Doctor's advice? Cut out all wheat products
U.S. cardiologist says destructive dietary ingredient causes rashes, diabetes, colitis and more
Tracey Tufnail, Vancouver Sun, November 14 2011
Modern wheat is highly addictive and worse for diabetics than pure sugar, Davis says, but the most startling of his conclusions is that the destructive immune response caused by gluten sensitivity also affects your brain.
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health
By William Davis M.D.
(Rodale books, $29.99)
Like many cardiologists, Wisconsin-based Dr. William Davis has restored good health to thousands of his patients with his advice on dietary changes to improve the wellbeing of their hearts. Unlike most cardiologists, the diet Davis recommends doesn't comply with any official stamp of nutritional approval.
Yet he seems to get some startling results, not only with the heart and circulatory conditions his patients see him for but also a wide variety of other health complaints, including skin rashes, diabetes, colitis, joint pain and insomnia.
His dietary advice is simple: avoid wheat. All wheat, even that wholegrain or organic stuff everyone tells you is superior and heart healthy. Davis says the world's most popular grain is also the world's most destructive dietary ingredient.
The reasons why are not so simple, however, and rooted in the development of wheat since the middle of last century, and the commendable desire to find a solution for world hunger.
Davis's theory begins with the development of hybridized dwarf and semidwarf strains to increase yield (shorter stalks eliminated the buckling found when fertilizer increased head size). More than 99 per cent of wheat grown worldwide is now from these strains, and the hybridization of two wheat strains was never seen by agricultural scientists as a problem.
After all, you cross a tomato with another tomato and you still get a tomato, right?
Davis says 'wrong;' analysis of hybrid wheat compared to its parent strains shows 95 per cent of the proteins in the offspring are the same, while five per cent are unique and not found in either parent.
It is these unique characteristics that Davis links to what he says is endemic wheat sensitivity (Davis says 70 per cent of those who suffer from wheat sensitivity have no digestive symptoms, scarily enough).
Modern wheat is highly addictive and worse for diabetics than pure sugar, Davis says, but the most startling of his conclusions is that the destructive immune response caused by gluten sensitivity also affects your brain.
Davis links wheat to seizures, dementia and even brain damage.
He tells us that wheat consumption is a major cause of the belly fat that triggers inflammation, an underlying indicator of problems like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. Other health conditions linked to this visceral fat include dementia, rheumatoid arthritis and colon cancer. Cutting out wheat can also improve the symptoms of acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome.
Davis has an amusingly dramatic and colloquial writing style that most readers will appreciate as making science entertaining, and cites 16 pages of studies to back up his theories.
He provides advice on how to go about removing wheat from your diet - the actual diet he recommends goes further afield than wheat, recommending all grain carbohydrates be treated with caution - and where to look for hidden wheat (if you find you are really sensitive to wheat, girls, check the ingredients of your lipstick).
He also includes some recipes, including for bread alternatives, such as wraps. The recipes are not too exciting, but Davis is a cardiologist, remember, not a chef.
So what if you eat a couple of slices of whole wheat toast every morning? Will you get sick?
The good doctor says 'yes' in answer to that question, recently asked on his blog. "Not sick in terms of vomiting and diarrhea. Sick in terms of knee and hip arthritis, acid reflux, diabetic and pre-diabetic sugars, small LDL particles leading to heart attack and stroke, the phenomena of glycationlike cataracts, neurologic impairment like ataxia, peripheral neuropathies, and dementia.
You will likely not even suspect wheat had a role in your deteriorating health. You will, more than likely, just wither away and spend eternity in the great wheat field in the sky."
"But I couldn't give up wheat," I hear you cry.
In our processed, time-crunched world, it isn't easy, I'll give you that. It takes a mind-shift.
I know. I gave up eating it in July, coincidentally several weeks before I even heard about this book. I have lost 23 pounds and had a marked improvement in my arthritis pain. Wheat-free feels so good I doubt I will ever go back.
Davis isn't a lone voice in the nutritional wilderness; he is just the loudest and latest to question the food pyramid paradigm's relevance to modern health, particularly in relation to the obesity and diabetes epidemics.
It's pretty obvious to me that the ways we have been combating these problems until now are not working, just as I know first-hand that following a low-fat, high-grain weight loss diet doesn't work for me, no matter how meagre the calorie allowance or how many miles I walk.
And I doubt I am unique in that.
Davis doesn't claim all obesity stems from the consumption of wheat, but he provides a compelling explanation of why some people can't lose weight by following official nutrition guidelines.
If you are overweight, feel unhealthy, or simply want to pursue good health, it is worth giving it a whirl.
Davis suggests after five days wheatfree any withdrawal symptoms should disappear and you should start feeling better (for me it only took three).
After all, what do you have to lose except your wheat belly, bagel butt or biscuit face?
Tracey Tufnail is a 46-year-old, obese Vancouver Sun journalist, occasional restaurant critic and diehard foodie who is successfully losing weight by completely ignoring the food pyramid. Follow her nutritional adventures - and misadventures - in The Defiant Dieter blog at blogs.vancouversun.com/defiantdieter
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I changed my diet and eating habits in July this year. I also started working out much more regularly (weights and biking). I spoke to a few people who do CrossFit and who abide by the "Paleo Diet for Athletes." I don't buy in 100% but I eat smaller portions, have really minimized the carbs and sugars and have increased my fruit intake (those lower on the glycemic index) and raw (and cooked) vegetable portions. I feel way better. I craved carbs for the first 3-4 weeks, but I don't anymore. In fact, I feel a bit sick when I eat them now. (I used to eat lots of pasta everyday... one of those habits from hockey and cycling... plus they are cheaper to buy and easy to make.) I think there is something to the latest research about wheat, etc. Without totally busting my ass, I have dropped 18 pounds in three months and I feel much better!
Former NHLer Gary Roberts prolonged career thanks to lifestyle change
The Canadian Press, May 1 2012
TORONTO - Gary Roberts looked in the mirror one morning and didn't like what he saw.
Staring back at him was a 30-year-old, retired and unhappy hockey player. It was at that moment he realized a change was needed.
It's a decision that led him to not only a healthier life, but helped him resume his NHL career and play 11 more seasons.
Now, the 45-year-old passes on those same lifestyle choices and fitness routines to a younger generation.
Roberts trains current NHLers in the off-season and will take part in a mentorship program with 42 of the country's top bantam-age players for the second straight summer.
But it wasn't always like that. Roberts thought his career was over after the 1995-96 season—he was a former Stanley Cup champion with a serious neck injury and no future on the ice.
"I was at that point in my life where I was feeling sorry for myself and trying to get through life at 30 years old, going 'Wow if I continue this lifestyle I'm not going to be a very healthy guy when I'm 40 or 50,'" Roberts said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
He says his initial goal wasn't to resume his career, but to get his life back on track.
"I was 30 years old and saying 'OK I don't have to work out anymore and I don't have to play hockey anymore and I can just have a good time,'" Roberts said. "I was having too good a time and just woke up one day and made a decision that I didn't like that lifestyle very much and I changed it."
Roberts, who played 10 seasons with Calgary and won the Cup in 1989, started by going to a chiropractor for his neck injury.
"I thought that I had done everything I could to prolong my career but realized that there was more information out there and more opinions out there," Roberts said. "I started doing research and all of a sudden my neck got healthy and I was able to start training.
After a year off from the game, he returned to the ice 20 pounds heavier and an more able to play his rough style throughout a gruelling NHL season.
Roberts played 21 seasons in all with Calgary, Carolina, Toronto, Florida, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, recording 438 goals and 472 assists in 1224 games. He added 93 points (32-61) in 130 career playoff games.
Although his playing days are done, he now trains many current NHLers, including Steven Stamkos, Jeff Skinner, Stephen Weiss, Cody Hodgson and James Neal.
"I'm trying to get these young players that information on healthy nutrition, proper training, proper regeneration and giving them the tools," said Roberts, who has also teamed up for the mentorship program for top bantam players put on by the NHLPA and All-State.
He hopes to start passing on information about health living to the youngsters at the camp, which runs from July 17-21 in Mississauga, Ont.
"At (14 and 15 years old) players are ready to start saying 'OK if I want to be a hockey player, whether professionally or to get my education, I need to start paying more attention to the things I do away from the rink,'" Roberts said.
Some of the players at the camp may not know much about Roberts' career, but they've definitely watched his star pupil.
Stamkos has trained with Roberts since the two played together in Tampa Bay during Stamkos's rookie season.
The 22-year-old sniper spends his summer training with Roberts and scored 60 goals this season.
"I enjoy trying to get these players to just buy in. If they buy into just half of what I tell them, they're going to be better off for it," Roberts said. "You talk to these NHL players about the time we spend with them in the summer improving their overall game and a lot of it has to do with lifestyle choices."
Skinner also works with Roberts and won the rookie of the year with the Carolina Hurricanes as an 18 year old.
"(Skinner) was one of the first guys that I know was eating healthy and living right at 14 and 15 and he won a rookie of the year at 18," Roberts said. "When you put the whole package together—the training, the nutrition, the lifestyle with a guy with skill and ability, you get rookies of the year in the National Hockey League.
Although Roberts only trains hockey players, he says the lifestyle choices he preaches can apply to everyone.
He's also living proof.
"Eat healthy and be active," Roberts said. "If that's all you have, it still goes a lot further than any other program that I've seen."
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Game Intelligence Training
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