Wheat Belly is a great read and highly educates on why wheat – this simple, seemingly harmless grain can actually have devastating effects on the body and health.   Dr. William Davis is a cardiologist who is able to explain these negative effects in an easy to understand way making this book suitable to any reader.  He uses many examples of his patient cases throughout the book to show first hand, the impact of wheat removal from the diet.  It is great to see a medical doctor making a large connection with food and how we feel.  As Naturopathic Doctors we are highly trained in this area and already familiar with the impact of wheat (and gluten) on the body.  This book is an even more detailed discussion and is broken into different body systems.  You find out how wheat came to be the way it is now and why it is impossible to find the grain in its ancient form.

Some of the key take home messages:

·         Wheat which is made up of readily available sugars causes the body to burn these very quickly for energy leaving you hungry again – why eating this “healthy whole grain” may actually increase weight.

·         Two slices of whole wheat bread increases blood sugar more than 2 tbsp of pure white sugar!

·         Getting wheat out of the diet allows for the body to burn fatty acids (instead of the readily available sugars) so people are able to lose weight easier.

·         Wheat actually has properties that make it addictive and because it is in so many products we are in a constant state of carb craving which affects the mood as well.

The diet to follow that is suggested in the end of the book is where we do not see eye to eye with Davis.  Getting wheat out and replacing it with fruits, vegetables, olive oil and nuts and seeds is appropriate.  However, increasing cow dairy is probably not the best idea because it is a common food sensitivity and all the hormones and antibiotics that are used during production can lead to other adverse health effects.  Just as wheat was manipulated to increase yield, the cow dairy has been manipulated in order to be mass produced leaving a negative health impact.  A different suggestion may be trying goat or sheep dairy products as these are less likely to contain the aforementioned additives.  Some of the recipes also include microwaving and low calorie sweeteners.  Limit your time microwaving and switch those low calorie sweeteners to real whole foods like unpasteurized honey, 100% maple syrup, coconut sugar or sucanat.  These sweeteners will reserve their mineral and nutrient content whereas artificial sweeteners are heavily processed and harmful to the body.  (Click here for our post on refined sugar). 

Overall, we recommend this book if you are considering or wondering about a wheat free diet.  We had previously attempted a wheat free diet but will now be sticking to one for good.  We were convinced - are you?

Eating Animals is a brilliant, in depth look at the state of the modern food industry from the farm to your plate. This book is the conclusion of years of research put together by Foer who delves into several different perspectives of the treatment of our food to deliver and unbiased view of how food is produced. Not only does he ask tough questions to those he interviews in the book, but he also asks thought provoking questions to the reader, allowing for moments of introspection to search the consciousness for answers to why we make the choices we do when preparing or sitting down for a meal. He offers a chance for everyone to understand exactly what they are buying from fast food chains grocery stores or farmer’s markets. He puts faces to the farmers that raise, feed and tend to the animals that we mindlessly consume and fosters awareness to those that go about it respectfully and those that do not. This work is an intriguing and important read for anyone that has ever stopped to think about what was on their plate or wondered where it came from and how it actually ended up there.