Weight and Wheat

 

With a New Year come new diets and different attempts to lose holiday weight. This year, the food people are talking about and turning to is wheat, and more specifically the dietary reduction or elimination of it. As we learned from CBC’s Radio Noon’s show last Wednesday, a lot of people in our province are trying this approach. The majority of the attention around wheat has come from the popular New York Times bestseller, Wheat Belly, by cardiologist Dr. William Davis. He suggests today’s consumption of wheat has caused chronic ailments like obesity, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and more. Some of the information presented in his book is factual and sound science, however there are times when this information is based on only his personal experience with crucial key information regrettably missing. Before we get any further, and to set the record straight, the consumption on wheat won’t cause any of the ailments listed above. The consumption of wheat may have an association with weight however, and the answer to how wheat might affect our weight is actually quite simple.

The simple truth is that wheat doesn’t make us fat. Let it be known that no food or (Canada Food Guide) food group has ever been shown to cause an increase in weight alone. The consumption of highly refined processed foods and lack of physical activity is what got us there. It is true that when you do follow a low carbohydrate diet (Paleo, Atkins, wheat or gluten-free) weight loss is often more significant in the first six months than with other types of diets. With any diet though, the weight loss does usually taper, and all in all they all seem provide similar results in total weight loss down the road. Low card diets can also hard to follow, especially long term. In fact, if you look at the research including body mass and varying dietary approaches, those who have the lowest central obesity (smaller waistlines) are individuals who don’t eliminate any foods or food groups from their diet.

When people eliminate wheat from their diets often a weight loss does result. We can’t necessarily contribute this loss of weight to a dietary loss of wheat though and here’s why. Consider the types of foods that often contain wheat. Aside from breads, cereals, and crackers, there are muffins, cookies, cakes – all higher calorie foods. When you replace these foods with foods not containing wheat, such as other whole grains of rice, corn, quinoa, millet, oatmeal, etc, fruits and veggies and low fat dairy, a reduction in calories only makes sense. Often when people begin a new lifestyle change, e.g. a diet, other positive lifestyle factors follow. Additional factors like increasing one’s activity can be responsible for weight loss as well.

Whole grain wheat is an easy source B vitamins, fiber, antioxidants and many minerals. Before dismissing this food completely ask yourself how will are substitute other grains or foods to get these nutrients. The vast majority of people eat twelve to fifteen grams of the recommended 25 to 38 grams of fiber a day. On average, those following a gluten (wheat) free diet, on average, get six grams. The Canadian Diabetes Association recommends 25 to 50 grams of fiber daily to help control blood sugar, manage blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, regulate bowels, and increase our feelings of fullness and control weight. In NL, we have the highest prevalence of unhealthy diet of any jurisdiction in Canada, the second highest prevalence of obesity and physical inactivity of any jurisdiction in Canada, and the diabetes rate is set to almost double in the next twenty years. So before you fixate on wheat to help with weight loss, consider your lifestyle carefully. Are there other processed foods you can reduce, or can you increase physical activity first?

As seen in The Telegram January 14, 2013