Wheat Belly. William Davis, MD

products. An entire industry has developed to meet their gluten-free desires, from gluten-free bread to gluten-free cakes and desserts.

      However, most gluten-free foods are made by replacing wheat flour with cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, or tapioca starch (starch extracted from the root of the cassava plant). This is especially hazardous for health and for anybody looking to drop 20, 30, or more pounds, since gluten-free foods, though they do not trigger the immune or neurological response of wheat gluten, still extravagantly trigger the glucose-insulin response that causes weight gain. Wheat products increase blood sugar and insulin more than most other foods. But remember: Foods made with cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, and tapioca starch are among the few foods that increase blood sugar even more than wheat products. Going gluten-free and indulging in gluten-free foods can therefore cause you to replace your wheat belly with a gluten-free belly accompanied by all the awful health consequences of excessive visceral fat—not good.

      So gluten-free foods are not problem-free. Gluten-free foods are the likely explanation for overweight celiac sufferers who eliminate wheat and fail to lose weight. In my view, there is no role for gluten-free foods, since the metabolic effect of these foods is little different from eating a bowl of jelly beans even if it is cleverly disguised as seven-grain bread.

      Thus, wheat elimination is not just about eliminating gluten. Eliminating wheat means eliminating the amylopectin A of wheat and other grains, the form of complex carbohydrate that increases blood sugar higher than table sugar and candy bars. But you don’t want to replace wheat’s amylopectin A with the rapidly absorbed carbohydrates of powdered rice starch, cornstarch, potato starch, and tapioca starch. Avoid gluten-free foods if you are gluten-free.

      Later in the book, I will discuss the ins and outs of wheat removal, how to navigate everything from choosing healthy replacement foods to wheat withdrawal. I provide a view from the trenches, having witnessed thousands of people do it successfully.

      But before we get to the details of wheat elimination, let’s talk about celiac disease. Even if you do not suffer from this devastating disease, understanding its causes and cures provides a useful framework for thinking about wheat and its role in the human diet. Beyond teaching us lessons about weight loss, celiac disease can provide other useful health insights to those of us without this condition.

      So put down that Cinnabon and let’s talk about celiac.