I posted awhile back about some weird reactions I'd been having and finally narrowed it down to being allergic to wheat and dairy products, but during the process I read "Wheat Belly" by Dr. William Davis and learned soooooo much!
Wondering if anyone else has read it and if you're following his guidelines, whether you're allergic to wheat or gluten intolerant or not?
Getting rid of the wheat has changed my life already-I'm down 10 pounds in less than 2 weeks and NEVER HUNGRY! No cravings, especially for carbs or starchy foods, but I'm eating myself full and still losing weight, which has never happened to me before. I always had to strictly control and limit myself and was always craving things like toast or potatoes or chips. Within just a couple days of quitting wheat and dairy, those cravings went away I now have energy and feel less 'blue' too!
We had to go to my DH's high school reunion this weekend out of town, so stayed in a hotel, ate all our meals in restaurants, plus the reunion dinners, and I still lost 2 pounds over the weekend! I'm also finding that restaurant people are more than willing to cook my food in a way to keep from contaminating it
I just wanted to share this with you all, so if you're having trouble losing and have a lot of belly fat or have 'fatty liver,' this might be a book you'd want to read. I was actually having asthma attacks & heart palpitations whenever we'd eat anything with wheat or dairy in it, which was basically every meal. Those symptoms are gone now, except when I've gotten tricked by not knowing that 'modified food starch' and 'maltodextrin' can be wheat-based, so I'm cleaning out the cabinets today!!
Oh gosh reading that site was so hilarious sometimes. They make it seem like if you eat one crumb of wheat you will immediately drop dead.
That said, it's interesting how many people have found that their lives improved because they removed wheat from their lives. It sucks that it's so difficult to do and how people are so offended when someone tries to live a bit healthier. If removing a food item works then why should anyone get flack for not eating it?
I haven't cut wheat out because I simply don't want to. I HAVE cut down on it dramatically, to the point where I maybe use it once a day so I can have a wrap, sometimes even less. It's just because I don't want a lot of big bread products because I find them to be nutrient-poor and calorie-dense.
At my school the teachers all met to start setting up our classrooms. They gave us bagels to eat, but I couldn't see eating one when they're probably a good 600 calories each.
Am also a Wheat Belly fan
I posted earlier, on another thread, that my DH and Daughter have been working on a chocolate cake for two weeks (who lets cake sit around that long???) and I haven't felt one craving, any pull to it, nothing. To me that is sooooo amazing. Never could I let anything like that sit with out nibbles, maybe a small slice, okay A BIG SLICE until it was gone, gone, gone.
Now the cake just sits there and I'm bemused that DH and Daughter eat it so slowly (which is good and normal but weird...)
I had already eliminated wheat from my diet when I read Wheat Belly (food journaling helped me discover that I have some kind of wheat intolerance, sensitivity or allergy, though I've tested negative for celiac disease).
Because I tested negative for celiac disease, and most of the worst symptoms were primarily cosmetic (flaky, red, puffy skin and breakouts, along with seborrheic dermatitis flares th at looked like impetigo if I didn't inititate steroid treatment and continued to eat wheat).
As a result, I cheated a lot. There are some amazing non-wheat pastas, but even the best gluten-free bread (at least of those I've tried and made thus far) just aren't all that good. I miss bread terribly.
I haven't had problems with trace amounts of wheat, thank God (the celiac patient has to be so incredibly careful about EVERYTHING that going out to eat in a restaurant is virtually impossible).
All that being said, my reaction to the book is mixed. In some of his arguments, I think the author overstates/exagerates the negative effects of wheat, and yet he's one of the few anti-wheat folks who does acknowledge that some types of wheat seem to be worse than others.
One of the reasons I still occasionally am tempted by wheat, is that not all wheat affects me to the same degree.
I will (occasionally) eat a bit of wheat pasta, because it causes fewer symptoms than baked goods. I have to eat a lot of pasta to get a noticeable reaction (or eat it several days in a row).
For a while, this convinced me that it wasn't wheat I was allergic/sensitive to, it was the yeast. This made sense, because I have mold/mildew allergies, and yeasts like molds/mildew are fungi (but I'm not allergic to pennicillin or other food molds, nor probiotics such as yogurt).
To determine whether my wheat sensitivity is a true allergy, I could get allergy testing, but I would have to go off of my beta blocker blood pressure medication to do so, as beta blockers can make the scratch allergy tests potentially dangerous as they interfere with the effectiveness of the medication used to treat an anaphylactic reaction (the deadly form of allergic reaction) should it occur as a result of the scratch test.
Just before reading Wheat Belly, I learned that the form of wheat used for pastas, is a simpler, more primitive form of wheat (those that the book argues are less harmful).
I'm still not sure I believe that most people have to give up wheat, but I do suspect that most people should be eating a lot less wheat. My husband hasn't given up wheat, but he has cut back and most of the wheat he now eats is in the form of pastas rather than breads. And he eats rice pasta 3/4 of the time (because it's one we both like).
He was extremely skeptical of the arguments in Wheat Belly, and is violently opposed to giving up bread entirely. However, even he had to admit that he feels much better since drastically cutting wheat.
I don't eat much grains of any kind anymore. I do eat small servings of the grains that I've found haven't seemed to cause me any problem, oatmeal, corn, brown rice, quinoa, and wild rice, but if I eat more than a couple servings a day, I notice that I don't feel as well as when I limit servings to about two or three at most. And I feel even better if I limit grains to a few times a week, and use starchy veggies as my starch exchanges (my low-carb exchange plan allows me up to three servings of starchy food).
Glad to see that feeling better after eliminating or reducing wheat is common! I'm sure my DH will be like yours, Kaplods, and will never willingly give up his wheat products, but, after seeing me react after just the cross-contamination from french fries that were fried in the same oil as chicken nuggets, he no longer asks me if I want some of what's on his plate!
And, I did wonder when no allergy is involved, if just cutting back on wheat products would cause change, like easier weight loss or just feeling better. Good to know that there's been some success with that, so I'm going to 'help' my family by simply limiting how much wheat based food I prepare for them. That will also make things easier for me in meal prep
It depends on the grocery store, but most do carry it (at least in central Wisconsin and Illinois), so if you can't find it, ask the store manager.
If there's a gluten-free section, or healthfood aisle, it's usually there, but it can also be near the pastas or near the rices. Some stores will put it in several places, and other stores you have to hunt (or ask) for it.
Healthfood stores will usually carry several types of non-wheat pasta, but they're usually much more expensive that regular grocery stores (but this isn't always true).
I like brown rice pasta, as well as quinoa pasta (often quinoa pasta is a combination of quinoa and corn). Both are very good hot and cold.
You can also find an all-corn pasta which is good in hot dishes, but I'm not fond of it's texture cold, so it's not usually the best for pasta salads.
Asian aisles in the grocery and also asian grocery stores also will usually have an assortment of no-wheat pastas (you have to read labels though). White rice noodles, bean threads, rice sticks, noodles made from tapioca....
they're all very good, but you have to experiment a little. For example the bean threads are sort of transparent and very slippery... great in asian soups, but not something you'ld probably want to put spaghetti sauce on.
Some overcook very easily, so it pays to start checking a few minutes before the time printed on the bag.
My favorite for italian style pasta and for pasta salads is brown rice shells (or any other small macaroni shape).
I read Wheat Belly in October, cut out grains and have been a much happier more energized person since. Around the same time I read the Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson and also the two books by Gary Taubes. Nothing earth shattering happened when I cut out grains and most refined carbs from my life...but I have dropped 31 lbs. Easily. I feel better. I perform better at work and I don't get that 3pm twilight zone feeling that I used to soothe away with sugar.
Going grain free or low carb or cutting out refined sugars and carbs is not for everybody, but, it was for me. Loved the book, think the Wheat Belly blog has a lot to offer as far as industry advocacy on the dangers of GMO wheat and the recipes the Doc posts are usually pretty darn good.
I looked it up after reading this, and found this blog: apparently a lot of the book is based on faulty logic and conclusions that can't be supported by the given research.
That being said, a wheat-free diet could be very helpful for some people, since a gluten sensitivity would no show up as celiac or a full blow intolerance.
funny I was *just* googling this book like 5 minutes before I logged on here!
I actually have cut out wheat back in Feb, when following a modified paleo diet that my personal trainer suggested for me. With cutting wheat and other grains, plus beans I finally broke through a 2.5 year plateau.
I am eating rice and corn again but still staying away from wheat, beans (80%) peanuts (a bean) and weirdly enough cashews. Am feeling better in general though - seems my "factory" isn't having to work so hard to process things.
Big difference for us. Hubby stopped having weird bathroom issues (that he'd had for ages) and I was able to cut back on asthma and allergy medication. So, while not everyone is sensitive to gluten/etc, clearly, some of us are.
Cutting back on grains (including wheat) made a huge difference in me finally dropping weight (appetite calmed down). Getting rid of gluten has been beneficial, though I was not Celiac. My sister gave it up, too, and like me, she has seen her reflux resolve. No reflux is nice.
Faulty logic, or not. I'm a much healthier and happier person without grain in my life.
I haven't reached for an allergy pill or a Tums in months . I also don't feel like I'm going to fall asleep, in the middle of every afternoon, anymore!
I noticed things before I read the book.
Being type2.diabetic I watch carbs.
Some nights we would have just stir fry veggies and meat.
The next morning I would feel thinner!
The next night pasta.
The next morning I felt bloated and felt slightly sick
until bathroom time.
When I read the book it all made sense for me.
Anyone read "Wheat Belly"? It's changing my life!
I now have energy and feel less 'blue' too!
