The book “Wheat Belly, by Dr. William Davis, has great information that we can all relate to, as wheat is a part of our culture. (“Wheat Belly #1 New York Times Bestseller” August 6, 2012)
He found that by having his patients eliminate wheat, they lost weight easily and quickly, and that all of their lab tests came back with improved results. Due to Brenda Specht’s inability to eat wheat, Dr. Specht lost 10-15 pounds over the course of a year simply because he eliminated most of the wheat he was consuming.
“Do you know that eating two slices of whole wheat bread can increase blood sugar more than 2 tablespoons of pure sugar can?”
I think I have everyone’s attention now! “Dr. Davis is a preventive cardiologist whose unique wheat-free approach to diet allows him to advocate reversal, not just prevention, of heart disease.”
Dr. Davis discusses how wheat has changed over the years, and how that has affected us. In the first chapter, he describes a very old type of wheat called Emmer wheat. “Sometime in the millennia predating Biblical times, 28 chromosome Emmer wheat mated naturally with another grass which resulted in 42 chromosome Triticum Aestivum (bread wheat), genetically closest to what we now call wheat.”
Similar to corn and other large crops, wheat has been bred over the last century to yield more and be resistant to disease, drought, and heat. “In fact, wheat has been modified by humans to such a degree that modern strains are unable to survive in the wild without human support such as nitrate fertilization and pest control.”
“What do acid rain, car batteries and wheat have in common?”(Chapter 8) “Wheat is among the most potent sources of sulfuric acid, yielding more sulfuric acid per gram than any meat.” “Even a diet limited to 35% of calories from animal products, adding wheat shifts the diet from net alkaline to strongly net acid.” (For more information on alkaline verses acidic, see this article from the web site Alive.com.
In chapter 7, Dr. Davis writes on how the American Diabetes Association highly recommends wheat-based foods such as whole grain breads, cereal, rice, pasta, tortillas, and snack foods such as “low-fat crackers, snack chips, pretzels and fat-free popcorn.” In Dr. Davis” work – (and the work of many other authors we have reviewed and read about) – the resulting insulin levels after eating these types of foods are just way too high, and cause all sorts of other problems. One problem being “glucotoxicity” and how it damages the pancreatic insulin-producing beta cells, that results from high blood sugars.
This book is worth taking a look at, and reading in it’s entirety. Dr. Davis throws in humor with all the seriousness and his patient cases.
The last third of the book gives the reader a map for eliminating wheat, including recipes. You may find that after reading it, you will be willing to look at the way you eat even a little closer.