Too Many Cats to Skin/Health Havoc in Humans

Wednesday - looking forward to tea with Una (neighbor). We've decided to do a weekly Wednesday coffee (or tea) klatch which is great. We both work from home and risk becoming isolated. She's a smart and interesting lady and I'm not just saying that cuz she reads this blog! (Hi, Una!) Then tonight, the writing group. Funny how I get performance anxiety each and every day leading up to this group write - it always amazes me when I pull writing rabbits out of my hat and come up with stories worth reading. Each time, before we meet, I've pretty much convinced myself this will be the night 'I got nuthin'". The writing muse will have deserted me.

Today, I'm wrestling with conflicting information overload on a bunch of fronts - just too many ways to skin cats. Case in point. Ironically the "Getting Things Done" seminar I went to has resulted in me getting less done. I've got this vision of technology that works for me - easy to use, requiring minimum data entry - a way for me to streamline my efforts and work no matter where I am. All this technology exists but, because there are so many platforms we use, there are a myriad of options. Do I use Outlook as my main data entry point? Do I overlay it with the GTD Outlook add-on to enhance its capabilities? Is my phone synching properly with both my personal and business e-mail accounts? Are my calendars synching - are entries made at my desk showing on my phone and vice versa? Should I use EverNote to manage data capture and task lists - or OmniView? How does DropBox figure into the equation? So yeah, ironic that I'm sitting in the cracks, knowing my paper lists are not a complete solution but not knowing exactly how I'm going realize my vision. Arg.

And the eating thing just got really confusing. I suspect I'm headed somewhere really good - a way of eating that incorporates the best of Weight Watchers with an overlay of Wheat Belly and The Body Ecology.  Something needs to change because before the holidays I had ratcheted my calories down to about 1,000/day and my weight persisted in staying the same. NOT OK. Yesterday the two books came and I'm a quarter through Wheat Belly. Thinking you're all going to get a copy from me for Christmas - it's a must read! The Body Ecology book looks daunting - a quick skim revealed it's not a quick fix. It starts with a cleanse and a drastically ascetic way of eating for a period of time to give your gut a chance to reset - you then slowly add healthy foods back in but never again partake of sugars, gluten and all the other fun stuff. Liza says she'll do it with me after the holiday. Gulp.

And because I hadn't read Wheat Belly yet when I went to Whole Foods, I made what is a typical mistake for someone bent on giving up gluten - I scoured the aisles for wheat and dairy substitutes and ended up with a cart of things like Udi's gluten-free raisin bagels, their bread too, wasabi rice crackers, tortilla chips, wheat-free cereal, Fig Newmans (Paul's version of Fig Newtons that are dairy and gluten free), as well as almond cheese, almond milk, coconut milk, coconut creamer for my coffee, and more - you get the idea. Then this morning, I read, "Do not buy gluten-free products!" Seems that, even without the gluten, they have a deleterious effect on blood sugar levels - they break down into simple sugars as rapidly as table sugar or wheat products. Arg...going to pack it all up and cart it back to WF today. Learning!!

So this book, Wheat Belly, it makes dramatic claims. Should we believe William Davis, MD, the author we will embrace the following. He says,

"Documented peculiar effects of wheat on humans include appetite stimulation, exposure to brain-active exorphins (the counterpart of internally derived endorphins), exaggerated blood sugar surges that trigger cycles of satiety alternating with heightened appetite, the process of glycation that underlies disease and aging, inflammatory and pH effects that erode cartilage and damage bone, and activation of disordered immune responses. A complex range of diseases results from consumption of wheat, from celiac disease - the devastating intestinal disease that develops from exposure to wheat gluten - to an assortment of neurological disorders, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, curious rashes, and the paralyzing delusions of schizophrenia."

The science underlying these claims appears to be sound  - none of this is new information, some of the studies on, for instance, wheat and schizophrenia go back decades. What is relatively new is the problem humans now have with wheat that can be traced back to well-intentioned modifications made to increase hardiness and yield - about 40 years ago. Now, over 90% of the wheat grown in the world is high yield dwarf wheat that was bred with hugely heavy heads requiring shorter sturdier stems to keep the heads from flopping. The fellow who created the hybrid got a Nobel prize for his part in reducing world hunger. Problem is, the hybridization created new proteins in the wheat not found in either of the parent strains and it's these new proteins that are wreaking health havoc in humans.

I'll keep you abreast of my reading on this subject and let you know what's working for me eating-wise as I make the drastic change to no dairy or wheat. I plan on, at least initially, making this a fun obsession and getting really creative in figuring out how one can eat well and enjoyably while eschewing these ingredients.  Challenge!!!!! (and I love a challenge!)

And yours today could be clicking over to Amazon or going to your local bookstore and picking up a copy of Wheat Belly - it's on the New York Times bestseller list, I believe, so you're bound to run into others who are pondering this same topic - contemplating giving it up.

Peace,
Sarah