- Wheat is a developed grass, as are all grains (so this includes rice, for example). All animals that have evolved to eat grass have also evolved huge digestion systems to cope with this difficult to break down stuff. Think: hippo, cow, sheep, deer, horse: all have big guts.
- The earliest wheat that we ate is vastly different to the wheats we eat now. And the wheats we eat now are vastly different even to those our Grandparent’s ate. Modern wheats are extremely hard to digest, mainly because they contain more gluten. Gluten gives wheat doughs/pastries their elasticity and helps things stay fresh longer. Apart from being difficult to digest, wheat contains substances like gluten that we are not tolerant to. When eaten regularly these substances cause many health problems like digestive issues, brain fog, lack of co-ordination, poor balance, rashes, arthritis and can trigger auto-immune conditions. This is a shortened list, and none of the things on the very long list are good.
- Ancient cultures soaked and frequently fermented their grains. For example, bread used to be proved at least overnight, and even to this day, in India they soak their rice. Both soaking and fermenting pre-digest the grains, making it easier on our small digestive tracts. If you like, soaking then fermenting is like having more than one stomach…… The modern method of bread making, the Chorleywood process, has the wheat from flour to sliced loaf in about three and half hours. This requires a much heftier digestive system than we humans have to properly process this ‘food’. ((I don’t know if anyone has heard stories of Macdonald’s type hamburgers not being eaten by vermin and just drying up. Not rotting, not being eaten by anything. And this is food??))
- And its not as if we only eat wheat once a month. It is usual for people to eat this stuff at least twice a day – breakfast and lunch, with frequently a third helping in the evening plus biscuits/crackers and so on during the day.
- So what does it do to us? Well, that largely depends upon genetics. For most of us, it sheers the tops of the villi that line our digestive tract – the villi are best likened to the shags on a shag pile carpet. This means the digestive tract gets inflamed, and larger particles of food cross through the gut border than should. This latter has a huge negative impact upon long term health, variable upon the individual, as briefly outlined in point 2. Shorter term, for the majority, sheered shags mean inflammation in the gut. If we cut our finger, immediately, we may well add pressure. But the next day, the last thing we want to do is squeeze the cut – it hurts. And so it is in the guts: and inflamed lining means the deepest abdominal muscle, the TVA, cannot contract to squeeze the guts and protect the spine. The brain won’t let it. And so the back is unsupported. Apart from back ache, for most the main symptom is poor balance. Now, poor balance is an extremely complex subject!!! This is the ground of the miraculous Z health. But to improve balance, back ache and many other woes, giving up gluten (wheat) is an excellent place to start.
- Because of the inflammation and larger particles of food crossing the gut border than should, the brain releases unbelievably powerful painkillers to help us survive. These pain killers are of the opiate family – opium – so eating wheat gives us a drug high and makes us sleepy. And makes eating wheat addictive. Hence why most people think the above six reasons are silly. Easier to say I’m being silly than walk up to the mark and try giving the stuff up. After all, back ache is common. Doctors don’t tell us to stop eating gluten. They just dole out pain killers – or maybe suggest a course of Pilates. Feeling sleepy is common: ‘I’m tired;’ ‘I’m getting older;’ ‘I’m working too hard.’ To spell it out: after a meal we should not feel sleepier.
- The best book to read: Wheat Belly by William Davis MD.
- Ultimately give it a whirl. Avoid all gluten for one month then try eating it again. In the first four days, stay near a loo because much excess water will be lost, and the result will be instantaneous weightloss. Fantastic.