There’s a practical reality to the Wheat Belly grain-free lifestyle, one that I believe some followers of the lifestyle fail to recognize. Understand these simple facts that I’ve discussed in the Wheat Belly books and your life will be simplified.
By living the Wheat Belly grain-free lifestyle, you will find that:
You cannot consume grain-containing foods without becoming ill. Many of you have learned this lesson the hard way and found, for instance, that eating a handful of French fries fried in oil also used to prepare fried chicken will have you sitting on the toilet while your gastrointestinal tract forcefully evacuates its contents. We therefore choose grain-free foods such as eggs, beef, cucumbers, and blueberries, and recreate familiar foods such as grain-free pizza, cookies, and muffins.
You, as a grain-free human, have lost your partial (never total) tolerance to the toxic components of grains and cannot consume grains or foods contaminated by grain residues without suffering bloating, diarrhea, joint pain, anxiety, appetite stimulation, or other ill effects. In other words, re-exposure to the toxic components of grains yields undesirable health effects that can last anywhere from hours to months (as in reprovocation of autoimmune or neurological effects). At a social event, for instance, you cannot eat foods containing wheat flour, cornstarch, or other grain-based ingredients without having to make a run to the bathroom, nursing aching hands or knees for several days, or enduring re-provocation of rheumatoid joint pain and swelling for 3 months.
But grain-consuming people can consume your grain-free pizza, cookies, and muffins without becoming ill and find them tasty and filling.
People who continue to consume wheat and grains and suffer the long-term consequences—high blood sugars/type 2 diabetes, joint pain, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, skin rashes, plantar fasciitis, ulcerative colitis, migraine headaches, hormonal disruptions, etc.—can eat the foods you choose or prepare without ill effect. They can have a slice of your grain-free pizza, cookies, or muffins without any adverse consequences—no diarrhea, no gastrointestinal distress, no joint pain, no dark moods, no re-provocation of autoimmune diseases. They can just enjoy a delicious slice of grain-free pizza or cheesecake just like you.
Say you bring a plate of grain-free blueberry muffins to a gathering, while others have brought typical grain-filled hamburger buns, pasta salad, and sandwiches. You will have to eat your hamburger without a bun, can’t touch the pasta salad or sandwiches, but can enjoy your muffins. Everyone else can likewise eat your muffins without regrets and never know the difference.
It is a vivid illustration of the differences in food choices, a dietary one-way street: Other people can consume your grain-free foods while talking, laughing, and enjoying their time while you cannot eat their foods without some pretty awful health consequences.
In your own family, it means that you can prepare foods compatible with your lifestyle and serve it to your family. They may notice that the pizza crust is not as crisp or tastes somewhat different, but they can still enjoy the pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and tomato sauce. They can have a generous and delicious slice of grain-free chocolate cake and not worry about gaining weight or other adverse effects. They can safely enjoy heaping servings of your Mediterranean “Pasta” Salad made with olives, zucchini, and olive oil but no noodles.
In other words, you can prepare foods that are safe for you and safe for everyone else to consume. There is no need to prepare grain-free foods for yourself and grain-based foods for everyone else. Just make grain-free foods for everyone.
Can I eat low carb bread and Mission low carb tortillas while on the Wheat Belly diet? They are both very high in fiber so the net carbs are low, but they do contain some wheat derived ingredients. Ingredients are as follows:
LC BREAD: water, vital wheat gluten, oat fiber, almond flour, flax seed meal, wheat fiber, wheat protein isolate, modified wheat starch, virgin olive oil, yeast, calcium propionate, enzyme, vinegar, salt, stevia.
LC TORTILLA: Water, Modified Food Starch, Whole Wheat Flour, Vital Wheat Gluten, Powdered Cellulose, Vegetable Shortening (Interesterified Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil and/or Palm Oil), Wheat Protein Isolate (Wheat Gluten, Lactic Acid, Sulfite), and contains 2% or less of: Salt, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Corn Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate and/or Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Calcium Sulfate), Cellulose Gum, Preservatives (Calcium Propionate, Sorbic Acid), Distilled Monoglycerides, Enzymes, Wheat Starch, Calcium Carbonate, Antioxidants (Tocopherols, Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid), Natural Flavor, Sunflower Oil, Sucralose, Caramel Color, Canola Oil, Triglycerides, Dough Conditioners (Fumaric Acid, Sodium Metabisulfite and/or Monoand Diglycerides).
Jo wrote: «Can I eat low carb bread and Mission low carb tortillas while on the Wheat Belly diet?»
Not these products. The program has recipes for safe breads and tortillas. Retail products might exist that are OK, but would need specific review.
For anyone just starting out on the re-discovery of real food, the mere presence of an Ingredients list needs to be considered a warning by default. Avoid processed food-like substances until you’ve become a bit of a Nutrition Facts panel ninja. Thanks for detailing these — some remarks:
re: «LC BREAD…»
vital wheat gluten … wheat protein isolate:
A slice of this might actually contain more gliadin than wheat bread. This suggests that the formulator focused on low-carb, and paid no attention to being gluten-free.
wheat fiber:
This could be arabinoxylan (a prebiotic fiber), but is more likely to be just insoluble roughage, which isn’t necessarily beneficial. In any case, it can easily deliver more adverse wheat proteins, field toxins and post-harvest anti-fungal agents.
oat fiber:
Oats are commonly cross-contaminated with wheat, and would have the same fiber concerns.
virgin olive oil:
That claim has about zero credibility to me.
re: «LC TORTILLA…»
Modified Food Starch:
Just what do we suppose this might be?
Whole Wheat Flour, Vital Wheat Gluten … Wheat Protein Isolate:
These are, again, exactly contrary to the program.
Powdered Cellulose:
Possibly actual sawdust
Vegetable Shortening (Interesterified Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil … Sunflower Oil … Canola Oil:
Adverse Omega 6 linoleic acids, all.
Sodium Aluminum Sulfate:
Added aluminum compounds are generally worth avoiding
Corn Starch:
Absent organic and non-GMO claims, presume a GMO corn that either has glyphosate uptake, or is itself a pesticide (Bt). In any case, corn is worth avoiding in all forms.
Monocalcium Phosphate … Calcium Sulfate … Calcium Carbonate:
We avoid added calcium, as ingredient or supplement.
Cellulose Gum:
Suspect gut mucosa and gut wall antagonist
Natural Flavor:
Why?
Sucralose:
Adverse artificial sweetener
Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate … Fumaric Acid, Sodium Metabisulfite and/or Monoand Diglycerides:
This isn’t “food” — it’s a chemistry experiment.
The people who formulated these simulated foods either have no idea what they are doing, or they know exactly. Your health is not their goal in either case.
________
Blog Associate (click my user name for details)
If we are grain free, then not only wheat, but oats are a grain, too! I’ve been doing the Wheat Belly lifestyle for 7 years and, like Dr. Davis said, I learned the hard way! One time I left my hand lotion at home, so I stopped and bought some. I decided to try Avenido. Wow, it made my hands so soft, but my hands were hurting so bad. The joints were swollen (lost all of those problems when I started Wheat Belly) and really ached. I finally looked at the ingredients, and lo and behold, OATMEAL!!!
Bob: Good call on just what is in those products! There’s a lot of harmful things in there, not to mention all the wheat derivatives, corn, and other GRAINS which are bad for us.
Jo:
Please take the time to read all of Dr. Davis’s books. You don’t have to buy them…..many public libraries have them. If the book isn’t listed at your local library, ask the librarian if it is possible that one of their branches have them.
Start with the 1st book, Wheat Belly, and go from there. Following this blog is another way of keeping well informed.
I live in a very small town (blink your eyes on the main road going through, & you can miss us! lol). We do have a library, and 2 other branches; his books are available to us. I was shocked that it was available here. I used to live & work in a pretty big city that had pretty much everything one could want.
Good luck to you in your journey with Wheat Belly. You won’t regret it.
Sandra wrote: «You don’t have to buy them…..many public libraries have them.»
Great tip.
re: «Start with the 1st book, Wheat Belly, and go from there.»
My recommendation would be to start with Undoctored (2017), particularly for anyone interested in the rationale, then add either cookbook. The original Wheat Belly (2011) book, for example, overlooked the gut flora topic entirely (it wasn’t really on the radar then).
For someone who just wants to jump right in, the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox book is a fabulous tool (the Facebook Challenges are optional).
________
Blog Associate (click my user name for details)
Hi Jo,
The answer is no, of course not, IF you are going grain free!
Because… um… grain-FREE! As in, absolutely free of all grains.
Read Dr. Davis’ books if you have not.
Best,
CA
You just put another piece of the puzzle together for me.
Thank you
Thank you for all the thoughtful replies. Guess the LC breads and tortillas were just too good to be true. I was doing fine without them, so I just need to get back to where I was. I got sidetracked by joining a Keto Reddit forum and they endorse these foods pretty heavily– including lots of recipe hacks (pizza, etc) using them. Oh well. I’ll miss all that fiber though.
Joanne Speak wrote: «Guess the LC breads and tortillas were just too good to be true.»
Retail “low carb” stuff today tends to be high in adverse fats, adverse sweeteners, bizarre fillers and mysterious chemistry set items. “Gluten-free” stuff massively tends to be high carb (and other junk, usually non-gluten grains with problematic proteins and lectins). Other specialty diet aisles are apt to have similar problems.
The sad fact is that, in today’s stores, over 98% of what passes for “food” is unfit for chronic human consumption. The (under-2%) acceptable products tend to be the basic real produce, meats and just some of the dairy usually found around the perimeter of the premises.
re: «I got sidetracked by joining a Keto Reddit forum…»
What were your goals in keto? The program here has keto as a temporary tool in the box for certain situations, but cautions on chronic keto (unless it’s the least adverse way to treat a chronic ailment).
re: «I’ll miss all that fiber though.»
What was the fiber goal? Perhaps this recent blog post might be on topic.
In the Undoctored/Wheat Belly program, specific supplementation of bulk/insoluble/roughage fiber is usually unnecessary. We do pay increasing attention, however, to prebiotic fiber (and almost no processed food-like substances contain useful amounts).
________
Blog Associate (click my user name for details)
Are products from grain-fed animals contaminated with wheat and soy related fatty acids? Every time I eat commercial beef (white fat) I am sick by midnight. I usually eat eggs from pastured hens, but notice that commercial factory eggs have pale yolks.
Are the dietary grains fed these animals responsible for this, since their fatty acids are stored in the animals’ fat? I also noticed that butter from some “grassfed” cows is very sticky, while butter from guaranteed grassfed is nice and hard and crumbly.
Liz wrote: «Are products from grain-fed animals contaminated with wheat and soy related fatty acids?»
They are presumably affected by everything in the CAFO feeds, including added hormones and medications, grain lectins, field-uptake toxins, and possible GMO effects. But on the specific matter of fatty acids, my understanding is that it’s less a matter of elevating Omega 6 linoleic acid, and more a matter of driving the Omega 3s to nil.
re: «Every time I eat commercial beef (white fat) I am sick by midnight.»
A recent house guest reported an even more adverse epicurean reaction to eating a {famous brand} plain burger without the bun.
So go for organic and pastured (or at least pastured and unmedicated). And yes, that’s expensive at the TrendyMart, so look into a regional cowshare, which can be quite economical if you have freezer space.
________
Blog Associate (click my user name for details)
“Powdered Cellulose:
Possibly actual sawdust”
Lol, what?
“Absent organic and non-GMO claims, presume a GMO corn that either has glyphosate uptake, or is itself a pesticide (Bt)”
How do we know Bt and glyphosate isn’t inactivated by stomach acid and digestive processes? Is there a threshold to glyphosate exposure or is any amount bad?
re: “Powdered Cellulose: Possibly actual sawdust”
DLM wrote: «Lol, what?»
Actual sawdust being used as filler in bread has been an off-and-on scandal for a couple of centuries now.
re: «How do we know Bt and glyphosate isn’t inactivated by stomach acid and digestive processes? Is there a threshold to glyphosate exposure or is any amount bad?»
We don’t, but anyone desiring to rely on that conjecture is welcome to run an RCT on it. A. Get a population on a low gut antagonist diet, and lacking intestinal ailments. Get an incep status with Viome. B. Put some of them on a control diet (nothing added), some on Bt-added, some on glypho-added (or heck, actual Roundup, which isn’t just glypho), and some on both.
We can be confident that such testing was never done historically, because tools like Viome weren’t available. Plus, we have the significant challenge that there is no standard for eubiosis, and even Viome may not catch everything.
It was incumbent on the folks introducing these pesticides to test them for food safety, and given the serious limitations of human knowledge on that, to remain keenly alert to any black swans that showed up. This set of goals doesn’t describe our situation.
Heck, who ever even tested organic heirloom wheat for food safety.
Get used to being a lab rat.
________
Blog Associate (click my user name for details)
Pretty funny and strange about the bread. I don’t eat corn or soy anyways because I’m allergic so I can avoid that entire situation