Wheat Belly diet

There is no test I'm aware of for lactose intolerance, yet it's accepted as a fact. So why is gluten intolerance blown off as a fad when so many people have adverse effects of consuming gluten? Just because it can't be seen under a microscope does not mean it doesn't exist. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence".

If you can drink milk without adverse effects, drink milk. If you can't drink milk without adverse effects don't drink milk.
If you can eat gluten without adverse effects, eat gluten. If you can't eat gluten without adverse effects don't eat gluten.

It's no reason to dismiss someone else's discomfort because another person doesn't experience it and there are no "studies". Studies are often bull**** anyway.

There are 5 separate tests to determine lactose intolerance. Everything from an elimination diet style thing up to an intestinal biopsy. Just as there are tests for gluten intolerance. There is no magic for food intolerances. If you feel like a magic snowflake when you cut out your morning muffin, then by all means go for it, but don't lump yourself in with people who end up in the damn hospital if they breathe too hard near the Mini Wheats.

Also, lactose is a sugar, and not a protein -Ose <<sugar. Lactose intolerance just means you don't produce the enzyme to brake the sugar down.

wheat is the devil.....

not all rules apply to all people...I am a low carber so that is where my opinions come from.....works for me...

maybe not you....

so like they say..opinions are like *kitten* ho#@s...everybody has one and they are all different...

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.

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.

Re: "unless you're medically diagnosed" - That would help if non-Celiac gluten intolerance were diagnosable via blood tests, and if the Celiac tests tested for all of the gluten proteins in grains, not just some of them. It would also help if the people who actually did have Celiac, but presented slightly differently than the (stereo)typical reactions, would be taken seriously by doctors and didn't have to go through half a dozen just to get the blood tests done to begin with. As it stands, somewhere in the range of 90% of the people who have full-blown Celiac remain undiagnosed, and the people with NCGI, even if they do get tested, are told they're fine, and may even be told that it's all in their head...if their doctor even bothers to so much as entertain the idea that their IBS, eczema, RA, Fibro, brain fog, constant sick feeling, etc. might be related to some level of gluten intolerance.

However, NCGI and the less extreme forms of gluten sensitivity, are diagnosed through...*drumroll* eliminating the gluten grains for a while and seeing how you respond to both the removal and the reintroduction. While this would need to be done under the "supervision" of a doctor in order to get a diagnosis, that's not really required to simply see how you feel. "You don't know what you've got, till it's gone," works both ways - the quote talks about not appreciating something positive until you lose it, but it also works in the sense that you don't know how low your quality of life is until you make a change that improves it (drastically, in at least some cases), if you've been living with a sensitivity that you didn't initially know you had. The body's funny about coping with things like that.

Now, while it is correct that going gluten free doesn't "magically" break the CICO rule, it can have other effects, especially if you find you do have some level of sensitivity, and those effects can make it easier to do things like stay in a caloric deficit, or be more active. It's amazing how much better you can do, when you're not inexplicably exhausted, or in pain due to an inflammation disorder, or feel like you have to constantly be in arm's reach of a bathroom.

I had to go gluten free after finding out i have a sensitivity to gluten. My doctor recommended I read Wheat Belly, and that pretty much really helped to change my mind about wheat. It honestly hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be, but be prepared as it is a lifestyle change. Wheat is in EVERYTHING and half the time it is so unnecessary. Best of luck!

Thanks for posting this discussion, I haven't tried it but interested to see what others think.

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!

I cannot understand why Bleu cheese would be an issue.

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

On the other hand, it will do absolutely no harm to cut out gluten. Grains aren't particularly nutritious--even whole grains--and there's no nutrient in wheat that you can't get easily from other foods. You do have to watch out for hidden sources of gluten in processed foods, condiments, even some OTC medicines. If you don't notice any difference after several weeks on a gluten-free diet, then go back to eating grains. No problem.

Right, so mesolithic people started storing huge quantities of "worthless foods" and neolithic people started actually cultivating "worthless foods" because of course people put that much effort into securing their supply of "worthless foods"

No. It was an extremely valuable food to them because it guaranteed they'd have enough to survive the winter in environments where hunting and gathering didn't do that. (i.e. there was no guarantee they could hunt and gather enough to survive the winter). It didn't just give them much needed carbohydrate (higher activity levels back then n all that) it also gave them a lot of micronutrients and fibre too, because grains are nutritious foods. Eating nothing but grains would be unhealthy because that's an unbalanced diet and they don't contain sufficient quantities of all 8 essential amino acids, but that doesn't mean they provide no nutrition at all.

Just because people *can* survive without a particular food, does not mean it's worthless. Vegans can survive without animal products, does that make animal products worthless?

Just because a lot of modern people overeat on something to the point that it damages their health, that doesn't make it a worthless food or inherently damaging. And a lot of modern people overeat on pretty much everything. People need to learn portion control and need to be more active, that is all. Too much of anything can harm you. Too much vitamin A can kill you. But some vitamin A in the diet is essential to health.

There are 5 separate tests to determine lactose intolerance. Everything from an elimination diet style thing up to an intestinal biopsy. Just as there are tests for gluten intolerance. There is no magic for food intolerances. If you feel like a magic snowflake when you cut out your morning muffin, then by all means go for it, but don't lump yourself in with people who end up in the damn hospital if they breathe too hard near the Mini Wheats.

Also, lactose is a sugar, and not a protein -Ose <<sugar. Lactose intolerance just means you don't produce the enzyme to break the sugar down.

>>>Edit for spelling.

In NFCA’s webcast, Dr. Guandalini states:
“As a matter of fact, right now, they are to say that there is absolutely no biological readout that is no way can this diagnosis can be supported by any laboratory investigation. No antibodies in the blood are specific enough, or sensitive enough, for this condition. No antibodies in the stools can be utilized to diagnose or screen for this condition.”
Dr. Fasano also touched on this topic and stated that his team is currently conducting research to identify biomarkers that may help to test for and diagnose non-celiac gluten sensitivity:
“…as Dr. Guandalini explained when the only way to make a diagnosis of gluten sensitivity is by exclusionary criteria since we do not have tests that will point in that direction. And that’s where our current efforts are all about. Now that we understand that it is a different entity we want to make sure that we can eventually identify the biomarkers for this condition, and we’re doing a double blind study to identify the biomarkers that will eventually fill the gap that Dr. Guandalini was alluding to.”

I do a stricter version of the Wheat Belly diet. I eat low-carb and cut out wheat and sugar completely, and it has done WONDERS for my energy, weight, and mood. My cravings and appetite have been drastically reduced, and my depression/anxiety have reversed as a result of my diet. Wheat is POISON, and I only wish it was never in my diet in the first place! I highly recommend reading the book and cutting wheat out of your diet asap. It will change your life for the better!

This is how other people on low carb diets get a bad wrap.....

:flowerforyou:

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.

This is the best response I've seen.