically, it was “common knowledge” in the early twentieth century that acne was caused or worsened by eating starchy foods such as pancakes and biscuits.

studies have once again pointed at carbohydrates as the trigger of acne formation, working their acne-promoting effects via increased levels of insulin.

sugary donuts and cookies—i.e., high–glycemic index wheat with high–glycemic index sucrose—causes acne. But it’s also true of your multigrain bread cleverly disguised as healthy.

that statistical likelihood of acne increases with body weight.)

Participants who cut their carbohydrate intake the most enjoyed nearly a 50 percent reduction in the number of acne lesions.

elimination of wheat reduces acne.

By also eliminating dairy and other processed carbohydrates such as chips, tacos, and tortillas, you’ll largely disable the insulin machinery that triggers acne formation.

the need for “healthy whole grains” is pure fiction.

the gap left by wheat is filled with vegetables, nuts, meats, eggs, avocados, olives, cheese—

The ability to fast comfortably is natural; the inability to go for more than a few hours before crazily seeking calories is unnatural.

wheat withdrawal can cause fatigue, mental fogginess, and irritability.

These are the people who habitually eat pretzels, crackers, and bread every day as a result of the powerful eating impulse triggered by wheat.

Cornstarch and cornmeal—cornmeal products such as tacos, tortillas, corn chips, and corn breads, breakfast cereals, and sauces and gravies thickened with cornstarch • Snack foods—potato chips, rice cakes, popcorn. These foods, like foods made of cornstarch, send blood sugar straight up to the stratosphere. • Desserts—Pies, cakes, cupcakes, ice cream, sherbet, and other sugary desserts all pack too much sugar. • Rice—white or brown; wild rice. Modest servings are relatively benign, but large servings (more than ½ cup) generate adverse blood sugar effects. • Potatoes—White, red, sweet potatoes, and yams cause effects similar to those generated by rice. • Legumes—black beans, butter beans, kidney beans, lima beans; chickpeas; lentils. Like potatoes and rice, there is potential for blood sugar effects, especially if serving size exceeds ½ cup. • Gluten-free foods—Because the cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, and tapioca starch used in place of wheat gluten causes extravagant blood sugar rises, they should be avoided. • Fruit juices, soft drinks—Even if they are “natural,” fruit juices are not that good for you.

Other grains—Nonwheat grains such as quinoa, sorghum, buckwheat, millet, and possibly oats lack the immune system and exorphin consequences of wheat.

flaxseed. Because it is essentially free of carbohydrates that increase blood sugar, ground flaxseed is the one grain that fits nicely into this approach

Mary’s Gone Crackers is one manufacturer of nonwheat crackers (caraway, herb, black pepper, and onion)

crackers whose principal ingredient is flaxseed, such as Flackers,

Fourteen-chromosome wild grass has been transformed into the forty-two-chromosome, nitrate-fertilized, top-heavy, ultra-high-yield variety that now enables us to buy bagels by the dozen, pancakes by the stack, and pretzels by the “family size” bag.