William Davis MD Author of Wheat Belly with Jo-Ann Blondin Holistic Nutritionist

Hello Wheat Belly,

It is time you moved on old Wheat Belly.  I don’t enjoy you making my pants tight and my control top tights are really making it hard to breathe when you are around.

Sound familiar?  This was me 2 years ago. I would enjoy bread or beer and I grew what the hubby and I affectionately call a “Tremendous Deer Gut” (Gary Larson’s The Far Side humour).  Out of now where, my gut would grow – like I had a baby bump or as I heard at a conference recently a “food baby”.  Not good if you spent the whole week eating well to look good in an outfit and after a beer a food baby appears.  Yikes, “did you see that preggers lady drinking the beer”.  Funny, but it never occurred to me that if I stopped consuming wheat and gluten, my deer gut would go away.  That is until I stopped and it did.

Well it turns out, I am not alone.  Many of you have heard of Wheat Belly and if you are like me, picked up the book at Costco or Amazon or a favourite bookseller like Blue Heron Books and read the intro and put it on your bookshelf to read when you had a moment.  Or maybe you took it out from the library and skimmed it and got the concept:

Stop Eating Wheat and Gluten.

So when I got invited to a media/blogger event with William Davis, MD author of Wheat Belly and Julie Daniluk author of Meals That Heal Inflammation, I knew that quick skim was not going to cut it so I read the book cover to cover over two days.    I made the time to really understand what is going on in the body when one consumes wheat.

It comes down to three things

1. Wheat is really sugar.  2 slices of whole wheat bread =1 can sugar sweetened soda = a sugary candy bar
2. Wheat is highly addictive and is very hard to remove from the diet
3. Many people create an immune response to the proteins in wheat

Man Boobs, Wheat Belly and Breast Cancer

When you eat wheat, it causes your blood sugar to go up, which your body responds by releasing insulin.  When lots of insulin is released due to eating foods that raise blood sugar, fats gets deposited – particularly in the abdominal as deep visceral fat.  This visceral fat likes to surround your organs and actually becomes its own estrogen producing factory.  A Wheat Belly or visceral fat is responsible to producing estrogen that creates man boobs and for women, increases the risk of breast cancer fourfold.

Addiction to Wheat

Don’t be surprised if you try to break up with wheat and you find in your grocery cart because it was calling you to “eat me, eat me”.  Turns out, wheat really is addictive.  It appears that when wheat is digested, it yields polypeptides that can cross the blood brain barrier and binds to opiate receptors.  This induces a form of reward, a mild euphoria.  Wheat is also an appetite stimulant making you want more and more wheat based products and sugar products.  For some people, getting off wheat is as hard as getting off narcotics.

Proteins, Gluten and Leaky Gut

Many people create an immune response to the proteins in wheat.  Some of the proteins are known to cause celiac disease and other challenges with the bowel including increased gut permeability.  From sensitivities to intolerance to full out autoimmune disease, wheat can have devastating effects on one’s health.

My dinner with the other media and bloggers was outstanding.  William Davis came and joined our table and we got to ask specific questions which I will cover in yet another blog post.  I asked about wheat grass, sprouted grains and when to introduce grains to children.

To fully understand the impact of wheat I recommend reading the book, Wheat Belly.  You won’t be able to look at a bagel, beer or slice of bread again without thinking of the impact it can have on your body or deer gut as the case may be.

Or if you prefer, you can take in Dr Williams Davis along with Julie Daniluk as they tell you about the impacts of wheat in the Wheat Belly Live Canadian Tour.  Buy your tickets here, use coupon code   joannblondin and save off the events across Canada.

For me, I am glad I lost the Deer Gut aka Wheat Belly.  I really had no idea of the impact wheat was making on my overall health.  It was not just making my pants tight and giving me a food baby, it was causing inflammation and leading to many other health issues.

Bye-bye wheat and my wheat belly.  Hello energy and feeling great.

To knowledge you can digest,

Jo-Ann Blondin,

Your 9 Cup Challenge Holistic Nutritionist and Wellness Journey Partner