Wheat Belly diet

julieannezen

Any thoughts on it? I saw it on Dr Oz and was wondering if anyone has tried it. I have been eating mostly gluten-free for the past few months and this diet appealed to me. Thanks!

lexcoulstring

My lifestyle has included being grain free. So that would fall into the Wheat Belly. After giving up grains for 6 months I realized I may of had an intolerance to them. Not to mention that wheat has a higher GI then table sugar LOL. But you will find die hard fans of grains who will disagree. But I had nothing but success from it Goo Luck

julieannezen

Thanks for letting me know! I appreciate it!!!!

chezjuan

Personally, I don't do it, but my stepmom does and she says it has helped her. If you think it is something you can do long-term, then go ahead and give it a try. You can always stop if you don't like it.

coconutbuNZ

I love my bread and sometimes as i have a family to feed, sometimes there is nothing much else to eat. Meat is expensive. Bread is cheap. But I've cut right down now to only 2 slices a day and it has definitely made a difference to how I feel and look.

AllyCatXandi

Unless you have an intolerance to gluten, there's no reason to stop eating it.

Weight loss = burning more calories than you consume. So if you eat at a reasonable deficit, you will lose weight. Not because of any fad diet.

Rygh

On the advise of a specialist in obesity treatment and metabolic disorders, I have just started cutting out gluten in the last week. And as much as I did NOT want to do this (it felt like one more silly nutrition fad that was bound to end up just costing me more money), I already feel a significant difference. I won't check my weight for another 8 days, but 2 people have already told me that I am "trimming up." So I think it's clear that my weight loss tracker will show some activity due to the reduction in gluten. I'm currently reading Wheat Belly, and it does a great job of explaining why wheat is so bad for your body, and how it's nothing at all like what was called "wheat" even 60 years ago. I HIGHLY suggest getting the book (from the library?) and giving it a shot. If it doesn't work for you, you can always reintroduce it.

Mother_Superior

Unless there's a medical diagnosis saying you should avoid grain, there's not much of an advantage to doing it. However if you think it will be sustainable, and enjoy it then you can be as successful with it as with anything else. Mind your calories and macros, and pretty much anything will work depending on your goals.

DaveneGfit

I have found that my body just does better with out grains, but that is just me. I don't think it is a result of having a sensitivity to gluten. It's worth trying it out! You won't know until you try.

DallasSusan

I've been on MFP since December 2013. I had never counted calories before. I simply started logging everything I ate and was astonished to see how many calories came from wheat-based foods. So I naturally started cutting way back on the bread and pasta. This one step alone accounts for most of the weight I have lost.

Cranquistador

meh

Hauntinglyfit

Dr Oz, huh?

Mother_Superior

Dr Oz, huh?

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Unless there's a medical diagnosis saying you should avoid grain, there's not much of an advantage to doing it. However if you think it will be sustainable, and enjoy it then you can be as successful with it as with anything else. Mind your calories and macros, and pretty much anything will work depending on your goals.

This.

If you want to eat that way knock yourself out. But it's not necessary unless you're gluten intolerant or have Celiacs.

bastaracd

I have tried parts of this diet because I have felt that I have a sensitivity to wheat. Some of the diet is o k but trying to make 'bread' from almond flour and chick pea flour is really unappealing. Unfortunate, so I'm just trying to avoid wheat in general....just the very occasional treat. Weight loss is slow and frustrating.

Ctrum69

I really want to see a couple of studies done.

Study 1) "gluten intolerance" rates among those on prescription meds, and those not on them.

2) "gluten intolerance" in those eating a nutritionally balanced diet vs non balanced.

3) "gluten intolerance" in those eating mass produced gluten containing products, vs those eating the same amount of gluten in home made or preservative free products.

I think the results would be eye opening.

But "cutting out gluten" you are also eliminating a lot of things. 1 is the most ready access to empty carbs we have in our diets. If you remove 500 or more calories a day of carbs, and substitute with other foods, you are going to notice a difference. and 2) huge amounts of preservatives and fillers that stabilize shelf life in mass produced products.

If it works for you, great! Have at. Just saying, cutting out "gluten" involves cutting out a lot more than just "gluten" for most people. BHA, BHT, HFCS, Mono and diglycerides, soy, and a whole host of other things occur in gluten bearing mass produced foods.

Ang108

I am somewhat confused, maybe because I am a non-native speaker of English.
How do you all use the word " grain " ? Do you just mean wheat, or do you use it as a catch-all word for all starchy grains and cereals ?
When I did my MA in nutrition at a US university, that is how the word was used and it included wheat and all the grains that are commonly ground into flour to make bread, cereal grains, as well as all oily grains that are usually pressed into oi, as well as legumes and pulses.
Are you advocating that people should avoid all grains, or just wheat, because after all the syndrome is called " wheat belly " and not " grain belly " ?
Not looking for controversy, just for clarification for better understanding.

Ctrum69

I am somewhat confused, maybe because I am a non-native speaker of English.
How do you all use the word " grain " ? Do you just mean wheat, or do you use it as a catch-all word for all starchy grains and cereals ?
When I did my MA in nutrition at a US university, that is how the word was used and it included wheat and all the grains that are commonly ground into flour to make bread, cereal grains, as well as all oily grains that are usually pressed into oi, as well as legumes and pulses.
Are you advocating that people should avoid all grains, or just wheat, because after all the syndrome is called " wheat belly " and not " grain belly " ?
Not looking for controversy, just for clarification for better understanding.

Gluten, wheat gluten, specifically, is the issue.

So, wheat, whole wheat, rye, etc are off the list.

Quinoa, garbanzo, buckwheat, aramanth, oats, corn, rice, are all "okay".

julieannezen

This is great clarification! Thank you!

julieannezen

I have noticed that when I stopped eating gluten a few months ago, my head became more clear. It was recommended I go gluten free because I got the lap-band and have been having difficulty losing weight due to my Fibromyalgia being very reactive to the band and everything else. I have some other auto-immune issues that I am dealing with. So I figured gluten-free couldn't hurt and then logging everything on myfitnesspal would only benefit. When I reintroduced gluten, my stomach became gaseous and hurt. So I think the best bet for me is to stay away from gluten however I didn't know the difference either between gluten-free and wheat free. I think I need to become more educated with all of it. I have a great book called "Food rules" that talks about eating mostly natural grown food and I think this would probably be the most healthiest way of eating (7 ingredients or less, etc). However I also work several jobs and have two kids so I need to be plan-full about what I make so the whole family can enjoy it but be healthy also. Thanks for the responses everyone! I truly appreciate it.

Ctrum69

This is great clarification! Thank you!

Yep. Gluten is the current fad du jour. Just like "Fat free" was, and "sugar free" and "meat free" etc etc.

You can find the same basic concepts running through Paleo, "anti inflammation", GF, wheatbelly, and half a dozen other diets, where people have eliminated entire food sources based on somewhat sketchy scientific evidence, and claim that's a miracle cure.

I cut out gluten 3 weeks ago. (well, except beer). I feel better, and my chronic heartburn has dissapeared entirely.

Do I think the gluten is the culprit? No. Because I'm still getting it in beer. Now, is the protein in beer any different than the one in store bread? I'm not sure.

Now I'll start re-introducing gluten by making my own things with gluten in them (my own bread, my own wraps, my own muffins), where I can control the ingredients.

I'll pay attention to any changes, and continue to fiddle until I can definitively say "Yes, it's the gluten protein" or "NO, it's something else commonly found with it that is causing the issues".

(I will say this: Cutting down on gluten has DRAMATICALLY reduced the amount of sodium in my diet, as most go-to gluten things are also salty.. pretzels, crackers, breads, etc.. so it may be that.)

WannabeStressFree

This is interesting to me, this book was recommended by a speaker at a wellness workshop sponsored at my job.
Apparently Gluten is an energy drainer, as is sugar, too much caffeine, etc.
The wellness center the speaker works at recommends to give it up for about 2 weeks and see how you feel, I'm trying it because my day tends to be very busy and I need more energy.
She explained the basic premise, our current wheat and corn has been genetically modified so much it's not what our grandparents ate, that's a fact (according to her).
So I have already been cooking and eating better, this will be a slight adjustment not an overhaul of my eating.
I tend to bloat quite a bit, so I'm curious what will happen.

There's tons of websites with recipes, gluten free and paleo which is similar I think.

Ctrum69

I have noticed that when I stopped eating gluten a few months ago, my head became more clear. It was recommended I go gluten free because I got the lap-band and have been having difficulty losing weight due to my Fibromyalgia being very reactive to the band and everything else. I have some other auto-immune issues that I am dealing with. So I figured gluten-free couldn't hurt and then logging everything on myfitnesspal would only benefit. When I reintroduced gluten, my stomach became gaseous and hurt. So I think the best bet for me is to stay away from gluten however I didn't know the difference either between gluten-free and wheat free. I think I need to become more educated with all of it. I have a great book called "Food rules" that talks about eating mostly natural grown food and I think this would probably be the most healthiest way of eating (7 ingredients or less, etc). However I also work several jobs and have two kids so I need to be plan-full about what I make so the whole family can enjoy it but be healthy also. Thanks for the responses everyone! I truly appreciate it.

Okay, wheat gluten is a protein. It's a very hard protein to digest. Much like the proteins in dairy, which some people cannot digest. When people cannot digest dairy proteins, they are "lactose intolerant". When people cannot digest gluten proteins, they are gluten intolerant.

That said, many people have managed to re-introduce dairy by eating diets encouraged to increase the enzymes required to break down the dairy proteins, and I suspect the same will be found, over time, with gluten.

my suspicion (purely unscientific, mind you) is that our really lousy diets, coupled with highly processed food sources (bleached, white flour, etc), make it harder for us to digest gluten, and we also get an overabundance of it in our diets, due to it's concentration through things like flour, and gluten being added to products to increase the efficiency of mass production. (If you have ever baked bread, you'll know certain breads call for "vital wheat gluten" to make the dough more elastic, and to rise properly. Now, I'm certain our ancestors did not add "vital wheat gluten" from a baking store when making whole wheat bread.. so they either took more time to do it, or something else has changed in the way we make flour, or what it's composed of).

I think once gluten insensitivity is better understood, it will be a lot like lactose intolerance.

WannabeStressFree

I am somewhat confused, maybe because I am a non-native speaker of English.
How do you all use the word " grain " ? Do you just mean wheat, or do you use it as a catch-all word for all starchy grains and cereals ?
When I did my MA in nutrition at a US university, that is how the word was used and it included wheat and all the grains that are commonly ground into flour to make bread, cereal grains, as well as all oily grains that are usually pressed into oi, as well as legumes and pulses.
Are you advocating that people should avoid all grains, or just wheat, because after all the syndrome is called " wheat belly " and not " grain belly " ?
Not looking for controversy, just for clarification for better understanding.

The speaker at my workshop says gluten is a protein occurring in wheat, rye, and other grains. The body uses energy to break it down which can be too much energy. (reason we feel sleepy after a high carb meal perhaps).

Ctrum69

This is interesting to me, this book was recommended by a speaker at a wellness workshop sponsored at my job.
Apparently Gluten is an energy drainer, as is sugar, too much caffeine, etc.
The wellness center the speaker works at recommends to give it up for about 2 weeks and see how you feel, I'm trying it because my day tends to be very busy and I need more energy.
She explained the basic premise, our current wheat and corn has been genetically modified so much it's not what our grandparents ate, that's a fact (according to her).
So I have already been cooking and eating better, this will be a slight adjustment not an overhaul of my eating.
I tend to bloat quite a bit, so I'm curious what will happen.

There's tons of websites with recipes, gluten free and paleo which is similar I think.

Corn does not contain gluten. And there is very little GM wheat in the American food supply. Theres plenty of bleached, chemically processed wheat flour products, which have tons of other crap added to them, however.

GM is another OMG! when there's little evidence to support the screaming about it. I'm not saying it's good stuff, but there's a LOT of mis and disinformation out about it right now.

Gluten is a protein. Not sure why they'd call it an "energy drainer", other than it uses a fair amount of body energy to actually break down and digest the protein fully (if your body can do it).

I'm curious.. did they do the "coke can under the arm" trick at this seminar, while extolling how sugar is an "energy drainer"?

Ctrum69

I am somewhat confused, maybe because I am a non-native speaker of English.
How do you all use the word " grain " ? Do you just mean wheat, or do you use it as a catch-all word for all starchy grains and cereals ?
When I did my MA in nutrition at a US university, that is how the word was used and it included wheat and all the grains that are commonly ground into flour to make bread, cereal grains, as well as all oily grains that are usually pressed into oi, as well as legumes and pulses.
Are you advocating that people should avoid all grains, or just wheat, because after all the syndrome is called " wheat belly " and not " grain belly " ?
Not looking for controversy, just for clarification for better understanding.

The speaker at my workshop says gluten is a protein occurring in wheat, rye, and other grains. The body uses energy to break it down which can be too much energy. (reason we feel sleepy after a high carb meal perhaps).

The reason you feel sleepy after a big meal is typically that as your body digests a bit meal, it diverts blood to the stomach area, to carry what it's digesting off to the places it needs to be, and this is a totally natural condition. Watch just about any higher order mammal, and they do the same thing. Lions and tigers and bears, (oh my), eat huge meals then sleep. And you seldom see an obese one out there.

Huffpo does a pretty good job with the science (surprisingly)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/22/sleepy-after-eating-a-big-meal-why_n_2171058.html

tigersword

I have noticed that when I stopped eating gluten a few months ago, my head became more clear. It was recommended I go gluten free because I got the lap-band and have been having difficulty losing weight due to my Fibromyalgia being very reactive to the band and everything else. I have some other auto-immune issues that I am dealing with. So I figured gluten-free couldn't hurt and then logging everything on myfitnesspal would only benefit. When I reintroduced gluten, my stomach became gaseous and hurt. So I think the best bet for me is to stay away from gluten however I didn't know the difference either between gluten-free and wheat free. I think I need to become more educated with all of it. I have a great book called "Food rules" that talks about eating mostly natural grown food and I think this would probably be the most healthiest way of eating (7 ingredients or less, etc). However I also work several jobs and have two kids so I need to be plan-full about what I make so the whole family can enjoy it but be healthy also. Thanks for the responses everyone! I truly appreciate it.

Okay, wheat gluten is a protein. It's a very hard protein to digest. Much like the proteins in dairy, which some people cannot digest. When people cannot digest dairy proteins, they are "lactose intolerant". When people cannot digest gluten proteins, they are gluten intolerant.

That said, many people have managed to re-introduce dairy by eating diets encouraged to increase the enzymes required to break down the dairy proteins, and I suspect the same will be found, over time, with gluten.

my suspicion (purely unscientific, mind you) is that our really lousy diets, coupled with highly processed food sources (bleached, white flour, etc), make it harder for us to digest gluten, and we also get an overabundance of it in our diets, due to it's concentration through things like flour, and gluten being added to products to increase the efficiency of mass production. (If you have ever baked bread, you'll know certain breads call for "vital wheat gluten" to make the dough more elastic, and to rise properly. Now, I'm certain our ancestors did not add "vital wheat gluten" from a baking store when making whole wheat bread.. so they either took more time to do it, or something else has changed in the way we make flour, or what it's composed of).

I think once gluten insensitivity is better understood, it will be a lot like lactose intolerance.

Lactose is milk sugar, not milk protein. Lactose intolerant means they can't digest the sugar in milk, not the protein.

Sabine_Stroehm

For me (ymmv): eliminating gluten in the form of breads helps my digestion, and makes my tummy happier.
It also seems to reduce the number of migraines I get.
And FOR ME: eliminating breads in general reduces my munchies and cravings, and makes it easier to maintain a deficit. It simply makes it easier to control my blood sugars. No crashes means fewer over indulgences.

Finally, FOR ME, I do see an actual advantage to eating a lower glycemic diet all the way around. Perhaps the newer pubmed studies suggesting menopause causes insulin resistance in some are correct.

All I know is: cutting back on breads makes my life easier all the way around.

ps: and yes, after a short time without wheat I needed to adjust my belt loop.

Ctrum69

Lactose is milk sugar, not milk protein. Lactose intolerant means they can't digest the sugar in milk, not the protein.

You are, of course, correct. Sorry, typing during first cup of coffee.. transposed words. Derp.

WannabeStressFree

I'm not here to disprove anyone, but considering American eating and lifestyle habits, there's improvements to be made.

I'm not saying I have proof that GM food is bad, but considering that people like me that work hectic work schedules, eating and lifestyle changes can help. This is the workshop's focus.

We all know that excess sugar is bad, excess caffeine is bad, excess carbs that are refined are not good for us. This is a choice some people make and I was mistaken about corn, I grew up on corn and I'm sticking to it, I'm Mexican.

Anyway, there's different takes on this and whatever works for me, works for me. I'm out of this thread, I'm checking out the book Wheat Belly anyways.
xo

smp0723

I was introduced to Wheat Belly by a massage therapist who also has her masters degree in Functional Nutrition. I was having issues with joint pain, specifically in my arm/hand (tendonitius). She told me gluten causes inflammation and inflammation causes pain. Seemed to make sense to me so I decided to give it a shot.

I bought the book and read bits and pieces, read some blogs, etc. and finally decided to give it a try. I went completely wheat free for 2 weeks eating mostly whole foods and increased my meals from 3 to 5. My first "symptom" that went away and was noticeable was my brain fog cleared. It was weird as I didn't know I really had an issue until it was gone. The next thing was my stomach "bloat" was going down very quickly. My pain in my arm/hand also went away within the first week! My rings fit better, my swelling went down. I also lost 8 lbs in those 2 weeks. I felt great and I realized it wasn't going to be as difficult to stick to as I originally thought. I just thought back to what I used to eat as a kid-we didn't have processed foods, pizza, pasta etc. We mostly ate meat, veggies and potatos every night.

I didn't have my family on board with this so I got lazy, stopped planning my meals and went back to eating what they ate, healthy but with wheat/gluten included in the diet. I still only drank water and 1 cup of coffee a day. No junk food. I gained all but 2 lbs back-my "bloat" is back, my arm/hand pain is back. By 3pm I'm in a fog again.

I don't have Celiac and am not diagnosed "gluten sensitive" but wheat and gluten definitely affect my body.

My husband is working with a trainer & "clean eating" and we are in the process of eliminating wheat for good for us and our 9 year old son (he is not on board but he will learn! :laugh: )

I think it makes sense, I proved it works for me and I don't think anyone can say "it's a fad" or "it doesn't work" unless they have tried it themselves. I did it more for health reasons but if it helps me lose the 70+ lbs I need to lose - Win Win!

Good luck!