You wouldn’t poison yourself… oh, but you probably are!

Some things are so normal that we rarely stop to consider that there could be a different way. Heeding the dietary advice, we opt for a good healthy balanced diet – maybe your daily diet includes some of these:

A bowl of breakfast cereal doused in ice-cold milk or piping host toast smothered with a thick-cut marmalade. A croissant with a good helping of butter and jam or perhaps a blueberry muffin to accompany your first coffee. If you’re in a real hurry, you may just grab a “breakfast bar” as you head out the door.

Lunch could include sandwiches, or perhaps the occasional trip to your local fast-food outlet of choice.

Back at home we opt for a dinner that doesn’t take all evening to prepare; Lasagna, macaroni cheese or spaghetti bolognaise. Spicy mince with tortillas or pita-bread. Even a pizza could be a good option.

In the Western world we have become dependent on wheat, addicted even. It has found it’s way into every meal and become our staple. But here’s the thing; even if it’s not been tampered with by genetic modification, wheat is not good for us.

Yes, like most people, I was eating wheat in almost every meal until quite recently. After deciding to reduce our wheat intake we started to notice health improvements within days. Little things like bowel movement frequency and smoother skin. That’s when I really started to get interested.

Wheat, or more specifically gluten, has the ability to send your blood-sugar levels through the roof. We’ve seen this first-hand. It also stimulates the appetite so you’ll want to eat more. Eat more than you need and you’ll weigh more than you want. And with your blood sugar running like a roller-coaster you’re likely to end up with insulin problems, potentially diabetes.

Add the inflammatory nature of gluten to all this and we really do have a recipe for disaster. In his book Wheat Belly, Cardiologist Dr. William Davis even cites the example of one of his patients curing her Inflammatory Bowel Disease (for which “there is no cure”) simply by eliminating wheat from her diet.

Perhaps you’ll remember athletes at the London 2012 Olympics coming out about their transition to a gluten-free lifestyle, attributing it to their success. It seems it’s not just the ‘sick’ that benefit from cutting wheat out.

It’s not always been this way; the ancient grains such as emmer, einkorn or even the comparatively modern spelt have a much lower gluten content. So, even if you’re not celiac, they sound like a more healthy option to me. What do you think?