Here is a second post on going wheat-free (and more) by fellow CLL-er, Eric Clark.

My First Quarter experience with a Wheat-Less lifestyle

In mid-June of this year, 2015, I decided it was time to read Wheat Belly and asked to borrow it from my good friend, John. I convinced myself that buying the book was too much pressure that might actually influence me to make some changes. Aren’t these mind games funny!? While reading the first chapter of Dr. William Davis’ first book, I got very engaged and decided he knew what he was writing about. I liked the fact that he is a cardiologist, not just a frustrated GP who decided to write a book with general health guidelines. This a hard-hitting indictment of medicine, public health, and various disease-centered organizations as well as the food and drug industries. It highlights solid research that has been ignored or buried deliberately.

Weight loss was not my focus but rather the many other possible benefits with respect to the chronic conditions that are too often described as the inevitable outcomes of the aging process. I began to journal various things that I noticed including the following:

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In the first two weeks:

• a skin tag in my right armpit got very active after being dormant for years – it fell off!
• Lia mentioned that I no longer had restless legs at night – not kicking anymore
• torn rotator cuff (of two years) in my right shoulder about 80% improved
• tennis elbow on the same side improved about 70%
• no cravings at all – good energy all day
• lost 6 lbs. – belly shrinking

Second two weeks

• feeling quite joyful and did not connect this until later – naturally elevated mood
• my chronically runny nose stopped dripping
• body odor gone
• lost another 4 lbs.

Second month – mid-July to mid-August

• enjoying a wide variety of fresh foods – everything tastes better
• hungry for less food per day than in the past
• noticing more in nature on my bike and in my kayak
• lost another 5 lbs.

Third month

• lots of physical energy – helped friends move – 8 hours of hard labour
• decided to discontinue statin drug
• lost 5 more lbs. – total of 20 in 3 months – 11% of starting weight

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My experience to date has cost me no money at all, perhaps it has even saved some.

I don’t feel like there is any reason to stop and revert to any former choices. I am still reading the second book – Wheat Belly – Total Health – and have the companion cookbook too. Lia is so good at this that we have not used any of those recipes yet. Most people are looking for substitutes for familiar, comfort foods like replacing cereal, toast, desserts, etc. so it can be helpful, especially to share with other family members who are not as committed to this way of eating. I have not had any restrictions in the quantity of the many lovely foods available – my body seems to know when it is satisfied.

The larger message is not just about wheat but rather about grains in general and how undigestible they really are; hence they lend themselves to more processing than other foods. I chose to give up wheat, rye and barley at first. Then I quickly added corn and oats to the list based on understanding more of what is really going on in my body. Remember to focus on your own motivations and enjoy your own benefits which might be quite a different list than mine. My longer term goals are to prevent bone loss and dementia which are hard to tackle if you start too late. I have watched in my family how these two conditions completely change a person’s lifestyle and former enjoyment in doing so many things in their later years.

Congratulations for considering this approach to improved health and for sharing my adventure.

Yours in health.

Eric

Eric Clark – strategy9@icloud.com