by: Dr. Emil Tompkins, A Northwest Tucson Chiropractor with a passion for family health and wellness.
Change your wheat intake, change your health.
The Research
We are all constantly bombarded with health information and we don’t always know what’s right. Ir we may try something new but we don’t feel much of a difference. I pour through research constantly and even though I knew that Living gluten free was the best move for one of my daughters, I hadn’t made that decision for myself.
The more I saw the research, read the books, spoke with people regarding their wheat free experiences, I decided to take the plunge myself, but I was going to do some research. Lets see how this new lifestyle was going to affect my body and health overall. I decided to measure my blood sugar fluctuations as an objective measure, and then subjectively record how I was feeling during these periods as well to tell me:
- What is wheat or wheat-free doing to my body on the inside, and
- How am I noticing the effects on the outside.
I had no idea how quickly I would see the results.
My Life on a Low Carb, no Wheat Diet.
When I woke up every morning I would take my fasting blood sugar. It was a nice low normal. Close to 80 every time. When I would eat a low carb, no wheat breakfast (chili cheese omelet for example). My blood sugar would slightly increase to 97 still in the low normal range. That blood sugar after 2 hours of eating was never above 92. I felt good, my energy was high, and I felt not like I was bloated after every meal, I was satisfied and ready to go.
I repeated low carb meals (grilled chicken salad for lunch, steak and sautéed green beans for dinner and throughout the day, the results were the same. Felt great and the blood sugar stayed in a low normal range.
My Life – On Wheat
When I chose to eat foods that were high in wheat (doughnuts for breakfast, double cheeseburger from In and Out,) The results were pretty surprising. For one, my blood sugar would spike really high (for me) up to 130 at times, but what was really important was that it didn’t return to normal relatively quickly, it would stay high for over 2 hours. And my body really felt the difference. After the fantastic breakfast of Champions, I fell asleep at my desk instead of listening to a tele class on nutrition. How Ironic.
2 hours after a high wheat breakfast, I fell asleep at my desk. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.
After the burgers for lunch during a meeting we were discussing our patients and I completely forgot someone’s name. This never happens. After having the days without wheat, it really made it clear to me what wheat did to my body.
Now, this study wasn’t incredibly scientific. But it did clearly show me what wheat was doing to my body. And I refuse to repeat that pattern. I like having a day full of energy. I enjoy having a good memory and a clear mind throughout the day. Oh and after a week of being wheat free, I lost 6lbs. What a nice side effect of just changing one aspect of my diet.
Because of this I have decided to make a change in my diet and health. I’m choosing to eat gluten free. What do you choose?
