Any wheat bellies out there?

Body: 

I have been reading the book "Wheat Belly" and am going to try to kick the wheat completely ... soon. Has anyone else tried this and - if so - did it aid or improve the symptoms of your prolapse and/or the pain?

Forum:

Hi abqangel - gluten sensitivity is extremely common and there are lots of members here who have removed it from their diets, or are in the process of trying to do so. I think I have something of a "wheat belly" myself, just not the will-power to give it an all-out effort. Anything that helps the digestive system chug along more smoothly is definitely a boon to prolapse management. Give it a try and report back! - Surviving

Hi abqangel,
I did read "Wheat Belly" but I have also read many other articles contradicting this author's book. His main focus seems to stem from celiac's disease although he says gluten sensitivity affects everyone. The jury is still out about wheat in my mind, because I can eat the sprouted grain breads which contain the wheat without any problems. I have found through personal experience, cutting out the processed junk is what helped me the most. I try to eat more whole foods including whole grains, and I don't mean whole grain Cheerios, but actual whole grains. Farro has become one of my favorites. I do still backslide and eat processed bread, and pay for it in my bowels, and this is not prolapse friendly at all!
My daughter has even gone so far as to sprout and grind her own grains. From some of the reading I have done, if you sprout your grains and then eat them, they are better for you.
Still something I have been working on slowly, but for me processed bread equals bloat and constipation. Wish you well!!

I read Wheat Belly as well, and at the time I was in a relationship with a person with severe celiac disease. I tried a completely gf diet for 8 months. I had a bit more energy, but it didn't change my prolapse/IBS symptoms at all. I would certainly give it a try though: experimenting never hurts and it could help you. Everyone's different. Some people have wheat allergies, others have celiac, others are gluten intollerant and others are gluten sensitive. These are all different variations of and causes behind wheat and/or gluten negatively effecting digestion. For me, as has been said already, the processed food has been more troublesome than gluten or wheat ubiquitously. I am definitely not in a place to grind my own grain, but do buy organic bread.

I appreciate all your replies. I'm going to try it at some point and will report back to the community!

Just my two cents, but I had started with cutting out wheat...it worked some, and then I went to a ketogenic low carb diet. I lost 45 lbs and I feel amazing. I also upped my magnesium intake and that really helps with bowel function. Sometimes it's more than just wheat, it's extra carbs that cause the big belly and bloat as a result of insulin response.

Well done on the weight loss and for the information in in your post on how you did it. The extra carbs concept is definitely a winner, just think back to when you overate birthday cake! And if there is one way for me to indulge it is with freshly baked bread. But I personally found cutting carbs much easier after I gave away sugar.

Good diet = good results in lots of ways. How do I get the Sugar Monkey off my back? Sure, I can clean out my cupboards and throw it all away but then the craving becomes almost unbearable. I want something to grab when I need a snack that is satisfying to me and not the Sugar Monkey. Can't always take the bowl of berries or juicy tangerines with me. I love nuts but they've got a lot of calories. What works for some of you?

a terrible thing to say, but in this regard the food processing industry has this down pat: if they take out fat to make say a low-fat yoghurt, they add extra sugar. If they want to give the food a good mouth feel, they will add fat. And if they want you to eat a whole pack they are likely to salt the food.
And this seems to be our human leanings.
When I gave up sugar, I found I wanted more fat. (I should also note that I am 68 this month and that older people like kids need a little more fat than the average adult who tends to live on low-fat diets nowadays.)
So for breakfast instead of cereals which I always had with a spoon of sugar, I have a cooked one something like bacon (well rendered), or egg, or tomato on one slice of toast etc. I have the time for this. Yoghurt is a plain Greek one without added sugar and I have this as a dessert with my own added sliced piece of fresh fruit. And I have a dessertspoon or two of whipped cream in my cup of coffee. So I probably have more fat than a lot of people. But I found that this worked to keep the sugar monkey away.
Most people can't eat too much fat if it is on a piece of meat, but when it comes to ice-cream and custards and similar most people can eat more than they need. So if you add a little more fat, you need to be vigilant.
When the sugar craving really hits, try a glass of still water, even the still warm water from the kettle and drink it slowly. So often we think we are hungry or needing an energy lift when we are actually only thirsty. Otherwise, maybe schedule the next meal a little earlier rather than snack on sugar or other carbs.
So on the run, you could take a couple of slices of delicatessen meat or nibbles of cheese, but it would be good if you could teach tummy it does not really need snacks. I love nuts too. Just a small child's handful a couple of times a week won't hurt too much.
I favour the accommodating route to things is better for me and then I can be quite strict about it, but everyone has their own proven approach. I am sure you will find yours.

My control of bowels is to consistently take 3/day, in the evening. Sometimes I need an extra one. This plus plenty of water and exercise keeps me functioning!

I do avoid wheat as well as all the other grains like rice, corn, sugar, etc. I also avoid legumes, with the exception of some occasional Mexican food.

Although I still need to read Wheat Belly, I am aware that he says some rice is okay. Actually, all grains have at least one or two kinds of anti-nutrients in them.

If you go beyond what Doctor Davis recommends and just avoid all grains, you won't have cravings for any of those foods. You will feel better and your body will be able to better absorb vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients more readily if the anti-nutrients aren't present.

Best of luck!

I read wheat belly and there is a lot if contradictory information out there that dispels what this author is talking about. I don't think any one book has all the answers, just as I don't think any one diet does. You really have to listen to your own body and how it feels eating certain foods.
There is also scientific information out there that proves just the opposite affect of ant-nutrients and their actual positive affects on the body as it processes grains in the gut, and even on a cellular level. So, if you haven't found enough information on the grain debate from both sides, it is time to do more reading.
The problem with all these new diets is that they are popular now, and people buy into them hook, line, and sinker. I know I did for years, switching from one food source to another just because it was USDA approved.
The only thing I know for sure right now is that any processed foods, including white flour, sugars, and over consumption of meats and dairy, which is the norm in an American diet is leading to desease and early death.
We don't eat clean food as a society, and we certainly don't eat vegetables which should actually be the mainstay of our diets.
Cut out grains if you want to, but I am not going to.

Hi, me and kids are no grain or very low grain and low gluten. It's to stop eczema for my kids (although they need to be very low sugar for that as well including fructose in fruit). I like having no (or very low grain). It has helped my bloating which helps my prolapse. Also eating less does too! I do have more fat and less sugar/carbs and I am flexible when out. I am breastfeeding so that means I am nut and seed free as my daughter gets a rash from nuts and I have an almond allergy (since having her and eating too many unsoaked nuts perhaps).

I think it's great to see what works for you body and then try and reintroduce something and see how you go. I love Christine's video about vulva health and her amazing kitchen and tools. I aim to do more of what she does, adapted to suit my kids needs (we eat quality meat and make bone broths) but as they are young it's small steps while I find the time and of course manage my prolapse.

I use kefir grains to get fermented foods in my diet but will make auerkraut in the summer. I guess it is not always what we take out (grains) but also what we put in (the right fats and fermented foods etc). Good luck, hope it all makes you feel great.

There is a percentage of the population that actually does have allergies, and I am not trying to downplay or discredit them. The problem is that everyone gets on the bandwagon without really paying attention to what they are putting into their bodies. We have been conditioned by our society to consume high quantities of meat, dairy, and processed foods.
We need to start looking at ourselves as individuals and what is best as such.
Wheat has been changed and modified so much since it was first discovered thousands of years ago, that it is hard for people to process anymore. That is why sprouting and making sourdough does make it more easily digestible for some people, including myself. But, let's not throw all the grains out with the bath water. I have experimented on myself with the different grains to see how my body reacts to them, and have found that I do just fine on brown rice, farro, quinoa, amaranth, and a whole host of ancient grains out there.
All "my" bloating problems have been eliminated by cutting out the dairy, and I feel so much better for it.
I believe strongly in the healing affects of fermented foods. My daughter recently made some fermented cabbage that was to die for. Just delicious.
I just hope people can stop taking everything written in a book by one or two authors as the gospel of food. I think it is fine to take some ideas from different sources, but be skeptical before buying into them to deeply.

What celiac disease means to me: Loss of the ability to eat wheat gluten, egg, yeast, dairy, most coffee's, safflower and sunflower oils. Due to the body's inability to detect the difference between wheat gluten and the cross-reactors listed above, my life has been irreversibly changed. 99% of processed foods are off limits. The craving for breads diminished after 3 months. I am of the opinion that grains are highly addictive. Time passes and now I have zero interest in eating grains or sweets. When I crave pizza, I make the crust from cauliflower. Recovery from severe malnutrition and the resultant surgery took time. This taught me to be an avid ingredient label reader. In 2009, when the wheat gluten was genetically altered to 17 times the natural grain, it affected and continues to affect thousands of people. The new wheat is drought and insect resistant. I propose that little or no research regarding its affect on humans was done prior to FDA approval. Gluten related diseases are not going to go away. It's just the tip of the iceberg.

My last few months of serious research since autoimmune disease struck my family, has lead me to the same conclusion. Where gluten in particular is concerned, I've seen first-hand what abstaining can do, and what re-exposure can mean, even in those who had no idea they were even sensitive. And you are right, a lot has to do with what passes for "wheat" in the modern corporate industrial age. Won't touch it any more myself. - Surviving

This is an interesting and important subject, and one I'm struggling with as well.

My husband, Lanny, is dealing with chronic peripheral vascular insufficiency. This means blood and fluid pool in his lower extremities, resulting in swollen feet and ankles.

Lanny is nearly 6 1/2 feet tall and when I met him at age 20 (he was 24), even at that young age he had many broken blood vessels in his feet and ankles. So when he had a minor stroke 3 years ago and began to have swelling in his feet/ankles, I assumed it was from being so tall and also becoming less physically active after giving up a career that required constant air travel (and running in airports).

However, during those years of heavy travel, Lanny, who has been an ardent vegetarian all his adult life, ate almost nothing on the road except pasta and bread. Every town has an Italian restaurant, every Italian restaurant serves white bread at the beginning of the meal, and that is what he subsisted on - with salad of course.

During the end of those years, and only a couple of years before his stroke, he developed a terrible skin condition not unlike the one in this image (click here). He didn’t have as many lesions as this, but they were larger and just as red. They would come and go, but we never connected them with gluten. He was also an avid meditator and insisted on mind-over-matter. Now I know this condition is common to gluten intolerance.

Most cheap restaurant bread is made with flour that has been “conditioned” and bleached. It has been known since the late 1940s that many of these agents are extremely toxic. Here is a micro-photograph of the crystalline substance formed when the dough conditioner, nitrogen trichloride, combines with wheat gluten (click here). It was a molecule known half a century ago to cause havoc in the bodies of several different types of animals.

Although nitrogen trichloride was outlawed for use in flour, many other toxic substances, which are outlawed in Europe, are still legal in the U.S. Just as with so many other areas of human health, the medical-pharmaceutical system ignored or stopped funding such studies.

Meanwhile, celiac disease has increased 400% since that time and gluten sensitivity is widespread. Much hysteria surrounds gluten itself, GMOs, and increased protein content in modern wheat varieties. However, I have not been able to verify any of these concerns. First of all, GMO wheat is still illegal to grow in the US, although Monsanto is trying with all its might to change that. In 2009, the North Dakota hard red spring wheat crop contained an average protein content of 13.1 percent - well below the traditional level of 14%.

However, sometimes the protein content of wheats grown in the U.S. are much higher. This is largely attributed to nitrogen fertilizers and a very good reason wheats grown organically are healthier.

Wheat gluten is used in a wide variety of processed foods - even many wholewheat breads - significantly raising the gluten content of standard diets. A good reason to make your own food from scratch.

I find it interesting that so many people are giving up wheat, rye, spelt, etc. instead of asking the question: How did a sacred food that built an entire civilization suddenly become so toxic? And furthermore: How toxic is it, really? A study from 2007 showed that properly fermenting wheat yielded sourdough bread with a gluten content of 12 ppm - making it legally “gluten free”.

Back to Lanny. I do think it’s possible that all the white flour he consumed on the road (we always ate whole food at home) harmed his vascular system, but as of yet I do not know how. And do we give up all gluten in hopes of reversing the damage? He never had any digestive problems at all.

The Fodmap diet seems highly suspicious to me. Removing all oligosaccharides from the diet is like protecting an immune system by keeping someone in a plastic bubble. It is removing what causes fermentation and bloating, but not restoring native microbiology. Human beings are complex carbohydrate eaters. Even mother’s milk is 1/3 starch. I haven't looked into it much yet, perhaps it is meant as a transition diet.

Anyway, I’m just throwing my thoughts and concerns into the mix.

Christine

Being Indian, I consume carbohydrates at all meals. Being from a strictly vegetarian community, my diet plan would include dairy but no meat. After a bout of an intestinal infection and a course of antibiotics, I found myself Lactose intolerant. Strangely,while I can tolerate small quantities of milk, yogurt causes diarrhea.I have read that most Indians are lactose intolerant. .We prepare our own unleavened bread called phulka and variations of the same.While rice continues to be a staple food item, I have introduced some organic ancient grains:millets in our diet.I have two cups of tea sweetened with Stevia. I love coffee though it doesn't love me back so I have learnt to do with very little of it. I have read that traditional diets are the best. Most of our grains are consumed ground ,fermented and then steamed. I wonder what several communities of people in the world would do if grains were excluded from their diets. Perhaps it is wise to ponder over the wisdom of exclusivity

I think there is a lot to be said about having a healthy gut flora to start with also. I never even heard of fermented foods until just a few years ago, and this process has been around for so long and then left on the wayside, it's importance forgotten by the masses.