HWN Suggests

Should You Worry About Wheat?

Wheat has long been a dietary pariah for the millions of people who have jumped on the low-carb-diet bandwagon or who think they’re allergic (or at least sensitive) to the grain. Now even more people are hesitating about eating wheat after reading the claims made by William Davis, M.D., a cardiologist and author of the bestseller Wheat Belly, which is subtitled “Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health.”

Not only does wheat make us fat, Dr. Davis says, it is addictive and causes everything from heart disease, diabetes and obesity to arthritis, osteoporosis, cognitive problems and cataracts. In fact, he claims, it has caused “more harm than any foreign terrorist…

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Featured

 Wheat: Nourishing a Planet

Today wheat is the most important cereal crop in the world; it nourishes more people than any other grain, mainly in the form of bread and noodles. Unlike many other grains, such as oats, corn, sorghum, and millet, wheat is not typically used as animal feed, but is processed directly into food for people.

Articles of Interest

Against the Grain

Should you go gluten-free?

Do ancient types of wheat have health benefits compared with modern bread wheat?

The concerns about the consumption of bread wheat have been accompanied by the promotion and increased consumption of ancient forms of wheat, based on perceived health benefits. However, genotypes of wheat vary widely in composition while ancient wheats may be grown and processed differently to modern bread wheats.

Eating Wheat Again

There are other reports of people with gluten intolerance tolerating heritage or heirloom wheat varieties.

Farro And Wheatberries Offer Delicious Health (And Memory) Benefits

Farro and wheatberries, it turns out, are very close kin. They're each the grain of the wheat plant, which has a rough husk and, inside it, what can be imagined like an egg: a shell, called the "bran," an "endosperm," playing an egg white-like role, and within the endosperm, a yolk-like "germ" —literally, wheat germ. Farro and wheatberries are each the whole, three-part grain, just from different types of wheat plants. Farro comes from wheat varieties grown in warmer climates, while wheatberries come from colder-weather wheat.

Michael Pollan Wants You To Eat Gluten

Want to get conversation flowing at the dinner table? Bring up the topic of gluten. Some table guests will insist going gluten-free has transformed their lives. Others will firmly state the diet is just a fad, like cabbage soup. They’ll both be right.

Most People Shouldn't Eat Gluten-Free

Gluten-free products made with refined grains can be low in fiber, vitamins and minerals.

Study Says Avoiding Gluten May Be Bad for You

Avoiding that slice of pizza as part of your gluten-free diet may not be as healthy as you think. In fact, non-celiac adults who avoid gluten may be harming their heart health, according to a recent study by Harvard Medical School.

The Myth of Big, Bad Gluten

Perhaps the sugary, greasy Western diet — increasingly recognized as pro-inflammatory — is partly responsible. Maybe shifts in our intestinal microbial communities, driven by antibiotics and hygiene, have contributed. Whatever the eventual answer, just-so stories about what we evolved eating, and what that means, blind us to this bigger, and really much more worrisome, problem: The modern immune system appears to have gone on the fritz. Maybe we should stop asking what’s wrong with wheat, and begin asking what’s wrong with us.

The Wheat Lowdown

Finally, I came to the realization that great 100 percent whole-grain bread can be made only with sourdough (it’s about the difference between how whole grains respond to store-bought yeast and how they respond to acid, or a combination of acid and wild yeast)...

Waves of Grain

How did Japan come to prefer wheat over rice?

Wheat: The Unhealthy Whole Grain

Generations ago, 42-inch waistlines were rare, childhood obesity virtually nonexistent—and no “fitness craze” kept people thin. In this compelling excerpt from his latest work, Dr. William Davis smashes conventional wisdom about healthy “whole grains” and makes the case for one of the chief culprits behind today’s obesity epidemic: wheat.

When, and Why, Did Everyone Stop Eating Gluten?

Gluten sensitivity or intolerance – a somewhat vague claim by people who definitely do not have celiac that they feel better when they eliminate gluten – was belittled by the scientific and medical establishment for a long time because it had no discernable cause or explanation, but now they are starting to come around and believe that it might be real.

Whole Wheat Bread Isn't Always Healthier Than White Bread

Now the scientists would put the bread to the test, alongside a less-lovingly crafted competitor: white bread. The white bread was one of the most common brands in Israel (think, Wonderbread), made in an industrial factory with additives, preservatives, and leavened with an industrial yeast. The whole wheat bread would certainly prove to be healthier—or would it?

Your Addiction to Wheat Products Is Making You Fat and Unhealthy

After having his patients cut wheat from their diets completely, Dr. William Davis says, they lost weight and showed improved clarity.

Resources

EatWheat

Get delicious wheat-based recipes and learn about how your food is grown, who grows it and how it gets to your table. It's not complete without wheat!

Wheat Belly Blog

Who had the audacity to write such an against-the-grain book exposing “healthy whole grains” for the incredibly destructive genetic monsters they’ve become? That’s me, Dr. William Davis, cardiologist and seeker-of-truth in health.