Wheat Belly summary

Of course, eating wheat isn’t some new food trend. It’s been a staple in the cuisine of many cultures for thousands of years. In the Bible, Jesus is described as having performed a miracle by feeding five thousand people with just five loaves of bread; and when Moses was leading his people to the Promised Land, he promised them that wheat would be one of the bountiful crops there.

But the problem is that the wheat that grew thousands of years – or even just a few generations – ago was vastly different from the crop we know today.

If you were to compare random photographs of Americans from the early twentieth century to ones from today, you’d probably notice a lot of differences, including clothing and hairstyles. But it’s also hard not to notice the difference in size; the average person today is much larger than people were back then.

Over the past five decades, the number of obese people in America has nearly tripled. And one of the biggest reasons is that today’s wheat has a uniquely harmful effect on blood sugar and insulin levels.

You may be familiar with the addictiveness of drugs and alcohol, but less attention is given to the similar effects of what’s in the bread box and cookie jar? Wheat is addictive too, and its impact on the human mind is both profound and frightening. 

As a physician, the author has seen the addictive qualities of wheat firsthand. But he’s also witnessed the benefits of giving it up.

With the exception of some cheese and fine wines, most things generally deteriorate with age, including the human body. And yet, some people tend to age gracefully and others, well, not so much.

The reason some people are able to maintain a youthful glow and others aren’t, is all about AGE. No, not that kind of age. In this case, AGE stands for advanced glycation end products, which is the name given to all the worthless biological debris that accumulates in your body over the years, especially in organs like the liver, kidneys and skin. 

For over a million years, humans, as well as our pre-human ancestors, lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle that was completely devoid of wheat. Instead, it was based on wild game, plants, nuts and berries. 

The farming of wheat began only around ten thousand years ago, which is pretty recent, relatively speaking. And given that this has led to such a big dietary change, it stands to reason that many modern humans have digestive systems that are unable to stomach this development. 

The human body has a variety of regulation systems in place intended to keep you healthy. One of those systems regulates the amount of acid in the body. It basically works to keep your body at a normal pH level of 7.4. Because when that level is off by even a small amount, it quickly deteriorates. 

Now, you may not think of wheat as being an acidic food – but, unlike other plant-based foods, wheat generates significant levels of acid in the body. Studies show wheat to be a rich source of sulphuric acid in particular. And when conditions in your body become too acidic, that internal regulation system takes radical action.