Sometimes I get confused when people say "wheat". Do you think this also applies to other grains? What about rice and oats?

Thanks,
David

Received so much valuable advice from Dr Davis blog(Vit D,Fish Oil, Thyroid,Niacin) that even though I love wheat(the thicker the crust on anything the better)That I decided to trust him on this one too. I had 10 days of misery ie:no energy,grumpy,and hungry. My wife said bad words about Dr D.... threatened to force feed me donuts because I was so nasty tempered. Now 2 months later I dropped the 15 lbs I needed to, feel better and have found it easy to stay off the stuff. Thanks Dr Davis (my wife says she is sorry!)

Or rye, perhaps?

I was listening to a CD version of the book "1491". It talked about the uniquely Native American ("Indian") invention of agriculture combining maze (corn) and squash and other beans. This provides all the essential amino acids.

It somewhat paralleled the Western invention of agriculture based on wheat and other grains(barley, oats,...).

The comment of significance was that the Native Americans were considerably taller than the newcoming European settlers.

I wonder if that is a "wheat thing" as well.

I read not long ago that when Lafayette and the French soldiers joined forces with the new Americans during the Revolutionary war, it was noted that the new Americans were also taller than the French soldiers.

I wonder.

Although i have reduced my wheat intake by 90% now, but it is not always easy to follow this diet. specially when you also have to avoid few other grains because of the hypothyroid issue. even though it has been said that iodine sufficiency shouldn't let goiter foods do any harm but, i can still feel the effects of these foods with in minutes after consuming, cooked or uncooked.
Few years ago i had bloody stomach every time i went to the bathroom. tired of doctors wait game and suggested operation date 3.5 months away, that's when i decided to become my own doctor and basically started studying my self. i was lucky that with in 3 days i was able to stop the bleeding with simple usage of Aloe (not the regular aloe it is high dose of Aloe Mucilaginous Polysaccharides) and manuka honey. but i learned later on that, all of this started with hypothyroid. while studying this stomach issue i went through this made sense notes from this alternative mental health site.
http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/walshMP.htm
where the author talked about oxidative stress and said,
"factor to consider is the high incidence of oxidative stress in the G.I. tract. This environment can destroy key digestive enzymes such as DPP-IV (needed to break down casein & gluten)..... This condition is especially common in autism-spectrum disorders. Failure to correct the oxidative stress would doom supplemented enzymes to an early death. The result can be similar to Pickett's Charge at the battle of Gettysburg.... The digestive enzymes are mowed down as soon as they enter the G.I. tract. The casein-free, gluten-free diet often results in rapid striking improvements. However, nutritional supplements which overcome G.I. tract oxidative stress can make the CF/GF diet unnecessary.
Normalization of zinc, metallothionein, and glutathione in the G.I. tract isn't difficult to accomplish. It's a lot easier to take a couple of capsules daily than this difficult diet. It takes about 6-8 weeks for the G.I. tract to get "fixed" using this therapy.
We've had many patients who were extremely sensitive to dairy and wheat.... and did marvelously after the CF/GF diet. Many of these same patients completely lost their sensitivity to casein and gluten after the antioxidant supplementation..... and now can eat a normal diet without a problem".
the reason that i am bringing this discussion that i have seen people in certain communities where wheat is their at least 40% of the total diet. yet some individuals in that same community are still got no wheat belly and no major health issues what so ever.

"Mental fog" seems very ambiguous.  Is there any kind of scientific data or quantifiable means by which one can measure the effect of wheat on "brain fog?"

Any studies, or is it all anecdotal evidence?

Please read about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and the book "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" by Natasha Campbell McBride. Very interesting and nothing we learned in medical school.

There are some who propose that we shouldn't eat any grains at all, because all grains have some particular proteins (particularly defence peptides) which provide protection to the grain plant, but which are harmful to the human immune system. This includes rice, corn, maize, etc.

Check out this article: "Cereal Grains - Humanity's double-edges sword" http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Cereal%20article.pdf

Although I don't doubt the health benefits of eliminating wheat, I am interested in how the Mediterranean diet is considered healthy, yet includes pasta.

Fruits/veggies/grapes mitigate the damage wheat does, or is there some other mechanism? Perhaps genetics play a role, where certain individuals have a much bigger problem with wheat (as to heart disease) than others?

Wheat is the enemy. Ah well....that explains the Italians; and for that matter, the French.  But wait, they are, on average, more healthy than Americans,...... So what about those Japanese and other Asian cultures who consume vast amounts of Omega 6 from soy....maybe their delta-6 desaturase is higher than the average American, and maybe, just maybe they have more exercise in their daily routine.

Dear anonymous, it is a myth that Asians eat vast amounts of soy. They actually eat very little each day. Our food manufacturers have sold us that bill of goods so that we will buy products (franken-foods) with "healthy soy" which is actually the waste product of the soy oil industry--yet another bad for you food.

No disrespect to the French and the Italians - I love to visit both countries and know many natives - but the French and Italians are just "less sick" than we are, they aren't necessarily good examples of abundant health, esp the Italians.  They don't eat as much pasta as we are led to think, but wow, they do eat a lot of bread and sugar.  I saw lots of signs of diabetes among the locals when I was in Italy last summer.  

Overall, my impression from my visits to friends and family of my husband's (for nearly 15 years) is that Europe seems to be heading down a similar  sorry path we've already trodden; they are just a few years behind behind us.  Some European countries are following at a slower pace or a slightly different route, but the signs are there that the industrial food culture is permeating and doing damage, esp in the younger generations.  I think it's happening in industrial parts of Asia, too.

Celiac disease research is very active in Italy because  of the high rate of celiac incidence there.  Check Pub Med, you'll see a high number of Italian papers.

Anna,
You have more personal experience than I do from visits and I respect you observations.  I have not been to either country for over 10 years.

Take a look at the stats on Nationmaster:-

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_hea_dis_dea-health-heart-disease-deaths

Italy and France are low on the list for heart disease deaths.

Also on Nationmaster you can find stats for a whole host of other things EG wine consumption..... France and Italy top this list. On soft drink consumption, they are at the bottom. Obesity stats also show them at the bottom and USA is #1 but USA is not #1 for heart disease deaths, it is in the mid tier.

In my copy of Lao-Tzu's Te Tao Ching, which was found in a Chinese Han era tomb dated 168BC, it states that one of the other documents found in the tomb was a treatise on "the health benefits of grain avoidance".

Pasta is made from Durhum wheat which has a slightly different genetic profile from baker's wheat.
Even a single amino acid difference in a gluten or casien sequence can change the way it breaks under pepsin digestion, altering or blocking the production of any given exorphin. In my experience the Durhum gluten exorphin is not as vicious as the baker's wheat gluten exorphin, but it is still nasty.
This is paralleled in milk chemistry - beta-casien from A2 milk has a proline residue where beta-casien from A1 milk has a histidine residue; this means that A1 milk forms the potent exorphin beta-casomorphin 7 in amounts approximately 100x that of A2 milk. A1 and A2 are genotypes of common milk bearing cows. Many people who cannot tolerate A1 milk (normal cows milk) can tolerate A2 cow's milk, or goat's milk, which has A2 properties. (Milk can create other exorphins, but BCM-7 is especially potent and well-researched)
This is all linked to the use of low-dose naltrexone to stimulate and harmonise immunity by elevating endorphin levels. LDN can be seen as a drug that undoes the harmful effects of exorphins.
Also, large amounts of digestive protease enzymes are heavily relied on by many alternative canmcer therapists (as is LDN); these will tend to digest exorphins before they enter the bloodstream. This is not the actual rationale for enzyme-based cancer therapy, but to my mind it makes far more sense than the out-dated traditional explanation (the Beard hypothesis). Use of morphine after cancer surgery is associated with a significantly lower rate of remission - morphine is the classical exorphin.
The exorphins only enter the blood if two conditions are met - inadequate pancreatic digestive enzymes (proteases), and/or excessive intestinal permeability (or stomach ulcer) - "leaky gut" (because exorphins, like classic opiates, act directly on the gut, a lack of pancreatic enzymes can eventually lead to leaky gut. Aspirin abuse (even 1 a day, which has increased the rate of Crohn's disease five-fold in a population study - I use ginkgo or reishi instead), antibiotics, and many other drugs can contribute to leaky gut. Probiotics and good nutrition (adequate protein annd fats) are protective against it.

Andrew, there are scientific studies online done on rats in mazes that show orally administered gluten exorphins affect standard tests of learning, memory, etc (mazes and the like) without affecting "swim time" or other more physical parameters. That equates to "brain fog" (cognitive impairment) in humans, I reckon. This is one of the 15 references on PubMed:

[Delayed effect of exorphins on learning of albino rat pups]
[Article in Russian]

Dubynin VA, Malinovskaia IV, Beliaeva IuA, Stovolosov IS, Bespalova ZhD, Andreeva LA, KamenskiÄ­ AA, Miasoedov NF.

Abstract
The delayed effect of food-derived opioid peptides (exorphins) after chronic administration on postnatal days 1-14 on the learning of albino rat pups has been studied. Heptapeptide YPFPGPI (beta-casomorphin-7), pentapeptide YPLDL (rubiscolin-5) and pentapeptide YPISL (exorphin C) improved the development of the conditioned foraging reflex in a complex maze. Hexapeptide PFPGPI lacking the N-terminal tyrosine proved inefficient. Only beta-casomorphin-7 had an effect (negative) on passive avoidance conditioning. The obtained data confirm that exorphins (particularly, milk-derived beta-casomorphins) can have significant and long-term effects on the environmental adaptation of young mammals.

Among the many devastating effects of celiac disease , the immune disease that develops from wheat gluten exposure, are mental and emotional effects, such as anxiety, fatigue, mental "fog," depression, bipolar illness, and schizophrenia, that disappear with removal of gluten. Many parents of autistic children also advocate wheat-free diets for similar reasons.

Good post! I respect you observations. Pasta is made from Durhum wheat which has a slightly different genetic profile from baker's wheat. I am interested in how the Mediterranean diet is considered healthy, yet includes pasta.
Boxing/MMA Supplies

While the term "mental fog" is really vague and unscientific, thinking in more specific terms one can see that , yes it is well documented.  The protein in wheat gluten is very difficult to digest, and in the case of certain autistics, schizophrenics, celiacs, people with wheat gluten enteropathy etc. it is not completely broken down, forming long chains of peptides that have a chemical composition similar to opiates.  These people are all known for their resistance to dietary change and extreme addiction to wheat gluten and often dairy, the protein of which has a chemical composition similar to that of wheat gluten and therefore, is also may form similar peptides.  The symptoms such individuals display might be described in similar terms, dazed, spaced out, the appearance of opium addicts, or "mental fog."  There is research on this phenomenon.

This is very good - just mixed up a large glass full (minus the flaxseed).  And, that's my question, do you use finely ground flax seed?  I also tossed in a fist-full of blueberries - should be able to tolerate them well; I just had a very intense resistance training session

I'd love to see more recipes for some ideas.  I disagree with those who wrote in on the earlier post, characterizing smoothies as "not real food."  I'm a big fan for time-challenged mornings and post-workout nourishment.

Bill

I can't believe you passed up a perfectly good opportunity to embed a cheesy 80's Reese's commercial in this post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJLDF6qZUX0

Anon--

Yes, I used a finely-ground flaxseed.

The berries are a great idea, provided quantity is small.

Just a cautionary note -

Sucralose/Splenda can have severe reactions.

I seem to respond/react to things severely.  Sucralose has caused both allergic reaction (swollen mucus membranes) and severe migraine for me.  In fact, as a frequent migraine sufferer (tho much less now that i've removed gluten and sulfites), the migraine i got from sucralose was by far the worst i've ever had.  

Personally, i am of the belief that if it effects me so strongly, it is probably not good for anyone, but the damage it does is much less pronounced in other people.

I stick to stevia for a no-calorie sweetener.

http://jstevens.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/how-sucralose-aka-splenda-is-made-and-why-you-want-to-avoid-it/

"How Sucralose (aka Splenda) Is Made And Why You Want To Avoid It

...I wanted to comment on Splenda.  Splenda, also known as sucralose, was created accidentally when some chemists were trying to produce an insecticide.  Here is the process by which they produce the formula sold in stores:

“1.  Sucrose is tritylated with trityl chloride in the presence of dimethylformamide and 4-methylmorpholine, and the tritylated sucrose is then acetylated with acetic anhydride.

2.  The resulting sucrose molecule TRISPA is chlorinated with hydrogen chlorine in the presence of tolulene.

3.  The resulting 4-PAS is heated in the presence of methyl isobutyl ketone and acetic acid.

4.  The resulting 6-PAS is chlorinated with thionyl chloride in the presence of toluene and benzyltriethylammonium chloride.

5.  The resulting TOSPA is treated with methanol in the presence of sodium methoxide to produce sucralose.”  (Note that methanol, wood alcohol aka paint remover,  is one of the questionable ingredients in aspartame.)

In addition, the bags and packets of Splenda commercially available are not pure sucralose.  They also contain bulking agents.  All artificial sweeteners use bulking agents.  Do you know what they use?  Sugar.  Dextrose, sucrose, and maltodextrin.  (Maltodextrin is corn syrup solids composed primarily from fructose and glucose in a starch form.)   All sweetener packets are at least 96 percent sugar.  Splenda is 99% sugar.

The packets are labelled calorie free as a result of manipulating a loophole in the food labeling laws.  The product can be described as sugar free if a serving contains less than 5 grams of sugar, and calorie free if a serving is less than 5 calories.  So they set the serving size on bags at .5 grams  and the packets contain a serving of 1 gram.  A one gram packet contains 4 calories.   This can be confirmed on the manufacturer’s website in the FAQ section:  â€œLike many no and low calorie sweeteners, each serving of SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener contains a very small amount of common food ingredients, e.g., dextrose and/or maltodextrin, for volume. Because the amount of these ingredients is so small, SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener still has an insignificant calorie value per serving and meets FDA’s standards for “no calorie” sweeteners. “

To make matters worse, when sucralose was shown to not raise blood sugars, it was the pure substance that was tested, not the mixture that is sold to the public.  Dextrose, sucrose, and/or maltodextrin are definitely going to raise a diabetic’s blood sugar.  There is also a great deal of evidence that artificial sweeteners actually cause an increase in appetite, causing people who consume them to take in more calories than they would otherwise.

Stevia, on the other hand, lowers blood sugar, making it a much better choice.  If you have tried stevia in the past and did not like the flavor, you might want to try another brand. ..."

If your looking for a more nutritious "sweetner" you should try adding half a cup of coconut water. Delicious!

Ps. I love your blog. Keep up the great work!

Tapioca starch in the almond milk, but not enough to hurt you.

I enjoy your blog. You have a good thread about the hazards of hyperglycemia.
However, this recipe is not one I would recommend to patients attempting to reverse metabolic syndrome, T2D, or IR.
Their main concern is the inflammation caused by the above listed disorders. The omega 6 content of the peanut butter, sunflower seed, and to an extent, almond butter would exacerbate the inflammation mitigated by the hyperglycemia.
In addition, sugar alcohols (xylitol, erythritol) tend to cause GI upset (gas, diarrhea). Also the hazards of Sucralose are intuitively obvious....it contains chlorine molecules....commonly found in many household cleaners, and of course used in WWI as a pulmonary choking agent.
I would only use macadamia nuts/nut butter, and Stevia to sweeten.
Dr. John

Thanks, Dr. John.

I hear you on the sucralose issue. I've actually been having positive experiences with stevia, xylitol, and erythritol. The important thing is that people have some good choices nowadays, unlike 20 years ago when we had saccharine . . . period.

There is no question that mannitol and sorbitol have greater potential for both GI distress (diarrhea) as well as increases in blood glucose, so these are clearly on the no-no list (unless you need a quick laxative).

Sucralose is not metabolized.  Most of it is excreted unchanged in the feces.  A small percentage is absorbed and excreted unchanged in urine.  

Sodium in food is more of a concern for a person who experiences migraine headaches.  Over-activity of muscles activated by the Trigeminal nerve due to airway resistance secondary to water retention is a greater concern.  Various factors are present both anatomically and physiologically in people who experience migraine.  The only way to determine if sucralose is actually the cause of a migraine is to consume sucralose on its own.

What concerns me is what happens to the sucralose in the environment.  The addition of a chlorine atom, (not a molecule, Dr. John) results in a molecule which cannot be metabolized by bacteria.  If environmental degradation is possible, then sucralose excreted by human beings is not an issue.  But if it persists in the environment, then it is a pollutant.

I am practically a fruitarian, so much of what I like would be off limits.
Is there an article here on what IS recommended?

Yes, atoms, not molecules...ie. precisely 3 atoms of chlorine/molecule of sucrose...

An interesting thing about this selective halogenation of sucrose, is the fact that sucralose (being 600 times as sweet as sucrose), increases the HbA1c numbers in my patients. This demonstrates a lessening of diabetic control. Thus, hemoglobin gets glycated and fasting blood sugar increases....with the attendant hyperglycemia issues as mentioned, and this excellent blog site.

For this reason I do not recommend sucralose for diabetics nor anyone wanting to keep blood sugar levels within normal limits. The current cost and future costs for diabetes will cripple our healthcare structure. Here are ADA numbers:

$174 billion: Total costs of diagnosed diabetes in the United States in 2007
$116 billion for direct medical costs
$58 billion for indirect costs (disability, work loss, premature mortality)

Dr. John

Dr. John, is it possible that other factors contribute to higher H1ac levels in your type 2 diabetic patients?  

Since sucrolose is not metabolically active and does not act as a laxative, then there could be other endocrinological and neurological reasons for higher glucose levels.

Here's an abstract on sucralose and Type 2 diabetes:

Grotz VL, Henry RR, McGill JB, Prince MJ, Shamoon H, Trout JR, Pi-Sunyer FX. Lack of effect of sucralose on glucose homeostasis in subjects with type 2 diabetes. J Am Diet Assoc. 2003 Dec;103(12):1607-12.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of 3-months' daily administration of high doses of sucralose, a non-nutritive sweetener, on glycemic control in subjects with type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: A multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study, consisting of a 6-week screening phase, a 13-week test phase, and a 4-week follow-up phase. SUBJECTS/SETTING: Subjects with type 2 diabetes (age range 31 to 70 years) entered the test phase of this study; 128 subjects completed the study. The subjects were recruited from 5 medical centers across the United States and were, on average, obese. INTERVENTION: Subjects were randomly assigned to receive either placebo (cellulose) capsules (n=69) or 667 mg encapsulated sucralose (n=67) daily for the 13-week test phase. All subjects blindly received placebo capsules during the last 4 weeks of the screening phase and for the entire 4-week follow-up phase. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose, and fasting serum C-peptide were measured approximately every 2 weeks to evaluate blood glucose homeostasis. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance using repeated measures. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the sucralose and placebo groups in HbA1c, fasting plasma glucose, or fasting serum C-peptide changes from baseline. There were no clinically meaningful differences between the groups in any safety measure. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that, similar to cellulose, sucralose consumption for 3 months at doses of 7.5 mg/kg/day, which is approximately three times the estimated maximum intake, had no effect on glucose homeostasis in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Additionally, this study showed that sucralose was as well-tolerated by the study subjects as was the placebo.

PMID: 14647086 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Now, I can understand how sugar alcohols taken in large quantities might have some effect on blood sugar because they are laxative and increase gut motility and cause discofort or pain, both of which will spike blood sugar values. the liver dumps glucose into the bloodstream when the body is under stress like this.  And of course, the pancreas reacts very sluggishly to endogenous glucose.

I think type 2 diabetics should have routine sleep study screening to determine whether breathing issues during sleep may be upramping the sympathetic nervous system and causing high sugar levels during sleep. We can't just help these people improve their life quality by looking at only one parameter.

They need otolaryngological evaluation for anything from deviated nasal septa to chronic allergies, enlarged adenoids and tonsils.  The size of their jaws, how they function and tongue posture also factors in.

Not to mention, anyone with pulmonary issues would have increased effort on breathing...asthma, pulmonary hypertension etc.  The existance of chronic pain and anxiety conditions also influence how the body produces its own glucose.  

Patient's require a multi-disciplinary workup to determine the multiple factors that result in the development of type 2 diabetes.  It's not merely diet because these people have an awfully hard time changing their diets without having other problems addressed.

Excellent! Dr. Davis, you have had many posts of what not to eat but very few on what we should eat. Taking something out of our diet means we have to replace it with something. This post seems to be in the right spirit. I am going to try this soon. Now if only you can post a similar substitute for Keva Juice's Oreo Speedwagon smoothie! Yes, I know they are hazardous to your health but they are wickedly good!

-- Boris

I'm not totally convinced why sucralose, a chloro-carbon, similar to DDT and PCBs, would elevate the HgA1c levels. My guess would be a neurological response to an ingested poison. Sucralose does kill intestinal beneficial bacteria...lactobacillus, bifidobacteria, and bacteroides...of varying amounts of 37-67%...and the enteric nervous system would react by elevating cortisol/adrenaline/glucagon: while at the same time not delaying gastric emptying.
Body perception is stress....glycation of RBCs result, with CVD and sudden cardiac death.

Studies that use diabetic, and obese subjects in the assessment of A1c elevation are biased from the start. These individuals have already lost glycemic control and as a result would not have normal A1c levels to begin with...let alone studying their response 13 weeks later.

McNeil Nutritionals, maker of SPLENDA® Brand products, stated it has provided the American Diabetes Association (ADA) with a sponsorship to support the Association's efforts to fund research, information and advocacy programs on behalf of people with diabetes.
And McNeil Nuts. are owned by Johnson and Johnson, who are large contributors to the ADA...the journal of the previously listed biased study showing the sucralose doesn't affect A1c levels...in spite of the fact in clinical results showing the opposite.

Anything, sucrose or sucralose, that elevates A1c levels is cardio-lethal...and is best avoided.

Dr. D,
Do you use regular coconut milk or the lite? Does it make a difference, except calorically?

Thanks!

Jeanne

I am allergic to the artificial sweeteners. Thought I could tolerate sucralose but it just took a little time for a reaction. My mouth and throat became inflamed and I had sore bumps all over the inside of my throat and back of my mouth after about a week.

I don't like stevia or the other natural no calorie sweeteners either...they just don't taste sweet to me or have odd flavors.

But I found something.  It is not calorie free, but it has low glycemic index and tastes just like sugar.  It is "Organic Blue Agave". What are a few calories in exchange for some actual taste.

I bought it at Costco.

""Organic Blue Agave". What are a few calories in exchange for some actual taste."

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is about 55% fructose and cause inflammation, insulin resistance, and elevates triglycerides.  Agave syrup is often 70% or higher (possibly as high as 90%) fructose!  Marketing scam...