laceyvail-

Long before reading "Wheat Belly" I was utilizing more low-carb and low-glycemic foods, including coconut flour and almond flour in our diet, and using less wheat products. I'd been using more spelt than wheat for about a year, since it was lower on the GI. Diabetes is rampant in hubby's family, so we are trying to avoid it with food choices. Consuming whole foods on the lower half of the Glycemic Index of Foods and reducing the amount of wheat in our diet was already happening.

I've been involved in gluten-free cooking/baking for years, including developing gluten-free recipes for a local sorghum mill, which started because my mother had celiac disease and I did a lot of food preparation for her before she died.

Comments shared here made me head to the library and read "Wheat Belly", as well as "Perfect Health Diet" by Paul Jaminet, Ph.D. and Shou-Ching Jaminet, Ph.D. After that, we had a big food discussion and decided to do a 4-month trial without wheat products. After 4-months, and feeling great, I consumed a flour tortilla on Friday and a whole wheat bun on Saturday and by Saturday night I had a huge flair-up of arthritis like I haven't seen for many years (I've had arthritis since I was 14-years old). So that was enough to make me continue elimination of wheat in my diet. We also both dropped 10-pounds :-)

I really don't make a big deal out of it because it's not a one-size-fits-all world when it comes to food choices. Ironically, during this time the Extension Office contacted me to see if I knew anything about using coconut flour. Evidently there are a number of "Wheat Belly" folks asking for information and guidance and the agent isn't up-to-speed on the subject. I've been mentoring individuals through the Extension Office, which suits me fine. I still teach food and nutrition classes at the local Food Bank and they generally include food available through the Food Bank and through the Commodity Distribution Program.

My sister suffers IBS and a number of "gut" issues and is following a Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAP Syndrome or GAPS) Diet, which includes elimination of grains, and is seeing some great improvement after 2-months. We think our genetics (mother with Celiac Disease), as well altering grain, pointed out in "Wheat Belly", hasn't been a good thing in our family. Eliminating it has done wonders!

-Grainlady

I told a farmer friend about the basic wheat belly diet after he, who had always been a really skinny guy, gained an enormous amount of belly weight and developed a ravenous appetite. Not only has he lost weight, but he discovered that the stomach and gut problems he had all his life have vanished. One meal with a little wheat in it returned them for a painful 24 hours, so he's back on a wheatless diet.

There is no history of diabetes in my family, and I don't have a 'wheat belly' but I still have cut the amount of wheat I eat on a regular basis.

I do wonder if a person had regular access to heritage wheat strains (not emmer or einkorn or farro--just older wheat strains), and used it for bread, etc, if that would make a difference in weight gain.

Living in the middle of wheat country there are heirloom varieties of wheat still available, such as Red Fife, Russian Beardless,Turkey Red, etc. Turkey Red is the granddaddy of hard wheat varieties. You will find small fields of these heirloom varieties here in Kansas where they demonstrate horse-drawn binders because the wheat stands much taller than modern varieties, so it works best for binding the wheat into sheaves.

These heirloom varieties of wheat also are more pungent-tasting because of the bran color, and most people wouldn't like them. There are 3 genes that determine the bran color and most red wheat varieties now only have 1 or 2 of those genes. The old heirloom varieties have all three genes and the grain is much darker and has a more acidic flavor. White wheat doesn't have any of those genes, and that's why it has a mild flavor.

One challenge using heirloom wheat - you need to use older methods for bread making, such as a sponge or starter, rather than the straight or direct dough method. They don't have as much gluten and you'll get better bread quality by using the slower methods. That's also a good suggestion if you use einkorn.

I've started adding einkorn once or twice a month to our diet, and don't have a problem with it. Last week I made a loaf of einkorn bread and as a test I ate 3 slices in one day without a problem. Next I'll reintroduce spelt (which I have a LOT in storage and it's less expensive than einkorn). I would use those before going to heirloom wheat because they are much different genetically.

I have several wheat-free bread recipes I make and they work well for our needs, plus are lower in carbs. I really don't want to get back into using a lot of grain flour. I've actually enjoyed the new twist on food preparation. I like a good challenge once in a while!

Something I won't be doing anymore for the first time in decades is being a foods judge at the county fairs in the area. "To everything there is a season...."

-Grainlady

Re heirloom wheat--aren't those the wheat strains we all used before the hybrid types were introduced in the early 1980s? I began baking bread in the late 60s and surely I must have been using those old strains. And I didn't know anything about sponges or starters then. Just add a package of yeast. I'm not a regular bread baker, but I don't remember any particular problems with my bread then, though I do remember that whole wheat bread was strong tasting. I do know that the really old wheats--einkorn, etc.--would require different techniques.