Eliminating wheat is a great way to lose weight and feel better.
Previously we looked at the low hanging fruit on the weight loss tree. In this post I suggested eliminating liquid calories and processed foods, and increasing your walking in order to get started losing weight and/or generally improving your health. This definitely isn’t enough, however, for everyone to lose weight, nor is it enough to maximize your health. Today we look at the next culprit: wheat.
After you’ve eliminated most liquid calories, started cooking almost everything at home and carried on a walking routine, eliminating wheat in all forms will give the biggest bang for the buck. Sure, you’ve seen how “gluten-free” has grown in popularity, but you still don’t quite know why you should eliminate wheat. The benefits you can expect from this are weight loss, improved digestion, better cognitive function and often other improvements that you would never expect.
Why Eliminate Wheat?
For many people, bread is viewed as a staple food, one that has sustained us for generations. It is true, in fact, that we have eaten wheat for many generations, but humans have only been consuming wheat for a small fraction of our existence as a species. This alone is not enough evidence to condemn a food, but for it is enough to question it. Once you question wheat, many problems become glaringly obvious.
- It is ALWAYS processed – Ever walk out into a wheat field and take a bite our of some wheat? Me either. The reason is that it isn’t edible in this form because it has yet to undergo the processing that makes it edible (hulling, baking, etc). This means that even your beloved 100% whole-wheat bread undergoes considerable processing. When it comes to nutrition, always default to foods that come straight from nature. I for one have never seen a loaf of bread growing from the soil.
- It is addictive – Once we ingest wheat, the gluten protein breaks down into exorphin molecules that dock onto opioid receptors in the brain potentially causing a similar addictive effect as opiate drugs (which work by activating the same receptors) 1. Yes, it looks like eating wheat makes you crave more wheat. Plants are crafty – they began manipulating people way before our modern food manufacturers.
- It has low nutrient density – When it comes to vitamins and minerals per calorie, wheat is nothing compared to vegetables. In other words, replace your wheat with vegetables and you’ll take in more vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients and considerably less carbohydrate (energy). A lot of the nutritional value of the wheat people eat on a daily basis comes from fortification, which means it is added (back in) during the manufacturing process. Does that really sound like the ideal kind of nutrients? I assure you, vegetables are better.
- Digestive distress – We all know about celiac disease, but it appears that sensitivity is a lot more common than previously recognized. One commonly cited figure is about 1 in 130 people being affected by gluten 2. The scary thing is that a lot of these people, including those simply sensitive to gluten (who would test negative for celiac), manifest with symptoms not typically associated with celiac disease, such as skin rash and neurological problems.
The good news is that you only stand to benefit from eliminating wheat. I recommend eliminating it strictly for 30 days and evaluating closely how you feel. Often times people find improvements they never expected, like my friend who eliminated gluten for 30 days and lost 15 pounds, cleared up a fungal infection of the foot that had plagued him for 5 years, shaved 20% off his 5 mile run time (the same run he’d been doing for years) and found considerable improvement in his digestion. Even more telling was when he added gluten back, his digestion deteriorated immediately and he regained the same 15 pounds.
This is certainly a great story, and represents someone who identified a sensitivity to gluten. It is possible that other people will feel no different after a 30 day elimination of gluten. If this is the case, good for you. No harm was done in those 30 days; if anything, the nutrient density of the diet improved during that time.
What should replace my beloved wheat?!
The best choice is vegetables. If you previously ate a side of pasta with your dinners, simply replace that with a side of vegetables, even if you already have one side of vegetables. Be creative with vegetables and the possibilities for fresh, delicious foods are endless.
For foods with more carbs to replace the carbs you eliminated, use root vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, yucca, carrots or others. You can also use some other grains, like rice or corn, but those still won’t have the nutrient density of vegetables.
Be sure to ask questions
While doing your elimination, be sure to track how things are going. Is your digestion better? Are you thinking clearer? Sleeping better? No longer crashing during the afternoon? Did your chronic fungal infection heal? Have you lost weight? Did you get better at math? The point is to think critically about whether eliminating wheat is making you better or worse off. Do the same after reintroducing it. For most people the answers are abundantly clear.
I fully expect this step to make as much difference for most people as the low hanging fruit (sweetened beverages, processed foods and walking). Yes, eliminating wheat is that helpful in the path towards healthy weight loss.
For a slightly alarmist, but decent look at some of these effects on wheat, read Wheat Belly by cardiologist Dr. William Davis.
Now get started! There are a ton of wonderful foods out there. Trust me, you can go without wheat. Once you get in the groove and see the benefits you’ll never look back.
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