Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox (11 page)

It helps to view bowel flora as being like a backyard garden. In springtime, you prepare the soil and plant seeds. Can you then walk away and come back in 2 months and have a successful garden bursting with zucchini and squash? Of course not. You should have also watered, fertilized, and weeded your garden with some frequency. This is how it works with bowel flora: We need to plant “seeds” (probiotics that contain organisms you may lack), then “water and fertilize” the garden (prebiotic fibers or
resistant
starches that nourish the preferred species that yield benefits to the host, i.e., you). Both probiotics and prebiotics are essential components of this process.

We start by “seeding” your intestines with a high-potency probiotic supplement. We need to ensure that there are adequate numbers of organisms to make a difference. This generally means a “colony-forming unit,” or CFU, count of at least 30 billion to 50 billion per day, taken in capsule form. It also means providing a wide diversity of species. The best probiotics typically contain a dozen or more species, such as
Lactobacillus plantarum
and
Bifidobacterium infantis.
But, just as you do not need to plant seeds every day of the growing season to have a successful garden, so you do not need to supplement probiotics every day for the rest of your life. You only need to take them for a limited time, e.g., 6 to 8 weeks, long enough to reseed your intestines with healthy species—provided you properly nourish them. This strategy will therefore outlast your initial 10-day detox, but it stacks the odds in favor of a successful bowel flora transition.

The “water and fertilizer” for your bowel flora come from some unusual sources, since we are trying to choose modern equivalents of primitive sources. These are fibers or starches that are indigestible by our own digestive apparatus (and thereby do not raise blood sugar) but are digestible by microorganisms in the bowels. These fibers are distinct, however, from cellulose—wood fiber—the fiber in bran cereals and other products that provide “bulk,” or indigestible filler, and yield bowel regularity. We want more than bulk and bowel regularity. We want facilitation of weight loss, improved metabolic measures, better sleep, etc., that comes from the unique form of fibers that are metabolized by bowel flora to fatty acids and yield these wonderful health benefits. We obtain such fibers from:

We aim for a total prebiotic fiber intake of 20 g per day. The easiest way to accomplish this is to include a coarsely chopped green banana or raw white potato in a smoothie every day. Wheat Belly Detox Shake recipes (see
Chapter 5
) in the 10-Day Menu Plan incorporate the needed quantities of these fibers. Once you've graduated from your 10-day initiation, you can obtain your fibers by other means than the shakes. Inulin or fructooligosaccharide (FOS) powders, found in health food stores, are an especially convenient way to obtain such fibers. In addition to the convenience of inulin and FOS powders, there are some other convenient commercial products that can be used, listed in
Appendix B
.

I like to slice or chop a raw potato to include in salads, blend a chopped raw potato or green banana into a smoothie, add a couple of teaspoons of powdered inulin to various dishes, and dip vegetables or grain-free crackers into hummus. Consuming small quantities—e.g., no more than ¼ cup per meal—of lentils, chickpeas, and starchy beans (black, kidney, white, lima) adds to your daily total. Root vegetables (onions, sweet potatoes, parsnips, rutabaga, maca, celeriac, daikon, and others) likewise add a gram or two of these fibers, but be careful to not exceed your 15 g net
carbs
per meal, most important during your initial 10-day detox experience and during any weight-loss effort.

You can get creative with ways to include prebiotic fibers in your daily routine, even slipping them into your family's diet. For example, slice a green banana into 1-inch pieces and dip the slices into 4 ounces (one bar) of melted 85 percent cocoa dark chocolate. (Use waxed paper to keep the chocolate from sticking to the plate and store in the refrigerator to keep the banana from ripening; they're good for about 3 days.) These chocolate-covered banana bites provide 3 to 4 g prebiotic fibers per bite. Add inulin or FOS fibers to dishes such as
Apricot Ginger “Granola”
. Or, for the kids, pour a glass of coconut milk and add unsweetened cocoa powder, a few drops of liquid stevia, and 1 teaspoon inulin or FOS. As you get comfortable with the sources of these fibers and begin to appreciate the power of this bowel flora-supporting strategy, you will see that there are many opportunities throughout the day to supplement your intake.

An important precaution: Start slowly at no more than 10 g prebiotic fibers. Only use, for instance, about half of the green banana or half of the raw potato in your smoothie to start, and build up over the 10-day detox period, or else abdominal discomfort and excessive gas can result. You also want to allow the probiotic supplement to provide the healthy bacterial species that you are trying to grow to take “root” before you begin adding the prebiotic fibers. (These limitations are built into the 10-Day Menu Plan to make it easy for you.) The benefits of this powerful strategy, such as lower blood pressure and deeper sleep, develop slowly over 2 to 3 months and longer as healthy species proliferate and exert their metabolic benefits. The key is long-term consistency while varying your choice of these fibers from day to day to encourage diversity of species. These are habits you want to continue for the rest of your life.

RUN
NAKED IN A TROPICAL SUN . . . OR SUPPLEMENT VITAMIN D

Restoration of vitamin D, in my view, is second only to wheat and grain elimination as the most powerful tool for health available. Even after 10 years of having my patients supplement vitamin D to achieve healthy blood levels, I still marvel at the wonderful effects that develop. Although vitamin D absorption from the small quantities in food is impaired only in people with celiac disease, Crohn's disease, and some other intestinal conditions, it is so important to your overall health that I place it front and center in your Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox program. It plays so many crucial roles in health that doctors should be experts in vitamin D, but that is sadly not generally the case. Doctors and other health care professionals are experts at dispensing drugs and procedures, not health. So vitamin D, as critical as it is for health, is generally left to you to manage properly. But you can do an expert job for you and your family.

Humans were meant to obtain vitamin D from sun exposure over large surface areas of skin, supplemented by the modest quantities provided by seafood, shellfish, organs of land animals (especially liver), egg yolks, and mushrooms. But in modern life, many of us live in colder climates, wear clothes much of the year, stay indoors year-round, and (wrongly) avoid foods like egg yolks and liver while only occasionally eating seafood. We also lose much of the ability to activate vitamin D in our skin as we get older; by age 40, most people have lost a major part of this ability and fail to achieve optimal levels even with a dark Caribbean tan.

Restore vitamin D to healthy levels and wonderful things happen: improved mood, clearer thinking, better bone health and protection from osteoporosis, reduced blood sugar and blood pressure, and improved physical performance and protection
from
dementia and cancer—compounding many of the wonderful effects begun by wheat and grain elimination. Many people actually feel the beneficial effects of vitamin D restoration, especially improved mood and mental clarity, as well as relief from seasonal “blues.” Inflammation and autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, are especially responsive: The initial trigger for these conditions—wheat and grains—has been removed, but restoring vitamin D further reverses the abnormal inflammatory and immune responses that allowed these diseases to manifest.

Young people who possess the ability to activate vitamin D in the skin and enjoy plentiful sun exposure naturally develop 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood levels (the lab test that reflects vitamin D status) of 70 to 84 ng/mL or higher without adverse effect, suggesting that we can safely do likewise. I therefore advise people to take 4,000 to 8,000 international units (IUs) per day of oil-based vitamin D
₃
, or cholecalciferol, in gelcaps or drops, for assured absorption. This dose is sufficient to achieve a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level of 60 to 70 ng/mL after 2 to 3 months of supplementation in the majority of people, just like a young lifeguard with a tan. Not restricting foods such as egg yolks and liver also makes a modest contribution. Avoid vitamin D in tablet form, as it is erratically or poorly absorbed. Also avoid the D
₂
, or ergocalciferol, form (which is present in prescription vitamin D) as it is nonhuman and not as effective as the human form, D
₃
.

Because there can be wide individual variation in vitamin D intake required to achieve the same target levels in the body, it helps to obtain an occasional blood test for 25-hydroxy vitamin D that reflects your vitamin D status. Ideally, blood levels should be assessed no sooner than 3 months after initiating supplementation (since it takes that long to plateau), then reassessed every year or so to ensure that you remain within the target range.

CORRECT
THE MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY OF GRAINS

Recall that the phytates of wheat and grains block absorption of nutrients, mostly minerals. Magnesium is among those blocked, with absorption reduced by 60 percent in the presence of grains. Magnesium deficiency is further compounded by the reduced magnesium content of modern crops, our reliance on home or municipal water filtration that removes all magnesium, and the widespread use of drugs for acid reflux and ulcers that reduce magnesium absorption. Add it all up, and magnesium deficiency is the rule at the start of your program.

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of “elemental” magnesium (i.e., magnesium by itself) is 320 mg per day for adult females and 420 mg per day for adult males. Most people obtain around 245 mg per day—well below the RDA—while not even factoring in the impaired absorption caused by grains or drugs. Most of us therefore take in far less magnesium than we should. Because magnesium provides structural integrity to bone tissue, lack of magnesium contributes to osteoporosis. Deficiency is also associated with hypertension, higher blood sugars, muscle cramps, migraines, and heart rhythm disorders. Magnesium deficiency can express itself to an exaggerated degree during the wheat and grain withdrawal process, experienced as leg cramps and disruption of sleep in the first few days, so everyone ideally begins magnesium supplementation on Day 1 of the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox.

We've got to be choosy with magnesium supplements, however, as most are better laxatives than forms of absorbable magnesium. Among the best absorbed tablet or capsule forms is magnesium malate at a dose of 1,200 mg two or three times per day; this provides 180 mg elemental magnesium per 1,200 mg tablet or capsule. Another better absorbed form is magnesium glycinate, 400 mg two or three times per day. If you desire looser
bowel
movements, then magnesium citrate, 400 mg two or three times per day, provokes a modest osmotic effect (pulling water into the colon). You will also find a simple recipe for
Coconut Magnesium Water
, a method of making magnesium bicarbonate, the best form of magnesium available with less potential for loose stools. (Don't do both magnesium supplements and magnesium water; take one or the other.)

It can help to increase your intake of magnesium-rich foods, as well, such as pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds; nuts such as almonds and pecans, as well as peanuts and (unsweetened) peanut butter; and lots of spinach and other green leafy vegetables. Our Wheat Belly Detox Shakes in
Chapter 5
include (optional) pumpkin seeds to substantially up your daily magnesium intake. Given the difficulties with continuing to maintain a healthy magnesium intake, supplementation and including magnesium-rich foods are habits to continue for a lifetime. (Anyone with kidney disease should not take magnesium except under supervision, as magnesium can accumulate with impaired kidney function.) Maintaining a long-term program of magnesium restoration can be an important part of your overall effort to reestablish multiple facets of grain-free health.

OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS MAKE WEIGHT LOSS SAFER

Omega-3 fatty acids are important during your 10-day detox. Once grains are removed from the diet, weight loss proceeds at a rapid pace for most people, a process that involves mobilization of fatty acids into the bloodstream. If a cholesterol panel were checked during active weight loss (which you should generally not have checked to avoid confusion, including the perplexed look of your doctor, eager to whip out the prescription pad), you would see high triglyceride levels, since triglycerides transport fatty
acids—
a natural part of the fat mobilization process of weight loss. The omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil accelerate clearance of fatty acids from the bloodstream and keep levels lower. Subduing rises in fatty acids and triglycerides makes the process of weight loss safer and helps minimize transient rises in blood pressure and blood sugar that can develop.