Jean shared her experience with the Wheat Belly lifestyle. Not only did she lost an impressive amount of weight, she has enjoyed substantial relief from arthritis pain and inflammation.
“Left upper to right lower represents 11 months and 67 lbs. My starting weight was 221 and, in the last picture, I weighed 154.
“I have been wheat-free since July and totally grain-free since August.This weekend I had a breakthrough. I spent the whole weekend performing projects. Saturday, I cleaned and swept the garage, which included moving boxes of full canning jars. Then, on Sunday, my husband and I planted 108 plants in the garden. Neither morning did I wake up in pain. Considering that I have chronic osteoarthritis, this is a huge victory for me. There were days when I couldn’t get out of bed the next day after doing a project. I am absolutely stunned that I am not in pain.
“I wish everyone with inflammatory diseases would learn about how to live pain free in a natural way.”
Removing wheat and grains removes a major inflammatory source: the gliadin protein, wheat germ agglutinin, and other components. Compound this with the inflammation reducing effects of losing weight (since visceral fat is highly inflammatory), and relief from even common osteoarthritis (as compared to autoimmune arthritis, such as rheumatoid) can develop with this lifestyle. Jean appears fairly young and should not be plagued by the pain and disability of arthritis, a disease worsened in large part due to conventional dietary advice.
Following a wheat/grain-free lifestyle sure beats the alternative of taking endless anti-inflammatory drugs and, eventually, prosthetic joints, neither of which make you healthier nor look better.
Jean, You look amazing!! And so much younger looking, too.
Thank you!
Jean, you give me hope! what a transformation!
Dr. Davis, could you please address something that I haven’t really seen discussed here yet. I have about 95 pounds to lose but my fat is the subcutaneous fat that resides under the skin. I am 5′ 6″ and have a 37 inch waist BUT I have a liver roll above my waist and a large pannus below my belly button. My arms are huge, “grandma batwing” arms-17″ around, as big as some peoples thighs and my own thighs- heaven forbid, I can’t bring myself to even measure them…all my fat is of the soft squishy variety and I can have a 20-25 pound weight range wearing the same size clothes. How does Wheat Belly address this visually repulsive(to me!) type of fat? My doctor is always amazed at how small my waist is in comparison to my weight…I seem to be completely the opposite of everybody here who has the internal organ fat(although I’m sure I have some of that too) just the majority of my fat is the wobbly, grab-it-by-the handsful type…can Wheat Belly help lose all this hanging weight? I have smallish bones(size 5 rings) and my current weight is 235 lbs wearing size 16-18. I would like to lose the sofa padding as I call it and get to a weight and size for my frame- do you think WB can help with this or does it work predominantly for visceral fat?
I’d appreciate any comment or thoughts.
re: How does Wheat Belly address this … type of fat?
[stubborn subcutaneous]
I don’t recall seeing anything specifically about this in the WB books or on the blog, but the topic arises frequently on low carb and exercise sites.
The consensus is that this sort of fat is the last to go (and the first to return if one is careless with carbs). You can search on catecholamines and alpha adrenergic receptors for lots of chat about it. The objective is to reduce insulin to enable the process.
If these sites are accurately describing the situation, alas, there may be no point in focusing on it if you still have other visceral fat you want to lose.
The web will serve up any number of different suggestions for supplements to aid the process, some harmless and easy to try, like green tea.
What the advice seems have in common is also part of the WB “Lost the Wheat but not the Weight” tips:
● Intermittent Fasting (IF), for 12-18 hours if active, longer if sedate
● Exercise during the IF
I came across this article while having a browse.
http://naturalsociety.com/monsanto-employee-admits-an-entire-department-exists-to-discredit-scientists/
While it strikes me as easily possible that Monsanto has a GMO Spanish Inquisition department, that story relies on a single unconfirmed blogger report.
GMO has arisen as a topic here before, for example:
https://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2014/03/whats-worse-than-genetic-modification/comment-page-1/#comment-35910
Here’s another one
http://naturalsociety.com/former-biotech-scientist-admits-gmos-not-safe/
What an awesome story! I’m so happy for Jean.
I didn’t eat a whole lot of wheat-grains to begin with, but since I quit ALL wheat and grains completely about 5 weeks ago, I definitely feel slimmer. It amazes me because I haven’t been exercising like before (I’ve been doing weight training and cardio 5 days a week for over 3 years but took a break these last 5-6weeks).
I’m also not craving sugar or getting the munchies like I used to anymore ,and even without the exercise, I’ve “lost weight”.
Dr. Davis,
Have you read the news about the link between gestational diabetes and autist birth? When are they going to listen?
For the curious, that would be this paper; free fulltext at:
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2247143
Also: “Antidiabetic medication exposure was not independently associated with ASD risk.”
And: “Our results also suggest that screening for GDM and control of glucose levels early in pregnancy may be important in reducing ASD risk for offspring.”
I read this as: throwing extra insulin or metformin at the problem does not fix it – the excess glucose itself needs to be controlled, and that’s primarily a matter of diet (the paper, unsurprisingly, didn’t connect that dot).
Interestingly, the association is also with GDM specifically and not pre-existing T2DM. Heretofore, my impression is that GDM has been seen as a mysterious transient phenomenon of no particular concern.
It’s likely to turn out that insulin disregulation is problem whenever and however it arises, and it needs to be corrected at root causes, and not by throwing meds at it.
re:Interestingly, the association is also with GDM specifically and not pre-existing T2DM.
I read the Reuters article. It pointed out that the stipulation of autism as a result only of gestational diabetes may simply be a result of the experiment format. The study did not randomly follow women of child bearing age through conception and childbirth. The study started following women as they showed up pregnant at medical facilities. An extremely large portion of type 2 diabetics in the U.S. go undiagnosed, and that factor includes future mothers. They receive their first diabetes diagnosis when they first show up for pregnancy care,
Existing, undiagnosed type 2 diabetes might even account for the majority of “gestational diabetes” cases. This factor could have a couple of meaning. It might mean that the 45% increase of autism among children of mothers with gestational diabetes is actually 100%. It could mean mean that the gestational diabetes stipulation is meaningless, and the increased incidence applies to children of all, or nearly all, diabetic mothers.
Even your hair looks healthier! Thanks for the inspiration!
Your experience is wonderful! Thanks for sharing! I’m curious, did you also stop sugar or limit in any way? I’m glad you’re health has improved! That’s what’s its about!
I have been on the WB WOE since jan and I’ve lost some weight but the main reason I changed the way I ate is for health and I am not experiencing a decrease in pain from OA. My hands have been especially bad. My thyroid is still not functioning but I did finally find a dr. (see her the 27) who reportedly does wonders with regulating it. She’s a ” functional med ” MD. I don’t know why I’m not experiencing more relief especially with the increase of Omega 3’s.
Not everybody experiences relief, Jeanie. All we can do is maximize all the things that we have the ability to address.
Have you addressed your vitamin D status and cultivated healthy bowel flora?