Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Wheat Belly - Why We Are Fat
by Yvonne Brown
We in North American are fat, and we are getting
fatter. Research has shown we exercise
no less than our grandparents but our pant size keeps increasing. Most of us, try to foster a healthy lifestyle
and are conscious about what we eat. We don’t
understand why we are getting fatter. We
don’t understand why it is so difficult for us to lose any weight. We are bombarded with advertisements through
multi media about so-called healthy food choices, weight loss drugs and weight
loss programs. Many of the products being advertised to us for weight loss will
actual result in weight gain. (heart and stroke, 2012) This weight loss issue
is a multi billion-dollar industry.
In 2012, according to
the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, obesity is an epidemic. In the United
States 35.7 percent of Adults are obese and 16.9 percent of children age 2 to
19 are obese. Obesity is defined as
having a body mass index (BMI) above 30. Overweight means a BMI of 25 to 29.9. Obesity
rates among U.S. adults have more than doubled from 15 percent in 1980. In that
same time, they have more than tripled among children. According to Dr. Davis, an American preventative
Cardiologist and author of the book Wheat
Belly, the answer lies in modern wheat. Modern wheat is making us fat and
keeping us fat.
Dr. Davis’ Wheat Belly examines how wheat is making
us fat and how it is making us unhealthy. Modern wheat has been engineered so it could
withstand adverse conditions resulting in high yields and cheaper products. This modern wheat has adverse effects on our
weight and on our health. Dr. Davis
claims this modern wheat should not be consumed by anyone. Eating two slices of
whole wheat bread increases a persons insulin levels higher than if they had
eaten a Mars bar. Wheat has a protein that stimulates our appetite so we feel
hungry within two hours of consumption.
We are not hungry for just any food we crave junk carbohydrates such as,
cookies, bagels, chips or muffins. This places us on a rollercoaster and we are
hungry again in two hours. The only way to stop the cycle is to stop the wheat.
The addictive nature
of wheat is not only known to medical researchers but also to the food manufactures. This is why wheat items dominate our grocery store shelves from the bakery, pasta and
cereal aisles, and frozen and processed foods aisle. Modern wheat is cheap to produce and yields
high profit margins. This addiction has
resulted in obesity and brings on other serious health concerns.
We must get rid of our wheat bellies, as the underlying fat is a killer. Belly
fat is also called “visceral fat”; it surrounds the organs in the belly. Visceral fat is different from other fat such
as the fat that is on our buttocks and thighs, visceral fat acts as a gland
secreting hormones, causing side effects such as breasts on men. It also affects our immune system, which is
being linked to Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Cancer and Heart Disease.
So why
are we still eating wheat? Perhaps it is
because we have been bombarded with propaganda from the Diabetic Association,
Heart and Stoke, Canadian Cancer and other health advocates advising us to
reduce our fat intake, exercise more, snack less and eat more “healthy grains”.
The net result has been we have become fatter.
For one thing the “no fat low fat” campaign saw the food manufactures replacing
the fat with sugar to keep the food palatable.
This move actually made us fatter.
The health association claim that eating more whole grains will make us
healthy, this is not true it will make us fatter. Health organizations have endorsed products
like breads, cereals, and pastas, all aiding in our obesity.
The endorsements are based
on flawed logic. These health
organizations have made a bad assumption. We know that whole wheat bread is better than white
bread, however, this does not mean that brown bread is a healthy choice. The analogy
is similar smoking filtered cigarettes is not as bad a smoking unfiltered
cigarettes. This cannot be interpreted
to mean that filtered cigarettes are a healthy choice.
Several
food manufactures have jumped on the bandwagon don’t eat wheat campaign. Dr.
Davis does not advocate for eating a gluten free diet as he points out that the
gluten free manufactured products are filled with bad ingredients such as
cornstarch and tapioca starch. The
starch’s used in these manufactured products will significantly elevate the
insulin level, making us hungry shortly afterwards.
After hearing
Dr. Davis interviewed on CBC radio in July, I decided to try eliminating wheat
from my diet. One of the things that helped me decide to try this diet was Dr.
Davis’ debunk of the myth that increasing exercise and decreasing food intake
will result in an idea body weight. Dr.
Davis points out that there are many athletes, including triathletes who do an incredible amount of training but
are still overweight by 20 to 40 lbs. He
claims that many of us have tried to increase our exercise routine to aid with
weight lost have ended up eating more as we get hungry for the increased amount
of energy exerted during exercise, leading to us gaining weight.
Dr.
Davis does not hold us responsible for our growing waistlines instead he blames
modern wheat. I did not find giving up wheat as easy as Dr. Davis claimed in
his book. It is definitely a challenge
when eating out. However, I started to eat more legumes, vegetables, and dairy.
I switched from whole-wheat pasta to brown rice pasta. I did not increase my
exercise level or make a conscious effort to eat less food. Six months later I have lost 35lbs. The biggest change from the weight loss was a
release from constantly feeling hungry.
I sleep better and my concentration is better. The elimination of wheat worked for me.
This pheononum
is not just isolated to North America the same exists in countries like
England; however the English blame their expanding waistlines on sugar, mostly
corn syrup. They concede the effects of
wheat but feel that corn syrup is a bigger contributing factor to obesity. The parallels of the side effects of corn syrup,
a product of corn which is man made, and wheat is striking. Researches both claim that people are not exercising
less today than in our grandparent’s day. The obesity era started with the low
fat - no fat campaign.
Corn syrup tricks the brain into thinking its hungry leading to overeating. The
same happens with wheat the results are increased cravings for sugar leading to
overeating. The argument of corn syrup
has merit, however, Dr. Davis is primarily looking at people who are making a
conscious decision to eat health and therefore cites wheat.
This
begs the question, why are these products in so much of our food? The road to obesity was the road of good
intentions. In the 1970’s the world breadbaskets
needed to be filled. Wheat was
engineered to achieve this end. Corn
syrup has been used in a lot of foods to replaced sugar. Its is cheaper to produce and aided in the
preservation of foods. Foods do not
undergo the testing that drugs do so they come on the market before the adverse
effects are known. These two products have a staggering impact on the health
care system.
The
health care system is the biggest loser when it comes to obesity. The rise in obesity related diseases has
dramatically increased, making all governments look at how to address the
overweight issue. In 2008, the United
States spent $147 Billion on obesity
related diseases. The United States
along with England are expecting these costs to increase by forty percent by
2030.
Many
governments are contemplating a taxation of junk food. The Canadian Government is looking at taxes
on sugary drinks, chips, chocolate bars to help combat the obesity issue. However, as we have seen, these are not the
only things that are making us fat. Wheat
is making us fat! I think it is clear that we need to take responsibility for
our own health. We now know that wheat
is our enemy and we need to stop eating wheat and gain control of our weight.
References
Davis, W.
(2011). Wheat Belly. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: HarperCollins Publishing
Ltd.
Peretti, J. (2012, June 11). Why our food is making us fat.
Retrieved from The Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/11/why-our-food-is-making-us-fat
Unknown. (2012). Obesity in America. Retrieved from
Obesity in America: www.obesityinamerica/statistics/index.cfm
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