Pauline read the recent Wheat Belly Blog post, the Top 5 Reasons You Still Have Cravings and shared her perspective:
“Everything you say is true, Dr. Davis. I’ve been following your advice for the last 18 months and it’s taken this long to get my gut right.
“I always know when I’ve inadvertently eaten something containing wheat, generally when I’m eating out with friends. It’s an almost instantaneous increase in hunger, making me go looking for something carb/sugary to eat a few hours later. It also causes gut and joint pain that comes within 24 hours.
“Other than that, I can go all day without food and no sugar crashes. I eat because food tastes so good now. I made a yummy chicken and vegetable curry with cauliflower ‘rice’ last night, so good and I had a second small serving. I’m still not hungry 14 hours later and will now wait until I get hungry before I eat again.
“Before Wheat Belly, I used to eat compulsively every few hours—bread, cracker biscuits, cakes. etc. I was hungry all the time. Now that the wheat and other grains are gone, I get hungry normally—when my stomach is empty, and not the gliadin-driven mess I was before.”
Wheat and closely related grains trigger hunger, often to extreme degrees, because:
- Gliadin-derived peptides act as opiates on the human brain–It’s been known for over a century that opiate drugs like morphine increase appetite, an effect shared by gliadin-derived peptides that, like opiate drugs, bind to the opiate receptors of the brain. Susceptibility to this effect varies from individual to individual, but can be responsible for massive increases in appetite in some people. People with a tendency towards bulimia and binge-eating disorder are especially susceptible, experiencing 24-hour-a-day food obsessions.
- Gliadin-derived peptides block leptin–Leptin is the hormone of satiety that tells you that you’ve had enough to eat. Gliadin-derived peptides, in addition to their opiate effects, also block leptin, thereby disabling the fullness signal. Wheat germ agglutinin, the lectin protein of wheat, rye, barley, and rice, is also suspected to exert a similar effect.
- Amylopectin A raises blood sugar to high levels–Because of its highly digestible nature (unlike the indigestible or only partially digestible proteins from grains), amylopectin A starch of wheat and grains is a potent trigger for high blood sugar and insulin. High blood sugar and insulin are followed by low blood sugars, accompanied by mental “fog,” fatigue, anxiety, and a desperate feeling of hunger occurring in 90-120 minute cycles.
Put it all together: wheat and related grains are potent appetite stimulants and obesogens–foods that make you fat. To make matters worse, we are advised by “official” sources of dietary information to include grains in every meal and food manufacturers put wheat into nearly all processed foods from licorice to chicken soup. Wheat and grains for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, for snacks–is it any wonder Americans consume more food per capita than any other nation on this planet and are now the fattest population in the history of the world?
The bright side of all this is that, if you recognize these essential facts, you are set free from the incessant hunger and quest for food of the wheat/grain-eater, enjoying extended periods with no thought of food whatsoever just like Pauline, hunger just a soft reminder that you should eat for sustenance.
I have not eaten bread or potatoes since mid January 2015 and have lost 25 pounds. I avoid rice, corn, and other starchy foods. I eat small servings of fruit, lots of green vegetables, olives, hummus, raw almonds, cottage cheese and hard cheeses, eggs, meat and fish, homemade chili, soup, stew, salads, avocados, tomatoes. Meals I fix are suitable for me and husband. I do not eat the potatoes, bread or chips. I enjoy some wine with my meal and fruit for dessert. The loss of 25 pounds was a miracle for me, I am 80 years old and calorie counting was not working. Not hungry between meals and no food cravings since I eliminated wheat and other grains from my diet. Thank you Dr Davis for your Wheat Belly Book. I feel and look better and am hoping to move out of pre-diabetic category doing grain free eating.
This was one of the best posts I’ve read on here so far. I was caught in that carb cycle myself, I can see it so clearly now. I’m Italian and before now had a life full of meals that included bread, pasta, crackers, cakes, cookies, etc. I even used to make my own pasta and thought it was better for me!
For years I’d tried to figure out what was making me feel so crappy after eating and I systematically eliminated foods from my diet but never really found the “thing” that was doing it. I tried eliminating everything but the crust, the bread, toast, pasta or crackers, etc. I blamed it on dairy, then spicy foods, then onions, then fatty meats. I lived in a cycle of being hungry every two hours; toast for breakfast, crackers, chips or pretzels for a snack, sandwich or pizza for lunch, another carb snack, then something with pasta or rice at night followed by cake or cookies or pie. Meanwhile I kept gaining more and more weight, my skin started to get rashy, I’d have stomach aches, acid reflux, IBS, diarrhea, inflammation, sore joints, poor sleep quality and then started snoring and got sleep apnea. It’s not a pretty cycle to get caught up in.
I stumbled onto the PBS program Dr. Davis did and after, went right out and bought the books. I’ve been following the Wheat Belly lifestyle since the first of June 2015. I’ve had a few setbacks, a few unintentional and a few because I felt like I didn’t have a choice, and each took a week or two to recover. Also, I haven’t lost much weight yet but it seems like my inflammation has gone down and I just bought some new shirts and they were one size smaller. That’s gotta be a good sign! :-)
Now, I finally feel like I’m in control all the time and I just refuse to eat anything that I know is going to make me feel crappy. Out to eat with friends last night and said no to the bread. Proud of myself because that took willpower. It was one of those places that makes their own bread and in the past I would have had a couple slices lathered with butter! Instead, I had a nice heirloom tomato salad with arugula, salmon and fresh veggies.
Keep sending in your success stories people…and keep sending us good articles to read Dr. Davis. They keep us readers motivated!
re: For years I’d tried to figure out what was making me feel so crappy …
This raises a point about the crushing context modern humans find themselves in:
why don’t more people discover the wheat problem by accident?
Answer A: because it’s almost impossible to have gluten-bearing grains eliminated from the diet for 30 days or more by chance. Too many food-like substances are contaminated with wheat and its accomplices.
Answer B: actually, it does happen from time to time – people travel to some remote location or culture where they are insulated from gluten-bearing grains for a month or more. They return feeling pretty fine, then suddenly feel horrible (perhaps even before clearing Customs). They blame some conjectured 3rd-world bug, but it was probably airline “food” on the return trip, and if not that, the first meal at home.
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Looking back, I had gone on vacation for a week and noticed my facial rash had greatly improved and I knew I had done something different, I just didn’t know what. I now see that when I was skipping my nightly bowl of cereal due to our late dinners, I was cutting back on wheat and my skin was clearing up. I had also had no bananas that week and was in a different climate etc. so I couldn’t tell what it was. Now I know!
Keep up the good work. Just say no to the grains. There are plenty of other foods to eat whether we are eating at home or out in restaurants. Ask for veg of the day instead of fries. Skip the bread basket. Start with a salad. Feel good the next day!
Why skip potatoes They are the only starch I can eat & enjoy. Have potasdium, go great with butter!
«Why skip potatoes»
Raw and cooked potatoes might as well be an entirely different foods.
Raw potatoes are 0% net carb and recommended as one source of prebiotic fiber. They provide substrate for your gut flora and do not affect blood sugar. 20 grams per day is a reasonable initial target.
Cooked potato is typically 22% net carb, and spikes blood sugar. One whole potato is over two whole meal’s worth of net carb.
Cooking and re-cooling potato only re-polymerizes 10-15% of the glycemic starch back to the resistant form. Potato salad can be on the menu, but parboil the potato, and serve it chilled.
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Some restaurants have warned me that they coat the potatoes in flour when they deep fry them.
Erika C. wrote: «Some restaurants have warned me that they coat the potatoes in flour when they deep fry them.»
Many restaurants use the same fry oil for everything, so even items without flour pick up some from residues of other items. Then there’s the matter of what the oil is (usually something you don’t want to be eating anyway), and how oxidized/rancid it is.
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I’ve must have ate something with wheat or consume too much carbohydrates.
I was eating in the morning (7-9) and not feeling hungry until 6:00 or later.
Now I’m already hunger and it’s been only 3 hours since I ate…
Thanks so much to Pauline for expressing EXACTLY how wheat affects me. Still struggling toward weight loss but so thrilled to be feeling better!