Middle America's Worldview

On rare occasions, I am able to burn through a book. Normally these times are during my required traveling. Thanks to the 3.5 hour flight from Dallas to Philadelphia, and layovers, accompanied with secluded nights in a hotel room by myself. This trip, I am reading the book “Wheat Belly”, by William Davis.

The book is a fascinating one, to say the least. The message is the danger of modern day wheat with human consumption. The external danger of being obese, foggy mentality, and an irrational addiction to bread. The internal danger of increased glucose, increase gastro disorder, increase issues of schizophrenia , ADHD, and autism are also covered.

Each of these issues is backed up by expert reports, scientific studies, and results from accepted experiments.

Davis provides a good history of the difference from our ancestral wheat in comparison to the current hybrid, genetic modified wheat. Amazingly, just like the ingestion of fluoride, research was missed with proper human consumption of the hybridized wheat. The mentality of wheat is wheat, regardless of how we genetically slice and dice it, should be no issue. Yet Davis provides results, studies, and observational facts to prove otherwise. A comparison of the GI (glycemic index) shows two slices of bread provides more sugar than a bar of candy.

Comparing the GI;

• White bread – 69 • Whole grain bread – 72 • Shredded Wheat cereal – 67 • Table sugar – 59 • Mars Bar (candy bar) – 68 • Snickers (candy bar) – 41 Note the bread is substantially more than dipping your spoon in plain sugar. This observation provides insight of why many of our American citizens are fatter than 40 years ago. Additionally, consider the spiked increase of sugar for those with issues of diabetes.

Look at your grocery store and identify all the products that consist of bread (gluten). We are inundated with the product.

While modern day bread is not the only variable consisting of our obese nature, I never realized how much of a part it does play.

Davis also provides studies showing the breakdown of gluten in the body is converted to polypeptides. Scientist took these polypeptides, and found a peculiar ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. These polypeptides would enter the brain and attach themselves to the morphine receptor.

This chemical acted the same way your opiate drugs react to the brain. The polypeptides were termed “exorphines”, short for exogenous morphine-like compounds. This provided the reason for wheat addiction, and psychological effect to the humans ingesting the current wheat.

Amazingly, when the drug naloxone was administered the polypeptides were blocked. This same naloxone drug is used to administer heroin addicts, when entering the emergency rooms. The same drug that kills a high with opiate drugs, also kills the polypeptides, introduced by wheat.

I would suggest all to read the book themselves and perform your own observations. As for me, I am formally going to stop eating bread.

I have a son that is gluten intolerant and I personally have seen the effects when he consumes bread. I am now going to see what the effects of removing bread from my diet will bring.