Anybody read/try "Wheat Belly"

skinnyfat14

I've been hearing a lot about this book lately so I decided today that I would purchase it. I haven't started reading it yet, however I'm curious to know people's thoughts on it.

Fit_French

I haven't read it but I follow the paleo lifestyle about 90% of the time which I heard was close to being the same. Cutting out the grains REALLY cut down on my bloating as well as the majority of dairy. It hasn't done much else besides cut out the bloat. Some people say they get more energy or whatever but that wasn't the case for me!

skinnyfat14

I haven't read it but I follow the paleo lifestyle about 90% of the time which I heard was close to being the same. Cutting out the grains REALLY cut down on my bloating as well as the majority of dairy. It hasn't done much else besides cut out the bloat. Some people say they get more energy or whatever but that wasn't the case for me!

Thank you!! what type of dairy do you have to cut out on paleo?

Bernadette60614

My DH has a gluten sensitivity and when he cuts out gluten (which is included in a lot of grains), he immediately begins to lose weight.

I don't think that wheat is the curse of civilization, but when I think about foods containing wheat (and/or gluten) they are very often processed foods.

skinnyfat14

Yes I agree, it is all very processed. I plan on trying for at least 2 weeks to not eat processed foods and stick to more vegetables, fruit, meat and a little dairy and see if it helps.

sailrunner

I just read it. Found it was interesting.

Pretty interesting research that the wheat we eat today is very different from the grain called wheat of only 100 years ago.

I had noticed that I didn't feel as good when I ate much wheat - mostly bread for me - tho some pastry like scones..
It did seem to trigger an addictive reaction for me. More than once I ate more than half a loaf of bread tho I wasn't really hungry.

the past week I only had wheat in two slices of pizza; no bread or pastry AND I went 7 days without a binge.

I'm not willing to eliminate all grains tho I'm cutting back.

Love to hear of other people's experience eliminating or cutting way back.

LeenaRuns

I've been primal for about five months now. I'm currently reading Wheat Belly (don't have a lot of time to read in general) and think the principles are good.

skinnyfat14

I've been primal for about five months now. I'm currently reading Wheat Belly (don't have a lot of time to read in general) and think the principles are good.

what do you mean by primal? Have you noticed much difference when changing your diet?

skinnyfat14

I just read it. Found it was interesting.

Pretty interesting research that the wheat we eat today is very different from the grain called wheat of only 100 years ago.

I had noticed that I didn't feel as good when I ate much wheat - mostly bread for me - tho some pastry like scones..
It did seem to trigger an addictive reaction for me. More than once I ate more than half a loaf of bread tho I wasn't really hungry.

the past week I only had wheat in two slices of pizza; no bread or pastry AND I went 7 days without a binge.

I'm not willing to eliminate all grains tho I'm cutting back.

Love to hear of other people's experience eliminating or cutting way back.

It would definetly be diffuclt to cut it out completely but I'm going to try my hardest. I've been getting really frustrated lately because I've been trying to lose these 15 pounds or so for a while. I also go through a lot of bread. I buy a loaf of whole wheat weekly to keep at work to have with peanut butter thinking I am being healthy by buying whole wheat but maybe not.

ukgirly01

Go to www.marksdailyapple.com it explains all about primal. I love it I've seen great results.

bethanylaugh

I just read the Perfect Health Diet which is similar to Paleo/Primal (it's Paleo based with a few other points). I never though I would be convinced to give up gluten and sugar, but that book totally convinced me and I've heard similar things about Wheatbelly. It's only been about 2 weeks for me and I feel amazing!

KellySue67

I just started it so I haven't formed any real opinions yet, but I have to agree that I did find it interesting how wheat has been altered so much over the last 50 years. I had no idea. I'm not sure I could totally eliminate it from my diet though. I like my pizza and english muffins.

darkestdayz

I'm doing Keto, which pretty much removes wheat from the food equation for me, along with most carbs. I feel 100% better eating this way and it simplifies things for me. The less I have to think about what I'm eating, the better off I am.

Acg67

Fast forward to the last min or so if you don't want to watch the whole thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ucxeiyjpg

Also

http://noglutennoproblem.blogspot.com/2012/03/wheat-belly-busted.html

vivaldirules

Some of what I've heard (I haven't read it yet) makes sense to me but, at least personally, it conflicts with the fact that I love wheat, have no physical problems with it, and seem to lose weight just fine (I'm averaging 7 pounds per month for months) eating things like whole wheat toast or a bowl of bulgur wheat with grilled chicken on it (love it, love it, love it!) fairly often. I don't eat pizza or sandwiches or burgers unless they are bunless but that's just because bread is dense with calories and unnecessary for those meals. But maybe it depends on the person.

dorianaldyn

Well, from the looks of it I'll be against the grain here, but I quite enjoy my whole grains and have no desire or reason to give them up. I successfully lost weight by simply watching my overall calories. The only really good thing I see about the whole primal/paleo movement is the elimination of processed foods. But, in general, I think paleo is a fad that will go the same way atkins and all the other diet fads went before it.

SleeplessinBerlin

I haven't read it but I follow the paleo lifestyle about 90% of the time which I heard was close to being the same. Cutting out the grains REALLY cut down on my bloating as well as the majority of dairy. It hasn't done much else besides cut out the bloat. Some people say they get more energy or whatever but that wasn't the case for me!

I decided to give up wheat for 3 weeks. They just passed. My experience was very similar to the one described above: no dramatic weight loss but there was definitely a difference in my bloating which resulted in a slightly flatter stomach.

My main problem is bread. If I bake it or buy it, I tend to eat it for breakfast AND dinner because it's the easiest and the simplest solution. This leads to eating less protein and veggies. So I'll do my best to avoid doing it. However, in those 3 weeks I really got into baking with coconut flour and I am slowly learning to bake with almond flour as well. I really enjoy the results and may replace all my wheat based recipes with the gluten free ones. If I can eat yummy gluten free pancakes loaded with fiber and protein, why go for the wheat version? And if I can bake yummy wheat free muffins, why not stick with them?

I love pasta, too, and the only kind that I liked so far was the buckwheat one (pasta made of rice flour tastes terrible imo). But I'm fine with having regular pasta once in a while.

luckyjuls

I've read it and tried it and come right back around to eating wheat. It was making me miserable. But to each their own.

BarbieAS

I've read it. I have a somewhat mixed opinion.

On one hand, I feel like it was 100% circumstantial "evidence." He presented this HUGE case about how wheat has changed over the years. Ok, I can buy that. Then he jumped straight into all the ways he believes that wheat can damage your body...but while he seemed to give some science about how the damage occurs, he totally lacked any scientific explanation for why "modern" wheat would be processed in your body any differently than "ancient" wheat past that the DNA is different. That made me immediately suspicious - it didn't make any sense to me how the human body can be so sensitive to the DNA in wheat while not having any issue with other plant or animal DNA, given the extraordinarily wide variety of foods in the human diet.

Additionally, he basically took a South Beach/Atkins/keto-style diet and packaged it up in his "wheat free" claims. He spent however many pages talking about all the reasons WHEAT is bad, then you get to his diet recommendations at the end of the book and it's "don't eat wheat....oh yeah, and by the way, don't eat any other carbs, either." Well, OF COURSE his patients are going to drop significant weight in the first 4 weeks or so. That's what happens on a low carb diet - you drop a crap-ton of water weight. Again, suspicious.

BUT...I have recently eliminated wheat from my diet, along with most other grains. Not because of the book (I actually read it after I started down that path, simply out of curiosity), but because they're just trigger foods for me and I wanted to see what would happen. The weight is coming off at about the same pace you'd expect based on my deficit...but I do have to say that my joints (I have had degenerative arthritis in my knees and spine since high school) feel better than they have in years and the small amount of acne I get periodically as a 32 year old has totally gone away. I've been doing that for 7 or 8 weeks now...in the middle of that I did go for a week or two where a small amount of wheat sneaked back into my diet in the form of a few crackers here, a bit of bread there, etc...and immediately my pain and acne returned. A week or so of elimination again took care of it.

So, in conclusion...is my personal experience totally coincidental, and really due to just better eating overall, working out, the weather, whatever? Maybe. Do I believe everything he says? No way. But, I think I'll continue down the path I'm on for as long as I can, because I feel and look better, and that's what counts.

singer201

I got the Wheat Belly book after reading Gary Taubes' "Good Calories, Bad Calories" and following Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint for a little over two years.. They all point out that the wheat we're eating now is very different from even 50 years ago, and we're eating much more of it (it's in nearly every processed food!). When I cut wheat from my diet (BIG bread baker and eater!), my severe acid reflux/GERD resolved, my joint pain (knees and thumbs) was much reduced, my lipid profile improved, AND I lost weight by reducing my total carb intake. You won't lose if you just replace wheat products with other high-carb gluten-free substitutes.

KtotheD78

For me, it has more to do with carbs than anything else unless you truly have a tolerance issue. By reducing or eliminating bad carbs, you end up eating less and craving less "naughty" food. The bloat does go away and you do lose weight. Again, maintaining a wheat belly or paleo diet can be difficult for some and in my case, unnecessary but I do agree with this poster - to reduce carb intake!

skinnyfat14

I bought the book yesterday just past lunch time and I had already eaten quite a bit of wheat. Dinner time I decided to cut it out and I had a chicken and meat skewer and some hummus and today I actually feel a littler flatter in the tummy. Not drastically but I do feel a small difference.

neanderthin

Fast forward to the last min or so if you don't want to watch the whole thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ucxeiyjpg

Also

http://noglutennoproblem.blogspot.com/2012/03/wheat-belly-busted.html

You mean wheat isn't the only thing he wants us to give up, say it isn't so. That would mean it's just another low carb diet book. If I was an actual celiac or gluten intolerant I'd be pretty pissed off with the obvious scam to sell books.

kyylieeeeee

It's been on my "to-read" list for a little while now. I personally cut out wheat in October 2012, because I was throwing up almost every single day and could find no other triggers. A few weeks after I cut out wheat, I stopped getting sick. Then I went to Germany for vacation, and there was no way I was going to pass up beer and sandwiches! And I felt awesome the entire time, eating nothing but beer and bread and donuts. So when I came back to the States, I thought "hm, maybe it wasn't the wheat after all," so I had a small serving of mac and cheese-- and couldn't go to work for 2 days because I got so sick.
I don't know what this means, but it has convinced me (with only my personal circumstantial evidence) that we do something really weird to our wheat here in the US. Since that incident, I stick to the occasional beer and will have wheat only in the smallest quantities if it's truly unavoidable.
ETA: I haven't lost any weight during these 6 months, but I sure do feel better overall.

CoachReddy

Fast forward to the last min or so if you don't want to watch the whole thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ucxeiyjpg

Also

http://noglutennoproblem.blogspot.com/2012/03/wheat-belly-busted.html

And those are more credible? Biased post is biased.

sleepingtodream

I haven't read the book but know someone who is following the guidelines and one of the things she's most happy about is that her psoriasis (severe) has cleared up nearly completely!

bethanylaugh

There are lots of anti-gluten diets that allow and encourage other safer carbs like root veggies (potatoes) and white rice so they are just Atkins re-vamped, they're sustainable lifelong diets! I would encourage you to read up on a few options before cutting carbs completely (assuming that's what wheat belly says?), there's lots of evidence that your brain and body need safe carbs and also lots of evidence that wheat isn't the best way to get those carbs... but you have to come to the decision on your own after being convinced or else you'll never be able to make the diet decisions you make permanent :-)

There's also evidence for cutting lots of other things out of your diet that have only appeared in the last 50 years or so... but, baby steps! Make small changes and if you find they're working, make some more!

Jchambers1130

I just read the Perfect Health Diet which is similar to Paleo/Primal (it's Paleo based with a few other points). I never though I would be convinced to give up gluten and sugar, but that book totally convinced me and I've heard similar things about Wheatbelly. It's only been about 2 weeks for me and I feel amazing!

But your profile pic is you with a beer....ironic :huh:

sailrunner

I just read it. Found it was interesting.

Pretty interesting research that the wheat we eat today is very different from the grain called wheat of only 100 years ago.

I had noticed that I didn't feel as good when I ate much wheat - mostly bread for me - tho some pastry like scones..
It did seem to trigger an addictive reaction for me. More than once I ate more than half a loaf of bread tho I wasn't really hungry.

the past week I only had wheat in two slices of pizza; no bread or pastry AND I went 7 days without a binge.

I'm not willing to eliminate all grains tho I'm cutting back.

Love to hear of other people's experience eliminating or cutting way back.

It would definetly be diffuclt to cut it out completely but I'm going to try my hardest. I've been getting really frustrated lately because I've been trying to lose these 15 pounds or so for a while. I also go through a lot of bread. I buy a loaf of whole wheat weekly to keep at work to have with peanut butter thinking I am being healthy by buying whole wheat but maybe not.

sailrunner

The author says that most of us bought into the idea that whole wheat was healthy (I did) and that the way wheat is now isn't healthy - ( it may be that Europe has a different type of wheat) He cites lots of research as well as anecdotal stories of illnesses eliminated and weight lost.
I have NOT eliminated whole food carbs but have cut out virtually all wheat bread and I'm feeling better and have been binge free. You may want to also cut wheat completely and see what it does for you. I've been using celery and carrots for peanut and almond butter and hummus.





I just read it. Found it was interesting.

Pretty interesting research that the wheat we eat today is very different from the grain called wheat of only 100 years ago.

I had noticed that I didn't feel as good when I ate much wheat - mostly bread for me - tho some pastry like scones..
It did seem to trigger an addictive reaction for me. More than once I ate more than half a loaf of bread tho I wasn't really hungry.

the past week I only had wheat in two slices of pizza; no bread or pastry AND I went 7 days without a binge.

I'm not willing to eliminate all grains tho I'm cutting back.

Love to hear of other people's experience eliminating or cutting way back.
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It would definetly be diffuclt to cut it out completely but I'm going to try my hardest. I've been getting really frustrated lately because I've been trying to lose these 15 pounds or so for a while. I also go through a lot of bread. I buy a loaf of whole wheat weekly to keep at work to have with peanut butter thinking I am being healthy by buying whole wheat but maybe not.
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Lyadeia

I've been hearing a lot about this book lately so I decided today that I would purchase it. I haven't started reading it yet, however I'm curious to know people's thoughts on it.

My thoughts about it include things like "this is propaganda BS filled with pseudo-science and debunked myths re-surfaced and packaged so some dude can make money off of us through the use of fear mongering concerning entire food groups."

Unless you have a real allergy to wheat, there's no need to cut it from your diet. I'm in the best shape of my life right now and I have pasta and other wheat products nearly everyday.