# Wheat and your health



## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

One of the newest Maclean's Magazines has an article about how people are gaining stomach-region fat due to the consumption of wheat ...

On the evils of wheat - The Interview - Macleans.ca

The first two questions and answers from the Q-and-A session are below:



Dr. William Davis said:


> William Davis, a preventive cardiologist who practises in Milwaukee, Wis., argues in his new book Wheat Belly that wheat is bad for your health-so bad that it should carry a surgeon general's warning.
> 
> Q: You say the crux of the problem with wheat is that the stuff we eat today has been genetically altered. How is it different than the wheat our grandparents ate?
> 
> ...


What do you think of all this ...


----------



## TheAnt (Jun 7, 2011)

Its either really scary stuff or drivel from one of the many nutjob groups... which is it? I really dont know :surrender:

EDIT: I am definitely addicted to bread... dunno if thats the addiction he refers to but it makes me wonder. I call it "carb-o-holic".


----------



## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

What Ant said.


----------



## TheAnt (Jun 7, 2011)

I will say that I would rather be addicted to "frankengrains" and getting fat because of it than to die of starvation because I cant afford the alternative. There is something to be said for making food cheaper and accessable for everyone. I do however believe the truth should be known and folks should have a choice of which they want to pay for.


----------



## Wiswash (Aug 29, 2010)

Wheat, corn, soybeans, sesame seeds, carrots, beans, apples, citrus, peas, beets, tomatoes, potatoes, beef, pork, chicken, fish. Heck, what hasnt been modified beyond recognition?
I would be more worried about drinking diet soda as the aspartame messes with the metabolism and supposedly causes people to eat more than they should. Another bigger worry is peoples lack of physical activity.


----------



## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

I've been allergic as hell to gluten since I poisoned myself a few years ago with a home made allergy cure.


----------



## SageAdvicefarmgirl (Jun 23, 2011)

I would not be surprised if he is right about the changes in wheat, however, I believe the sheer enormity of foodstuff that is available today is the reason for belly fat. Think of the highly processed foods most people eat every day. Even in my family, where we garden for most of our vegetables and eat venison harvested during deer season, we still enjoy the "Little Debbie" snack cakes and processed cereals, etc.

I am growing a patch of winter wheat right now and hope to harvest about 50 to 75 lbs next spring, however, I'm sure the seed, tho organic, may be "deviled with" and not the old time stuff. 

Lastly, I'm fighting some belly fat, but I assume its age related more than anything. I just need to work in the garden a little more!


----------



## BillS (May 30, 2011)

It's the work of radical environmentalists who think the earth's population is way too high. Those are the people who are against creating hybrids to increase yields or genetically modifying plants to make them more disease resistant. They literally want more people to starve so the earth's population won't increase as much.


----------



## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

There is a great book out there called Food In History. It traces how people have eaten since the stone ages. First of all, wheat has only become widely available in the last 500 years. Secondly, there is a direct correlation between high fructose corn syrup and obesity. You can see the spike in obesity as soon as high fructose corn syrup became widely used.


----------



## Wiswash (Aug 29, 2010)

_There is a great book out there called Food In History. It traces how people have eaten since the stone ages. First of all, wheat has only become widely available in the last 500 years. Secondly, there is a direct correlation between high fructose corn syrup and obesity. You can see the spike in obesity as soon as high fructose corn syrup became widely used. _

Ive read similar things about HF Cornsyrup. It seems a lot of products arent even made with plain sugar anymore. Soda, bread, cereals. When shopping I do a fair amount of label reading and anything that says HF Cornsyrup I dont buy it.


----------



## Ezmerelda (Oct 17, 2010)

All things in moderation.

That's what I say whenever I read an article telling us to drop an entire section of the Food Pyramid.

The key word is moderation.


----------



## catsraven (Jan 25, 2010)

I myself do not want to eat Frankenfood, but have no choice. I would like to have a choice!


----------



## prairie (Jun 11, 2011)

Ezmerelda said:


> All things in moderation.
> 
> That's what I say whenever I read an article telling us to drop an entire section of the Food Pyramid.
> 
> The key word is moderation.


I think the problem is that as a country we don't consume wheat in moderation. It's in so many food products (just ask anyone on a gluten free diet). And when we overdue a particular food it's easier to develop food allergies and/or have trouble digesting grain proteins.

It's a good reminder to diversify our food storage with various grains.


----------



## txplowgirl (Jul 29, 2011)

I have found in the last couple of years that I have a problem with the gluten in the wheat. I did a food elimination diet and have found I can't eat, wheat, rye, barley, soy, msg, some dairy, the nightshade vegetables, ie (tomatoes, potatoes, all bell peppers, eggplant). If I grow these myself I have no problems. 
At the moment all I eat is a whole foods diet, nothing processed. I eat fresh meat, fish, brown rice, some vegetables, peanut butter and different types of nuts. I eat as much as I want when I want and a lot of physical problems I had went away, I no longer have asthma, anemia, my blood pressure went down to normal, no more blood pressure meds, no more depression, anxiety, fatigue, no more pins and needles, no more chest pains, etc. and to top it off I have lost over 50 lbs. Took me 2 years but I feel great. Check out the forum at celiac.com, you'll find a lot of people that have had a lot of health problems resolve after going off wheat.


----------



## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

Flour wheats have been bred into higher gluten strains to make light fluffy bread and pastries, combine this with the loss of enzymes from fresh.(garden fresh not store fresh) vegitables and problems happen. 

Genetic modification can't be good, humans are far less knowledgeable than they think and should not always be so keen to mess with nature.

Glyphosates (or any other chemical herb or pestiside) do not belong in any part of the food chain period,


----------



## byteshredder (Jun 19, 2011)

*No Wheat Bellies in Africa*

Wheat is the most import food product in the world. One-fifth of all calories consumed globally come from wheat. America is the leading exporter of wheat in the world. We export as much as #2 (Australia) and #3 (Canada) *combined*.

Grains wheat exports statistics - countries compared - NationMaster

A lot of wheat that America produces is going to 3rd world countries, like Sudan, Kenya, South Africa and Indonesia. I don't see a lot of "wheat bellies" in these countries. I agree with the earlier posts, that moderation of calorie intake is the key. The primary determinant of body fat is the amount of calories, not the type of food product.

I for one am glad for the efforts made by domestic companies to make our country's grain supply more reliable and more abundant. Headlines like this sum it up pretty well:

Russian Wheat Export Ban shows that when Push comes to the Shove its Every Country on its Own | Green World Investor

God bless.


----------

