Minnesota-trained geneticist developed a hybridized strain of high-yielding dwarf wheat. By 1985, all wheat prod- ucts were made from the altered dwarf strain, which now comprises 99 percent of all wheat grown worldwide. By weight, this modern wheat is approximately 70 percent carbohy- drate, in a highly digestible form of a starch known as amylopectin A, which converts more easily to blood sugar than nearly all other simple or complex food carbohydrates. Gram-for-gram, wheat increases blood sugar and causes insulin problems to a greater degree than even potato chips or table sugar. Wheat, which now typically com-


prises 20 percent of all the calories we consume, is in hundreds of prepared foods such as instant soups, salad dress- ings, candy and granola. In 1970, this wasn’t true. Wheat was only in such foods as bread, rolls, cookies and cake, and it was in a natural form.


How does a wheat-dominated diet compromise health?


Eating a wheat-based cereal for breakfast, wheat crackers and pretzels for snacks, two slices of whole wheat


bread for lunch and whole wheat pasta for dinner results in too much expo- sure to amylopectin A, and repeated spikes in blood sugar levels. This leads to insulin resistance and cultivates the growth of visceral fat in the abdomen, which tends toward diabetes and other inflammatory responses. Even worse, the gliadin protein


in wheat is an opiate that stimulates appetite and addictive eating behavior (it does not relieve pain). All this plus the direct intestinal toxic effects of the wheat germ agglutinin protein in wheat add up to a destructive ingredient that spurs acid reflux, bowel urgency and irritable bowel syndrome, and leads to inflammation in various organs.


Describe how eliminating wheat has affected you.


Thirty pounds ago, I was an enthusiastic consumer of “healthy whole grains,” who relied on pots of coffee or walking and other exercise to maintain focus and energy. My cholesterol values reflected my wheat-consuming habits: HDL 27 mg/dl [milligrams per deciliter of good cholesterol] (very low), triglyc- erides 350 mg/dl (very high), and blood


sugars in the diabetic range (161 mg/ dl). I had high blood pressure of 150/90 and excess weight around my middle. Eliminating wheat from my diet


reversed all of these conditions without drugs, including the struggle to main- tain attention and focus. Overall, I feel better today at 54 than I felt at 30.


Are gluten-free foods the answer?


Commercially produced gluten-free foods made with tapioca, cornstarch or rice starch—all poor replacements for wheat—are destructive to the body. Homemade or locally made gluten-free foods absent such ingredients are bet- ter, as are the free recipes available via WheatBellyBlog.com. Millet, quinoa and amaranth, whole


grains that lack most of the undesirable properties of modern wheat, are better but not necessarily safe in unlimited quantities because most people today have spent their lives overexposed to carbohydrates. Eating only small por- tions of these non-wheat grains is key.


For more information visit WheatBellyBlog.com.


natural awakenings


September 2012


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