Nutritional Swings

Although, I enjoy sharing the amazing self improvement skills I've learned over the years, I have learned about MYSELF, that I love reading nutritional stuff. And then trying it out and seeing how it goes. I've loved being in control of my own health, and finding ways naturally (mostly and usually without medical help) to apply knowledge and sit back and watch the miracle of the body take over. I once heard a speaker give an amazing talk about "The Magnificence of Man." And I agree. Our bodies, being built with the capacity to heal, are simply amazing when we give it the proper fuel.

The last few years, I gained some unexplainable weight. Over 3 months, I gained nearly 30 lbs, and over more time, it increased to 40. It has been distressing at times, as I have done everything known to woman, except starve myself to try to shed the pounds. All medical tests reveal me as the ever present Mrs Normal. Well that's a relief on one level. On another, not so much. And even though I've tried low carb, healthy versions of Atkins, paleo type, increasing fruits and veggies, exercising until I am red in the face, nothing has worked, except one small jaunt on HCG, that I lost 15 pounds and it came right back. No, I don't stash oreos and ho hos in my cupboards. I'm normal, but I am more healthy than normal.

It has always been concerning to me the popularity of one "healthy" concept over another. Low carb, high carb, saturated fats, vegan, paleo, mediterranean, and on and on. It's exhausting trying to wade though information and figure out who is telling you the truth. But there has been a little voice inside me whispering for years, "stop eating wheat." Wheat? Stop eating wheat? Are you serious? The staff of life? Healthy whole grains? Are you crazy? Do you know how many products contain wheat? I found out today RICE-a-Roni and Whoppers both contain wheat! What? And I gag the little voice and stuff it in a closet.

But I've known for some time, it was telling me the truth and dang if it doesn't keep popping out of the closet at the oddest times. Combine that with my newfound knowledge about Functional Medicine and Functional Nutrition. (For another post) And my Dr's insistence that the wheat we eat today is not the wheat our grandparents ate. He calls it Frankenwheat. And then I saw the Wheat Belly book. Ok, it's meant to be. I ordered it up through my library. If you haven't tried inter libraray loan, you simply are missing out.

I'll finish it tonight. But what stopped me in my tracks and left my chin hanging tonight is data. Pure, simple date by someone with no agenda. Years ago I read a book called the China Study. To keep this short, you can go find out about it. A 20 year study in China of different nutritional populations and the conclusions from that unique study. Turns out, even the China Study left out some crucial data, and someone took the time to dive into that data and see what it really said. One major thing left out of Dr Campbells conclusions, in his own book, is the unhealthy relationship with wheat. I am telling you this PAINS me. My cravings are breads, crackers, chips, etc. Mostly of the wheat variety. And there is a reason for those cravings but you'll have to read Wheat Belly.

Anyway, because of the data this young woman extracted about wheat from the China Study, I have all the reason I need to continue with my recent foray into a wheat free experiment. (I am sure my family will be regretting it eventually). So, I went to Denise Migner's website and found she has written a book. I'll confess I have a sick and twisted fascination with smashing paradigms (thus my love of all things EFT), and this gal seems to feel the same way. I've only read the first post, but I know what my next book will be. Death by Food Pyramid. Check it out at Death By Food Pyramid.

The positive correlation between wheat and adverse health conditions is pretty undeniable based on her data analysis. If you have chronic health conditions, and you have no other place to go, you can skip the somewhat technical information in Wheat Belly, and simply drop all wheat from your diet for 4 weeks and see what it does. Pretty incredible case studies. And as a trivia question, the glycemic index for 30 grams of wheat bread is 71. 30 grams of M&Ms? 33. That means that 30 grams of wheat bread will raise your blood sugar more than twice that of the same weight of M&Ms. It just seems like there is something wrong with that. Want to experiment with me? Drop the wheat. 4 weeks. Let's see what happens.