Free Summary: Wheat Belly ...in 30 Minutes by 30 Minute Health Summaries

WHAT BELLY?
    Overview
    Mainstream dietary recommendations over the past few decades are to eat less fat and sugar and more whole grains. Yet Americans have increasingly become obese. Davis says this is because we consume foods that contain wheat products at nearly every meal. Studies show that wheat, which has a higher glycemic index (the measure of how much a particular food increases the blood sugar level) than refined sugar, is a direct cause of abdominal weight gain. Wheat Belly proposes that by eliminating wheat from their diet, people can reduce belly fat and become thinner, healthier, and more energetic. Signs of diabetes and inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and asthma may also be reduced or eliminated.
    â€œAdvice to cut fat and cholesterol intake and replace the calories with whole grains that was issued by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute through its National Cholesterol Education Program in 1985 coincides precisely with the start of a sharp upward climb in body weight for men and women.”
    â€” Dr. William Davis, Wheat Belly
    Chapter Summary
    As dietary recommendations have created a national trend to cut back on fats and sugars and replace these with whole grains, there has been a marked increase in waistlines and a noticeable decline in overall health — even among people who exercise regularly. According to Davis, wheat has come to dominate Americans’ diets, making people fat and unhealthy.
    Whole wheat bread, with a glycemic index of 72, raises blood sugar levels more than sugar, with a glycemic index of 59. When blood sugar levels rise, more insulin is produced. Insulin is a hormone that, among other functions, tells the body to store fat.
    Fat stored in the central part of the body, known as visceral fat, provokes inflammatory responses in the body (which can lead to diseases such as arthritis), disrupts the insulin response (which can lead to diabetes), and sends abnormal metabolic signals to the rest of the body (which can lead to overeating). This visceral fat, sometimes called a beer belly, Davis calls “wheat belly” because it represents the accumulation of fat that results from years of consuming wheat-related products.
    According to Davis, the simple cure for wheat belly and its accompanying ailments is to eliminate wheat from the diet. Once wheat is gone, he says excess weight will melt away, energy and focus will improve, and even diseases such as diabetes may be lessened or cured.
    â€œ[F]or the most bang for your buck, eliminating wheat is the easiest and most effective step you can take to safeguard your health and trim your waistline.”
    â€” Dr. William Davis, Wheat Belly

NOT YOUR GRANDMA’S MUFFINS: THE CREATION OF MODERN WHEAT
    Overview
    From bread to breakfast cereal to pasta, wheat accounts for 20 percent of all calories consumed on earth. But wheat has been genetically altered to such a degree that modern wheat bears very little resemblance to the original einkorn wheat our ancestors ate ten thousand years ago. While these alterations have increased yield and decreased production costs, they have also created modern strains of wheat that may be difficult for humans to digest and harmful to our health.
    â€œModern wheat, despite all the genetic alterations to modify hundreds, if not thousands, of its genetically determined characteristics, made its way to the worldwide human food supply with nary a question surrounding its suitability for human consumption.”
    â€” Dr. William Davis, Wheat Belly
    Chapter Summary
    Wheat was first harvested by the Natufians around 8500 b.c. to supplement their hunter-gatherer diet. This ancestor of modern wheat, einkorn, was much different genetically than its modern equivalent; most notably it had a simple genetic code with only fourteen chromosomes. Einkorn crossed with a wild grass yielded emmer, the wheat that was around in biblical times. Emmer was eventually crossed with another natural