He decided to finally share his new-found knowledge with me after learning there is a high probability that Samuel's diabetes was triggered from eating wheat. After learning how the body reacts to modern-wheat (i.e. how wheat has been grown since the 50's), I felt nauseated for a week knowing I gave our son something that possibly triggered his auto-immune system to shut his insulin-producing panaceas down. I know, I know... I was simply feeding him the whole grains that the USDA recommend our diet to contain. What still sickens me though was to learn that the USDA recommends whole-grains be such a large part of our diet, not because our bodies need it. The USDA food pyramid recommends the number of grains it does because that's how many grains they need people to eat in order to keep American agri-business thriving.
Excuse me?
Say what?
Yup, you heard me. There is more and more support from renowned doctors that our diet does not need grains. And furthermore, the diet we do need is very similar to how our great-grandparents ate. Meat, fish, veggies and fats with limited amounts of grains, sugars and starches.
I won't go on a tirade about this in order to 'convert' you, but let me tell you this. Since Dan started this new eating habit, he no longer feels bloated and tired. Another result that he hadn't even thought about is weight loss - 24 pounds to be exact. Now, I'm not sure he had 24 pounds to lose, so he's increase his protein and fats to compensate. I've been follow this new eating style for a month. I also feel better - I feel much more mentally focused and less bloated, especially towards the end of the day and don't have a craving for carbs each day. I learned modern-grain triggers the opiate receptors in our brain... the same receptors that respond to opium, heroine, etc. You know that craving you have for carbs, sugar or big bowl of pasta? It's because your addicted to it the same way someone is addicted to heroine. Sucks huh? I will tell you that if you remove wheat from your diet you will go through a withdrawal period from about day 2-5. After that it gets much easier. We've noticed a difference in Samuel too. He used to have a very round, bloated looking belly. Now that he's been wheat-free for a month, his belly is much leaner and he seems to have much more energy. (Side thought... maybe I should put him back on wheat to reduce his energy until after the terrible 2's, 3's and 4's are over?) :)
So, after learning all this, we decided we should go through the kitchen and get rid of all the wheat products. We've always though we weren't huge carb eaters, but after looking at labels and yanking everything out of the pantry, fridge and freezer... it's obvious we were.
You have the obvious culprits... cereal, crackers, cookies, etc.
Then you have your breads, tortillas, pasta and snack bars.
Of course, it didn't help to learn that wheat is lurking in all kinds of products we didn't realize... like soup, licorice and hard candy (Worther's originals!).
I estimated there was about $200 worth of wheat foods on the kitchen island. We were really torn with the thought of throwing food out, but also didn't want to pass on food we find harmful to others. We compromised by feeding everything that was open to the pigs and everything unopened was donated to a local food pantry.
Again, I'm not going to preach wheat-free to you. But, I would strongly encourage you to research it and decide for yourself and your family. Google the following to get more information:
Wheat Belly
Paleo Diet
Primal Diet
There's a funny movie called Fat Head written by a comedian where he interviews quite a few leading doctors and researchers. This is a great intro to learn more. I've been told it's available on Netflix, too.
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