Thursday, April 5, 2012

Wheat Belly - Why we are getting fatter



I heard about this book Wheat Belly a while ago and decided to download the audio book and have a listen.  I have heard that Wheat isn't what Wheat used to be years ago but a look at the parallel between when the change started and the start of the obesity increase runs parallel.  

Recently I went to see Dr. Poon who specializes in medical weight loss for patients with diabetes and other diseases.  We interviewed him about the effects of obesity for the documentary Eco Losers that I am working on. He has a book called "The Metabolic Diet"  One of the things he said was that he tells his patients to get rid of all sugar and that includes the sugar from carbohydrates and things like pasta, bread etc.  He encourages eating all forms of lean protein, even red meat.   Obese people have bodies that can't control their insulin levels that spike because of the sugar rushes.



In the Wheat Belly book he calls it Bagel Butt or what some people call muffin top.   I know that I am carb addicted because if I don't have some sort of carb I start craving it like a drug addiction.  He says all you have to do is look at your middle and if it's big it's likely been caused by wheat consumption and metabolic syndrome caused by insulin levels that are out of whack.

I have been researching many things for the new documentary and this is one of those things that the light bulb went off on.    The people that live in the poorest communities are generally the fattest.  That's because they rely on cheap wheat grain products for survival.  Pastas, bread, junk food etc.  Cheap and fast and loaded with things that are making us fatter and fatter.

I have been noticing that I have been feeling really lethargic and wake up with brain fog, stuffed up and feeling creaky.  I am going to try and reduce the amount of wheat based products I consume and see how long it takes to make a difference in how I feel.  I notice that when I eat a huge carb load before I go to bed I sleep poorly and wake up feeling worse than when I went to bed.   HMMM... coincidence?  I think not.

1 comment:

  1. A few months ago I decided to eliminate my wheat consumption for the exact same reasons you mention in your blog...brain fog, lethargy, etc. I'm now eating 90% gluten-free except for the occasional slip up when I'm away from home and have no choice but to eat something with wheat in it. It's amazing how many products have wheat in them that don't really need it. Food manufacturers sneak it into everything. Thankfully there are numerous alternatives out there so you can still have bread, desserts etc. made with coconut flour, quinoa flour, brown rice flour.

    ReplyDelete

If you post Spam links in this comments section they will be deleted.