WHEAT belly #3

WHEAT BELLY #3

THE WHEAT/OBESITY CONNECTION

Wheat Belly Diva

Celeste no longer felt "cool."

At age sixty-one, Celeste reported that she'd gradually gained weight from her normal range of 120 to 135 pounds in her twenties and thirties. Something happened starting in her mid-forties, and even without substantial changes in habits, she gradually ballooned up to 182 pounds. "This is the heaviest I have ever been," she groaned.

As a professor of modern art, Celeste hung around with a fairly urbane crowd and her weight made her feel even more self-conscious and out of place. So I got an attentive ear when I explained my diet approach that involved elimination of all wheat products.

Over the first three months she lost twenty-one pounds, more than enough to convince her that the program worked. She was already having to reach to the back of her closet to find clothes she hadn't been able to wear for the past five years.

Celeste stuck to the diet, admitting to me that it had quickly become second nature with no cravings, a rare need to snack, just a comfortable cruise through meals that kept her satisfied. She noted that, from time to time, work pressures kept her from being able to have lunch or dinner, but the prolonged periods without something to eat proved effortless. I reminded her that healthy snacks such as raw nuts, flaxseed crackers, and cheese readily fit into her program. But she simply found that snacks weren't necessary most of the time.

Fourteen months after adopting the Wheat Belly diet, Celeste couldn't stop smiling when she returned to my office at 127 pounds-a weight she'd last seen in her thirties. She'd lost fifty-five pounds from her high, including twelve inches off her waist, which shrank from thirty-nine inches to twenty-seven. Not only could she fit into size 6 dresses again, she no longer felt uncomfortable mingling with the artsy set. No more need to conceal her sagging wheat belly under loose-fitting tops or layers. She could wear her tightest Oscar de la Renta cocktail dress proudly, no wheat belly bulge in sight.

　

THE WHEAT/OBESITY CONNECTION

Down 104 Pounds.. . 20 More to Go

When I first met Geno, he had that familiar look: gray pallor, tired, almost inattentive. At 5 feet 10, his 322 pounds included a considerable wheat belly flowing over his belt. Geno came to me for an opinion regarding a 1 coronary prevention program, triggered by concern over an abnormal heart scan "score," an indicator of coronary atherosclerotic plaque and potential risk for heart attack.

Not unexpectedly, Geno's girth was accompanied by multiple abnormal metabolic measures, including high blood sugars well into the range defined as diabetes, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and several others, all contributors to his coronary plaque and heart disease risk.

I somehow got through to him, despite his seemingly indifferent demeanor. I believe it helped that I enlisted the assistance of his chief cook and grocery shopper, Geno's wife. He was at first puzzled by the idea of eliminating all "healthy whole grains," including his beloved pasta, and replacing them with all the foods that he had regarded as no-no's such as nuts, oils, eggs, cheese, and meats.

Six months later, Geno came back to my office. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that he was transformed. Alert, attentive, and smiling, Geno told me that his life had changed. He had not only lost an incredible sixty-four pounds and fourteen inches off his waist in those six months, he had regained the energy of his youth, again wanting to socialize with friends and travel with his wife, walking and biking outdoors, sleeping more deeply, along with a newly rediscovered optimism. And he had laboratory values that matched: blood sugars were in the normal range, HDL cholesterol had doubled, triglycerides dropped from several hundred milligrams to a perfect range.

Another six months later, Geno had lost forty more pounds, now tipping the scale at 218-a total of 104 pounds lost in one year.

"My goal is 198 pounds, the weight I had when I got married," Geno told me. "Only twenty more pounds to go." And he said it with a smile.

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I HAVE FOUND IT IS TRUE, VERY TRUE: A LARGE PART, THE MAIN PART OF MY GRADUAL CLIMB TO 25 POUNDS OVER WHAT I SHOULD BE, WAS INDEED TO DO WITH MODERN WHEAT CONSUMPTION. I HAD MOVED MYSELF INTO A CORNER SO TO SPEAK; FOR I HAD GIVEN UP ON THE POTATO, POTATO CHIPS, FOR A LONG TIME. NEVER WAS A POP DRINKER, OR BEER DRINKER TO ANY DEGREE; NEVER WAS A PIZZA EATER EITHER, OR PASTA, OR SPAGHETTI, OR LASAGNA. SO THE MAIN THING LEFT WAS TO GIVE UP WHEAT EATING, YES ORGANIC WHOLE WHEAT EATING.

AND IN 3 MONTHS I LOST 25 POUNDS - PEOPLE NOTICED IT, PEOPLE COMMENTED ON IT: "WOW KEITH YOU'VE LOST WEIGHT AND LOOK GREAT, I BET YOU FEEL MUCH BETTER" WAS ONE COMMENT I RECEIVED.

SO IT IS TRUE - OUR GMOing OF WHEAT, AND EATING FAR TOO MUCH OF IT, HAS PRODUCED A SOCIETY OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESE CHILDREN AND ADULTS, AND THE MANY HEALTH PROBLEMS THAT GO WITH FATNESS.

YOU NEED TO HAVE THIS BOOK "WHEAT BELLY" BY WILLAIM DAVIS M.D.