Do the math: 41.7 pounds per year

Consumers of wheat take in, on average, 400 calories more per day. Conversely, people who eliminate wheat consume, on average, 400 calories less per day.

400 calories per day multiplied by 365 days per day equals 146,000 additional calories over the course of one year. 146,000 calories over a year equals 41.7 pounds gained per year. Over a decade, that's 417 pounds. Of course, few people actually gain this much weight over 10 years.

But this is the battle most people who follow conventional advice to "cut your fat and eat more healthy whole grains" are fighting, the constant struggle to subdue the appetite-increasing effects of the gliadin protein of wheat, pushing your appetite buttons to consume more . . . and more, and more, fighting to minimize the impact.

So, if you eat "healthy whole grains" and gain "only" 10 pounds this year, that's an incredible success, since it means that you have avoided gaining the additional 31.7 pounds that could have accumulated. It might mean having to skip meals despite your cravings, or exercising longer and harder, or sticking your finger down your throat.

400 additional calories per day times 365 days per year times 300,000,000 people in the U.S. alone . . . that's a lot of dough. Is this entire scenario an accident?

Or, of course, you could avoid the entire situation and kiss wheat goodbye . . . and lose 20, 30, or 130 pounds this year.

Comments (21) -

  • Keenan

    10/14/2011 3:56:07 AM |

    On Sept. 10 I stopped my consumption of wheat containing foods and multi-grain rice crackers. Two weeks later I began having aching elbows which have not bothered me for years. I'm a 65 yr old male, thin with a bit of a 'wheat belly'  which is shrinking but my muscle mass is also shrinking. Have you heard of anyone experiencing changes in joints after stopping wheat and grains?

  • David Klatte

    10/14/2011 10:58:16 AM |

    That math isn't right and it is pretty misleading because a person who ate 400 more calories per day would gain weight up until they reached an equilibrium. It would be better to use something like the Harris Benedict equation to get a sense of how bad that is.

    I did that for a six foot 180 pound male who is 30 years old who is lightly active. Such an individual would maintain their weight at about 2246 calories per day. If they instead consumed 2646 calories per day, you would expect their weight to top off at about 244.7 pounds after some period of time. About a 65 pound gain, so nothing to sneeze at.

  • Dr. William Davis

    10/14/2011 12:48:30 PM |

    Hi, Keenan--

    I've only seen relief from arthritis, not a triggering of arthritis. That's strange.

    Of course, we are all subject to conditions that fall outside of wheat. It will be interesting to see whether this persists.

  • Dr. William Davis

    10/14/2011 12:49:04 PM |

    Thanks, David.

    Yes, this was hardly a scientific analysis, just an argument to graphically illustrate what we are battling.

  • Philippa

    10/14/2011 12:51:54 PM |

    This would be actionable advice across the Atlantic in the UK, where the Health Minister landed himself in a controversy this week by annoucing the Brits need to cut 5 billion calories off their annual diet.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2048738/Jamie-Oliver-blasts-Andrew-Lansleys-plan-tackle-obesity.html

  • Teresa

    10/14/2011 8:23:30 PM |

    I couldn't post this below about the drug companies.  

    While I agree that a person should not be made to take medications against their will, what am I to do for a patient with a blood pressure of 220/110, on several occasions?  I have had a few.  They refused meds, and also refused to make any diet or lifestyle changes that may have helped.  While I haven't discharged any patients because of this, I do make sure they know the potential consequences of severe hypertension, including death.  Or worse, complete paralysis on one side, requiring total care.  Sometimes it's a matter of lesser evils.

    More of my patients want the  pills, because they are unwilling to do anything else to help their condition, even though I encourage them, and offer referrals for further education.  I hear it's too complicated, or their insurance won't cover it and it's too expensive.  I doubt I could make a living in my community without a prescription pad.  I wish I could!  I'll keep trying.

  • Princess Dieter

    10/14/2011 9:29:06 PM |

    Just a heads up (although you may have already seen it) is that Gillian Riley, the UK expert on food addiction/breaking out of overeating, recommended WHEAT BELLY in her October newsletter. http://www.eatingless.com/archive-newsletters.html#

    I've often recommended Ms. Riley's books--EATING LESS ; BEATING OVEREATING; and WILLPOWER!--to fellow hyperconditioned overeaters.

    Not eating wheat/sugar  sure helps in the "not overeating" dept. Laughing And Gillian is on board with that.

  • Corey

    10/14/2011 9:42:55 PM |

    Love your site doctor, but this is a terribly naive and simplistic approach. Calorie numbers are irrelevant, it's the kind of calories. Yes, I understand that the 400 you mention would most likely be 400 calories of additional carbs, but calories in/calories out don't determine weight now, do they?

    Really shouldn't post anything reinforcing the outdated but still omnipresent "calorie equilibrium" theory (fairy tale is more like it) of weight gain.

    Otherwise, keep up the good work.

  • Rieland Rigg

    10/15/2011 1:30:51 AM |

    I guess that explains pretty clearly why I've been able to lose about 40 lbs so far in 9 months... Smile

  • Ted Hutchinson

    10/15/2011 9:14:49 AM |

    If you live in the Northerm hemisphere Vitamin D levels drop from September through to March unless effective strength supplementation is implemented.
    Also 65yrs old the natural production of the antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, antioxidants melatonin and vitamin d will have declined (by age 75 only 25% of vit d capacity is possible if sufficient 7-dehydrocholesterol remains in skin) so everyone becomes far more sensitive to pain/inflammation (and infection).  You can replace the missing Vitamin D3, melatonin with at least 5000iu/D3/oil based gelcap and 3mg Time Release melatonin (Also pay strict attention to improving natural melatonin secretion by using Flux getting outdoors midday and total darkness while asleep. ) Search this site for good Vitamin D3 & Melatonin information.

  • Kris

    10/15/2011 12:11:25 PM |

    A few months ago I did an experiment and cut all wheat and sugar out of my diet.

    That is, if it would contain even a trace amount I would not touch it. I managed to follow this approach for two months, I didn't measure my food intake but my body fat dropped quite a lot and I could see much more muscle definition, especially in my abdominal area.

    Personally I think sugar and wheat are the two main contributors to obesity, and I think the "minimum effective dose" for optimal health would be to remove those two ingredients completely. And of course that doesn't allow any room for "cheat meals" like some people think.

  • Dr. William Davis

    10/15/2011 1:25:26 PM |

    Well said, Chris.

    I agree. In particular, I find that no wheat is far better than less wheat. I believe this is mostly due to the appetite-triggering effect of wheat gliadin.

  • Linda

    10/15/2011 1:27:22 PM |

    @Ted
    I am also living in the Northern Hemisphere [Iowa] and do not get nearly as much sunshine as I should.I tend to be a hermit and spend most of my day inside.  Also over 65. I am taking 5000 IU a day of Vit D, gelcaps.
    Without a lot of testing, is there a way to determine if I should take more and, if so, how much. My biggest concern is tightness in the hip area every morning.

  • Dr. William Davis

    10/15/2011 1:28:17 PM |

    Well, Corey, allow me to elaborate on my "terribly naive and simplistic approach."

    This is clearly not a scientific analysis, but a simple effort to illustrate what happens with simple math what could theoretically happen with an additional 400 calories per day intake but ignoring all other factors, such as proportion fat vs. carbohydrates.

    So of course this is simplistic. It just makes the point that the increased calorie consumption triggered by wheat gliadin has potentially huge effects.

  • Dr. William Davis

    10/15/2011 1:44:40 PM |

    Good to have friends in this battle, Princess!

    We are up against the incredible financial and lobbying might of vertically-integrated Agribusiness and Big Food, who have billions of dollars to allocate on lobbying, marketing, and pushing their agenda. We have social media, the internet, and our wits.

  • Dr. William Davis

    10/15/2011 1:46:00 PM |

    Hi, Dr. Teresa--

    That's all you can do: Keep on trying.

    I'm impressed that you DO try, since most of our colleagues pay no mind whatsoever to even considering genuinely effective dietary changes.

  • Dr. William Davis

    10/15/2011 2:16:54 PM |

    Hi, Philippa--

    Let's see: England, population 51 million times 400 calories per day, times 365 days per day, equals 7.446 x 10,000,000,000,000 calories, or several thousand times more than the Health Minister proposes.

    5 billion calories would be child's play.

  • Ted Hutchinson

    10/16/2011 8:41:41 AM |

    I don't think there is any way anyone can accurately predict their 25(OH)D level either from uvb exposure or daily supplement usage. It depends on individual response. The banner graph at GRASSROOTSHEALTH.ORG shows for any regular daily intake the 25(OH)D achieved varies up to 100ng/ml. Taking 5000iu daily D3 only increases your chances of staying around 50ng/ml  but you could be anywhere between 20ng/ml and 120ng/ml without testing you can't know. After you've had a few tests you get to the point where you can predict the result but it's still worth retesting annualy to make sure nothing's changed. You should be able to find a 25(OH)D test for $60.

  • Fat Guy Weight Loss

    10/16/2011 3:11:20 PM |

    I eliminated sugar and wheat from my diet just from the observation that the food did not keep me full as long compared to other foods of same number of calories.  Not only led to weight loss but also eliminated my ocassional GERD as well as frequent stomach discomfort.  Now I have even more reasons to stay off the stuff and now being 95% wheat free (indulge in ocassional small portion of dessert) I no longer crave these foods and feel great.

  • Dr. William Davis

    10/18/2011 12:52:08 AM |

    How about "Skinny Guy Weight Loss"? (I didn't feel right calling you "Fat Guy . . .")

    It's such a simple formula for returning to health. I, personally, experienced relief from the same gastrointestinal effects. With any small indulgence, I am provided a graphic reminder of how it used to be.

    Stay strong. Your body will be grateful!

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Your enlarged aorta

Your enlarged aorta

The thoracic aorta lives happily within the chest.

The aorta is the main artery of the body that emerges from the heart, located just under the sternum. It is the "tree trunk" from which all the major arteries branch off to the rest of the body: the arms, brain, abdominal organs, pelvis, and legs. The aorta receives the high-pressure blood ejected directly out of the heart muscle.

However, there are evil forces in the body that work to weaken the aorta. When the aorta is weakened, it enlarges. Enlarged aortas also tend to grow atherosclerotic plaque. Plaque in the aorta poses long-term risk for stroke and and mini-strokes ("transient ischemic attacks," or TIAs), due to fragmentation.

There are many enlarged aortas in this world. I see at least several every week. It is fairly common, particularly in people with high blood pressure and cholesterol abnormalities, as well as those who are overweight. Smokers get it really bad.

Conventional thinking is that, once an aorta enlarges, it will inevitably continue to enlarge at the average rate of 2.0 mm per year (resulting in 1.0 cm enlargement over 5 years). For this reason, conventional discussions on the topic of thoracic aortic aneurysms all say something like "Enlarged aortas should be monitored yearly. Surgical replacement should proceed when the aorta reaches a diameter of 5.5 cm."

This is because an aortic diameter of 5.5 cm is associated with much greater likelihood that the aorta will rupture (fatal within minutes) or the internal lining will tear, a "dissection." The surgery is a major undertaking that involves opening the chest and usually replacing the aortic valve and inserting a synthetic aorta. The procedure is high-risk, especially if any branch arteries are involved.

So putting a stop to any further aortic enlargement is a worthwhile goal. Unfortunately, conventional thought is that there is nothing you can do to stop the inevitable growth of the thoracic aorta.

Nonsense. There are a number of efforts you can make to halt further increase in aortic diameter. (My experience in this is anecdotal and unpublished, but now numbers several hundred patients.)

There are two categories of factors that cause the aorta to increase in diameter:

1) Internal pressure--Think of blood pressure as the internal inflating pressure on this "balloon." Keeping the "inflating pressure," i.e., blood pressure, low exerts substantial effect on slowing growth of aortic diameter. I aim for normal BP or lowish BP (less than 130/80, preferably 100/70).

2) Factors that weaken the aortic wall--Processes like inflammation, glycation, lipoprotein deposition, and nutritional deficiencies will serve to weaken the supportive tissue of the aorta. For that reason, correction of lipoprotein abnormalities (e.g., small LDL and lipoprotein(a)), reductions in carbohydrate intake and thereby blood glucose/glycation, and "normalization" of vitamin D, vitamin C supplementation (for collagen crosslinking), and omega-3 fatty acids all play a role.

To push even farther, there may be additional advantage to following strategies that impair the production and activity of a crucial enzyme that lives within the aortic wall: matrix metalloproteinase, or MMP. MMP degrades the collagen and other supportive tissues within the aorta, weakening it and permitting expansion. Blocking MMP may prove to be among the most powerful new strategies to halt aortic expansion.

Compounds that have potential MMP-inhibiting effects include:
--Vitamin D--A substantial effect
--Resveratrol--One of the polyphenols from red wine
--Doxycycline--This old antibiotic often used for acne treatment has, in preliminary studies, shown important MMP-blocking effects and slowed aortic expansion.

Anyway, there you have it. A bit complicated, but a "recipe" that has failed me only rarely.

Comments (19) -

  • Kathryn

    8/27/2010 4:26:39 PM |

    These days, with the results of stats from the "gold standard" of testing (which i have seen first-hand & is not as impressive as they claim), i'd much prefer "anedotal" evidence of several hundred patients than to trust the spin of statistics from a drug company.

  • Judy B

    8/27/2010 4:47:18 PM |

    Another good article!  Of course, mainstream medicine will pooh=pooh that.  One has to take drugs!

    KevinMD has a new post that I found very disheartening.  Dr. Eric Van de Graaff has written a glowing recommendation of statin therapy.  He totally dismisses the question of side effects and the dangers of these drugs.

    Will the truth ever come out?

  • Anonymous

    8/27/2010 4:59:05 PM |

    Interesting post.

    But "evil forces in the body"?  Forces, factors, dynamics to be sure, to be sure, but I thought "evil forces" went the way of "bad humors" in medical jargon.... Wink

  • Anonymous

    8/27/2010 5:17:45 PM |

    Do you use conventional bp meds to lower blood pressure?

  • davide

    8/27/2010 5:54:25 PM |

    Dr. Davis,

    Interesting post. I have heard that pine bark extract (opc's)or grape seed extract powerfully binds with collagen to make endothelial tissue, artery walls, etc. more resilient and elastic. Studies actually have found this to be true. Have you heard about this?

  • Pasi

    8/27/2010 6:15:21 PM |

    What about athletes aortas ? Dosn't they also enlarge

  • Anonymous

    8/28/2010 10:05:45 AM |

    Thanks for this.  My dad died of an aortic aneurysm so it's good to know how I can encourage others to avoid that fate.

    You mention glucose and I was thinking of how fructose might also affect the aorta.  I've just watched Dr Lustig's talk on Sugar the bitter truth, particularly targetting high fructose corn syrup.  As I understand it, the different method of entering and interacting within the liver from glucose makes it particularly lethal.

  • ben

    8/28/2010 1:37:03 PM |

    was that you that i heard on Dr. Su's podcast?

  • Anonymous

    8/28/2010 1:44:24 PM |

    Are there any symptoms of a enlarged aorta one could look out for?

  • Jim Sutton

    8/28/2010 2:56:23 PM |

    Thanks for another informative post, Dr Davis.

    I also read the "Van de Graaff has written a glowing recommendation of statin therapy" mentioned by JudyB, and it concludes with this statement:

    "* Remarkably, there are numerous so-called experts who call into question the linkage between cholesterol and heart disease and their websites can be easily found.  The research that implicates cholesterol in vascular disease—starting with the seminal Framingham Heart Study  in the 1950s—is about as ironclad as any concept we have in modern medicine.  Those who can’t get on board with the lipid hypothesis would likely have been the same ones to reject the earth-is-round theory."

    The article can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2dm39en

    Dr Davis, would you be so kind as to give us your take on what Dr VdG has said about cholesterol, the Framingham study, etc?

  • Lub Dub

    8/28/2010 4:57:34 PM |

    Why is resveratrol part of the "recipe"?  Are there studies, preliminary or otherwise, showing an effect on MMP?

  • Kevin

    8/28/2010 5:33:46 PM |

    I don't take statins although my doctor recommended one because my cholesterol was 280.  For other reasons I've been taking an OTC medication called Beta-sitosterol for over a year.  When I donated blood last month the free cholesterol test showed mine was down to 190.  I want to quit the beta-sitosterol because of side effects.  

    I am following a lowcarb diet and trying to not eat wheat products.

    kevin

  • Anonymous

    8/29/2010 9:09:24 AM |

    milk dr. davis i hope you take that up soon Smile

  • Anonymous

    8/29/2010 7:54:21 PM |

    Placebo controlled study finds no benefit for EPA/DHA:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE67S02520100829

    Was the dose (400 mg) too low?

  • Geoffrey Levens

    8/29/2010 8:36:38 PM |

    "I am following a lowcarb diet and trying to not eat wheat products."

    “Do or do not... there is no try.”
    ~Yoda

    ;)

  • Pal

    8/30/2010 8:39:35 AM |

    i would like to point out additionally that vaccinations start the cascading events of neuro degenrative problems like autism and later dementia or cancer and also heart related problems which this site is trying to address, IBS/heart conditions, digestion problems from gluten and other conditions have their root in vaccines and create further damage through a poor diet.

    id urge doctor davis to take a wholistic view of this situation from the start (vaccines) of life.

    goodluck everyone.

  • Anonymous

    8/30/2010 9:58:17 AM |

    Reference the study on "Omega 3 fails to prevent repeat heart attacks".

    This is the dumbest study I have heard about in years.

    They fed them the small amount of omega 3 in MARGARINE!! This heart stopping, artery clogging hydrogenated fat based margarine was fed to them for 40 months, what did they expect would happen other than a repeat heart attack?

    http://mobile.reuters.com/article/Deals/idUSLDE67S02520100829

  • Laura

    8/30/2010 7:23:09 PM |

    Great post, Dr. Davis. Thanks for sharing, it is always informative!

  • Kamila

    8/31/2010 1:53:22 PM |

    Some comments from Cliff Richard on the secret of "eternal youth", can be summed up as tennis, red wine, lecithin and no wheat or dairy products:

    If anyone wants to see the pics:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1307301/Sir-Cliff-Richard-Pushing-70-hes-got-body-Young-One.html

    Sir Cliff, who turns 70 in October, peeled off for his 2011 calendar.
    He says the secret of his eternal youth is tennis three times a week, two glasses of red wine a day and a daily dose of lecithin – a supplement derived from soya beans, meat and eggs – which experts claim restricts the body’s ability to form fat.
    He has also spent three years following the Blood Type diet, which means he no longer eats wheat or dairy products.

    Winning formula: Sir Cliff peeled off for his 2011 calendar
    ‘Age is not an issue if you are lucky enough to have good health,’ he says. ‘I’ve never had any major problems and spent no time in hospital.
    ‘I heard that 60 is the new 40 so I am making 70 the new 50. If you can prolong your life and hold off death for a while, why not? I would like to play tennis for my 100th birthday and I will.
    ‘My waist measures 30in, the same as 30 years ago. And my weight is 10st 7lb.’

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