What if you were eating right and following the advice of all your doctors to eat more “healthy grains” but continued to gain weight with worsening blood work? Millions of Americans continue to follow the diet backed by the ADA (American Diabetes Association), AHA (American Heart Association) and many other government agencies, which indicate a diet with 6-8 daily servings of whole grains is necessary for optimal health. Unfortunately, it appears this is not the case, and wheat products are a detriment to everyone’s health.

Wheat is far removed from the wheat eaten by our ancestors. In the last 100 years it has been mutated into something monstrous. It is now a “Frankenwheat” and many people are unaware of its destructive capacity. Dr William Davis is a cardiologist who was having no success with his diabetic patients utilizing diets with whole grains. What he found in his research was shocking and has a far reaching effect on the health of everyone from meat eaters to vegetarians.

Wheat has a specific protein called gliadin. When this protein is digested in the intestines, it releases exorphin, an opioid peptide. This peptide crosses the brain/blood barrier. These peptides then bond with opiate receptors in the brain creating an addiction to wheat. It is an appetite stimulant and increases the amount of wheat you eat. This opioid peptide is so addictive that a pharmaceutical company is seeking FDA approval for a drug to block the receptor sites and to induce weight loss. With no other changes in diet or exercise the average test subject lost 22.4lbs over the course of 6 months. Instead of adding harmful pharmaceuticals removing wheat from the diet would provide greater health benefits.

Wheat also has a highly digestible carbohydrate unique to wheat in the form of amylopectin A. This carbohydrate increases the blood sugar higher than white bread, table sugar or a snickers bar! The glycemic index of wheat bread is an amazing 72! Compare that to table sugar at 59, and you see how wheat bread is working against health. The increase in blood sugar due to wheat causes the pancreas to release additional insulin; this insulin pushes the sugar into the cells, thus increasing abdominal fat dramatically. After 90 to 120 minutes, the glucose/insulin levels drop quickly and create immediate hunger.

This yo-yo effect on glucose/insulin levels also creates an issue with glycation. The simple explanation of glycation is the combining of a protein and a sugar molecule without an enzyme. These glycated proteins travel through muscle tissues and joints and lodge themselves in hard to reach places; they begin to wreak havoc on the body. They are the beginning of AGE or advanced glycation end products, which are implicated in age related chronic diseases.

Wheat also contains indigestible lectins; lectins are wheat proteins that have the canny ability to “unlock” normal intestinal barriers and allow foreign food particles to enter the body. Does this sound like “leaky-gut syndrome”? Even those that rectify leaky gut issues tend to have the same problems again; this is likely due to the lectins found in healthy wheat products that unlock intestinal barriers.

Check any food label and you will see that wheat is in almost everything. The only way to avoid wheat products is to utilize more almond flour, flax meal and coconut flour among others. The real take away is humans were not built to digest an endless supply of easily digestible carbohydrates. It is unfortunate wheat is no longer the “amber waves of grain” our forbearers remember because today’s wheat is leading everyone down a path towards diabetes and degenerative diseases.

About the author: Duke Mansell is a personal trainer who maintains AlltheWayFitness.com, a website devoted to optimal health through functional physical training and organic living. Duke Mansell is a researcher of health and wellness. His client training emphasizes a whole foods approach to weight loss and fitness and utilizes functional training. Duke Mansell is a student of applied kinesiology, trained in muscle testing to address body issues from hormone disfunction to leaky gut. Duke Mansell is also completing a BA and Masters in acupuncture and medicinal herbs.