Dr.

William Davis
Cardiologist and #1 New York Times
Bestselling Author
 Consumption of modern wheat distorts health at so many levels.
Removing wheat is like pulling out a splinter making your finger hot, sore, and
open to infection, you’ve still got some healing to do after it’s removed.

Remove the destructive effects of wheat, and the body needs to readjust. It needs to transition to this
new wheat-free lifestyle, to heal the wounds caused by years of consuming something so disruptive
to gastrointestinal, metabolic, and hormonal health — It may not occur immediately and may require
some additional efforts to get underway.

There are a number of strategies to consider that can help you accelerate the adjustment.

Here are 5 of the most crucial issues and strategies to consider after you’ve removed this
disrupter of health called modern wheat:

1. Cultivate the “Garden” of Bowel Flora

The bacteria dwelling in our intestinal tract are not just important, but critical, for overall health.
Grains, especially wheat, trigger extensive changes in the numbers and species of microorganisms
living in our intestines that need to be undone to set you on the path to full recovery.

Early in their wheat-free experience, many people experience constipation and bloating, more rarely
diarrhea. Constipation is often misinterpreted as a lack of fiber, but that is not the case — it reflects
failed transition to healthy bowel flora. The transition to better bowel flora can be accelerated by

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taking a probiotic supplement that provides 50 billion CFUs (colony forming units) of Lactobacillus
and Bifidobacteria species. I’ve had success with VSL3, Renew Life, and Garden of Life brands.

Because intestinal bacteria should repopulate fairly quickly, 4-8 weeks of probiotic replacement
usually suffices. (Continuing need can signal that something else continues to disrupt resumption of
healthy bowel flora that may require further investigation.) If this dose of probiotic is rough on your
gastrointestinal tract, a lower potency preparation may be better tolerated, e.g., 10-25 billion, for the
first few weeks.

Long-term, you can nourish healthy bowel flora by including a special variety of fiber, often called
“resistant starches,” that yield a “prebiotic,” or bacteria-nourishing, effect that helps intestinal healing
(especially if an inflammatory bowel condition is present), reduces risk for colon cancer, and
translates into metabolic benefits such as lower blood sugar and triglycerides.

Adding a green, unripe banana, a peeled raw white potato, or a few teaspoons of inulin powder
purchased as a supplement and added to smoothies or other foods (but never heated, as this breaks
the fibers down into sugars) provides this effect and encourages growth of Lactobacillus and
Bifidobacteria species. Also consider small servings (1/4-1/2 cup, cooked) of legumes, lentils,
chickpeas, and hummus.

I view bowel flora as a garden with the probiotic serving as the seeds that you plant and prebiotics
serving as the water and fertilizer to nourish the seeds — both are necessary for full bowel health.
While the probiotic “seeding” is usually helpful for just the first few weeks.

2. Regain Your Sunny Disposition and Health with Vitamin D

I count vitamin D as second only to wheat elimination as the most powerful strategies we have
for regaining health. Restoration of vitamin D to healthy levels yields benefits across a wide
spectrum that can often be nothing short of spectacular.

While a wheat-free diet is richer in vitamin D from eggs, mushrooms, fish, and organ meats, the
majority of people nonetheless remain deficient. This is because most people live indoors and/or wear
clothes that covers much of the body’s skin surface area and because we lose the ability to activate
vitamin D as we age.

Supplementation is therefore necessary for the majority of people to achieve desirable blood levels of
25-hydroxy vitamin D. Having restored vitamin D in thousands of people over the past 8 years, I have
found that most people require 4000-8000 units per day as vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) in gelcap
form to achieve a desirable 25-hydroxy vitamin D level, which I believe to be 60-70 ng/ml

Copyright © 2014 Dr. William Davis. All Rights Reserved. | www.wheatbellyblog.com

(150-180 nmol/L). (Avoid tablets, as they are poorly or erratically absorbed and often contain the
non-human, less effective D2 form.) Just as removing wheat mimics the natural diet of humans, so
vitamin D supplementation restores the vitamin D we should have obtained from consumption of
organ meats, mushrooms, fish, bird eggs, as well as skin exposure to sun.

The list of potential benefits of restoring vitamin D include:

u Relief from winter “blues”

u Improved mental clarity
u Elevation of mood and relief from depression
u Improvement of memory
u Increased bone density and protection from osteoporosis and fracture
u Increased HDL cholesterol
u Reduced blood sugar/enhanced insulin sensitivity
u Reduced blood pressure
u Enhanced athletic performance
u Protection from colon, breast, prostate and other cancers
u Among many, many others positive effects.

NOW, Carlson, as well as Sam’s Club and Costco, sell excellent vitamin D3 preparations at low cost.

3. Get the Healthiest Fat of All: Omega-3 Fatty Acids

A lifetime of grain consumption and avoiding fats increases cardiovascular risk. One crucial fat
deficiency in grain-eating people is omega-3 fatty acid deficiency that compounds the increased risk.

If you were a wild-living human living one million years ago, hunting the African savanna, or an Ice Age
Cro Magnon scratching out a living in the cold Northern European plain, you’d consume the snout,
brain, heart, kidneys, liver, and hindquarters of auroch, ibex, reindeer and other creatures. Several
pounds of animal flesh and organs per day was not uncommon.

If you had access to coastal waters, you might also spear fish or scavenge shellfish, or feast on seal,
whale, or walrus. You would thereby obtain rich quantities of omega-3 fatty acids that play varied
roles in the human body, including participating in brain health and modulating the after-eating
(postprandial) processing of meal byproducts.

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Modern diets in which we are advised to cut fat and cholesterol and eat more “healthy whole grains”
are woefully deficient in omega-3 fatty acids. A typical RBC omega-3 index (one method to gauge
your omega-3 fatty acid content, obtainable as a blood test via fingerstick) of an average American is
3%, i.e., 3% of all fatty acids in red blood cells are omega-3s. The omega-3 RBC index of a wild living
human who consumes fish and animal flesh and organs would be 8%, 10%, even higher.

Risk for sudden cardiac death and cardiovascular events has been shown to drop off sharply with an
omega-3 RBC index of 10% or greater.

We therefore aim for this value in our eating and supplement habits. Nearly everyone achieves an
RBC omega-3 index of 10% or greater with intakes of omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA of 3000 to
3600 mg per day, readily obtained by supplementing fish oil. (NOT the quantity of fish oil, but the
quantity of EPA + DHA contained within fish oil.)

The best fish oils are in the highly-purified triglyceride form, a form that requires purification steps
beyond that usually taken to create common fish oils on the supermarket, drugstore, or health food
store shelves (as the less well-absorbed ethyl ester form). The additional purification means triglyceride
forms contain less contaminants such as mercury, PCBs, and dioxin, and are better absorbed.

The best sources of the triglyceride come in the form of omega-3 fatty acids include NutraSea from
Ascenta, Nordic Naturals, and Pharmax. Supplementing omega-3 fatty acids reduces postprandial
lipoproteins (thereby reducing cardiovascular risk), reduces triglycerides, raises HDL cholesterol,
reduces small LDL particles, reduces blood pressure, and has anti-inflammatory effects.

Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation has special relevance in the early wheat withdrawal process, as
the removal of all things wheat typically results in rapid weight loss. Weight loss involves a flood of
fatty acids into the bloodstream. Omega-3 fatty acids accelerate clearance of fatty acids during active
weight loss.

Don’t Be Left Behind Without Iodine and/or a Disrupted Thyroid

If thyroid function is low, even if just by a bit, it will:

1) Impair your ability to lose weight, even allowing weight gain

2) Reduce your energy and mood
3) Increase LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and thereby increasing cardiovascular risk.

It can also be responsible for inappropriately cold hands and feet, constipation, and thinning hair.

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Grains, especially wheat, triggers the autoimmune processes that damage thyroid tissue and can
result in low thyroid status, or hypothyroidism. As many as 50% of people with Hashimoto’s
thyroiditis, for example, have abnormal antibodies against wheat that react with the thyroid. Remove
wheat, remove the inciting cause — but you may still be left with a damaged thyroid.

Another issue important to thyroid health is the trace mineral iodine. Iodine is critical for thyroid
health, as it is required for the thyroid gland to manufacture thyroid hormones, T3 and T4. (The “3”
and “4” refer to the number of iodines per thyroid hormone molecule.) Without iodine, thyroid
hormone levels decline, you develop colds hands and feet, become tired, constipated, retain water,
gain weight, develop heart failure — all the phenomena of hypothyroidism. If this continues over a
long period, the thyroid gland enlarges, creating a goiter. Iodine is also important for breast health
(reducing fibrocystic breast disease, a potential precursor to breast cancer) and oral health (as
salivary glands concentrate iodine for antibacterial effects).

Problem: Unless you live in a coastal environment, the food you consume likely lacks iodine if it is
sourced inland. (Iodine comes from the ocean.) It means that people in the midwest or other inland
areas can experience iodine deficiency, as they did up until the first half of the 20th century when
goiters (enlarged thyroid glands due to iodine deficiency) were everywhere, affecting 25% of the
population. This is why the FDA passed a regulation in the 1920s that encouraged iodine to be
added to table salt.

Excessive salt use (along with the salt-retaining properties of modern wheat) led to problems with
sodium in some populations. The FDA responded by urging Americans to cut their salt consumption.
People listened . . . and iodine deficiency, hypothyroidism, and goiters are reappearing.

Iodine deficiency is readily reversed by supplementing an inexpensive iodine supplement in capsule,

tablet, or liquid form. I advocate 500 mcg per day, a level higher than the 150 mcg per day
Recommended Daily Allowance that I believe is closer to the ideal intake, but a level that does not
generate toxicity. Rare side-effects are generally confined to people who have been severely
iodine-deficient for an extended period and develop an overactive thyroid response with iodine
supplementation signaled by jitteriness, anxiety, and lab values suggesting an overactive thyroid, or
hyperthyroidism. This is uncommon.)

Along with grains and iodine deficiency that impair thyroid function, we have all been exposed to a
wide range of industrial chemicals from synthetic fertilizers, non-stick cookware, hand sanitizers,
food colorings, plastics, and others. This very commonly results in hypothyroidism and is increasing in
frequency as the number of such chemicals in our environment increases by several hundred or
several thousand per year.

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While some people experience partial or total restoration of thyroid function with iodine
supplementation, most others with hypothyroidism from autoimmune damage and/or industrial
chemical exposure will require prescription thyroid hormone replacement. The great majority of
people do best with restoration of both T4 and T3 thyroid hormones, not just T4 (Synthroid or
levothyroxine). It means taking levothyroxine (T4) with liothyronine (T3) or a combination tablet
containing both hormones, such as Armour thyroid or Naturethroid.

The hurdle is in trying to find a practitioner to:

1) Perform a full thyroid assessment

2) Address all aspects of thyroid health, including T3

Magnesium: Crucial Mineral for the Grain-Free Life

Wheat consumption impairs intestinal magnesium absorption by about half. To make matters
worse, modern water treatment (either municipal or home water filtration) removes nearly all
magnesium from drinking water, while modern vegetables and fruits generally contain less
magnesium than in past (60-70% less is typical).

The result: widespread magnesium deficiency that can express itself as muscle cramps in the hands
and calves; constipation; osteoporosis and fractures; heart rhythm disorders; and higher blood sugars
and elevated blood pressure. If severe, magnesium deficiency can be life threatening, as often
happens in people prescribed diuretics.

To remedy, start by consuming foods rich in magnesium. While green vegetables and nuts contain
some magnesium, seeds – sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, in particular – are unusually rich in
magnesium. Most people, however, do best by supplementing magnesium. Magnesium malate is my
preferred form, such as Source Naturals, 1200 mg (total tablet/capsule weight) two or three times
per day. The malate form (the malic acid is an acid found in apples and fruit) is well-absorbed and least
likely to cause diarrhea.

Most other forms of magnesium cause loose stools, especially the oxide form. If constipation is a real
bother for you, magnesium citrate can be a better stool softener, though the magnesium is a bit less
well absorbed; 400 mg two or three times per day. I

f you have been prescribed a diuretic such as hydrochlorothiazide, chlorthalidone, or furosemide, talk
to your doctor about whether it is truly necessary or whether your new lifestyle and nutritional
supplements make a diuretic less necessary or unnecessary.

Copyright © 2014 Dr. William Davis. All Rights Reserved. | www.wheatbellyblog.com

Now, You’re On Your Way to Total Health!
Eliminate all modern wheat, eat real single-ingredient foods, and follow the suggestions detailed
above, and I predict that 80-90% of all modern chronic conditions, including hypertension, “high
cholesterol,” diabetes and pre-diabetes, joint pains, gastrointestinal struggles, depression and other
psychiatric difficulties, as well as literally dozens, if not hundreds, of other conditions, will recede, if
not outright disappear.

The sooner you get started, the more powerful the results, the greater the likelihood of enjoying a
complete and long-lasting success.

Copyright © 2014 Dr. William Davis. All Rights Reserved. | www.wheatbellyblog.com