There are 5 books in the entire Wheat Belly series dating back to September, 2011. It’s been a glorious few years watching so many people experience spectacular health and weight transformations, many of which are highlighted here on the pages of this Wheat Belly Blog, as well as the Official Wheat Belly Facebook page.
You seasoned Wheat Belliers already know a lot about navigating the different content of the Wheat Belly books. But we’ve had so many newcomers that I thought it would be helpful to discuss how and when each of the Wheat Belly books can be used to derive maximum benefit.
This is the original Wheat Belly book that upset dietitians, caused doors to be slammed in the corridors of Big Food companies, and the USDA commissioner to pop Tums every couple of hours because it picked on wheat, the grain held in highest regard among food manufacturers and providers of conventional dietary advice. Wheat Belly introduced the world to modern high-yield, semi-dwarf wheat, the man-made 18-inch tall plant that wreaks extraordinarily harmful effects on humans consuming it.
Read this book if you want to understand what has happened to modern wheat at the hands of geneticists and agribusiness to take something not good for health (traditional wheat) and convert it into the most destructive component of the modern diet.
30 recipes are included.
Wheat Belly Total Health took the Wheat Belly arguments further, rejecting all seeds of grasses–“grains”–and discussing why consuming them was a dietary disaster of the largest order. A little heavier on the science, reading this book provides the scientific rationale to explain why the Wheat Belly lifestyle achieves such incredible benefits.
This is the book to read if you also want to stack the odds in your favor of fully reversing health conditions such as autoimmune diseases, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol or triglycerides, neurological diseases, skin rashes, and many others. This is also the book that includes an extensive discussion of how to break a stubborn weight plateau.
There is a section on what I call “functional recipes,” i.e., recipes not for everyday foods but to create specific foods that provide health advantages, such as magnesium water, fermented vegetables, yogurts, and kefirs, and bone broths and soups.
I wrote the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox for people who don’t really care to hear the rationale and science but just want to get up and running on their Wheat Belly lifestyle ASAP. It is also designed to help anyone who has fallen off the bandwagon to get back on as quickly and confidently as possible. Step-by-step, meal-by-meal, the 10-Day Grain Detox provides the menu plan and strategies to easily incorporate the nutritional supplements that are part of the program. There are also recipes (the Great Persuaders) that can be used to persuade any naysayers in the household.
We have been launching periodic 10-Day Grain Detox Challenges so that readers can join groups of people all detoxing at the same time. There is also an online e-course for anyone wishing to have more support through their Wheat Belly Detox program.
The Wheat Belly 30-Minute (Or Less!) Cookbook helps make the Wheat Belly lifestyle as quick and easy as possible. In addition to easy recipes for breakfast, lunch, main courses, and snacks, there are recipes for baking mixes, basic breads, pita chips, wraps, and tortillas. There is also an entire section devoted to recipes for sauces (barbecue, marinara, Thai red curry, tartar and others), salad dressings (Sun-Dried Tomato, Creamy Tomato Cilantro, Spicy Cajun Mayo, others), and jams and butters.
There are also menus for special occasions such as Movie Night, Pub Night, and Romantic Evening.
The original Wheat Belly Cookbook is packed with 150 recipes for breakfast, lunch, main courses, snacks, and desserts. There is an extensive section called The Wheat Belly Bakery that helps you recreate the baked products, such as Rye Bread, Soft Pretzels, Walnut Raisin Bread, Strawberry Shortcake, and Mocha Walnut Brownies so that you can meet any need such as entertaining friends, pleasing kids, or filling out a holiday menu.
I cannot find information anywhere in the books or blogs about whether or not bean sprouts are acceptable on wheat belly lifestyle. Anyone?
sue wrote: «…whether or not bean sprouts are acceptable on wheat belly lifestyle.»
What beans?
How sprouted?
By whom?
Some beans are inherently inadvisable, such as soy.
Sprouting anything exacerbates bacterial contamination risk. A single bacterium surviving bean prep can make the whole batch toxic.
I took a look at sprouted mung bean data (using 100 gram portions on nutritiondata.self.com), and can offer some observations:
• the net carb content is dramatically lower, but basically due to the fact that the sprouts are mostly water
• various sources suggest that the anti-nutrient content is not appreciably reduced, other than due to that fact that what you are consuming is now mostly water
• the beneficial prebiotic fiber content is likewise reduced
On a gram-for gram basis, almost none of the nutrient content is actually increased by sprouting (thiamin, perhaps). Most of it plummets. What is supposed to be the magic of sprouting?
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Thanks Bob. The reason I asked is because I make a homemade Chicken Pho soup which is traditionally served with rice noodles and fresh bean sprouts. I can do without the rice noodles, but wanted to continue using the bean sprouts in lieu of any noodles, that is why I asked if they were acceptable or not. These sprouts are the kind you buy in bulk at most Asian food markets in metro areas.
Sue wrote: «…traditionally served with rice noodles…»
Consider switching to shiratake noodles (konjac/glucomannan-based). Zero carbs; prebiotic and omit the WGA and As hazards of rice. We often use stringy squash as noodles too.
«…wanted to continue using the bean sprouts in lieu of any noodles…»
Legumes on WB aren’t prohibited, just limited. As long as the sprouts are present only in garnish amounts, it’s probably not an issue. If you can switch to a substitute for the rice noodles, the existing recipe may well present no problems. Otherwise, if you go to sprouts-as-noodles, run the numbers on the net carbs for a portion.
«These sprouts are the kind you buy in bulk at most Asian food markets in metro areas.»
No ID on what type of bean?
From what searching I did today on sprouts, I’d also be deeply curious about how they ensure sanitation. If they are managing bacteria with treatment agents, the substance(s) used might be adverse to the microbiome, and that’s something no one is really testing for yet.
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I have just started reading the Wheat Belly Total Health book and the 30 minute Cookbook.
I noticed that most bread recipes use almond flour as the alternate flour source. I am allergic to
almonds so this wouldn’t work for me. I know the cookbook does give alternatives like chia seed meal or garbanzo been flour, pumpkin seed meal etc.. Has anyone used any of these and found one alternative better than the other…. what has worked for a basic bread or sandwich recipe?
Would love a dairy free Wheat Belly cookbook!
Me too!
The best thing you can do to help the environment and save water is to adopt a plant based diet. Humans use of ‘livestock’ is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all transport put together and is a major source of water and land degradation.
The United Nations is calling for a global shift towards a vegan diet to maintain sustainability as the global population heads to 9.1 billion by 2050.
United Nations Environment Program (2010)
I’ll have to order the Wheat Belly Total Health. I prefer the more scientific books, as most discussion in nutrition lacks such science.
BobM,
Have you read both of Dr. Perlmutter’s books: “Grain Brain” and “Brain Maker”? They are also scientific and very allied with Dr. Davis’s well researched explanations. Enjoy!
CA
Please tell us how to this lifestyle MEAT-FREE! thanks!
DEE wrote: «Please tell us how to this lifestyle MEAT-FREE! thanks!»
That depends on what else you aren’t eating. As pescetarian, it’s pretty easy.
Here’s how to do Wheat Belly as a vegetarian or even vegan (but not fruitarian):
https://www.cureality.com/forum/topics.aspx?id=18308
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Thank you very much! :)
How do you do this actually healthy; i.e. vegetarian? If one doesn’t eat meat for (obvious) health reasons (now that’s the real cure to so many ailments)–but also doesn’t eat flesh for ethical reasons; please tell us more about doing wheat belly lifestyle without heavy read meats etc. thanks so much!
Dr. Miller wrote: «How do you do this actually healthy; i.e. vegetarian?»
Here’s how to do Wheat Belly as a vegetarian or even vegan (but not fruitarian):
https://www.cureality.com/forum/topics.aspx?id=18308
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I see no evidence that meat is bad. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
As for vegetarian being “good”, for the sake of not starting an argument, I’ll leave my statements where they lie.
Sure; other than cancer, diabetes, heart degeneration, bad skin and impotence it’s great!
No, seriously; the consequences of eating meat are devastating to human health; and we’ve known this for some time; many have their head in the sand to be sure and many are simply to selfish or myopic to recognize that changes are necessary.
Good article:
Eating Red Meat May Boost Death Risk
Study Shows Red Meat Consumption Linked to Higher Risk of Dying From Cancer, Heart Disease
By Kathleen Doheny
Reviewed by Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC
Men and women who eat higher amounts of red meat and processed meat have a higher risk of dying from cancer, heart disease, and other causes compared to those who eat less, according to a new study.
Those in the study who ate the most red meat took in about 4.5 ounces a day — the equivalent of a small steak.
“We found the consumption of red and processed meat is associated with an increase in overall mortality, as well as cancer and cardiovascular mortality in both men and women,” says study researcher Rashmi Sinha, PhD, a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute.
The study, supported by the National Cancer Institute, is published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Cutting down on red meat and processed meat would result in a “meaningful saving of lives,” Barry Popkin, PhD, tells WebMD. Popkin is The Carla Smith Chamblee Distinguished Professor of Global Nutrition at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, Chapel Hill. In a note accompanying his editorial, he states that he is not a vegetarian and has no financial conflict of interest related to food products affecting health.
“Medical evidence indicates that meat-eating does indeed cause impotence, because meat clogs up the arteries going to all organs, not just to the heart. Meat-eating is also linked to numerous other health problems, including heart disease, cancer, and stroke.” HARVARD
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” ❦❥❧—Albert Einstein
DEE wrote: «…who eat higher amounts of red meat and processed meat…»
That’s one of the older junk papers that makes that same suspicious mistake, carelessly defining “red meat” so that it includes things that are pretty clearly adverse, like processed meat and “hot dogs, …, pork sausage, …, and meats in foods such as pizza, stews, and lasagna.” It’s also based on self-reported epidemiological data, which is notoriously unreliable.
Furthermore, these subjects are all almost certainly on the high-carb high-adverse-fat SAD, and because eating red meat has been counter to official advice for the last few decades, people doing other hazardous things like smoking and excessive drinking are also over-represented in the data.
I’m not aware of any such studies that isolate for low carb, much less grain free, much less CAFO beef vs. pastured organic.
There have been several such food frights since that 2009 attempt (which was back before this blog started). The 2012 one got some attention here, and was also ably dissected by Zoë Harcombe at:
http://www.zoeharcombe.com/2012/03/red-meat-mortality-the-usual-bad-science/
So it’s clear that someone is mis-informing you, but you’re going to have to figure who on your own.
Einstein was also mistaken about some important aspects of quantum mechanics.
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Low carb studies are their own thing–research those on your own. The evidence against red meat is damning and sound. The World Health Organization now recommends against eating bacon and other carcinogenic red meats/processed meats etc.
You can do low-carb smarter (and certainly more ethical). Most ppl are eating meat from hellish factory farms, where animals are born and never see sunlight, treated inhumanely and drugged. Eating that adversely affects every aspect of human health actually. Some even say spiritual as well.
If you look at our anatomy compared to an omnivore or carnivore, we actually have more traits of an herbivore. We now know thanks to scientists that we were created to be herbivores. It’s important to not just try and justify ourselves and our old habits; it’s important to study, do the research and move forward. We owe it to ourselves and to our families as well. http://search.yahoo.com/…/humans-are-herbivores.html
“Many leading environmental organizations, including the National Audubon Society, the Worldwatch Institute, the Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and even Al Gore’s Live Earth—have recognized that raising animals for food damages the environment more than just about anything else that we do. Whether it’s the overuse of resources, global warming, massive water or air pollution, or soil erosion, raising animals for food is wreaking havoc on the Earth.”
The best thing you can do to help the environment and save water is to adopt a plant based diet. Humans use of ‘livestock’ is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all transport put together and is a major source of water and land degradation.
The United Nations is calling for a global shift towards a vegan diet to maintain sustainability as the global population heads to 9.1 billion by 2050.
United Nations Environment Program (2010)
DEE wrote: «Most ppl are eating meat from hellish factory farms»
No argument there. CAFO is a disaster from every angle.
«The evidence against red meat is damning and sound.»
Are you willing to be mistaken about that?
Dr. Davis posted this after the most recent red meat scare: https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2015/10/go-ahead-eat-your-meat/
«If you look at our anatomy compared to an omnivore or carnivore, we actually have more traits of an herbivore.»
Which conveniently ignores omnivores. Considering the “Doing WB As Vegetarian” article I linked in an earlier response, what in your mind explains the crucial human need for micronutrients that until quite recently were only available from meat and/or fish?
«…National Audubon Society, the Worldwatch Institute, the Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and even Al Gore’s Live Earth…»
Appealing to authority is a weak debating tactic, and using those particular “authorities” automatically discredits your argument with many people.
«…have recognized that raising animals for food damages the environment more than just about anything else that we do.»
Only if you accept the CAFO straw man. Phased pastured is quite the opposite. CAFO vs. vegan is a false dichotomy, a lose-lose confrontation.
For anyone who chooses to follow a vegetarian diet, we provide what you need to know in support of that. But if you advocate that we all should emulate that, you can expect some dissent.
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Dr. Davis, I for one am anxiously awaiting your next book: “Wheat Belly… I lost the wheat, I lost the weight, now lose the loose skin.”
:-)
Steve wrote: «…now lose the loose skin.»
That topic arises infrequently enough that it doesn’t seem to be a common problem, but it does arise, most recently at:
https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2015/09/lose-inflammation-look-younger/comment-page-1/#comment-62085
and be sure to follow the link in my reply there to an even earlier discussion with additional detail.
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You seem to have taken from my comment that I was blaming Wheat Belly for the loose skin. Nothing could be farther from the truth. And I’m not talking about the face, I’m talking about the belly where the bag of skin used to house 30 pounds of fat and now it’s empty. I’m dealing with a 50+ year old body that isn’t as supple as it used to be.
The smiley face was meant to communicate that this isn’t really a problem. I’ll take the loose skin over the extra body fat and health issues any day.
Steve wrote: «You seem to have taken from my comment that I was blaming Wheat Belly for the loose skin.»
No blame to blame – it is possible to loose weight faster than the skin can respond.
The question does arise here from time to time. The WB lifestyle appears to encounter the issue less frequently than other programs, as it may optimize skin response.
«The smiley face was meant to communicate that this isn’t really a problem. I’ll take the loose skin over the extra body fat and health issues any day.»
Acknowledged, but don’t assume it won’t remiss. Until we get specific advice from Dr. Davis on this, there are approaches to consider in resolving it, summarized at:
https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2015/04/the-wheat-belly-facial-transformation-gallery/comment-page-1/#comment-59818
and with a link there to a Mark Sisson article with detailed tips.
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I am on day 7 of the 10 day detox plan. After the 10 days, I am wondering does one continue to drink the detox shakes and if so, how often.
Thank you.
Sandy
Sandy Jaecksch wrote: «After the 10 days, I am wondering does one continue to drink the detox shakes and if so, how often.»
It’s optional, and up to you. You would use the recipe from the latter days, with the full portion of prebiotic fiber.
I’ve been drinking a shake like these for a couple of years now, with avocado and zinc. I take kelp separately.
If you decide to discontinue the shake, be sure to obtain your daily varied prebiotic fiber in other ways, keep getting your healthy fats, and take core supplements (such as the iodine shown, and the zinc suggested). Frankly, it’s a pretty convenient breakfast.
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Thank you. I was thinking I would continue. How often do you have the shake? Daily?
Sandy Jaecksch wrote: «How often do you have the shake? Daily?»
Daily.
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Dr. Davis, is there a rule of thumb to follow about advice in the books from old to new? For example, I have an old pancake recipe that suggests that we “drown those bad boys in maple syrup and have at ‘em.” You wouldn’t say that today, would you? We should be reading the labels and adjusting carbs, yes? Or…is there a glorious day in the future when we’ll actually be too skinny? (;-0) Thanks.
Mary wrote: «Dr. Davis, is there a rule of thumb to follow about advice in the books from old to new?»
Follow the newest recipe where available. There have been some shifts over time on specific ingredients, and if we include the earlier Track Your Plaque books, on macronutrient balance too.
Since the original Wheat Belly book, for example, quinoa has been deprecated (net carbs) and certain thickeners and emulsifiers are now discouraged (microbiome antagonists).
«For example, I have an old pancake recipe…»
May I ask where that comes from?
«…drown those bad boys in maple syrup…»
Even if it’s real maple syrup, that’s both a carb and fructose overload. Due to demand exceeding integrity, I wouldn’t assume that any random brand of “maple” syrup is much more than flavored HFCS these days, unless collected personally by you from the forest. Nature’s Hollow makes a decent sugar-free maple mimic.
«We should be reading the labels and adjusting carbs, yes?»
See: https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2015/11/4-tips-for-managing-carbs-on-wheat-belly/
«Or…is there a glorious day in the future when we’ll actually be too skinny?»
The WB carb advice may be expected to follow such unconfounded science as becomes available, adjusted for personal carb tolerance (which varies for many reasons), verified by testing key meaningful metrics. In the unlikely event that someone really is too skinny (rare, and usually just a misperception in our generally overweight culture), adding weight with carbs remains inadvisable.
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Is there any test that would reveal if a person has adequate levels of omega-3 fatty acids so that dosage may be adjusted accordingly?
palo wrote: «Is there any test that would reveal if a person has adequate levels of omega-3 fatty acids so that dosage may be adjusted accordingly?»
There are apparently several, such as:
☤ Omega-3 Index
☤ Total Omega-3s
☤ Omega-3 EPA, DHA, ALA, and DPA
☤ Total Omega-6/Omega-3 Ratio
☤ AA/EPA ratio
I can’t immediately comment on which are the most useful, what target values to seek or even on the utility of having any tested at all.
These are apparently available as home (mail away) tests, such as:
https://store.genesmart.com/139805.html
This is not an endorsement of that product – it just popped up in a search.
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