Sandi: ...new to this forum...
Welcome aboard.
re: ... on the verge of going wheatfree.What reference information informs your choices?
For "why", might I recommend
Wheat Belly Total Health (Davis, 2014). For "just do it",
Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox (Davis, 2015).
re: I have also had gut problems for a large part of my life.There's more than just wheat afoot on that. Dysbiosis is an unrecognized pandemic, resulting from pervasive prescription, OTC/topical/oral and second-hand antibiotics, plus microbiome antagonists pretending to be food (including wheat, but also processed food ingredients like artificial sweeteners and emulsifiers), and standard diets low in prebiotic fiber. The 2014+ WB books cover it.
re: I had a laparotomy when I was 16 years old for an almost perforated appendix, following which the surgeon told me that he had had 'everything out' and given it a good check!!!Does that imply that you had an appendectomy? Until quite recently, consensus medicine considered the appendix to be a vestigial organ, but it is now thought to have an important role as a reservoir of gut flora, allowing us to repopulate after upsets, illnesses, adverse foods and periods of insufficient prebiotic substrate. It may turn out that anyone without an appendix needs to be extra mindful of their gut flora population, and perhaps use probiotics more often. Wheat Belly publications don't yet have a posture on this.
A family member had distressing symptoms consistent with FM, and actually figured out that wheat was a major antagonist prior to the publication of the original Wheat Belly (2011). Going grain-free, low-net-carb, high-specific fat, and attending to both common micronutrient deficiencies and gut flora has made a dramatic difference.
Aspartame is also a major suspect in the family case. The FM (or FM-like) symptoms appeared after a period of working a night shift and drinking a lot of diet pop.
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Bob Niland [
disclosures] [
topics]
