For the sake of convenience: Commercial sources of prebiotic fibers

Our efforts to obtain prebiotic fibers/resistant starches, as discussed in the Cureality Digestive Health Track, to cultivate healthy bowel flora means recreating the eating behavior of primitive humans who dug in the dirt with sticks and bone fragments for underground roots and tubers, behaviors you can still observe in extant hunter-gatherer groups, such as the Hadza and Yanomamo. But, because this practice is inconvenient for us modern folk accustomed to sleek grocery stores, because many of us live in climates where the ground is frozen much of the year, and because we lack the wisdom passed from generation to generation that helps identify which roots and tubers are safe to eat and which are not, we rely on modern equivalents of primitive sources. Thus, green, unripe bananas, raw potatoes and other such fiber sources in the Cureality lifestyle.

There is therefore no need to purchase prebiotic fibers outside of your daily effort at including an unripe green banana, say, or inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS), or small servings of legumes as a means of cultivating healthy bowel flora. These are powerful strategies that change the number and species of bowel flora over time, thereby leading to beneficial health effects that include reduced blood sugar and blood pressure, reduction in triglycerides, reduced anxiety and improved sleep, and reduced colon cancer risk.

HOWEVER, convenience can be a struggle. Traveling by plane, for example, makes lugging around green bananas or raw potatoes inconvenient. Inulin and FOS already come as powders or capsules and they are among the options for a convenient, portable prebiotic fiber strategy. But there are others that can be purchased. This is a more costly way to get your prebiotic fibers and you do not need to purchase these products in order to succeed in your bowel flora management program. These products are therefore listed strictly as a strategy for convenience.

Most perspectives on the quality of human bowel flora composition suggest that diversity is an important feature, i.e., the greater the number of species, the better the health of the host. There may therefore be advantage in varying your prebiotic routine, e.g., green banana on Monday, inulin on Tuesday, PGX (below) on Wednesday, etc. Beyond providing convenience, these products may introduce an added level of diversity, as well.

Among the preparations available to us that can be used as prebiotic fibers:

PGX

While it is billed as a weight management and blood sugar-reducing product, the naturally occurring fiber--α-D-glucurono-α-D-manno-β-D-manno- β-D-gluco, α-L-gulurono-β-D mannurono, β-D-gluco-β- D-mannan--in PGX also exerts prebiotic effects (evidenced by increased fecal butyrate, the beneficial end-product of bacterial metabolism). PGX is available as capsules or granules. It also seems to exert prebiotic effects at lower doses than other prebiotic fibers. While I usually advise reaching 20 grams per day of fiber, PGX appears to exert substantial effects at a daily dose of half that quantity. As with all prebiotic fibers, it is best to build up slowly over weeks, e.g., start at 1.5 grams twice per day. It is also best taken in two or three divided doses. (Avoid the PGX bars, as they are too carb-rich for those of us trying to achieve ideal metaobolic health.)

Prebiotin

A combination of inulin and FOS available as powders and in portable Stick Pacs (2 gram and 4 gram packs). This preparation is quite costly, however, given the generally low cost of purchasing chicory inulin and FOS separately.

Acacia

Acacia fiber is another form of prebiotic fiber.  RenewLife and NOW are two reputable brands.

Isomalto-oligosaccharides

This fiber is used in Quest bars and in Paleo Protein Bars. With Quest bars, choose the flavors without sucralose, since it has been associated with undesirable changes in bowel flora.

There you go. It means that there are fewer and fewer reasons to not purposefully cultivate healthy bowel flora and obtain all the wonderful health benefits of doing so, from reduced blood pressure, to reduced triglycerides, to deeper sleep.

Disclaimer: I am not compensated in any way by discussing these products.

How Not To Have An Autoimmune Condition


Autoimmune conditions are becoming increasingly common. Estimates vary, but it appears that at least 8-9% of the population in North America and Western Europe have one of these conditions, with The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association estimating that it’s even higher at 14% of the population.

The 200 or so autoimmune diseases that afflict modern people are conditions that involve an abnormal immune response directed against one or more organs of the body. If the misguided attack is against the thyroid gland, it can result in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. If it is directed against pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin, it can result in type 1 diabetes or latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA). If it involves tissue encasing joints (synovium) like the fingers or wrists, it can result in rheumatoid arthritis. It if involves the liver, it can result in autoimmune hepatitis, and so on. Nearly every organ of the body can be the target of such a misguided immune response.

While it requires a genetic predisposition towards autoimmunity that we have no control over (e.g., the HLA-B27 gene for ankylosing spondylitis), there are numerous environmental triggers of these diseases that we can do something about. Identifying and correcting these factors stacks the odds in your favor of reducing autoimmune inflammation, swelling, pain, organ dysfunction, and can even reverse an autoimmune condition altogether.

Among the most important factors to correct in order to minimize or reverse autoimmunity are:


Wheat and grain elimination

If you are reading this, you likely already know that the gliadin protein of wheat and related proteins in other grains (especially the secalin of rye, the hordein of barley, zein of corn, perhaps the avenin of oats) initiate the intestinal “leakiness” that begins the autoimmune process, an effect that occurs in over 90% of people who consume wheat and grains. The flood of foreign peptides/proteins, bacterial lipopolysaccharide, and grain proteins themselves cause immune responses to be launched against these foreign factors. If, for instance, an autoimmune response is triggered against wheat gliadin, the same antibodies can be aimed at the synapsin protein of the central nervous system/brain, resulting in dementia or cerebellar ataxia (destruction of the cerebellum resulting in incoordination and loss of bladder and bowel control). Wheat and grain elimination is by far the most important item on this list to reverse autoimmunity.

Correct vitamin D deficiency

It is clear that, across a spectrum of autoimmune diseases, vitamin D deficiency serves a permissive, not necessarily causative, role in allowing an autoimmune process to proceed. It is clear, for instance, that autoimmune conditions such as type 1 diabetes in children, rheumatoid arthritis, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis are more common in those with low vitamin D status, much less common in those with higher vitamin D levels. For this and other reasons, I aim to achieve a blood level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 60-70 ng/ml, a level that usually requires around 4000-8000 units per day of D3 (cholecalciferol) in gelcap or liquid form (never tablet due to poor or erratic absorption). In view of the serious nature of autoimmune diseases, it is well worth tracking occasional blood levels.

Supplement omega-3 fatty acids

While omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, from fish oil have proven only modestly helpful by themselves, when cast onto the background of wheat/grain elimination and vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids compound anti-inflammatory benefits, such as those exerted via cyclooxygenase-2. This requires a daily EPA + DHA dose of around 3600 mg per day, divided in two. Don’t confuse EPA and DHA omega-3s with linolenic acid, another form of omega-3 obtained from meats, flaxseed, chia, and walnuts that does not not yield the same benefits. Nor can you use krill oil with its relatively trivial content of omega-3s.

Eliminate dairy

This is true in North America and most of Western Europe, less true in New Zealand and Australia. Autoimmunity can be triggered by the casein beta A1 form of casein widely expressed in dairy products, but not by casein beta A2 and other forms. Because it is so prevalent in North America and Western Europe, the most confident way to avoid this immunogenic form of casein is to avoid dairy altogether. You might be able to consume cheese, given the fermentation process that alters proteins and sugar, but that has not been fully explored.

Cultivate healthy bowel flora

People with autoimmune conditions have massively screwed up bowel flora with reduced species diversity and dominance of unhealthy species. We restore a healthier anti-inflammatory panel of bacterial species by “seeding” the colon with high-potency probiotics, then nourishing them with prebiotic fibers/resistant starches, a collection of strategies summarized in the Cureality Digestive Health discussions. People sometimes view bowel flora management as optional, just “fluff”–it is anything but. Properly managing bowel flora can be a make-it-or-break-it advantage; don’t neglect it.

There you go: a basic list to get started on if your interest is to begin a process of unraveling the processes of autoimmunity. In some conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and polymyalgia rheumatica, full recovery is possible. In other conditions, such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and the pancreatic beta cell destruction leading to type 1 diabetes, reversing the autoimmune inflammation does not restore organ function: hypothyroidism results after thyroiditis quiets down and type 1 diabetes and need for insulin persists after pancreatic beta cell damage. But note that the most powerful risk factor for an autoimmune disease is another autoimmune disease–this is why so many people have more than one autoimmune condition. People with Hashimoto’s, for instance, can develop rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis. So the above menu is still worth following even if you cannot hope for full organ recovery

Five Powerful Ways to Reduce Blood Sugar

Left to conventional advice on diet and you will, more than likely, succumb to type 2 diabetes sooner or later. Follow your doctor’s advice to cut fat and eat more “healthy whole grains” and oral diabetes medication and insulin are almost certainly in your future. Despite this, had this scenario played out, you would be accused of laziness and gluttony, a weak specimen of human being who just gave into excess.

If you turn elsewhere for advice, however, and ignore the awful advice from “official” sources with cozy relationships with Big Pharma, you can reduce blood sugars sufficient to never become diabetic or to reverse an established diagnosis, and you can create a powerful collection of strategies that handily trump the worthless advice being passed off by the USDA, American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, or the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Among the most powerful and effective strategies to reduce blood sugar:

1) Eat no wheat nor grains

Recall that amylopectin A, the complex carbohydrate of grains, is highly digestible, unlike most of the other components of the seeds of grasses AKA “grains,” subject to digestion by the enzyme, amylase, in saliva and stomach. This explains why, ounce for ounce, grains raise blood sugar higher than table sugar. Eat no grains = remove the exceptional glycemic potential of amylopectin A.

2) Add no sugars, avoid high-fructose corn syrup

This should be pretty obvious, but note that the majority of processed foods contain sweeteners such as sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup, tailored to please the increased desire for sweetness among grain-consuming people. While fructose does not raise blood sugar acutely, it does so in delayed fashion, along with triggering other metabolic distortions such as increased triglycerides and fatty liver.

3) Vitamin D

Because vitamin D restores the body’s normal responsiveness to insulin, getting vitamin D right helps reduce blood sugar naturally while providing a range of other health benefits.

4) Restore bowel flora

As cultivation of several Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria species in bowel flora yields fatty acids that restore insulin responsiveness, this leads to reductions in blood sugar over time. Minus the bowel flora-disrupting effects of grains and sugars, a purposeful program of bowel flora restoration is required (discussed at length in the Cureality Digestive Health section.)

5) Exercise

Blood sugar is reduced during and immediately following exercise, with the effect continuing for many hours afterwards, even into the next day.

Note that, aside from exercise, none of these powerful strategies are advocated by the American Diabetes Association or any other “official” agency purporting to provide dietary advice. As is happening more and more often as the tide of health information rises and is accessible to all, the best advice on health does not come from such agencies nor from your doctor but from your efforts to better understand the truths in health. This is our core mission in Cureality. A nice side benefit: information from Cureality is not accompanied by advertisements from Merck, Pfizer, Kelloggs, Kraft, or Cadbury Schweppes.

Cureality App Review: Breathe Sync



Biofeedback is a wonderful, natural way to gain control over multiple physiological phenomena, a means of tapping into your body’s internal resources. You can, for instance, use biofeedback to reduce anxiety, heart rate, and blood pressure, and achieve a sense of well-being that does not involve drugs, side-effects, or even much cost.

Biofeedback simply means that you are tracking some observable physiologic phenomenon—heart rate, skin temperature, blood pressure—and trying to consciously access control over it. One very successful method is that of bringing the beat-to-beat variation in heart rate into synchrony with the respiratory cycle. In day-to-day life, the heart beat is usually completely out of sync with respiration. Bring it into synchrony and interesting things happen: you experience a feeling of peace and calm, while many healthy phenomena develop.

A company called HeartMath has applied this principle through their personal computer-driven device that plugs into the USB port of your computer and monitors your heart rate with a device clipped on your earlobe. You then regulate breathing and follow the instructions provided and feedback is obtained on whether you are achieving synchrony, or what they call “coherence.” As the user becomes more effective in achieving coherence over time, positive physiological and emotional effects develop. HeartMath has been shown, for instance, to reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure, morning cortisol levels (a stress hormone), and helps people deal with chronic pain. Downside of the HeartMath process: a $249 price tag for the earlobe-USB device.

But this is the age of emerging smartphone apps, including those applied to health. Smartphone apps are perfect for health monitoring. They are especially changing how we engage in biofeedback. An app called Breathe Sync is available that tracks heart rate using the camera’s flash on the phone. By tracking heart rate and providing visual instruction on breathing pattern, the program generates a Wellness Quotient, WQ, similar to HeartMath’s coherence scoring system. Difference: Breathe Sync is portable and a heck of a lot less costly. I paid $9.99, more than I’ve paid for any other mainstream smartphone application, but a bargain compared to the HeartMath device cost.

One glitch is that you need to not be running any other programs in the background, such as your GPS, else you will have pauses in the Breathe Sync program, negating the value of your WQ. Beyond this, the app functions reliably and can help you achieve the health goals of biofeedback with so much less hassle and greater effectiveness than the older methods.

If you are looking for a biofeedback system that provides advantage in gaining control over metabolic health, while also providing a wonderful method of relaxation, Breathe Sync, I believe, is the go-to app right now.

Amber’s Top 35 Health and Fitness Tips

This year I joined the 35 club!  And in honor of being fabulous and 35, I want to share 35 health and fitness tips with you! 

1.  Foam rolling is for everyone and should be done daily. 
2.  Cold showers are the best way to wake up and burn more body fat. 
3.  Stop locking your knees.  This will lead to lower back pain. 
4.  Avoid eating gluten at all costs. 
5.  Breath deep so that you can feel the sides or your lower back expand. 
6.  Swing a kettlebell for a stronger and great looking backside. 
7.  Fat is where it’s at!  Enjoy butter, ghee, coconut oil, palm oil, duck fat and many other fabulous saturated fats. 
8.  Don’t let your grip strength fade with age.  Farmer carries, kettlebells and hanging from a bar will help with that. 
9.  Runners, keep your long runs slow and easy and keep your interval runs hard.  Don’t fall in the chronic cardio range. 
10.  Drink high quality spring or reverse osmosis water. 
11.  Use high quality sea salt season food and as a mineral supplement. 
12.  Work your squat so that your butt can get down to the ground.  Can you sit in this position? How long?
13.  Lift heavy weights!  We were made for manual work,.   Simulate heavy labor in the weight room. 
14.  Meditate daily.  If you don’t go within, you will go with out.  We need quiet restorative time to balance the stress in our life. 
15.  Stand up and move for 10 minutes for every hour your sit at your computer. 
16. Eat a variety of whole, real foods. 
17.  Sleep 7 to 9 hours every night. 
18.  Pull ups are my favorite exercise.  Get a home pull up bar to practice. 
19.  Get out and spend a few minutes in nature.  Appreciate the world around you while taking in fresh air and natural beauty. 
20.  We all need to pull more in our workouts.  Add more pulling movements horizontally and vertically. 
21. Surround yourself with health minded people. 
22. Keep your room dark for deep sound sleep.  A sleep mask is great for that! 
23. Use chemical free cosmetics.  Your skin is the largest organ of your body and all chemicals will absorb into your blood stream. 
24. Unilateral movements will help improve symmetrical strength. 
25. Become more playful.  We take life too seriously, becoming stress and overwhelmed.  How can you play, smile and laugh more often?
26.  Choose foods that have one ingredient.  Keep your diet simple and clean. 
27.  Keep your joints mobile as you age.  Do exercises that take joints through a full range of motion. 
28. Go to sleep no later than 10:30pm.  This allows your body and brain to repair through the night. 
29. Take care of your health and needs before others.  This allows you to be the best spouse, parent, coworker, and person on the planet. 
30.  Always start your daily with a high fat, high protein meal.  This will encourage less sugar cravings later in the day. 
31. Approach the day with positive thinking!  Stinkin’ thinkin’ only leads to more stress and frustration. 
32. You are never “too old” to do something.  Stay young at heart and keep fitness a priority as the years go by. 
33. Dream big and go for it. 
34.  Lift weights 2 to 4 times every week.  Strong is the new sexy. 
35.  Love.  Love yourself unconditionally.  Love your life and live it to the fullest.  Love others compassionately. 

Amber B.
Cureality Exercise and Fitness Coach

To Change, You Need to Get Uncomfortable

Sitting on the couch is comfortable.  Going through the drive thru to pick up dinner is comfortable.  But when you notice that you’re out-of-shape, tired, sick and your clothes no longer fit, you realize that what makes you comfortable is not in align with what would make you happy.   

You want to see something different when you look in the mirror.  You want to fit into a certain size of jeans or just experience your day with more energy and excitement.  The current condition of your life causes you pain, be it physical, mental or emotional.  To escape the pain you are feeling, you know that you need to make changes to your habits that keep you stuck in your current state.  But why is it so hard to make the changes you know that will help you achieve what you want?  

I want to lose weight but….

I want a six pack but…

I want more energy but….

The statement that follows the “but” is often a situation or habit you are comfortable with.  You want to lose weight but don’t have time to cook healthy meals.  So it’s much more comfortable to go through the drive thru instead of trying some new recipes.   New habits often require a learning curve and a bit of extra time in the beginning.  It also takes courage and energy to establish new routines or seek out help.  

Setting out to achieve your goals requires change.  Making changes to establish new habits that support your goals and dreams can be uncomfortable.  Life, as you know it, will be different.  Knowing that fact can be scary, but so can staying in your current condition.  So I’m asking you to take a risk and get uncomfortable so that you can achieve your goals.  

Realize that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit.  I believe it takes triple that amount of time to really make a new habit stick for the long haul.  So for 21 days, you’ll experience some discomfort while you make changes to your old routine and habits.  Depending on what you are changing, discomfort could mean feeling tired, moody, or even withdrawal symptoms.  However, the longer you stick to your new habits the less uncomfortable you start to feel.  The first week is always the worst, but then it gets easier.

Making it through the uncomfortable times requires staying focused on your goals and not caving to your immediate feelings or desires.  I encourage clients to focus on why their goals important to them.  This reason or burning desire to change will help when old habits, cravings, or situations call you back to your old ways.
Use a tracking and a reward system to stay on track.  Grab a calendar, journal or index card to check off or note your daily successes.  Shoot for consistency and not perfection when trying to make changes.  I encourage my clients to use the 90/10 principle of change and apply that to their goal tracking system.  New clothes, a massage, or a day me-retreat are just a few examples of rewards you can use to sticking to your tracking system.  Pick something that really gets you excited.  

Getting support system in place can help you feel more comfortable with being uncomfortable.  Hiring a coach, joining an online support group, or recruiting family and friends can be very helpful when making big changes.  With a support system in place you are not alone in your discomfort.  You’re network is there for you to reach out for help, knowledge, accountability or camaraderie when you feel frustrated and isolated.  

I’ve helped hundreds of people change their bodies, health and lives of the eleven years I’ve worked as a trainer and coach.  I know it’s hard, but I also know that if they can do it, so can you.  You just need to step outside of your comfort zone and take a risk. Don’t let fear create uncomfortable feelings that keep you stuck in your old ways.  Take that first step and enjoy the journey of reaching your goals and dreams.  

Amber Budahn, B.S., CSCS, ACE PT, USATF 1, CHEK HLC 1, REIKI 1
Cureality Exercise Specialist

The 3 Best Grain Free Food Swaps to Boost Fat Burning

You can join others enjoying substantial improvements in their health, energy and pant size by making a few key, delicious substitutions to your eating habits.  This is possible with the Cureality nutrition approach, which rejects the idea that grains should form the cornerstone of the human diet.  

Grain products, which are seeds of grasses, are incompatible with human digestion.  Contrary to what we have been told for years, eating healthy whole grain is not the answer to whittle away our waists.  Consumption of all grain-based carbohydrates results in increased production of the fat storage hormone insulin.  Increased insulin levels create the perfect recipe for weight gain. By swapping out high carbohydrate grain foods that cause spikes in insulin with much lower carbohydrate foods, insulin release is subdued and allows the body to release fat.

1. Swap wheat-based flour with almond flour/meal

  • One of the most dubious grain offenders is modern wheat. Replace wheat flour with naturally wheat-free, lower carbohydrate almond flour.  
  • Almond flour contains a mere 12 net carbs per cup (carbohydrate minus the fiber) with 50% more filling protein than all-purpose flour.
  • Almond flour and almond meal also offer vitamin E, an important antioxidant to support immune function.

2. Swap potatoes and rice for cauliflower

  • Replace high carb potatoes and pasta with vitamin C packed cauliflower, which has an inconsequential 3 carbs per cup.  
  • Try this food swap: blend raw cauliflower in food processor to make “rice”. (A hand held grater can also be used).  Sautee the “riced” cauliflower in olive or coconut oil for 5 minutes with seasoning to taste.
  • Another food swap: enjoy mashed cauliflower in place of potatoes.  Cook cauliflower. Place in food processor with ½ a stick organic, grass-fed butter, ½ a package full-fat cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add optional minced garlic, chives or other herbs such as rosemary.
3. Swap pasta for shirataki noodles and zucchini

  • Swap out carb-rich white pasta containing 43 carbs per cup with Shirataki noodles that contain a few carbs per package. Shirataki noodles are made from konjac or yam root and are found in refrigerated section of supermarkets.
  • Another swap: zucchini contains about 4 carbs per cup. Make your own grain free, low-carb noodles from zucchini using a julienne peeler, mandolin or one of the various noodle tools on the market.  

Lisa Grudzielanek, MS,RDN,CD,CDE
Cureality Nutrition Specialist

Not so fast. Don’t make this mistake when going gluten free!

Beginning last month, the Food and Drug Administration began implementing its definition of “gluten-free” on packaged food labels.  The FDA determined that packaged food labeled gluten free (or similar claims such as "free of gluten") cannot contain more than 20 parts per million of gluten.

It has been years in the making for the FDA to define what “gluten free” means and hold food manufactures accountable, with respect to food labeling.  However, the story does not end there.

Yes, finding gluten-free food, that is now properly labeled, has become easier. So much so the market for gluten-free foods tops $6 billion last year.   However, finding truly healthy, commercially prepared, grain-free foods is still challenging.

A very common mistake made when jumping into the gluten-free lifestyle is piling everything labeled gluten-free in the shopping cart.  We don’t want to replace a problem: wheat, with another problem: gluten free products.

Typically gluten free products are made with rice flour (and brown rice flour), tapioca starch, cornstarch, and potato flour.  Of the few foods that raise blood sugar higher than wheat, these dried, powdered starches top the list.

 They provide a large surface area for digestion, thereby leading to sky-high blood sugar and all the consequences such as diabetes, hypertension, cataracts, arthritis, and heart disease. These products should be consumed very rarely consumed, if at all.  As Dr. Davis has stated, “100% gluten-free usually means 100% awful!”

There is an ugly side to the gluten-free boom taking place.  The Cureality approach to wellness recommends selecting gluten-free products wisely.  Do not making this misguided mistake and instead aim for elimination of ALL grains, as all seeds of grasses are related to wheat and therefore overlap in many effects.

Lisa Grudzielanek MS, RDN, CD, CDE
Cureality Health & Nutrition Coach

3 Foods to Add to Your Next Grocery List

Looking for some new foods to add to your diet? Look no further. Reach for these three mealtime superstars to encourage a leaner, healthier body.

Microgreens

Microgreens are simply the shoots of salad greens and herbs that are harvested just after the first leaves have developed, or in about 2 weeks.  Microgreen are not sprouts. Sprouts are germinated, in other words, sprouted seeds produced entirely in water. Microgreens are grown in soil, thereby absorbing the nutrients from the soil.

The nutritional profile of each microgreen depends greatly on the type of microgreen you are eating. Researchers found red cabbage microgreens had 40 times more vitamin E and six times more vitamin C than mature red cabbage. Cilantro microgreens had three times more beta-carotene than mature cilantro.

A few popular varieties of microgreens are arugula, kale, radish, pea, and watercress. Flavor can vary from mild to a more intense or spicy mix depending on the microgreens.  They can be added to salads, soup, omelets, stir fry and in place of lettuce.  

Cacao Powder

Cocoa and cacao are close enough in flavor not to make any difference. However, raw cacao powder has 3.6 times the antioxidant activity of roasted cocoa powder.  In short, raw cacao powder is definitely the healthiest, most beneficial of the powders, followed by 100% unsweetened cocoa.

Cacao has more antioxidant flavonoids than blueberries, red wine and black and green teas.  Cacao is one of the highest sources of magnesium, a great source of iron and vitamin C, as well as a good source of fiber for healthy bowel function.
Add cacao powder to milk for chocolate milk or real hot chocolate.  Consider adding to coffee for a little mocha magic or sprinkle on berries and yogurt.




Shallots


Shallots have a better nutrition profile than onions. On a weight per weight basis, they have more anti-oxidants, minerals, and vitamins than onions. Shallots have a milder, less pungent taste than onions, so people who do not care for onions may enjoy shallots.

Like onions, sulfur compounds in shallot are necessary for liver detoxification pathways.  The sulfur compound, allicin has been shown to be beneficial in reducing cholesterol.  Allicin is also noted to have anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal activities.

Diced then up and add to salads, on top of a bun less hamburger, soups, stews, or sauces.  Toss in an omelet or sauté to enhance a piece of chicken or steak, really the possibilities are endless.  

Lisa Grudzielanek,MS,RDN,CD,CDE
Cureality Nutrition & Health Coach

3 Band Exercises for Great Glutes

Bands and buns are a great combination.  (When I talk about glutes or a butt, I use the word buns)  When it comes to sculpting better buns, grab a band.   Bands are great for home workouts, at gym or when you travel.  Check out these 3 amazing exercises that will have your buns burning. 

Band Step Out

Grab a band and place it under the arch of each foot.  Then cross the band and rest your hands in your hip sockets.  The exercise starts with your feet hip width apart and weight in the heels.  Slightly bend the knees and step your right foot out to the side.  Step back in so that your foot is back in the starting position.  With each step, make sure your toes point straight ahead.  The tighter you pull the band, the more resistance you will have.    You will feel this exercise on the outside of your hips. 

Start with one set of 15 repetitions with each foot.  Work on increasing to 25 repetitions on each side and doing two to three sets.



Band Kick Back

This exercise is performed in the quadruped position with your knees under hips and hands under your shoulders.    Take the loop end of the band and put it around your right foot and place the two handles or ends of the band under your hands.  Without moving your body, kick your right leg straight back.  Return to the starting quadruped position.  Adjust the tension of the band to increase or decrease the difficulty of this exercise. 

Start with one set of 10 repetitions with each foot.  Work on increasing to 20 repetitions on each side and doing two to three sets. 



Band Resisted Hip Bridge

Start lying on your back with feet hip distance apart and knees bent at about a 45-degree angle.  Adjust your hips to a neutral position to alleviate any arching in your lower back.  Place the band across your hipbones.  Hold the band down with hands along the sides of your body.  Contract your abs and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips up off the ground.  Stop when your thighs, hips and stomach are in a straight line.  Lower you hips back down to the ground. 

Start with one set of 15 repetitions.  Work on increasing to 25 repetitions and doing two to three.  Another variation of this exercise is to hold the hip bridge position.  Start with a 30 second hold and work up to holding for 60 seconds.

Why does wheat cause arthritis?

Why does wheat cause arthritis?

Wheat causes arthritis.

Before you say "What the hell is he saying now?", let me connect the dots on how this ubiquitous dietary ingredient accelerates the path to arthritis in its many forms.

1) Wheat causes glycation--Glycation is glucose-modification of proteins in the body that occurs when blood glucose exceeds 100 mg/dl. Cartilage cells are especially susceptible to glycation. The cartilage cells you had at age 18 are the very same cartilage cells you have at age 60, since they lack the ability to reproduce and repair themselves. Proteins in cartilage are highly susceptible to glycation, which makes them stiff and brittle. Stiff, brittle cartilage loses its soft, elastic, lubricating function. Damaged cartilage cells don't regenerate nor produce more protective proteins. This allows destruction of cartilage tissue, inflammation, and, eventually, bone-on-bone arthritis.

Because wheat, even whole wheat, sends blood sugar higher than almost all other foods, from table sugar to Snickers bars, glycation occurs after each and every slice of toast, every whole wheat bagel, every pita wrap.

2) Wheat is acidifying--Humans are meant to consume a diet that is net alkaline. While hunter-gatherers who consume meat along with plentiful vegetables and fruits live a net alkaline diet (urine pH 7 to 9), modern humans who consume insufficient vegetables and too much grain (of which more than 90% is usually wheat) shift the body towards net acid (urine pH 5 to 7). Wheat is The Great Disrupter, upsetting the normal pH balance that causes loss of calcium from bones, resulting in decalcification, weakness, arthritis and osteoporotic fractures.

3) Wheat causes visceral fat--The extravagant glucose-insulin surges triggered by wheat leads to accumulation of visceral fat: wheat belly.

Visceral fat not only releases inflammatory mediators like tumor necrosis factor and various interleukins, but is also itself inflamed. The inflammatory hotbed of the wheat belly leads to inflammation of joint tissues. This is why overweight and obese wheat-consuming people have more arthritis than would be explained by the burden of excess weight: inflammation makes it worse. Conversely, weight loss leads to greater relief from arthritis pain and inflammation than would be explained by just lightening the physical load.

We need a name for this wheat effect. How about "bagel bones"?

Comments (48) -

  • Hans Keer

    11/13/2010 5:50:58 PM |

    Perhaps I could add a fourth factor: Arthritis is more and more sen as an autoimmune disease. Wheat is one of the most prominent initiators of autoimmune diseases http://bit.ly/a9Gvjk

  • Kathryn

    11/13/2010 5:51:53 PM |

    Not being critical or attacking your statements.  I do believe that wheat (& other grains in general) are detrimental to health.

    But my understanding is that pH in the body is in a very small window: between 7.35 and 7.45 is what i have read.  

    ??

  • terrence

    11/13/2010 6:12:25 PM |

    "Bagel Bones" - I like it!

    But, how about "Bread Bones", or "Bakery Bones"?

  • Pater_Fortunatos

    11/13/2010 6:43:03 PM |

    Kathryn

    blood pH and urine pH are quite different things, but the urine pH reflects the cost that body pay to maintain the blood ph in the range you just mentioned.


    Hans Keer thanks for the link.

    Dr Davis thanks for another great lesson of medicine , everyone could use it!

    I am waiting an article regarding "MEMBRANE UNSATURATION AND LONGEVITY" considering "Great Fish Oil Experiment" of Ray Peat.

  • Pater_Fortunatos

    11/13/2010 6:47:43 PM |

    Sorry for being rude, I should have said "I would appreciate"...

  • Anonymous

    11/13/2010 8:40:05 PM |

    food fractures

  • Anonymous

    11/13/2010 9:15:00 PM |

    Don't forget gluten triggering autoimmune disorders, like rheumatoid arthritis.

  • Evolutionary Diet

    11/13/2010 10:05:50 PM |

    I don't have arthritis yet, but bread sure causes me to have a lot of digestive problems. Unfortunately, I love bread, so it's a constant struggle.

  • Anonymous

    11/13/2010 10:22:11 PM |

    i love your articles on wheat and really liked the neurological impact of wheat as told by you dr. davis. great work.

  • Anonymous

    11/13/2010 11:59:29 PM |

    Wheat of Mass destruction

  • Jon

    11/14/2010 5:37:12 AM |

    Wow... Continually checking up on your articles has really opened my eyes to how bad wheat really is.

    I am somewhat of a bread lover, but after reading about the disabling effects of wheat, I think I'm going to become a vegetable lover instead.

    Smile Keep writing your articles to spread this unknown knowledge around!

  • Dr. William Davis

    11/14/2010 2:23:41 PM |

    Hi, Hans--

    Yes, indeed. Yet another path by which wheat can exert joint damage.

    I suspect that there is more to this autoimmune or inflammatory pathway than suggested by rheumatoid arthritis. Unfortunately, with negative serum markers for rheumatoid arthritis or "atypical" appearances of the joint inflammation, it is often just labeled "arthralgia" or a non-specific arthritis, treated with non-steroidal agents, then dismissed.

  • Dr. William Davis

    11/14/2010 2:25:19 PM |

    Hi, Kathryn--

    Pater's comments address your concern: Tissue and serum pH is indeed tightly regulated. But there's a price to pay to maintain normal pH when disruptive acids or bases (mostly acids) are introduced. This is reflected in urine pH, an expression of net change.

  • Stargazey

    11/14/2010 2:45:04 PM |

    So low urine pH=osteoporosis? Do we have a scientific citation for this?

    I've seen all over the internet that eating lots of meat causes low blood pH, which causes osteoporosis. Obviously, what we eat cannot influence our blood pH, or we'd be dead.

    But if low urine pH caused osteoporosis, wouldn't internists everywhere be advising patients to correct that? I see them prescribing drugs plus extra calcium plus vitamin D plus exercise, but never a word about changing the net pH of the diet. Odd.

  • Joseph

    11/14/2010 3:30:56 PM |

    It's nicely coincidental that you mention wheat as as a cause of low blood PH. I've just found I have low blood PH during a checkup, yes wheat is slightly acid but after doing a bit of research my thinking is that it was caused by the moderate to high protein, high fat diet I have been consuming on the recommendation of alot of paleo blogs.

    To answer Stargazey, here are 6 studies I found that support the link between protein, blood PH and bone density.

    Consumption of higher protein omnivorous diets promoted decreased bone mineral density after weight loss in overweight postmenopausal women.
    The control, nonmeat, chicken, and beef groups lost 1.5%, 7.7%, 10.4%, and 8.1% weight and 0.0%, 0.4%, 1.1%, and 1.4% bone mineral density, respectively.
    http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/07/05/gerona.glq083.abstract

    Results: After adjustment for age, sex, and energy intake and control for forearm muscularity, BMI, growth velocity, and pubertal development, we observed that long-term dietary protein intake was significantly positively associated with periosteal circumference (P < 0.01), which reflected bone modeling, and with cortical area (P < 0.001), bone mineral content (P < 0.01), and polar strength strain index (P < 0.0001), which reflected a combination of modeling and remodeling. Children with a higher dietary PRAL had significantly less cortical area (P < 0.05) and bone mineral content (P < 0.01). Long-term calcium intake had no significant effect on any bone variable.
    http://journal.shouxi.net/qikan/article.php?id=206948

    We conclude that excessive dietary protein from foods with high potential renal acid load adversely affects bone, unless buffered by the consumption of alkali-rich foods or supplements.
    http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/128/6/1051

    Elderly women with a high dietary ratio of animal to vegetable protein intake have more rapid femoral neck bone loss and a greater risk of hip fracture than do those with a low ratio. This suggests that an increase in vegetable protein intake and a decrease in animal protein intake may decrease bone loss and the risk of hip fracture.
    http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/73/1/118

    Enduced acidosis caused the loss of calcium, sodium and potassium from the cells and bones of subjects
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC292842/?page=6

    Low dietary potassium intakes and high dietary estimates of net endogenous acid production are associated with low bone mineral density in premenopausal women and increased markers of bone resorption in postmenopausal women
    http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/81/4/923

    Aside from protein, Ketone bodies are also acidic and cause acidosis in diabetics "diabetic keto acidosis" and alcoholics "alcoholic ketoacidosis"

  • Mike

    11/14/2010 3:56:53 PM |

    I find this topic extremely interesting, especially from an athletic standpoint.

    As far as acidity, osteoporosis, and Paleo, Don from Primal Wisdom delved into this in a nice 7 part series: http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2010/03/paleo-diet-ph-does-it-matter-part-vii.html

    Add in resistance training, though, and the whole point of diet and osteoporosis becomes almost completely moot. VitD, Ca, K, P don't hold much against skeletal bone adaptation to picking heavy stuff up.

    While I've seen evidence of increased athletic performance by the addition of exogenous pH buffers (bicarbonate), I have NOT seen evidence of (quantifiable) ergogenic improvements due to an "alkaline" diet.  While there might be some merit there (I myself follow a fairly strict Paleo diet), attempting to be more "alkaline" by decreasing meat intake would only hinder my performance.

    Back on topic:  I'll echo what other have stated already, in that the mechanism for arthritis, specifically RA, would be auto-immune mediated with wheat gluten intake.  I'm surprised Dr. Davis did not mention this.

  • Lori Miller

    11/14/2010 5:04:58 PM |

    Eating very much carb in general makes my shoulder hurt. One of my dance teachers has said the same thing about her knees.

    FWIW, both surgical anesthetic (morphine?) and wheat make me feel lousy. I didn't have any withdrawal when I quit eating wheat.

  • Joe

    11/14/2010 5:16:54 PM |

    @Mike

    While exercise may mitigate some of the effects of Acidosis such as low bone density, stress (acidosis raises cortisol), risk of panic attacks (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17713689); I've read acidosis is associated with many other diseases.

    The positive effects of bicarbonate during exercise are probably related to higher muscle protein catabolysis during acidosis which would probably continue after you stopped exercising.

    Another effect of protein is to lower serum testosterone and sex binding hormone globulin. Saturated fat raises it however (http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/82/1/49)

  • Mike

    11/14/2010 11:13:52 PM |

    @Joe,

    I have no doubts chronic acidosis has strong implications in many disease etiologies; I was just stating my experience (and opinion) on the effectiveness of an alkaline diet on athletic performance, and emphasizing resistance training for optimal bone density over dietary changes.

    On buffering:  I've personally trialed a few doses of sodium bicarb w/ short duration, highly glycolytic/lactate producing workouts, and the ergogenic (performance enhancing) effect has more to do with reduction in muscle fatigue secondary to reducing H+ ions than protein catabolysis.  I believe this is why many athletes have anecdotally adopted a "high alkaline" diet without actual quantifiable data on it.  By no means am I saying it's unhealthy (a diet high in vegetables and devoid of grains most surely IS healthy!), but it just doesn't make a difference, performance wise, like actual NaHC03 loading.

    I do agree on the effects of SFA and testosterone, though---hence my choice of whey protein and coconut milk PWO.

  • Stargazey

    11/14/2010 11:27:54 PM |

    Thanks for the references. Today is a work day for me, so I've only glanced at them, but it seems like the evidence either way is not overwhelming. I'll study it more carefully in the next few days as I find the time.

  • Andrea

    11/15/2010 11:07:16 AM |

    Hello Dr. Davis,

    I follow your blog regularly. Keep up doing the good work.I appreciate it.
    Regarding Oseoarthritis I slightly disagree:
    Osteoarthritis is one example of “The pitiful state of medical ignorance” as Dr. Mike Eades says. Patellofemoral syndrome can be rehabilitated. Your cartilage can actually get better! 80 % of Doctors and physiotherapists don’t know this. Health care system? Don’t get me started!
    I can't give you the link because the science stuff is in German.
    But here is a good post from Mark Sisson about the topic: “OA is not your destiny”.
    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/arthritis-diet/
    Here's what I have learned from my "private research":
    Movement is great for rehab but you have to start where you are. Too little load is bad for joints and too much load is bad.  Find the “magic zone” as physiotherapist Doug Kelsey says. Joints and ligaments need time to adapt. More time than muscles.
    Interesting fact I learned from smart PTs:  cartilage works actually better under load than without. Yup! Smile

    I am not too impressed by science because I know how it works. I always told my docs that the so called “chronic deseases” are not a disease but failure of self regulation in your body. This is the basic premise of Functional Medicine. Even if they believed me they shrugged their shoulders. They were not interested because they only had drugs and surgery as tools. And if you only have a hammer as a tool every problem looks like a nail.
    But here’s the good news: The docs slowly change their mind, even in Germany. Surprise…. Prof. Dr. Henning Madry, Arthritis Research, Saarland Medical School, Germany, says: Osteoarthritis is no wear and tear but a chronic disease like asthma and diabetes. Cartilage is damaged by accidents or sports injuries but very often it is induced by internal processes which are not understood. Cartilage gets weak and finally destroyed.This has nothing to do with aging per se. Many young people have OA today and many old people have no OA says Prof. Madry.
    Hey – that’s what I said for years! But I am not an MD – only a person with a brain.

  • Andrea

    11/15/2010 11:08:50 AM |

    Hello Dr. Davis,

    I follow your blog regularly. Keep up doing the good work.I appreciate it.
    Regarding Oseoarthritis I slightly disagree:
    Osteoarthritis is one example of “The pitiful state of medical ignorance” as Dr. Mike Eades says. Patellofemoral syndrome can be rehabilitated. Your cartilage can actually get better! 80 % of Doctors and physiotherapists don’t know this. Health care system? Don’t get me started!
    I can't give you the link because the science stuff is in German.
    But here is a good post from Mark Sisson about the topic: “OA is not your destiny”.
    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/arthritis-diet/
    I am not too impressed by science because I know how it works. I always told my docs that the so called “chronic deseases” are not a disease but failure of self regulation in your body. This is the basic premise of Functional Medicine. Even if they believed me they shrugged their shoulders. They were not interested because they only had drugs and surgery as tools. And if you only have a hammer as a tool every problem looks like a nail.
    But here’s the good news: The docs slowly change their mind, even in Germany. Surprise…. Prof. Dr. Henning Madry, Arthritis Research, Saarland Medical School, Germany, says: Osteoarthritis is no wear and tear but a chronic disease like asthma and diabetes. Cartilage is damaged by accidents or sports injuries but very often it is induced by internal processes which are not understood. Cartilage gets weak and finally destroyed.This has nothing to do with aging per se. Many young people have OA today and many old people have no OA says Prof. Madry.
    Hey – that’s what I said for years! But I am not an MD – only a person with a brain.

  • Andrea

    11/15/2010 11:10:15 AM |

    my comment - part 2
    Why are the causes of symptoms like OA not understood? Because nobody in the medical establishment looked for them. Big Pharma has no interest in research about the causes and definitively not in prevention or healing. Healthy people who are not drug junkies? Terrible for Big Pharma!
    Dr. Ron Rosedale, MD, says: “If you are going to treat a disease you need to get to the root of the disease….But the problem is that we don’t know what the root is, or we haven’t. (…) the problem is that medicine really isn’t a science, it is a business.”
    Nothing in the human body “just wears out”. Your pancreas doesn’t ” just wear out”. Stop eating tons of crap! Your liver doesn’t “just wear out”. Your eyes don’t “just wear out” – stop misusing and poisoning them. Read optometrist Jacob Liberman, PhD., or Leo Angart on why eyes get bad, you’ll be surprised. Liberman and Angart are seniors and don’t need the glasses they had as young men. Liberman’s deconstruction of “medical idiocy” in ophtalmology is great.

  • Monique

    11/15/2010 4:14:15 PM |

    Too much anything can be harmful. That is why you should have a nice balanced diet. Great, informative article.

  • Geoffrey Levens

    11/15/2010 7:59:50 PM |

    "Unfortunately, I love bread, so it's a constant struggle."

    There is hope!  My middle name used to be "toast", only 1/2 kidding.  I have eaten no bread for almost 3 years and the craving for it is gone. I have had a bite here and there and can feel the "hook" trying to reset so I just don't go there.  Most of the time I no longer even think about it. It does take time and persistence (stubbornness) to reset taste buds and mental concepts.

  • Daniel

    11/15/2010 8:37:26 PM |

    1.  There's no evidence for acid-base balance.

    2.  You missed a big one -- autoimmune reaction.

  • Dr. William Davis

    11/16/2010 2:34:33 AM |

    Funny, Daniel: I have an inch-thick file of research on acid-base disruptions from diet.

    Shall I file it in the fiction shelf?

  • Nick

    11/16/2010 3:15:02 AM |

    "Wheat causes glycation--Glycation is glucose-modification of proteins in the body that occurs when blood glucose exceeds 100 mg/dl. Cartilage cells are especially susceptible to glycation."

    Is there a citation for this claim?  I understand that there is evidence that when blood glucose levels exceed 140 mg/dl our organs can be damaged, but cartilage does not contain blood vessels, so why is it 'especially susceptible to glycation?

    To be clear, I don't eat wheat, but why single out wheat as a cause of arthritis if any food that raises blood glucose levels per the claim above would cause arthritis?

  • Daniel

    11/16/2010 4:48:44 PM |

    Dr. Davis,
    You can start by posting some links on your blog, I suppose.

    Wikipedia says this about acid/base balance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_diet

    I think if you characterize your dietary advice in terms of getting adequate minerals, it would have more solid grounding than characterizing it in terms of ph.

  • rhc

    11/16/2010 6:43:15 PM |

    @Andrea
    Would you mind posting the link to the German research you were talking about? I'm German and would love to read it.
    day. Thank you!

  • Jack

    11/16/2010 8:41:17 PM |

    Funny, Dr. Davis, I've read well written pieces from WAPF and Stephen G. on why the acid/base balance theories are not well founded when picked apart.

    ACID BASE BALANCE

    So I dunno if storing your files on the fiction shelf is the best option, but you might wanna at least place it on the "still under review" shelf.

    -Jack

  • Anonymous

    11/16/2010 9:10:35 PM |

    What in medical science is not still under review, aside from how to set a broken bone ?

  • lala

    11/17/2010 3:24:55 AM |

    Thanks for your post and welcome to check: here.

  • Andrea

    11/17/2010 11:54:05 AM |

    @ rhc
    No problem - here is the interesting geek stuff in German:

    Claudia Dickinson:
    Der Knorpel - regenerativ und therapierbar!
    http://www.claudiaploke.de/download/physiomed/pm_4_2001.pdf
    I traveled from Berlin to Karlsruhe to get assessment and diagnosis from Claudia. Orthopedic doctors? Don’t get me started! As famous composer Hanns Eisler said: "My whole life I fought against stupidity – in music and elsewhere. I am afraid I have lost."
    I could write a book about stupidity (and denial of assistance & malpractice)  in orthopedics.

    Markus Gunsch:
    Die Behandlung des patellofemoralen Schmerzsyndroms mit Kompression und deren Wirkungsweise
    Gekürzte und überarbeitete Fassung der Diplomarbeit, die bei der Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Fakultät Gesundheitswesen, Institut Physiotherapie, Amsterdam im August 2004 vorgelegt worden ist.
    http://www.wsz-muc.de/_downloads/a_kg01.pdf
    http://www.wsz-muc.de/_downloads/a_kg02.pdf

    Gunsch:
    Patellofemorales Schmerzsyndrom_Kompression hilft
    http://www.wsz-muc.de/_downloads/PM_1_2010_Gunsch2.pdf

    Prof. Henning Madry, Universität Saarland: Arthrose ist keine "Alterserscheinung", sondern eine chronische Krankheit
    http://idw-online.de/de/news377579

  • Anonymous

    11/17/2010 1:29:24 PM |

    You need a TWEET THIS button on your posts.

  • rhc

    11/17/2010 3:54:42 PM |

    @Andrea,
    WOW l lots to read..will get to it later in the day. Thanks a lot!

  • Igor

    11/17/2010 7:30:56 PM |

    Hello

  • elpi

    11/18/2010 1:20:17 AM |

    I do have arthritis and I hate it. .I can't stand in cold places, so sad. Thanks for sharing. I should avoid wheat

  • Stargazey

    11/18/2010 2:23:40 AM |

    Joseph, thanks for the citations.

    It appears from this reference Acid diet (high-meat protein) effects on calcium metabolism and bone health, that a high dietary protein intake causes more absorption of calcium from food, and consequently more calcium excreted in the urine.

    From this reference Protein and calcium: antagonists or synergists?, because bone is 50% mineral and 50% protein by volume, a high-protein diet and calcium supplementation are essential for maintaining and enhancing bone status. If only one element is present in sufficient quantity, bone may actually be lost.

    As other commenters have indicated, acid-base balance has little or nothing to do with the process.

  • Anonymous

    11/18/2010 8:37:11 PM |

    dr. davis whats your take on brown rice?

  • Andrea

    11/18/2010 9:14:20 PM |

    @rhc
    you are welcome!  Smile

  • Plastic surgeon Los Angeles

    11/19/2010 5:38:34 AM |

    I thought you would say that the modern human is health conscious and keeps a right percentage of foods in the diet.At least what IO see is healthy buddies exercising everyday and etching for calorie free health food these days.

  • Stelucia

    11/19/2010 10:33:16 AM |

    Wheat is not the cause for Rheumatoid Arthritis but only a co-factor. It is more likely to be an infection as both doctors Wyburn-Mason and  Brown claim. As a former RA pacient who got healed using the Wyburn-Mason protocol, I tend to support the infectious nature of RA, not the autoimmune theory.

  • Anonymous

    11/19/2010 1:41:53 PM |

    dr. davis whats your take on brown rice? is it a good replacement for wheat? a cup full at mealtimes?

  • Maria

    2/8/2011 8:29:21 AM |

    hi,
    nice posting about wheat cause arthritis.These are many forms wheat cause arthritis are as follows.
    Wheat causes glycation
    Wheat is acidifying
    Wheat causes visceral fat
    Arthritis

  • JB

    10/7/2011 1:11:25 PM |

    I had joint pain in my elbows and fingers for 3 or 4 years and it was getting worse.  After researching on the internet I heard about the wheat - arthritis connection, so I though I'd give it a shot.  I've now been off wheat for four months and the joint pain is gone.  I've done "experiments" where I reintroduce wheat products for one meal and the joint pain will return for the next two days. I've also lost ten pounds and most of my wheat belly.  A no wheat diet takes some planning but well worth it.

  • Dr. William Davis

    10/8/2011 2:18:31 AM |

    That's pretty solid, JB.

    I call it the "on again, off again" phenomenon in which you stop wheat, the symptoms stop; resume wheat, they come back. The effect can be repeated at will.

    In my mind, that is pretty solid proof of an association.

  • Anne

    11/9/2012 2:41:59 PM |

    I have bought and read your book on wheat, and it was a great discovery for me. You see, my mother's family were Italians, and pasta, pizza, biscotti, and so on, is standard fare in Italy. So, I would never, ever have thought that my joint pain in the fingers could be linked to wheat consumption. But my mother also told me that there is a strong arthritis predisposition in the family. So, when I read your book I connected the dots.
    I have taken wheat out of my diet and the joint pain is gone (it was not a big pain, it was very subtle, I'm only 37, but I was wondering why I had it). Same as JB who left a comment above: I've done the test of eating a plate of pasta, and on the same day, a few hours later, the joint pain was back. So, I'm off the wheat, and I thank you so much for having written this great book!

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