Wheat is Making You Fat and is Slowly Killing You

Take everything you've heard about whole wheat and throw it out the window immediately. Wheat is not a healthy food, it's making you fat, and your digestive tract hates you for eating it, according to the author of the New York Times best-selling book, Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health (Rodale, 2011).
It makes you gain weight so how—and when—did this ancient grain become such a serious health threat? Author and preventive cardiologist William Davis, MD, says it's when big agriculture stepped in decades ago to develop a higher-yielding crop.
Today's "wheat," he says, isn't even wheat, thanks to some of the most intense crossbreeding efforts ever seen. "The wheat products sold to you today are nothing like the wheat products of our grandmother's age, very different from the wheat of the early 20th Century, and completely transformed from the wheat of the Bible and earlier," he says.
Plant breeders changed wheat in dramatic ways. Once more than four feet tall, modern wheat—the type grown in 99 percent of wheat fields around the world—is now a stocky two-foot-tall plant with an unusually large seed head.
So what does this plant science have to do with what's ailing us? Intense crossbreeding created significant changes in the amino acids in wheat's gluten proteins, a potential cause for the 400 percent increase in celiac disease over the past 40 years. Wheat's gliadin protein has also undergone changes, with what appears to be a dire consequence. "Compared to its pre-1960s predecessor, modern gliadin is a potent appetite stimulant," explains Dr. Davis. "The new gliadin proteins may also account for the explosion in inflammatory diseases we're seeing." The appetite-stimulating properties of modern wheat most likely occurred as an accidental by-product of largely unregulated plant breeding methods, Dr. Davis explains. But he charges that it's impact on inflammatory diseases may have something to do with the fact that, in the past 15 years, it's been showing up in more and more processed foods. Wheat ingredients are now found in bread,flour,biscuit,pastries etc. (Note: wheat flour is one of the cheapest, so it's ideal for mass production) and you never really get satisfied after eating it thereby making you addicted to it. As if making you hungrier wasn't enough, early evidence suggests that modern wheat's new biochemical code causes hormone disruption that is linked to diabetes and obesity. "It is not my contention that it is in everyone's best interest to cut back on wheat; it is my belief that complete elimination is in everyone's best health interests," says Dr. Davis, "In my view, that's how bad this thing called 'wheat' has become." When Dr. Davis' patients eliminate wheat from their diet, the outcomes are often dramatic, with many losing as much as 20 pounds during the first month. He reports that patients experience relief from acid reflux, esophagitis, gas, cramps, and diarrhea stemming from irritable bowel syndrome after ditching wheat. Joint swelling and pain are often completely eliminated, he says, and patients report improvements in everything from asthma and skin conditions to Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Rye, barley, and oats share some of the same properties of wheat because they all contain gluten-like proteins. Dr. Davis urges his patients to opt for non-wheat grains like quinoa, buckwheat, millet, and wild rice, but in smaller quantities (less than half a cup) to avoid triggering high blood sugar. Tell your loved ones especially those trying to shade off some weight that wheat is a no no. My mom is a living testimony. In my cause of research I stumbled on this piece of information and I inform her immediately. She's not eaten wheat since then, that's like in 3months and she has lost weight drastically. The joint cramps, all gone. There are lots of other healthy substitude, certainly, wheat is not one of them. I'll recommend white garri for those who can't do without swallow. For more healthy diet send me a mail. For more info click here
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