Magazine articles try to answer the What is Gluten question, while Celiac disease becomes more prevalent. What are the root causes? 

Hybrid mutants that are unnecessarily high on the Glycemic Index; that’s what we face as we stroll through the supermarket aisles. 

 
I’m talking about modern wheat (or flour or sugar) and the processed foods that are full of those processed ingredients. The question of the day is… do you and your family have a better option than the Wheat Belly path? Yes.  

I was thinking the other day about my grandparents’ first few days in America when they left Europe and brought my very young mom and dad to the Land of Opportunity. It was World War II and Latvia was overrun by the Soviets, so my family left their homeland and spent a few years in displaced persons camps in Germany before being sponsored into the U.S. My grandfathers, Otto and Edvins, came to the U.S. with family in tow and with low-paying jobs already waiting for them.

I admire them for making that bold move. They could not speak English very well and everything familiar was behind them… thousands of miles away across the Atlantic.

They had taken a HUGE step outside their comfort zone. Why? They chose a better path for the future of their wives, children, and their descendants (like my teenage kids) who they would never know.

What does this have to do with you today? You and I are faced with a decision this week. Do we load up our bodies with refined flour and sugar, or do we choose a narrower (better) path that offers more nutrients and fewer harmful ingredients?

Mass media tells you and me to choose the broad path that is harmful to our health and puts our families at risk of becoming diabetic. High-powered lobbyists and huge corporations have a lot to gain… and the only place you and I gain is around our midsections.

Should you and I step outside our comfort zones and choose a better path? We don’t have to be perfect; just committed to improvement. 

Have you found, as I have, that the people who serve others most effectively and deliver the greatest impact during their journey have the following traits? They commit, they sacrifice, they face change head-on, they engage new communities & new perspectives, and they reject the mainstream when it’s not helpful. Let’s purposefully apply those themes to our families’ nutritional choices. Let’s support one another, share insights, and continually improve our health habits. 

Now, let’s get back to how this relates to Wheat Belly. I’m thinking about three main points and I back them up with expert references.

1. Modern Day Wheat is a Hybrid Mutant… it is Not a Natural Healthy Grain that was eaten 6,000 years ago by our ancestors 

 
High-yield hybrid milled wheat has been very profitable for the mega-agricultural corporations who mass-produce it. This new wheat is stripped of bran, germ and other portions of the wheat kernel that are rich in proteins, minerals and other nutrients. Industry experts from the Bellgarde Bakery state that as mass production took root, “wheat began to be grown not for its quality, but for its dexterity in the mill… grown for the bankers, not the bakers.” William Davis, MD says wheat is actually a mutant product of genetic tinkering that has been marketed to an unknowing public by agribusiness giants. 
The oversight from the FDA’s Food Advisory Committee’s Nutrition Subcommittee remains weak. While they took action against Trans Fats in 2004 – 2006, that battle consumed most of their resources for years, leaving little attention focused on the thousands of other nutritional oversight opportunities, such as breads and cereals. WellnessToday authors state that some people have a gluten sensitivity, which is not as severe as celiac disease, but can present some unhealthy symptoms, such as bloating, abdominal pain and diarrhea. What is Gluten? It is a mixture of two proteins that gives dough its elasticity, and it causes illness in people with celiac disease.. What is Celiac disease? It is a disease in which the small intestine is hypersensitive to gluten, leading to difficulty in digesting food. Both Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity can wreak havoc on your digestive system. 
You’re a sensible person. Think it out. You are your best (and sometimes only) advocate for your own nutrition. Too many others in industry and government are focused on their own personal profit. Unfortunately, that’s human nature. MindBodyGreen contributors write that when you cut out (or cut back on) wheat, you lose 3 bad things (which is good)… 
the insatiable appetite, 
the cyclic highs of blood sugar and insulin, and 
the inflammatory phenomena via its components: gliadin, wheat germ and gluten. 

 
2. Today’s Standard American Daily Diet is Criminally High in Refined Sugars & Flours that are Unnecessarily High on the Glycemic Index 

 
Mass media and corporate lobbyists are a big part of our challenge; their material gains take center stage while our nutritional needs are de-prioritized. Contrary to Dr. William Davis, Andrew Weil, MD says he doesn’t buy the contention that the proliferation of products containing wheat is to blame for the obesity epidemic. The real driver is increased consumption of high-glycemic-load carbohydrates, mainly sugars and flours of all types.
The Glycemic Index, as you may already know, is a number scale that measures your food’s impact on your blood sugar. A food with a high score on the Index raises blood glucose more than many other foods, which can lead to increased risk for type 2 diabetes or can cause serious problems for a person with diabetes. William Davis, MD says wheat is the single largest contributor to nationwide obesity epidemic—and elimination of wheat is key to dramatic weight loss and optimal health. 100daysofRealFood founders say that since grains are such a big part of the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.), they would also replace all breads, crackers, pastas, rice, etc. with whole grain versions. 

 
3. Healthy Options are Available Today – for you and your family 

 
Single ingredient foods such as fruits, vegetables, meats and healthy fats are a huge part of the solution. These may be outside our comfort zone, but they are the foundational elements of a better nutritional path. Andrew Weil, MD says the correct part of the Wheat Belly Diet is Dr. Davis’s emphasis on eating carbohydrates that rank low on the glycemic index, a ranking of carb foods on the basis of how rapidly they affect blood sugar. Dr. Davis also advises cutting all fast food, processed snacks, sweeteners & junk foods, with which Dr. Weil is in total agreement. 
MINDFUL eating is your loyal, long-term friend. We don’t need to be perfect; but we need to be MINDFUL and purposeful. We can cheat, but we need to know when we are cheating and we should keep those episodes to a minimum. William Davis, MD writes that Wheat Belly is an illuminating action plan to clear our plates of today’s wheat… a seemingly benign ingredient. Wellness Mama (Katie) writes that if you are going to consume any grains, it would definitely be better to prepare them in one of 3 ways (sprouted, soaked, or fermented) to make them less harmful to your body, but she stands by her assertion that there is no need for grain consumption at all. 
I have found that weight loss weekly diets or strict cleanse programs are pretty hard to follow. I prefer to keep general themes in mind as I go through my busy days. That way, as we make our meal choices, we don’t have to be too militant about it. We can just follow sensible concepts. You may feel too busy to focus on nutrition changes. I know how you feel; I’ve felt the same way. I found that a few simple substitutions at the grocery store are the building blocks to meaningful change. I bought Coconut Oil from Commutavie.com instead of Crisco or Mazola oil at the store. Good. 
Read the labels of all six of those products some time. The undesirable choices have some nasty stuff in the ingredients list. Don’t eat the nasty stuff.  Just sayin’. And, if you’re concerned that your family won’t like more healthy choices, trust me… they won’t know the difference when your healthy substitutions are made behind the scenes! 

It is clear to me after almost 50 years that nutrient-dense foods are the best for “satiety”, which is a new word for me. It means feeling full enough, or no longer feeling hungry. You and I can both recall some low-nutrient meals that filled us up for the moment, but left us feeling hungry a short time later. Satiety is something we must keep in mind as we commit to healthy weight management or healthy sustainable weight loss. As we follow a nutrition weight control plan or a fitness weight control plan, we need to avoid dumping empty calories into our bodies. That’s just some common sense for us to keep in mind.  

Looking out for what’s best for my family and me, I am trying to make smart choices and stay tuned in to what I’m eating. Fortunately, my doctor has never told me that I have to rigidly avoid any particular foods, so while I avoid fried foods and have no real desire to eat certain unhealthy foods, if I’m faced with a platter of delectable bad stuff at a party, I may grab a few bites without worrying too much about it reversing the progress of my (informal) weight management program. 

By the way, I just re-read the details of the 3 ‘main point’ paragraphs above and confirmed that I did not know most of this stuff about What Is Gluten when I turned 40. So, I hope some of this info is new and helpful to you today. 

OK, so let’s restate the 3 main points and consider our own personal, sensible action steps for the next 2 – 4 weeks. 
1. Modern Day Wheat is a Hybrid Mutant… it is Not a Natural Healthy Grain that was eaten 6,000 years ago by our ancestors 
2. Today’s Standard American Daily Diet is Criminally High in Refined Sugars & Flours that are Unnecessarily High on the Glycemic Index; Celiac disease is a growing concern  
3. Healthy Options are Available Today – for you and your family 
 
And one last thought: Mass Media can go pound sand. They are a collection of men and women who do not have my interests in mind, and they do not have your interests in mind. Why would I give them any authority over my decisions? You know what’s best for you. Do you agree? 

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