Happy Book Club Monday!

We are back from our trip and slowly settling into a regular routine. I read a lot over my trip and struggled with picking this week’s book. I know I owe you a review of In Defense of Food, but I would like to interrupt the regularly scheduled book review for a very important announcement: You might want to re-consider that breakfast bagel and bread basket.

I can almost feel you cringing.

Yes, I am pretty sure that this post is not going to make me very popular in the blogosphere, but I will take my chances. Bear with me because you may find that we have some things in common….

My Wheat Background

or

Why I Decided to Read This Book

Quick show of hands:

Who likes bread?

How about muffins?

Brownies? Cookies?

Now, who else out there feels like they exercise a lot but still has a little potbelly?

Or a big belly?

Or you just plain doesn’t see the results you think you deserve?

My hand was up the whole time.

Ever since I met Manatee, he has had an aversion to anything baked: bread, muffins, cookies, brownies, you name it.  If it contained flour, he tried to avoid it. This was difficult because I consider myself a pretty good baker.

Over and over again, he told me that he just didn’t feel good after he ate those things. It irritated me at first but I got used to it.

Now enough about him, let’s talk about me.

As many of you know, I am a BeachBody coach and I LOVE their products (P90x, P90x2, Shakeology). Despite doing P90x for over two years, I still wasn’t seeing the results I wanted. I snarled at Dreya and her six pack many a morning.

In January, I decided that I needed to make a change. I realized I needed to take it to the next level and start following the nutrition plan. The plan isn’t a diet as much as a guideline. It essentially gives you an alloted amount of vegetables, proteins, fats, and grains to eat each day.

In my plan, I was alloted one grain a day. One grain?! It was tough but it forced me to really think about what I was eating. It got easier, I began to see results and here’s the shocker, I felt a ton better.

After some persuading by Manatee, I decided to try going grain-free.

That’s when I really saw results.

Going one grain a day in the first month, I lost four total inches.

Going grain-free in my second month, I lost six total inches.

And more important, I felt better and was less hungry throughout the day.

The Book

Wheat Belly is the work of Milwaukee (Wisconsin) cardiologist, William Davis. He noticed that despite eating healthy and running every day, he was still overweight and most of that weight was centered in his belly. He also began to notice that when he ate grains for breakfast, he was more tired during the day than when he ate an omelette. As he looked at his diet, he noticed that when he had started increasing the number of whole grains, he also had started gaining weight. This sent him off into research on how wheat has evolved and how it affects the body.

Book Layout

The book begins with a brief introduction of how wheat affects the body and how grains have become the basis of our ‘healthy’ diet. He then shares information on how wheat has evolved and breaks down wheat as a plant and industry.

The second section of the book lays out all of the bad things wheat does to you. It’s not a pretty picture.

He ends the book with guidelines for leading a wheat-free life and includes meal plans and recipes.

Yays and Nays

Yays

I would go as far as to say that this was one of the most influential books I have ever read in terms of how I approach my diet.

Wheat causes your blood sugar to spike and then crash. You eat toast for breakfast and then two hours later, you are hungry again. Sandwich for lunch and by 2:00, you are hungry and drowsy.

I found that when I had an english muffin with my eggs in the morning, I needed a snack a few hours later. When I didn’t eat the muffin, no need for a snack.

I thought about how I still eat a lot at restaurants even if I have dipped into the bread basket.

And then I thought about other bloggers and what I see on What I Ate Wednesday. When carbs were involved, it seemed like there was more food to be eaten.

I can honestly say that because of this book, I am trying (my best) to go grain-free in my everyday life. 

Does this mean I will NEVER eat grains? Nope. Above anything else, Manatee and I practice moderation. So yes, I will still eat it on occasions. But those occasions will be a treat, because the way that wheat affects your blood sugar, it is a treat.

Nays

To put it simply, I got tired of reading how much wheat sucks. 

I know this may not be the intellectual stuff you would expect from an ex-PhD student but I just got tired of hearing about any and every problem that is caused by wheat.

I think this was because I could see in myself the symptoms he described: blood sugar crashing, constant hunger, and a resilient mid-section. So I didn’t need to hear the rest. Sure, it scared me but I don’t like scare tactics. I like tangible solutions and problems, and for me the blood sugar and tummy were tangible enough.

In Conclusion

This could be a great book for you. Read it at your own risk. It may just change your life.

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Are there any foods you don’t think you could give up? What would you do if your life depended on it? What food is worth that much to you?


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