Let Them Eat Wheat! Using Ancient Wisdom/Modern Science to Overcome Food Intolerances - Book Review

I was recently sent a book by Dr. Jon dullard to review. The title of the book was Eat Wheat - A scientific AND Clinically-Proven approach TO Safely Bringing Wheat AND Dairy Back INTO your diet.

What I loved about the book: Its based on scientific facts that he has used with thousands of patients to help them cure their food intolerances. This book is a real eye opener and a must read for fitness and health enthusiasts or anyone that has dietary issues/intolerances. Its great also because it is evidence based.

I also enjoyed that he discussed the underlying cause of the gluten-free explosion.  And that he goes on to discuss that when you eliminate wheat and dairy fro your diet it may illuminate your symptoms but it may also be a temporary solution.

This book is also a great read because it helps you learn how to navigate around food toxins in modern what and dairy and reveal the hidden science on the benefits of wheat and dairy. Through this he helps you see that you can retrain your body to digest wheat and dairy again. These things are very applicable for health but for bodybuilding and aesthetics it does not 100% apply in my opinion.

Has gluten been found guilty without a fair trial? It wouldn't be the first time an innocent food was given a life sentence. For example, after almost 60 years of so-called "hard science" condemning cholesterol, we now find out that the science was flawed and high cholesterol saturated fats, such as butter, have been officially taken off the FDA's nutrient concern list. Is it possible that we have wrongfully given gluten the boot as well? Turns out, if you’re gluten-free or dairy-free, you might not have to be!

Eat Wheat: A Scientific and Clinically-Proven Approach to Safely Bringing Wheat and Dairy Back into Your Diet (Morgan James, January 2017) by Dr. John Douillard, DC, CAP, addresses this timely topic of food intolerances. After 3.4 million years of eating wheat and only 500,000 years of hunting meat, through Eat Wheat, Dr. Douillard reminds us that humans are actually genetically better equipped to eat wheat than meat and the true Paleo diet, clearly, included glutinous grains like wheat and barley.Dr. Douillard is a former NBA nutrition expert and creator of LifeSpa.com.

He has spent the past 30 years and has seen more than 100,000 patients in his natural health practice, helping to improve their digestive systems and begin to eat wheat again.“The most common dietary advice doctors have been giving their ailing patients for the past 30 years is to stop eating wheat and dairy,” says Dr. Douillard. “It’s just not that easy. Helping folks navigate around the processed versions of wheat while rebooting the digestive system is simply absent in medical practice, while being gluten-free has become a movement. We are fooling ourselves to think that all of our problems will disappear by just avoiding wheat. For years, I’ve seen patients after they have stopped eating wheat and dairy, and while they almost always feel better initially, the symptoms all too often return, leaving them with hardly anything to eat. With Eat Wheat, we can do better.”

Eat Wheat presents the science on the other side of the gluten-free aisle. For example, ancient wheat has been shown to have twice the gluten content of modern wheat yet decreased inflammation two-fold and lowered cholesterol and blood sugar.

So how could the more glutinous grain actually be healthier? In addition, wheat was a fall harvested grain that humans are well adapted to eating. Wheat digesting enzymes and microbes proliferate in the fall and winter to break down this so-called poison, gluten. So what is the real cause of America’s gluten sensitivity?

Eat Wheat explains how a breakdown in digestion has damaged the intestinal wall and leaked undigested foods and environmental toxins into the body’s lymphatic system, causing “grain brain” symptoms and food allergies. Although eliminating wheat and dairy from your diet may help your symptoms, it’s a temporary solution. The book addresses the root cause: the inability to digest well and break down harmful pollutants and toxins that can lead to more serious health concerns.Backed by more than 600 scientific studies, Eat Wheat is a revolutionary guidebook to regaining your digestive strength and safely bringing wheat and dairy back into your diet. It will also:

  • Reveal hidden science on the benefits of wheat and dairy
  • Help you navigate around food toxins in modern wheat and dairy
  • Detail how to flush congested lymphatics linked to food intolerance symptoms
  • Teach you to follow natural digestive circadian cycles
  • Help bring your blood sugar back into balance
  • Teach you proven exercise and detox techniques to reboot strong digestion and achieve optimal health and vitality

“Your digestive strength is the key to a long, healthy and vital life,” adds Dr. Douillard. “The choice as to whether or not you can eat gluten or dairy shouldn’t be decided for you because of weak digestion, it should be decided by you as a preference.”

Dr. John Douillard, DC, CAP, is a globally recognized leader in the fields of natural health, Ayurveda and sports medicine. Over the past 30 years, he’s helped over 100,000 patients repair their digestive system and eat wheat and dairy again. He is the creator of LifeSpa.com, a leading Ayurvedic health and wellness resource on the web with over 4.5 million views on YouTube. LifeSpa.com is evolving the way Ayurveda is understood around the world, with over 700 articles and videos proving ancient wisdom backed by modern science. Dr. John is the former Director of Player Development and nutrition advisor for the New Jersey Nets NBA team, author of six books, a repeat guest on the Dr. Oz show, and has been featured in Woman’s World Magazine, Yoga Journal, the Huffington Post and dozens of other publications.
 
For more information, please visit www.eatwheatbook.com,www.lifespa.com, and connect with Dr. Douillard on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
 
Eat Wheat will be released in ebook form on September 1, 2016, and in paperback and hardcover on January 10, 2017. It can be pre-ordered from Amazon, Eat Wheat Book and all major booksellers.

Three Ways To Bring Wheat Back Into Your Diet
by Dr. John Douillard

The gluten-free industry is predicted to reach 15.6 billion in sales in 2016, with 28% of people set on avoiding wheat and gluten products. Many are choosing to avoid wheat because they don’t feel good after eating it, want to lose weight or have been convinced it is unhealthy.

Before you give wheat a life sentence as a bad food, here are some whole wheat facts and tips that may allow you to successfully break bread once again.

Eat Wheat Tip #1: Be Choosy

Many gluten-free experts suggest that ancient wheat had much less gluten than our modern wheat and, therefore, conclude that ancient wheat is better than our modern wheat. But wait…are we sure it is the gluten that is the cause of the “gluten sensitivity”?

One study compared the ancient wheat, Kamut, with some modern wheat strains. They found that the ancient Kamut actually had twice the amount of hard-to-digest A-gliadin glutens than the modern wheat. The Kamut, with twice the gluten, was shown to reduce inflammation two-fold, while also lowering blood sugar and cholesterol significantly more than the modern wheat.

In another report by the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, the average American ate 86 pounds more wheat flour in the year 1900 than they did in 2008, suggesting that the increase in celiac disease and gluten sensitivity may not be from the gluten after all.

The Takeaway: Ancient strains of wheat that include Einkorn, Emmer and Kamut have been found to have more antioxidant activity than modern wheat and are good grains to start with as they are also typically prepared without industrial processing. But, not all modern wheats are created equally. Spelt is a much easier grain to digest because it has 40% less of the hard-to-digest anti-nutrients called phytic acids than common whole wheat. Anti-nutrients protect grains, beans, seeds and nuts from invading bacteria. Sprouting whole wheat is another technique to break down the anti-nutrients, making the bread easier to digest. Rye has been shown to have a significantly lower glycemic index and is better if you are concerned about your blood sugar.

Eat Wheat Tip #2: Eat Fermented Wheat

There is no doubt that the gluten in wheat is a hard-to-digest protein, but history suggests that we are well-adapted to digest it. For starters, new research from the University of Utah have found evidence that early humans have been eating C-3 grasses such as wheat and barley for at least 3.4 million years – not 10,000 years as you may have heard.

As for adapting to wheat, we have. Studies have found microbes that specifically  produce enzymes for breaking down gluten in the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines. There are also enzymes produced in the small intestine that can break down the hard-to-digest A-gliadin glutens.

The Takeaway: Early bakers discovered that fermenting the wheat flour with beneficial bacteria made the wheat much easier to digest. In a handful of studies, sourdough bread was found to reduce the gluten content of the bread, even rendering it “gluten-free.” In fact, when they served this bread to patients with celiac symptoms, they did not measure any increased intestinal inflammation. This is not suggesting that folks with celiac can safely eat or should try eating sourdough bread, but for those with gluten sensitivity, sourdough bread is a good place to start. You can find healthy versions of these at an artisan bakery or a natural food store.

Eat Wheat Tip #3: If You’ve Never Heard of It, Don’t Eat It.

Did you ever wonder why the bread you buy in the supermarket stays “fresh” and squishy for weeks without getting hard or moldy, while old-fashioned baked or artisan breads get hard in just a couple of days?

Modern breads are loaded with dough conditioners and preservatives that keep the bread squishy and “fresh” or resistant to mold for weeks. In addition to the many chemicals and added sugars put in most breads, the most dangerous of all is the added oils. Most breads have added oils in them, which are key for their so-called freshness, squishiness and shelf life.

The oils used are typically super refined, bleached, boiled and deodorized, which leaves them nothing like the oil when it was originally pressed from the seed or vegetable. Freshly cold pressure oils will go rancid more quickly when exposed to light, and baking even the best oils renders them indigestible for both humans and the bacteria that naturally make bread get hard and moldy.

Remember, the human body is made up of cells that are 90% bacteria and only 10% human – and if the 90% is doing the heavy lifting for most our body’s immunity, mood and functions, don’t you think we should be eating foods that both humans and the bacteria can digest?

The additives and baked oils are what makes foods processed. In one study, when folks ate a diet of processed foods, they had a 141% increased risk of belly fat, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar. When they ate a non-processed diet including whole wheat, they saw a 38% reduction in risk of the same concerns.

The Takeaway: The ingredients in a healthy and digestible loaf of bread should look something like this: organic whole wheat, water, salt, starter – with no cooked oils. As for the rest of the potentially toxic ingredients unnecessarily found in most breads, avoid sugars or sweeteners, even natural ones like cane sugar, honey or molasses. Also, avoid breads with ingredients you do not recognize. If you don’t know what it is, than it’s probably best to not eat it.

Dr. John Douillard, DC, CAP, is a globally recognized leader in the fields of natural health, Ayurveda and sports medicine. Over the past 30 years, he’s helped over 100,000 patients repair their digestive system and eat wheat and dairy again. He is the creator of LifeSpa.com and author of the book, Eat Wheat: A Scientific and Clinically-Proven Approach to Safely Bringing Wheat and Dairy Back into Your Diet, releasing nationwide January 2017. For more information, please visit, www.eatwheatbook.com and connect with Dr. Douillard on Twitter, @johndouillard.