Originally posted by Dr. Davis on 2016-08-04
on the Wheat Belly Blog, sourced from and currently found at: Infinite Health Blog.
PCM forum Index of WB Blog articles.

Is your doctor guilty of treating grain consumption?

Jennifer shared these comments about her husband’s early Wheat Belly transformation:

“My husband found your site a while back while doing research into symptoms he’s been experiencing for years. After following your advice with food, the doctor visits have stopped and I have a normal husband back.

“Prior to meeting him, he has always had issues with his weight and gut. He would exercise to the point of passing out and it just wouldn’t go anywhere. When I met him 5 years ago, he was jogging every night and exercising. He just couldn’t get the flabby stomach to go away and, every time the scale would budge, it would just come back. His blood pressure was always high. He sweats like crazy. He was always having frequent trips to the restroom and his body would get so swollen after meals. Not to mention the painful headaches he would get at the base of his skull. The only relief he could find was in Benadryl for the swelling.

“He was tired all the time. He would lose his temper easily. Since we’ve been married in 2012, he’s been back and forth to doctors constantly. They told him he was diabetic, another said he was bipolar, another sent him to a shrink, the last one had him on so many medications to treat how he felt and medications to treat the side-effects of those pills. He saw a neurologist who did all kinds of other tests. He saw a heart doctor and an allergist. He got tired of no one really looking further into the cause but only treating the symptoms. He was taking so many pills it was ridiculous, so he started researching the problems himself. People called him crazy and told him he was being a hypochondriac. He would present his findings in his visits only for it to be shrugged off and told he really shouldn’t try to diagnose himself. He even had his DNA sequenced through 23andme hoping to find something.

“Then he came across your site which matched up with a lot of other data he was finding related to his issues and we started reading further. He bought your book. I’m happy to say he’s been eating according to your guidelines for 3 weeks now and he feels so much better. The headaches have stopped. The swelling has subsided. His gut is shrinking and his weight is dropping. He can sleep much better now and think much better. It’s like I’m married to a whole different person but a happier one. I just want to say thank you so much and I can’t wait to see where this takes him.”

(The photo above is not her husband, just a stock photo.)

Time and again, I encounter stories like Jennifer’s husband: dozens of doctor visits, piles of prescriptions and imaging procedures, all intended to subdue this or that symptom, yet never is a basic question asked: Could the entire collection of apparently unconnected symptoms/diseases be due to a component of diet?

Jennifer’s husband was experiencing weight issues, visceral fat accumulation, hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, edema/inflammation, headaches, fatigue, high blood sugars, inappropriate mood swings, allergies—yes, there are drugs to deal with each of these symptoms/conditions but none reverse the original cause. Many, if not most, prescription medications also create more health problems over time, such as acid reflux drugs (Prilosec, Protonix, others) that lead to dysbiosis (abdominal distress/IBS symptoms, inflammation, increased risk for colon cancer), osteoporosis/osteopenia, vitamin B12 deficiency, and increased risk for infections (pneumococcal pneumonia, C. difficile enterocolitis). Blood pressure medications typically cause weight gain, higher blood sugars, erectile dysfunction, higher triglycerides, even sudden cardiac death—yet more reasons to pile on more medications.

You can begin to appreciate the downward spiral that “healthcare” can take quite rapidly when you have uninformed doctors trying to treat a dietary issue with imperfect tools. Yet the solution is so simple for so many: identify the cause—wheat and grains—then remove the cause.

Jennifer’s husband will take his health recovery even further by adopting the strategies that need to follow in the wake of wheat/grain elimination discussed in Wheat Belly Total Health book such as cultivation of bowel flora, iodine supplementation, and restoration of vitamin D. But know that impressive recovery from many health conditions and freedom from multiple prescription medications, not to mention desperation and misery, are possible by following the simple prescriptions of the Wheat Belly lifestyle.