Rhiannon Kay is the Health & Wellness correspondent for OurHometown.ca. Rhiannon is a journalism student at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. If you have questions or wish to contact Rhiannon, you can email her at rkay@ourhometown.ca
Wheat’s under Heat
Rhiannon Kay
OurHometown.ca
There is currently much debate on a new study showing that wheat should be cut out of diets. Dr. William Davis is a preventive cardiologist and author of Wheat Belly who believes that foods made of wheat flour raise blood sugar higher than almost all other foods. Wheat is not made the same as it was back in the 1890’s.
Mississauga - Nov. 1, 2011 - There is currently much debate on a new study showing that wheat should be cut out of diets. Dr. William Davis is a preventive cardiologist and author of Wheat Belly who believes that foods made of wheat flour raise blood sugar higher than almost all other foods.
Wheat is not made the same as it was back in the 1890’s. Fields of wheat are two feet shorter than they used to be and have been created to better withstand droughts.
"We've created thousands of what I call Frankengrains over the past 50 years, using pretty extreme techniques, and their safety for human consumption has never been tested or even questioned," said Davis in an article from The Atlantic.
Many people do not believe what Davis is saying and continue to eat wheat everyday. But Davis has the facts to back up his claims and will continue informing people that as soon as they cut wheat out of their diets, they will lose weight fast and lower blood sugar.
Davis himself gained 30 pounds switching his diet to cutting out meat and eating “healthy” whole grains and became diabetic. So he cut whole grains out of his diet completely and lost the 30 pounds he gained and reversed his diabetes.
Wheat has a protein in it called gliadin that actually makes you hungrier and does not satisfy your appetite. If you eat a sandwich or bagel in the morning that will stimulate your appetite and you will go for a snack an hour later, spiking your blood sugar each time.
I have read several articles on this topic and others such as the Paleo Diet, which is similar to the wheat free diet. I think they are remarkable and everyone should know about these changes to your diet that will benefit your body in many ways.
It might seem difficult at first to cut down or completely cut out wheat, something that we’ve been eating for thousands of years, but the long list of benefits and dramatic changes in health is worth it.
But there are some people that do not agree with the wheat-free diet and are calling it a fad.
“As the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Cutting out one specific food is not only unrealistic, it’s dangerous,” said Ashley Reynolds, an author at sixservings.org. “Omitting wheat entirely removes the essential (and disease-fighting) nutrients it provides including fiber, antioxidants, iron and B vitamins.”
Just like any diet, it is bound to take some heat from all different sides, such as doctors, scientists etc. But it is up to you and the advice from your physician to see if it is a good idea for you to cut wheat out of your diet.
