wheat belly

If you haven’t downloaded the Paleo Solution podcast #95, finish reading my blog post first of course, and then do this asap. You can either download it from itunes for free or stream it from Robb Wolf’s website. You should seriously make everyone you know listen to this one – your best friend, your parents, your siblings, your co-workers, your dog, etc. Maybe, I already have drank too much paleo-kool-aid, but I felt like this was an episode that could be very insightful for someone that hasn’t quite bought into the paleo concept or doesn’t know much about it.

This week’s special guest was Dr. William Davis. He is a cardiologist, who focuses his efforts on prevention and reversal of heart disease.

Dr. Davis’ book, Wheat Belly, came out today. I am really excited to download it tonight & start reading.

Here are a few highlights from the episode that I can remember:

• Wheat actually makes us hungrier – On average, when wheat is included in the diet, we tend to consume 400 more calories. Possible reason why it is added to pretty much all packaged food???
• *Strains of wheat used today, are not the same wheat as 40-50 years ago & have much more gluten, hence why the rate of Celiac has drastically increased.
• Whole wheat causes similar spikes in blood sugar as white bread – hence why diabetics don’t improve on a “heart healthy whole grain” diet.

*Note: I removed the comment about genetically-engineered wheat. I had heard this on a previous podcast, but a reader pointed out that this was not accurate. Dr. Davis further explained how wheat has changed in his recent interview with Jimmy Moore.

I highly recommend listening to Jimmy Moore’s podcast #495, where Dr. Davis explains how the wheat has changed. Here is a recap. According to Dr. Davis, the wheat of today is a 42 chromosome plant, and original wheat had 14 chromosomes. This wheat was not genetically-engineered, however it has been changed by a method that BASF (the world’s leading chemical company) has labeled as “traditional breeding methods”. As a result of this method, the product becomes herbicide resistant. How they do this is by taking the seed or embryo of this semi-dwarf variant of wheat and they subject it to a poison called sodium azide to induce mutations. According to poison control, this is a deadly poison.

It might not technically be GMO, but in my opinion this process doesn’t seem much better.

On the diabetic note, I want to share that I have finally convinced my dad (after 2 years of begging, whining, and getting angry) to give up wheat products for lunch and dinner (still working on breakfast), and his diabetes has improved tremendously & he is down 12lbs … Go dad!