Have you ever wondered what the problem with wheat actually is? Why are so many people making such a big deal about it?
I wondered that too. I grew up eating cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and never thought twice about eating bread or pasta. I actually thought I ate pretty healthy, except for the occasional piece of cake or cookie. Then I started researching wheat, because I’m not the type of person to stop eating a food because someone told me it was bad for me, I need to understand what’s wrong with it.
And what I discovered was that there are 2 major problems with our modern North America wheat:
1. Over the last hundred years the wheat grain has been changed. The grain wheat has been hybridized multiple times over multiple generations to now have a grain that has a high percentage of gluten in it. Now this was done to produce a stronger dough structure, improve baking quality and is a hardier crop for growing. But the challenge is that gluten is a large protein that is difficult to break down, in small quantities, our bodies can handle it (unless you are celiac or gluten intolerant), but in large quantities it causes inflammation in our digestive tracts because we just can’t break it down effectively. You see these changes were made without consideration of the effects on human health.
2. The second problem with wheat is related to the herbicide glyphosate (RoundUp). Farmers use it to kill off unwanted vegetation. In the late 1990s they began a practice called “desiccation” whereby they spray the wheat crop with glyphosate just before harvest. This practice releases more seed and results in greater yield and an earlier harvest, but this also leads to glyphosate residue on wheat products. Glyphosate has been shown to disrupt the microbiome, damage the villi of the gut, impair detoxification pathways.
Based on what I discovered, I recommend that my patients avoid wheat in all forms. Our modern North American wheat is simply not a healthy food for anyone to consume.
