Wheat - the Frankengrain

This is my very quick sum up of the book "Wheat Belly", by William Davis.  For those who don't actually want to read the book, but wonder what all the fuss is about.  This is also very valuable information for every person who considers themselves a compulsive eater, or a food addict, or a chronic dieter. 

The wheat we use all over the world today is not the same as the wheat our parents and grandparents had in the 1950's and earlier.  The 1960's and 70's were a time when science was going to save the world.  And because of scientific experimentation at that time we were able to produce wheat that would yield 10 times that of the wheat currently being grown.  That's impressive; that could save the world from famine, especially in all those third world countries where people were dying.  Unfortunately, this was also the time when science gave us things like Agent Orange and Thalidimide - which we realized too late were not great.  I point this out because it underscores the point that, at that time, there were no checks and balances in place for the results of this scientific experimentation.  It was only when humanity started to pay the price for these newly created substances that those experiments were examined and their products discredited.

Soooo, wheat, the Frankengrain. As this time of scientific experimentation predates modern genetics, today's wheat is not "genetically modified"; as in no genes were individually added or deleted.  Using "traditional breeding methods" they crossed the wheat repeatedly with strains of wheat from around the world, random grasses, and even the resulting hybrids of the previous crosses.  So they messed with it a lot, even using radioactivity to prompt mutations.  Eventually, they got a wheat with the characteristics they wanted - vastly increased yield.  The problem is, every time these grains were bred to alter their genes (and we're talking thousands of breedings), there were biochemical changes in the resulting offspring.  These new biochemicals - proteins, amino acids - were assumed to be as benign to human consumption as the original parent plants were.  In the end, entirely new proteins with new characteristics were created, and not studied.

Okay, so here's why I think people who struggle with food intake and weight need to know this - it's a gluten protein called gliadin.  Gliadin has been found to act as an appetite stimulant.  People who eat wheat (any type - it all contains gliadin) will eat an average of 440 calories a day more than a person who does not eat wheat. 

Gliadin was also found to activiate the brains opiate sensors.  The brain responded as it does to opiates such as heroin and morphine, and gliadin was found to be addictive.  So, knowing the brain was processing gliadin in this way, a study was done in which subjects were given an injection of an opiate blocker, such as they give people who have overdosed on heroin in order to stop its physiological effects.  Subjects were randomly given either the opiate blocker or a placebo.  The food intake was monitored and the subjects given the opiate blocker (which blocked the effect of the gliadin) ate an average of 400 calories less per day.  They also tried administering the opiate blockers to people with binge eating disorder.  They administered the opiate blocker just before people began their binge, still allowing them to eat whatever they desired.  The bingers given the opiate blocker consumed, on average, 28% fewer calories in their binge than the people who did not have the opiate blocker.  The conclusion was - gliadin stimulates appetite.  If you consume it, you will, on average, consume about 440 calories more daily than you would if you did not have any gliadin in your diet. 

That's a lot of weight, Batman!

There's a lot more science-y stuff, but you can research that if you want to know more. 

Interesting factoid:  the wheat we now produce all over the world, is no longer self-sustaining.  The wheat of biblical times and the wheat of our ancestors (up to the fiddling of the latter half of the 20th century) grew wild.  Today's wheat does not grow wild.  It is chemically dependant and cannot grow without the fertilizers, etc that we add to it.  I dunno - this kinda says to me that the results of all those "traditional breeding methods" weren't meant to survive. 

Dr. Peter Osborne

This is a very interesting talk regarding gluten intolerance, what doctor's used to think it was, and what the newest science has shown regarding gluten sensitivity.  One big point that many doctors have not adjusted their diagnostic practices to reflect, is that gluten intolerance and Celiac's Disease are not the same thing.  Celiac's Disease is only one possible manifestation of gluten intolerance and is, in fact, one of the rarer diseases gluten intolerance is causing in the world today. 

Basically, Dr. Osborne outlines what happens if you are sensitive to or intolerant of gluten and the resulting tissue damage.  Just about every type of tissue in the body has been shown to be vulnerable to the damaging effects of gluten, so the resulting illnesses can be anything from autoimmune diseases like MS or Parkinson's; psychological diseases such as depression, ADD, dementia; or just regular old diseases like cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, alzheimer's, congenital heart disease, etc, etc, etc.

Solar Blob Causes Winnipeg Area Man to Behave Like Giant Prick

Ever heard of solar flares causing emotional disturbances for people as the electromagnetic field enters the earth's atmoshpere?  Well, a while back we had a particularly big flare and people were talking about this phenomenom.  7 days ago a large "solar blob" - technical term - began heading for earth, arriving yesterday or so.  Being scientifically minded, I have decided that this blob has induced a large area phenomenom of men behaving like pricks today. 

One man, in particular, I've had the fortune to encounter continually throughout the day, has been an enormous ass.  I would have thought this a localized effect if not for the gentleman in the oversized white pickup who practically crawled up my ass today on the highway, then swerved around me as though avoiding a jackknifing semi truck, and immediately cut me off re-entering the westbound lane.  Again, prick.

We women have had to deal with mysterious hormonal disturbances from the beginning of creation, often causing us to leave behind our everyday personas for entirely different feelings and behaviours at certain regular intervals in our lives.  So, I guess I can give the man, oh - I mean MEN - Solar-Blob- Causing-Men-to-re-enter-annoying-9-year-old-boy-state once in a while.