The government tells us that we need to eat more grains, meaning more wheat. Over 90% of all grain consumed is wheat. In the food pyramid, we are advised to eat 60% of calories from wheat. The new food plate design also tells us to get at least 1/4 cup of our calories from wheat. Here is why we need to stop listening to what our government is telling us about the food pyramid.
Modern Wheat is an Appetite Stimulant
It is estimated that up to 10% of the population has a sensitivity to the protein in wheat known as gluten (some estimate it may be higher, closer to 30%). However, the other 90% of people who consume wheat really should not be eating it either. Here are a few reasons why:
- Gluten is a two part protein that is comprised of gliadin plus glutenin. Glutenin has a unique elasticity that gives us the ability to stretch our pizza or bread dough or even spin it over our heads, if we are inclined to do so. Gliadin, the other part of the gluten protein, was heavily studied in the 1970’s by psychiatrists who found that if they took all of the wheat out of the diet of their patients with schizophrenia they improved markedly.
- When the gliadin protein is ingested it enters the brain and binds to opiate receptors where it stimulates appetite.
- Gliadin acting like an opiate in the brain, has other disastrous effects. For example, people with ADHD become hypersensitive and have behavioural outbursts, people with schizophrenia have major hallucinations, people who are bipolar become increasingly manic and those with eating disorders, such as binge eating, will develop food obsession.
By 1987, everything at the supermarket with wheat in it came from the prolific semi-dwarf strain or a spin-off. Interestingly enough, if you compare what happened to America’s weight prior to and after 1985 it is evident that there was an obesity explosion that is still happening today shortly after the ‘new’ wheat was introduced.
A huge increase in the number of diabetics also followed. Although cause and effect cannot be proven scientifically – it seems evident that we have all been fed an appetite stimulant.
Modern Wheat Raises Blood Sugar
Two slices of whole wheat bread raises blood sugar higher than 6 teaspoons of table sugar. How does this happen when whole wheat is considered a complex carbohydrate that we are encouraged to eat more of? The complex carbohydrate of wheat is called Amylopectin A, which is highly sensitive to amylase, which we have in our stomach and mouth. This makes it very easy to digest and raises blood sugar rapidly. Wheat for breakfast, wheat for lunch and wheat for snacks results in visceral fat that encircles the intestines, heart, liver, and kidneys. Repetitive high blood sugar results in what Dr Davis calls a “wheat belly”.
Modern Wheat Causes Inflammation
When you consume wheat the gliadin protein unlocks the normal intestinal barrier and allows large undigested molecules entry into the bloodstream, the body responses to these substances by launching an immune response and attacking the undigested molecules eliciting an autoimmune allergic reaction causing joint inflammation, bowel inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, lupus, psoriasis, MS & hormonal imbalances.
Impact of a High Carbohydrate Diet
A diet high in carbohydrates leads to spikes in your insulin levels, fueling the roller-coaster of high and low blood sugar levels, resulting in rebound hypo-glycaemia, dizziness, cravings and eventually diabetes. To make matters worse fat is stored when complex carbohydrates convert to simple sugars and the energy isn’t expended. Hence eating grains and being sedentary encourages obesity and cellulite. Our blood needs be alkaline to ensure optimal energy and health, grains are acidic and increase inflammation, degeneration, pain and tooth decay, thereby working against our body’s innate system and forcing it to work harder.
What Can I Eat?
Most of you will be reading this and wondering but how am I going to completely eliminate grains from my diet? Is it even possible? It is possible it just takes a bit of thinking outside the box, time and dedication. As grains are a fast and filling meal option when we begin to eliminate these from our diet we need to fill the gap with generous and delicious meals. Think carrot fettuccine, zucchini spaghetti, mushroom burgers, omelette pizzas, buckwheat bread and coconut pancakes. For baking try almond meal, quinoa flour or coconut flour.
There is also a fabulous website dedicated to grain-free living http://againstallgrain.com/.