Wheat Belly, Bagel Butt, Pasta Face, etc.

As I've done with other failed diets, I decided to blog about this one.  One thing I learned a few years ago, while recounting past diets, is that I typically diet when there is a significant change in my life.  This time around it is a job change, as I start in the IBM Watson Group in one more week.  For some reason, the stress of continuity (or maybe it is boredom) results in me eating poorly and eating often.  When I am enduring change, I guess my energy is focused more on the change and I am more ready to eat better.  Weird, huh?

So, a few weeks ago, after landing the new job, I was seeking a new audio book to listen to while walking.  Wheat Belly came up near the top of my search, and so I gave it a shot.  Yada Yada yada, I started a wheat-free diet last Monday, finished the book yesterday, then I wrote the review you see in my prior blog post. 

Here are the bottom line points I learned from the book, which I probably should have just added to my book review:

1. Wheat used to be generally good or OK for people, back in the old days 50-5000 years ago.
2. Ask yourself, or look at old family photos from the 1940's - 1950's...  How many people back then had big guts and lard butts like they do now?  How many more people exercise regularly (run, work out, etc) now versus 30-50 years ago?  Back in the 50's and 60's, very few people were joining a gym or running or walking, for the sole purpose of EXERCISE, but they were generally not nearly as overweight as they are now. Something happened.   
3. Due to efforts to genetically improve wheat to yield more, cure world hunger, and reap more profits for those evil capitalists at "Big Food" (just kidding... I've always said I can make anything political) What I meant was...
   
   Due to efforts to genetically improve wheat to yield more and cure world hunger, the wheat we eat now is not the same as the wheat of our ancestors.  There are many more chromosomes or (insert genetic engineering science term here) that has made today's wheat different than the wheat of yesteryear.
4. An unintended side effect of that is that wheat products are highly addictive, even though we don't really even notice that (until we try to stop eating it).  The book compared it it some ways to morphine and other hard core drugs.  
5. Wheat makes you hungry.  Related to being addictive, a few hours after eating wheat, you are hungry again.
6. Another consequence of wheat, or the sugar converted from wheat when we eat it, is that it causes - or seems to cause or influence or impacts - cancer, hair loss, acne, celiac disease, upset stomach, brain disfunction, weakness, sleepiness, lack of good sleep, and I don't know what all.  Oh yea.. It causes you to be fat, or fatter, or fattest.  (Remember The Freshman Twenty, or Thirty, or Forty, in my case... The weight you put on from eating mostly pizza during the first year of college?  It's not just the FAT from the cheese and pepperoni!)
7. Wheat is more than just bread, bagels, pasta, tortillas, flour, and pizza.  A LOT more.  It's used as a thickening agent or taste enhancer in many many sauces and other recipes.  As the author said, "Removing wheat from your diet is like removing sand from your bathing suit."
8. Foods labeled gluten-free may or may not be, but more importantly, they usually replace the gluten with other stuff not good for you (such as other starches), so don't go all crazy buying and eating "gluten-free" foods.
9. Red wine is a wheat-free alternative to beer.  

So, I started this past Monday.  I cut out breads, cereals, and all the other obvious wheat-like foods.  I also cut out breaded fried food like the Chick-fil-A nuggets on a salad.  I did have some gluten free cereal (Rice Chex, and some other Chex product), gluten free pizza from Zpizza, gluten free bun with Banzai Burger at Red Robin, and a little bit of some GF quinoa pasta with spaghetti sauce.  I had that fajita burrito (without the tortilla) that Lori always gets from Salsa Fresh. I've eaten more nuts (even salted ones), more cheese, more eggs, more bacon, and more yogurt than usual.  I ate fries as usual, popcorn at the movie as usual, and I haven't thrown out any beer.  A man has his limits.

I felt like after only about 2-3 days, I was losing the craving for wheat (breads) and was not as hungry throughout the day.  This was one of the promises in the book I was counting on.  It's a good thing, because wheat temptations were everywhere.  I stared down a huge box of Dunkin Donuts someone left on the counter this week.  Then, someone left the final lone donut out strategically tempting me from the very middle of our large kitchen bar.  I also stared down a half loaf of double buttered garlic Texas Toast that was prepared last night with the family's spaghetti and meat sauce dinner.  (My son Seth commented it was the best Texas Toast he had ever eaten.  Thanks for that unsolicited food review, son.)  I stepped into a Red Robin, and ordered the GF bun, which for some reason made my $10 Banzai look as pitiful as a single McDonald's cheeseburger.   I passed on taking a bite of leftover boneless wings and nuggets from my kids on a few occasions.  I skipped the homemade French toast yesterday morning and the Green Hope Cross Country pancake breakfast this morning.

So overall, I'm making good progress.  BUT, I do need to do more meal planning, before meal boredom sets in, and the Oreos beckon me from their hiding place in the cupboard.  I've lost about 3 pounds after 6 days.  But that could just be water weight.

I'll leave you with a quote from the book author, Dr. William Davis: 

“Aside from some extra fiber, eating two slices of whole wheat bread is really little different, and often worse, than drinking a can of sugar-sweetened soda or eating a sugary candy bar.”

My Book Review of Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book had way too many medical terms for my taste, pun intended. I listened to this book on audio while walking, as I would have never been able to get through it by reading it. However, I learned enough about the effects of modern wheat to change my diet.

I have typically been a skeptic of organic and all the hype around gluten-free. However, this author explains very well how the genetic transformation of wheat in order to increase yield has resulted in adverse effects as proven by the large bellies of wheat consuming nations over the last 40 years. There is enough empirical evidence of people who have lost weight by avoiding wheat that encourages me to give this a try even though I will miss the thousands of foods that have wheat in them. Wheat is in more things than just cereal and pizza dough and bread. You would not believe how widespread the use of wheat is in most all of our foods.

It looks like wheat avoidance has worked even for LeBron James, so why not me? Today is day 5 of my wheat free - or nearly wheat free - experience. I'm going to give it a try for a while, and see what the results are. Back to the book...

The author does explain a lot of the medical implications of wheat - some proven, some implied - ranging from brain health to cancer to hair loss to skin conditions such as acne to celiac disease, and so on. I think it is worthwhile to give this a shot, and so I will update this review later if I have any results to report, pro or con.

View all my reviews

A Funny Reason to Not Go on a Cruise

This may only be funny to my family, but it was worth remembering.  Yesterday, my wife, kids, and I visited my parents, who are both in their 80's.  Both are in relatively good health for their respective ages, though they have plenty of ailments that have kept them from golfing and vacationing for many years.  Mom has knee problems, and Dad has Myasthenia Gravis, which makes him weak.  Dad also does breathing treatments and has oxygen therapy several times a day and at night.  To breathe the oxygen, Dad uses a nasal cannula (say "KAN-yuh-luh"). This is a thin tube with two prongs that fit just inside your nose.  What does that have to do with a cruise, you might wonder.  Keep reading...

We were sitting in the living room talking about various things, and the subject of vacations came up.  We noted that we were not sure of our vacation plans this year, but that a cruise would be fun.  Lori then said to my parents, "You know, you should go on a cruise with us.  Do you think you would ever want to do that?"

Mom promptly answered, "Oh no," and then took her two index fingers and put them up to her nose.  I understood the pantomime right away.  Mom was referring to Dad's oxygen therapy.  I'm sure there are other reasons, but that was the one she thought of first.

Lori had another interpretation.  "You don't know how to swim?"  Lori asked, just a serious as she could be.  We all laughed hysterically for minutes as we contemplated that on many levels.  

What's That Smell?

This morning, Caleb got up early and requested to get breakfast at McDonald's before catching the bus for school.  We had not done that in a while, so off we went.  We ate inside, and then hurried back to the car.  As we were both getting in the car, I smelled it.  Caleb suddenly asked, "What's that smell?"  Simultaneously I said, "Ewww.  Did you poot?"   He said, "Yea, I did.  But I didn't think it would be THAT bad!"

A West Meckenburg Indian Looks at 30

As I write this, I am aboard the Amtrak Piedmont Train #73 bound for Charlotte for my 30^th high school reunion.  Lori will be driving later to join me for the weekend’s festivities.  I had planned to enjoy the solitude by reading.  But here I sit, overwhelmed with a burden to write.

I can’t help but be reflective about this milestone.  I guess this is the first reunion where the former high school students now mostly have high school students (or beyond) of their own.  Some have grandchildren.  Few have toddlers.  We’re grown up and mature now.  At least we are supposed to be.  We’re thinking of paying for college for our kids, and wondering how on Earth that became so expensive.  We’re thinking of retiring.  We’re thinking of health.  We’re thinking of blessings received and opportunities missed and loved ones lost. 

As I was always Kenny Kodak with the camera, I am thankful to have many pictures to remind me of our high school days.  As I’ve gone through the photo albums the last few weeks to scan pictures, I am fondly reminded of many memories. 

First of all, there’s the theme of math & science versus the arts.  By arts I mean dancing, music, reading, writing, and history.  In high school, some of my friends and I expressed outward disdain for the arts.  I guess you love the stuff you’re good at doin’, and despise that at which you are not good.  Or is it well?  We simply loved math and science, and found anything else to be an unnecessary distraction or annoyance.

Hopefully, my ability to construct an effective, nearly proper, and grammatically correct sentence must have improved some over the last 30 years.  Alas, I have had to repent of my anti-arts sentiments.  While I still can’t dance a lick, I have found that I’ve enjoyed all types of music - except jazz - including classical and even some specific types of country music.  I attended, and even generally understood, a ballet of “Romeo and Juliet” at the Sydney Opera House.  I enjoy reading voraciously, writing passionately, and learning history in epic proportions.  I’ve even taught a 7^th grade Language Arts class the importance of “Language Arts in the Real World” where I demonstrated the criticality of reading, writing, and communications as a key to career success - even in a technical job role such as engineering.

But this is not about that. This is about people.  As I’ve reviewed and scanned photos, I am reminded of friends and other classmates.  Some were close.  Some were merely acquaintances barely known or mutually tolerated.  Some are married, remarried, single or divorced.  Some are no longer living.  Some were camera shy and had to be caught off guard to be photographed.  One friend complained he was not in our (my) photo album enough, and so I took a picture of him complaining. 

There are pictures of the things we did to have fun, like Frisbee in the courtyard, or handball in the hallway.  There were poses reminding me of inside jokes or relationships gone bad or mocking others, in fun of course.  There were goofballs and flirting and foolish behavior.  There were teachers we loved and ones we despised.  There were student lobbyists making their case for a better grade.  There were sad people and happy people.  There were girlfriends and one-time dates. 

Andy Stanley has said that your friends greatly influence and sometimes determine the direction and quality of your life.  I feel very blessed and fortunate to have grown up on the west side of Charlotte, NC, with one of the best circles of friends a kid could have.  I have been influenced academically, relationally and musically by the few dozen or so classmates I was closest to during those formative years.  While we were not angels, we generally stayed out of trouble, and certainly our competition academically was healthy for all involved.  I owe a lot of my blessings to having known the many guys and girls of the West Mecklenburg High School Class of 1983.  There are still a few friends that we have not located, but I do hope to give more attention to these friendships established some 30+ years ago. 

Now, I’ve got one hour left before I arrive.  Time to read.