Spinach and Mushroom Salad (this page)
Chocolate Mousse (this page)
DINNER
Zucchini Noodles with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (this page)
Cream of Asparagus Soup (this page)
The ten-day menu is a bit heavy with recipes just to illustrate some of the variety possible in adapting standard recipes into those that are healthy and don’t rely on wheat. You can just as well use simple dishes that require little or no advanced planning or preparation, e.g., scrambled eggs and a handful of blueberries and pecans for breakfast, baked fish with a simple green salad for dinner.
Preparing meals without wheat is really easier than you may think. With little more effort than it takes to iron a shirt, you can prepare several meals a day that center around real food, provide the variety necessary for true health, and are free of the health and weight burden of wheat.
BETWEEN MEALS
On the Wheat Belly lifestyle, you will quickly break the habit of “grazing,” i.e., eating many smaller meals or frequent between-meal snacks. This absurd notion will soon become a remnant of your previous wheat-consuming lifestyle, since your appetite will no longer be dictated by the 90- to 120-minute-long glucose-insulin roller coaster ride of hunger, nor the unsatisfied-even-with-a-full-stomach effect of gliadin-derived opioid peptides. Nonetheless, it’s still nice to have an occasional snack. In a wheat-free regimen, healthy snack choices include:
Nuts—Choose raw or dry roasted, but not smokehouse, honey roasted, or glazed varieties. (Recall that peanuts, a legume and not a nut, should be dry roasted, not raw.)
Cheese—Cheese doesn’t end at Cheddar. A plate of cheeses, raw nuts, and olives can serve as a more substantial snack. Cheese will keep at least a few hours without refrigeration and therefore makes a great portable snack. The world of cheese is as diverse as the world of wine, with wonderfully varied tastes, smells, and textures, allowing pairing of varieties with other foods.
Dark chocolates—You want cacao with just enough sugar to make it palatable. The majority of chocolates sold are chocolate-flavored sugar. The best choices therefore contain 85 percent or more cacao. Lindt and Ghirardelli are two widely distributed brands that make delicious 85 to 90 percent cacao chocolates. You will get accustomed to the slightly bitter, less sweet taste of high-cacao chocolates as your wheat-free palate sharpens. Shop around for your favorite brand, as some are wine-tasting, others earthy. The Lindt 90 percent is my favorite, since its very low sugar content allows me to enjoy just a bit more. Two squares will not budge most people’s blood sugar; many can get away with four squares (40 grams, about 2 inches by 2 inches).
You can dip or spread your dark chocolate with natural peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter for a healthy version of a peanut butter cup. You can also add cocoa powders to recipes; the healthiest are the “undutched” varieties—i.e., not treated with alkali—since this process removes much of the healthful flavonoids. Ghirardelli, Hershey, and Scharffen Berger produce undutched cocoas. Mixing cocoa powder, milk or coconut milk, cinnamon, and non-nutritive sweeteners such as stevia, monk fruit, or erythritol makes a great hot cocoa.
Low-carb crackers—As a general rule, I believe we are best sticking to “real” foods, not imitations or synthetic modifications. However, as an occasional indulgence, there are some tasty low-carb crackers that you can use to dip into hummus, guacamole, sour cream, cucumber dip, or salsa. Manufacturers are introducing crackers such as Flackers, made by Doctor in the Kitchen, whose principal ingredient is flaxseed, as well as crackers made only of baked cheese such as those from Primal Thin. Alternatively, if you have a food dehydrator, dried vegetables such as zucchini and carrots make great chips for dipping.
Vegetable dips—All you need are some pre-cut veggies such as peppers, raw green beans, radishes, sliced zucchini, jicama, or scallions, and some interesting dips, such as black bean dip, hummus, vegetable dip, wasabi dip, mustards such as Dijon or horseradish, and sour cream—or cream cheese–based dips, all of which are widely available premade.
DESPITE THE FACT that removing wheat and other “junk” carbohydrates from the diet can leave a big gap, there is truly an incredible range and variety of foods to choose from to fill it. You may have to venture outside of usual shopping and cooking habits, but you will find plenty of food to keep your palate interested. The recipes I provide such as Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate for Adults Only, and Classic Cheesecake can also serve as wonderfully satisfying snacks.
With your newly reawakened taste sense, reduced impulse eating, and reduced caloric intake that accompanies the wheat-free experience, many people also experience heightened appreciation for flavors. As a result, the majority of people who choose this path actually enjoy food more than during their wheat-consuming days.
BELLY UP TO THE BAR: CHOOSE YOUR ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES CAREFULLY
Choose your alcoholic beverages carefully and you can enjoy an evening with friends without paying a health price. There are good choices and bad choices. Make a good choice and you can enjoy an evening uncomplicated by a grain reaction. Make a bad choice and you can re-activate abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, joint pain, skin rashes, and anxiety. Also bear in mind that more than one drink and your ability to lose weight is blocked.
WINE
Wines are the safest of all alcoholic beverage choices. The driest (least sweet) wines are best: dry reds such as pinot noir, malbec, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon; dry whites such as pinot gris, chardonnay, and sauvignon blanc. Be careful with sweet wines such as sauterne, moscato, ice or dessert wines, and sweet ports, as more than a sip or two and you will be tangling with messy blood sugar issues.
Among alcoholic beverages, beer is the most hazardous. The majority of ales, beers, malt liquors, and lagers are brewed from grains and contain grain protein residues, generally one to two grams per 12 ounces—not a lot, but enough to stimulate appetite and inflammation and initiate autoimmunity. People with celiac disease or the most extreme forms of gluten sensitivity should avoid beers altogether except those designated gluten-free. Gluten-free beers made from sorghum, rice, buckwheat, millet, or chicory are available but tend to be moderate to high in carbohydrate content; more than a single bottle or serving and you exceed our net carb cutoff. While sorghum, rice, and millet are grains, the low quantity of proteins seems not to provoke reactions in people without extreme gluten sensitivity.
If you must have a beer, among the least troublesome are:
Bud Light—Anheuser-Busch Bud Light is brewed from rice and also contains barley malt. The most severely gluten-sensitive should therefore avoid it because of the gluten content. But those of us without gluten-sensitivity who are avoiding grains can safely consume this beer without exposing ourselves to undesirable effects of grains. One 12-ounce bottle of Bud Light contains 6.6 grams of carbohydrate.
Michelob Ultra—Brewed from barley malt, this beer has the potential to trigger gluten reactions in the most sensitive, though most of us can have this beer without issues, it has a very low carb count of 2.6 grams per 12 ounces. There is also a gluten-free cider in the Michelob Ultra line.
Redbridge—Redbridge is brewed from sorghum without wheat or barley and is gluten-free, though still brewed from a grain. Carbohydrate content is high at 16.4 grams per bottle; just one and you have exceeded our carb cutoff. Go carefully with this one.
Bard’s gluten-free beer—Brewed from sorghum without barley, this beer is truly gluten-free. It contains 14.2 grams carbohydrates per 12-ounce bottle, so more than one and you exceed our net carb cutoff.
Green’s gluten-free beers—A U.K. brewer, Green’s provides several gluten-free choices made from sorghum, millet, buckwheat, brown rice, and “deglutenized” barley malt. They are not grain-free and thereby have low quantities of grain proteins. So go carefully here, also, and make judgments based on individual experience. Carbohydrate
content ranges from 10 to 14 grams per 330 ml bottle.
Other choices—There is a growing number of gluten-free beer choices from microbreweries that are local or regional, such as Glutenator from Epic Brewing Company that is gluten-free with 16 grams net carbs per 11 ounces, brewed from sweet potatoes and molasses.
Omission beers are brewed from malted barley with the gluten removed and are available in an IPA, lager, and an ale.
SPIRITS
Spirits are a mixed bag but you are likely to find at least several that you can enjoy without provoking health problems. Beware of flavored varieties of vodka or rum, as they are loaded with sugar and/or high-fructose corn syrup. In general, simple unflavored spirits are safest such as:
Vodkas—For those brewed from non-grain sources including Chopin (potatoes; outside of North America you will have to ask or examine the bottle for the source, as there are also wheat and rye vodkas from Chopin) and Cîroc (grapes). Recently, many more vodkas are appearing on the market brewed from grapes, quinoa (not a grain), potatoes, and other sources. Also, vodkas that are distilled multiple times, such as the six distillations of Tito’s and Kirkland Six (Costco’s house brand) vodka, seem to disable grain reactions for most of us, such that Tito’s is labeled gluten-free.
Brandies and cognacs—These are generally safe, since they are distilled from wine. Safe brands include Grand Marnier, Courvoisier, and Rémy Martin. Martell is an exception, since caramel coloring (a potential grain exposure) is added.
Gins—These are usually safe, brewed with juniper and other herbs. However, some gins can be brewed from grains, though grain protein levels are typically negligible and only an issue for those with severe gluten sensitivity.
Rum—This is distilled from sugar cane and therefore does not contain residues of grain proteins.
Tequila—This is brewed from agave and is therefore grain-free. (Though we avoid agave due to fructose content, the sugars have been fermented down to negligible levels in tequila.)
Whiskeys and bourbons—These are, like most beers, distilled from rye, barley, wheat, and corn, and thereby potential problem sources. However, given the distillation process, whiskeys typically test below the twenty-parts-per-million limit for gluten that the FDA set as the safe threshold for people with celiac disease and gluten-sensitivity. Nonetheless, some people still seem to react to whiskeys distilled from grains. Many popular whiskeys such as Jack Daniels (barley, rye, corn), Jameson (barley), and Bushmills (barley) therefore pose a risk for a gluten (gliadin) reaction. People without extreme sensitivities are likely safe, given the very low quantity of grain proteins.
Safe liqueurs—These include Kahlúa (dairy), fruit liqueurs like triple sec and cherry Kijafa, Amaretto di Saronno, and Bailey’s Irish Cream (dairy). The most gluten-sensitive may need to avoid those blended with whiskey. Also, note that liqueurs tend to be high in sugar. Small servings are therefore key.
THERE’S LIFE AFTER WHEAT
On the wheat-free lifestyle, you’ll find that you spend more time in the produce aisle, farmers’ market, or vegetable stand, as well as the butcher shop and dairy aisle. You will rarely, if ever, wander into the chip, cereal, bread, or frozen food aisles. Perhaps you will have to venture into the supermarket interior for dog food or toilet cleaner, but there are few reasons to venture into aisle-after-aisle of processed food.
You may also find that you are no longer cozy with Big Food manufacturers or their New Age acquisitions or branding. New Age name, organic this or that, “natural” looking label, and—bam! A huge multi-national food corporation now looks like a small, environmentally conscious group of ex-hippies trying to save the world. Don’t fall for it, organic, multi-grain, fair-trade, or no.
Social gatherings, as many celiac sufferers will attest, can amount to extravagant wheat-fests, with wheat products in anything and everything. The most diplomatic way to pass up any dish you know is a wheat bomb is to claim that you have a wheat allergy. Most civilized people will respect your health concern, preferring your deprivation to an embarrassing case of hives that could dampen festivities. If you have been wheat-free for more than a few weeks, turning down the bruschetta, bread crumb–stuffed mushrooms, or Chex Mix should be easier, since the abnormal exorphin-crazed impulse to stuff your mouth full of wheat products should have ceased. You’ll be perfectly content with the shrimp cocktail, olives, and crudité.
Eating outside the home can be a land mine of wheat, cornstarch, sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and other unhealthy ingredients. First, there’s temptation. If the waiter brings a basket of warm, fragrant rolls to your table, just turn them away. Unless your dinner partners insist on bread, it’s easiest not to have it sitting right in front of you, teasing you and eroding your resolve. Second, keep it simple. Baked salmon with a ginger sauce is likely to be a safe bet. But an elaborate, multi-ingredient French dish has more potential for unwanted ingredients. This is a situation in which it helps to ask. However, if you have an immune-mediated wheat sensitivity such as celiac disease or some other severe wheat sensitivity, then you may not even be able to trust what the waiter or waitress tells you. As any celiac sufferer will attest, virtually everyone with celiac disease has had it triggered by inadvertent gluten exposure from a “gluten-free” dish. (For those interested, a device called Nima allows you to test food for gluten residues. While costly, it can be a lifesaver when in doubt. More information is at nimasensor.com.) More and more restaurants are now also advertising a gluten-free menu. However, even that is no guarantee of being problem-free if, for instance, cornstarch or other gluten-free ingredients are used. In the end, eating out of the home presents hazards that, in my experience, can only be minimized, not eliminated. Whenever possible, eat food that you or your family prepares. That way, you can be certain of what is contained in your meal.
While it may be hard to turn down a piece of birthday cake, if you pay for the indulgence with several hours of stomach cramps, diarrhea, or joint pain, it will be hard to indulge with any frequency. (Of course, if you have celiac disease or any history of abnormal celiac markers, you should never indulge in any wheat- or gluten-containing food.)
Our society has indeed become a “whole grain world,” with wheat products filling the shelves in every convenience store, coffee shop, restaurant, and supermarket, and entire stores, such as bakeries and bagel and donut shops, devoted to them. At times you may have to search and dig through the rubble to find what you need. But, along with sleep, exercise, and remembering your wedding anniversary, eliminating wheat can be viewed as a basic necessity for long life and health. A wheat-free life can be every bit as fulfilling and adventurous as, and certainly healthier than, the alternative.
Whew! Now that we’ve got the day-to-day details out of the way, let’s go on to talk about correcting common nutritional deficiencies. Like giving lemons and limes that magically heal skin sores and degenerating joints to someone with scurvy, correcting common deficiencies yields even bigger and better health benefits in this new, wheat-free, empowered life of yours.
CHAPTER 15
LIFE WITHOUT WHEAT GETS EVEN BETTER
IF YOU HAD scurvy and developed open skin sores, bleeding gums, jaundice, and damaged joints, then collapsed, would an intensive CrossFit routine cure it? How about cutting back on saturated fat? A chiropractic adjustment? An injection of Humira or Enbrel?
If a specific nutritional deficiency develops, the only way to reverse it is to provide the missing nutrient—nothing else can take its place. You could have the world’s best orthopedic surgeon replace your knees or the finest plastic surgeon skin-graft your wounds. You could spend thousands of dollars to manage loose teeth or weeping wounds, but if the real cause is not addressed, health problems will continue to worsen. While I only use scurvy and vitamin C as an illustration, the same principle applies to other nutritional deficiencies: The only way to correct a specific deficiency is to provide the nu
trient, not apply fancy medical or surgical Band-Aids, nor try acupuncture, a foot massage, or “everything in moderation.”
Nutritional deficiencies are common, everyday issues that plague most people, yet are “treated” as medical problems. Conditions as seemingly unconnected as osteoporosis, type 1 diabetes, and migraine headaches, for example, have deficiencies of one or more nutrients as their original or important contributing causes. Of course, go to John Q. Primary Care and you can have any of these conditions “treated” as medical problems.
Despite the outward appearance of plenty in our society, modern habits and conveniences have caused most people to develop deficiencies of several crucial nutrients. People who sport bulging wheat bellies are the most deficient, despite fiber, B vitamins, and the approval of dietitians. But people who have lost their wheat bellies, shunning the food of ruminants and consuming real food for humans instead are less deficient in numerous nutrients—but not all nutritional deficiencies are corrected, no matter how organic or free-range the ingredients are in a diet. In other words, some nutritional deficiencies persist after wheat/grain elimination—not because the diet remains deficient, but because modern habits cause deficiencies.
When the culprit deficiency is identified and corrected, health is transformed—it’s as simple as that. The two categories of nutritional deficiencies we address in the Wheat Belly lifestyle are 1) deficiencies that were originally caused or worsened by wheat and grain consumption but persist after removal, and 2) deficiencies that are common and widespread and unrelated to prior wheat/grain consumption.
You will see that, if a nutrient required for a fundamental physiological need is provided (as well as the blocker of absorption removed, as in the case of wheat) that corrects deficiency of an intrinsically necessary nutrient, wonderful things happen. These required nutrients are written into our genetic code, addressing needs that developed over tens of thousands of generations, regardless of whether or not you are fat or thin, liberal or conservative, or believe that Kim Jong Un has the haircut he deserves.
Wheat Belly (Revised and Expanded Edition) Page 27
