Wheat - the new red meat

Las Vegas Mercury ^ | 11/18/04 | Newt Briggs

[MarMema]

The food pyramid is a three-sided polygon of lies. First, since it is almost exclusively presented in two dimensions, it is not technically a pyramid but a triangle. Second--and far more importantly, according to nutrition expert and author Danna Korn--the so-called food pyramid puts an abnormal emphasis on the consumption of wheat and wheat products, a diet that couldn't be less adapted to the human digestive system. Wheat, she insists, is the devil's food--even more than the delightful chocolate cake of the same name.

Korn's campaign against wheat began 14 years ago when her son was diagnosed with celiac disease--a genetic disorder characterized by the inability to digest gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley. At the time, celiac disease was considered a rare pediatric disorder that was limited to gastrointestinal symptoms, but during the last decade, it has been recognized as the most common genetic disease in the world. Right now, it is estimated that celiac disease effects one in 100 people--"most of whom have no idea why they feel so terrible," says Korn.

The disease actually goes back 11,000 years to Mesopotamia and the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. There, humans evolved from hunter-gatherers to farmers and introduced gluten-based grains into the food supply. The human body--accustomed to a steady diet of foraged nuts, berries and meat--did not take readily to the change.

"That's really only yesterday, evolutionarily speaking," Korn says. "Our bodies still look at wheat like a toxin and try to fight it off. No human fully digests wheat. Even if you don't have a gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, your body does not completely digest wheat."

Symptoms of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease include fatigue, headaches, joint pain, depression, irritability and gastro-intestinal irregularities. As a result, they're often mistaken for other serious disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. "So these people are told, `Sorry, you've got fibromyalgia or you've got chronic fatigue syndrome, there's nothing we can do for you. Take these pain pills and go away."

The only way to diagnose celiac disease is a series of blood tests, and the only way to overcome it is to give up gluten cold turkey. "You go gluten-free, and your health will be fully restored," says Korn.

Unfortunately, the list of food items containing gluten reads like a catalog of scrumptiousness: "bread, pasta, pizza, cookies, cake, bagels and beer." And just because a bread is white doesn't mean it's gluten-free. All breads are made of wheat flour.

Despite the moratorium on fermented hops and barley, Korn says there are a number of options available to the dedicated boozehound, including "wine, tequila, vodka, gin, rum or any of a variety of non-wheat-derived spirits."

"We've perpetuated the myth that wheat is good for you and it truly is not," she says. "There's a little bit of protein in wheat. Other than that, though, wheat offers very little in the way of nutrition. Whole wheat is a whole grain and that's good for you, but you can get whole grains from so many other sources that won't have a toxic effect on your body."

[Coldwater Creek]

You are forgiven. Even stamps and envelopes.

[Lazamataz]

When Wheat Is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Eat Wheat!

[timestax]

bttt

[scholar]

Fish contain mercury, red meat is high in fat and cholesterol, dairy products according to health nuts create mucus, poultry is contaminiated with hormones. As of today, I am giving up food and going on a high oxygen diet--oops I forgot--the air is too polluted to breath. I guess we are all doomed!

[hummingbird]

Insufficient sleep combined with incessant anxiety and no exercise.

True that, Batrachian!

[hummingbird]

I'm getting iron by IV infusion for the next few months.

Really by IV infusion? Wow, MarMema!

Just learned on a CBC/Diff. that I'm slightly anemic.

Also learned through a retired chemist in the food industry that I'm apparently having gastrointestinal "reactions" from vitamins, not from the vitamins themselves, but from a couple of common "carriers" that bind the vitamin together: gelatin and glycerin.

They are the inactive ingredients but now I have to use gelatin and glycerin free vitamins or just buy more immodium and turn the bathroom into a real library.....

Do you recall the article on FreeRepublic about gluten problems in the Holy Host and how some people have reacted to taking Holy Communion wafers or bread?

[prairiebreeze]

Well yes indeed, let’s stop producing and exporting wheat.

Does this agenda-driven fool even stop to realize the economic and humanitarian implications that her little “cause” would have on our agricultural industry and the hungry people in the world?

What a maroon.

[varon]

You have to pulverize it, add butter, stick it in the oven, etc. to get it close tasting half way decent. You can do that to a rock and get the same results.

You made me shoot coffee through my nose ROFLMAO

[hummingbird]

neverdem, do you recall the thread that speaks to people who have gluten problems who cannot take Holy Communion because of the gluten in the consecrated wafer or bread?

[SunkenCiv]

Diet Soda and Salads Cause Obesity
Source: Neighbor who is a Doctor
Published: 7/8/01 Author: Self
Posted on 07/08/2001 09:00:37 PDT by VA Voter
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b4883a540f6.htm