The Wheat-free "Movement" to Beautiful Health

Do you wish you could have more energy,relief from gastro discomfort, and melt away fat deposits around your abdomen?

Many of our guests at Kasia Organic Salon have read through our "SCD" and "GAPS" books while processing their fabulous  Ammonia Free Hair Color.   Through putting myself on a specific wheat free diet, I have been able to help bridge that gap for others.  These "diets" have been a great blessing to many due to the vast majority of men, women, and families with gluten sensitivites, gut issues, low energy, and weight gain.   Through research and changed clients, I am very much persuaded of why this nation is falling into a nutritional crises .......lack there of.

Back to a flat stomach.....  According to cardiologist Dr. William Davis, you can achieve it. In his new book, Wheat Belly, Dr. Davis lays out a case for eliminating wheat in the diet to decrease systemic inflammation and weight gain.

According to Dr. Davis:

“When you remove wheat from the diet, you’ve removed a food that leads to fat deposition in the abdomen. Factor in that the gliadin protein unique to wheat that is degraded to a morphine-like compound that stimulates appetite is now gone and appetite diminishes. The average daily calorie intake drops 400 calories per day–with less hunger, less cravings and food is more satisfying. This all occurs without imposing calorie limits, cutting fat grams, or limiting portion size. It all happens just by eliminating this thing called wheat.”

If you are familiar with the paleo diet, this is the same frame of thought -  that wheat causes a myriad of health problems is something that you have probably heard before. The paleo community advocates eliminating all grains from the diet.  "Wait, haven't we been told by the government that whole grains are the staple of a healthy diet?  Think again...Dr. Davis’s book Wheat Belly specifically addresses the grain wheat.

Wheat is that the wheat of present day is different from the wheat that our ancestors ate.

How specifically does eliminating wheat from your diet help banish belly fat, according to Dr. Davis?

• Wheat raises blood sugar higher than nearly all other foods.
• Wheat contains addictive compounds, leading to overeating and psychological addiction.
• Wheat contains lectins, which are glycoproteins. Glycoproteins cause inflammation by disarming the proteins that line the intestinal tract that regulate which compounds are absorbed into the blood stream and which are not. This causes inflammatory compounds to enter the bloodstream. This process has been linked to rheumatoid arthritis, skin diseases like dermatitis herpetiformis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and a variety of other inflammatory diseases, according to Dr. Davis.

Benefits of eliminating wheat:

1) Reduces appetite–”Normal” calorie intake is, on average, 400 calories less per day for the wheatless. The notion that a 50-year old, 150 pound woman needs 1800 calories per day will need to be adjusted . . . downward. 2) Reduces body weight and visceral fat–You might need to shop in the junior dress sizes. Men may find that clothes manufacturers don’t even make trousers for your waist size any more. (Ever try to find 31″ waist pants?) 3) Reduces small LDL particles–Meaning risk for heart attack is dramatically reduced, “need” for statin drugs reduced or eliminated. It means that the fictitious target numbers your doctor treats known as “LDL cholesterol” will need to be readjusted to accommodate the reduction or elimination of the true number one cause for heart disease in the U.S., small LDL particles. 4) Reduces blood sugar–Remove the amylopectin A of wheat and blood sugar drops, HbA1c (reflecting the previous 60-days blood sugar) drops, resistance to insulin drops. 5) Diabetes and pre-diabetes are no longer inevitable–The CDC predicts that 1 in 3 Americans will be diabetic in the coming years, another 1 in 3 pre-diabetic–it is nearly everyone’s fate, according to the numbers. Remove amylopectin A, remove lectin-induced leptin resistance, remove gliadin-induced appetite stimulation, diabetes and pre-diabetes for most go away. 6) Joint and bone health improve–Arthritis, joint pain, and osteoporosis, long considered the inevitable accompaniments of aging, are delayed or simply don’t occur once the acidifying effects of wheat are removed, the inflammatory pus-like properties of visceral fat disappear, and brittle cartilage effects of amylopectin A-induced glycation no longer occur. 7) Glycation comes to a halt–Provided you don’t feast on M&Ms and Coca Cola in place of wheat, irreversible glucose-modification of proteins–that causes hypertension, cataracts, osteoarthritis, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (stiff heart), conduction system disease leading to heart rhythm disorders and pacemakers, nervous system impairment (reduced sensation and coordination), and aging–subsides to its natural slow level.

So should you eliminate all wheat from your diet? If you are having some health issues and you want to get rid of some extra fat, it won’t hurt you to try  eliminating wheat from your diet for just 30 days to see how you do.

What exactly is in wheat that makes it so bad?

1) The gliadin protein of wheat has been modified by geneticists through their work to increase yield. This work, performed mostly in the 1970s, yielded a form of gliadin that is several amino acids different, but increased the appetite-stimulating properties of wheat. Modern wheat, a high-yield, semi-dwarf strain (not the 4 1/2-foot tall “amber waves of grain” everyone thinks of) is now, in effect, an appetite-stimulant that increases calorie intake 400 calories per day. This form of gliadin is also the likely explanation for the surge in behavioral struggles in children with autism and ADHD.

2) The amylopectin A of wheat is the underlying explanation for why two slices of whole wheat bread raise blood sugar higher than 6 teaspoons of table sugar or many candy bars. It is unique and highly digestible by the enzyme amylase. Incredibly, the high glycemic index of whole wheat is simply ignored, despite being listed at the top of all tables of glycemic index.

3) The lectins of wheat may underlie the increase in multiple autoimmune and inflammatory diseases in Americans, especially rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s).

In other words, if someone is not gluten-sensitive, they may still remain sensitive to the many non-gluten aspects of modern high-yield semi-dwarf wheat, such as appetite-stimulation and mental “fog,” joint pains in the hands, leg edema, or the many rashes and skin disorders. This represents one of the most important examples of the widespread unintended effects of modern agricultural genetics and agribusiness.

What can you eat on the diet you advocate? Eat real, natural foods such as eggs, raw nuts, plenty of vegetables, and fish, fowl, and meats. Use healthy oils like olive, walnut, and coconut liberally. Eat occasional fruit and plenty of avocado, olives, and use herbs and spices freely. Eat raw or least cooked whenever possible and certainly do not frequent fast food, processed snacks, or junk foods. While it may sound restrictive, a return to non-grain foods is incredibly rich and varied. Many people’s eyes have been closed to the great variety of foods available to us minus the wheat.

Diet Resources:  GAPS Diet

Reference: William Davis, MD Dr. Davis is a preventative cardiologist by training. He is a 1985 graduate of the St. Louis University School of Medicine and the Ohio State University Hospitals for training in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Diseases. Practicing and writing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dr. Davis is also the medical director of Track Your Plaque, an online heart disease prevention program.