Wheat Belly by William Davis

 

Wheat Belly 

by

William Davis

This is the book that started the gluten free craze a few years ago.  I have always been curious about it so I decided to listen to it on audio and see for myself what it is all about.  Gluten free diets avoid wheat, rye and barley while Paleo diets avoid grains, dairy and legumes.  There are also the low carb keto diets where people keep their carb micro nutrients to a minimum.  These three approaches have been popular in recent years as ways to manage health.  Many doctors will recommend Paleo as a healthy way to eat.  William Davis, the author of Wheat Belly, is a cardiologist.  And those that follow the low carb way of eating have strong beliefs that it is the healthiest way to eat.  While listening to Wheat Belly I was struck by how this is a very important book for those with Celiac Disease or those who are gluten sensitive to read in order to understand how important it is for them to avoid gluten.  I am not convinced the rest of us should limit our intake of gluten to the degree recommended in the book.  Often when limiting carbohydrates one eats a lot more proteins.  This is very hard on a person's kidneys.  I am concerned about kidney disease as the proponents of these diets age.  As a whole, Americans eat too much protein any way.  In addition there is no doubt that Americans consume way too much wheat. We also consume way too much sugar.  As far as the changes in the wheat crops that allowed us to get a handle on world hunger I recommend reading this PDF on the USDA website.  In my opinion the Wheat Belly book is controversial. I agree that it is wise to limit our portions of all the food groups and after listening to this book will probably select my carbs from rice and potatoes and other starchy vegetables other than wheat when possible.  But eating the occasional noodle isn't going to freak me out.  Clean eating is consuming smaller portions of a balanced diet.  It is always a good idea to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, and fresh protein.  We need all the food groups to get the nutrients we require.  Most of us do need less than what we consume.  If a person chooses to cut out one of the food groups from their diet then I recommend them investigating if adding supplements to replace the nutrients they are not consuming would be a good idea.  In closing I am glad I listened to this book.  It has made me even more aware of the dangers of over doing it with consumption of  grains.   Please click on the book title and authors name above to follow the links to more information and there is one link to follow in the body of this text.  Also enjoy the video that follows.