The Discussion On Wheat

Dr. William Davis has published his book “Wheat Belly” and expected much of the outcry from the wheat industry. The wheat industry is coming out swinging and is pushing wheat with the all the medical associations and anyone that will listen. They are also under other pressures because of the gluten-free requirements of celiac disease and the latest gluten-free fad that is sweeping the country.

For me it will be interesting to see the damage control program they develop, or if they are going into panic mode and will make statements that are easy to disprove. So far it seems to be the latter.

Quote Cutting out one specific food is not only unrealistic, it is dangerous. Omitting wheat entirely removes the essential (and disease-fighting!) nutrients it provides including fiber, antioxidants, iron, and B vitamins. Unquote

Omitting wheat entirely does not remove nutrients and fiber, antioxidants, iron, and B vitamins from our diet. There are more and better sources for these so this statement begs the question of - what are they thinking? It is easy to replace these nutrients with foods that are more nutritional and contain a lot fewer carbohydrates.

Then they cite the USDA nutrition guidelines as if they are the gold standard. Many people may believe this, but it is far from the gold standard for nutrition. Dietitians and nutritionists can be wrong and the United States Department of Agriculture is for farmers so they cannot say otherwise than to recommend grains for our diets.

The blog posted at the Grain Foods Foundation ends by saying: Quote So, let common sense prevail. When it comes to nutrition advice, look to the real experts and remember that weight control is all about one key equation: calories in must equal calories out. Unquote

When they say look to the real experts, why don't they name them? And where did they dream up the statement – calories in must equal calories out? If they truly believed this they would realize that wheat calories recommended by the unnamed experts often exceeds what people need and this is why wheat is a contributor to the obesity epidemic. To undo the damage from wheat and shed the weight, calories in needs to be less than calories out.

As a person with type 2 diabetes, I need to shed some weight and I am finding that reducing my wheat intake will do what I need to reduce the carbohydrate limit to help me. Do I believe that reducing the amount of wheat or eliminating wheat from my diet will make diabetes better? No, but it will help in the management of diabetes like the elimination of corn products and especially high fructose corn syrup from my diet helped make my management of diabetes considerably easier.

With the number of people with testimonials of wheat elimination to Dr. Davis's blog and to the blog by Tom Naughton, the stage is set to show people that wheat is a large component of our health problems. Take the time to read these blogs by Dr Davis also.

Since writing this Tom Naughton has had a two-part interview with Dr. Davis and you may read them here and here.