Do You Have a Wheat Belly?

Wheat belly is a term that describes what is otherwise known as visceral fat. Who gets wheat belly? Well, certainly those who eat wheat.¹ And what exactly is wheat belly? Wheat belly is another way of saying “beer belly,” or belly fat.

Essentially, wheat belly is a special kind of fat tissue that wraps around the organs in the abdominal cavity, like the kidneys, the intestines, the liver… You get the idea. What makes this fat tissue so interesting is that wheat belly fat, or visceral fat, is an endocrine organ all on its own.

According to researchers from Florida’s Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes, belly fat is different from the fat you would find in other areas of the body, like thigh fat, because it’s associated with a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease. Researchers believe this difference is largely due to genetics — active belly fat genes behave differently than active thigh fat genes and may program fat cells to respond differently to hormones.² Because of its specific location and function in the body (where it is often deposited in the liver), belly fat can be more harmful than obesity.³ Even thin people can carry this dangerous belly fat, or “skinny fat,” that increases risk of disease.⁴

Wheat Belly Fat Releases Hormone Signals

A lot of science has done the work to show that visceral fat, the fat surrounding organs in the abdominal cavity, is very much like any other gland in the endocrine system:

• This means that visceral fat produces its own hormones and messages.
• Other organs that release hormone signals are glands such as the ovaries, testes, pancreas, the adrenals, and the pituitary gland in the brain.
• Visceral fat is not the same as subcutaneous fat, which sits just beneath the skin.

The messages and signals released from fat tissue are pathogenic — which means that many of the messages promote disease. So, not only is visceral fat cumbersome, it can also be life-threatening!

We now know that visceral fat:

• Controls signaling related to appetite.
• Generates insulin resistance, which is a prerequisite to type 2 diabetes.^5,6
• Increases sensitivity to pain.⁷
• Inhibits muscle growth.⁸
• Releases pro-inflammatory messages.

What is interesting about pro-inflammatory messages that are produced by visceral fat is that they take part in what is known as a vicious cycle. In other words, inflammation that originates in visceral fat tells the body to make even more fat.^9,10

There’s no escaping the deleterious effects of visceral fat in any stage of life.

Children with bigger midsections have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.¹¹ Abdominal fat in early pregnancy can be a predictor of gestational diabetes.¹² The American Association for Cancer Research has found a direct link between visceral fat in adults and an increased risk of colon cancer, while a 2015 study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society associated greater abdominal obesity in adults over 65, caused by drinking diet soda, with a higher risk of metabolic syndrome and heart disease.^13,14

How Modern Wheat Differs from Traditional Wheat

As Dr. William Davis points out in his book Wheat Belly, the grain of our ancestors is not the same stuff that you will find on any supermarket shelf. Even specialty stores would be hard-pressed to carry anything made with the grain that commercial modern wheat originally came from.

He writes, “Modern wheat, despite all the genetic alterations to modify hundreds, if not thousands, of its genetically determined characteristics made its way to the worldwide human food supply with nary a question surrounding its suitability for human consumption. Because hybridization experiments did not require the documentation of animal or human testing, pinpointing where, when, and how the precise hybrids that might have amplified the ill effects of wheat is an impossible task.”¹

Dr. Davis explains that the wheat of today:

• Is actually a mixture of a grain called einkorn and wild grasses.
• Is the result of human hybridization, which in 50 years produced 25,000 varieties of wheat.
• Is nothing like the wheat that has been used historically.

What makes the wheat of today so doughy, elastic, and sturdy a crop are years of hybridization bent on increasing crop yield, cutting expenses, and resolving world hunger. It is important to note that today’s wheat is only sturdy when cultivated with fertilizer and under human supervision. In the wild, this wheat would not survive.¹⁵

In a 2014 British Journal of Nutrition study, researchers discovered that Dr. Davis’ assessment of modern wheat holds water: Study participants with IBS who ate ancient (un-hybridized) wheat compared to modern wheat saw a significant improvement in digestive symptoms and quality of life.¹⁶ For the best digestive support, Dr. Davis still recommends avoiding grains altogether since they were never intended for human consumption. Body Ecology grain-like seeds are an ideal alternative to nourish the body, especially when soaked and sprouted before eating.

The Wheat Belly Conclusion

It’s important to get the gist of Dr. Davis’ message:

• Today’s wheat is largely responsible for what we call the obesity epidemic and several other degenerative diseases related to visceral fat, such as high blood sugar, heart disease, and dementia.
• Signs of aging, skin disorders like acne and rashes, arthritis, bouts of depression and anxiety, seizures, and gut disorders, including celiac disease, can all be attributed to modern day wheat.
• A serving of whole wheat bread has a higher glycemic index than table sugar.

Newsflash: Whole wheat has a higher glycemic index than a Snickers bar.

The fact that wheat has such an incredibly high glycemic index pretty much turns the whole USDA Food Pyramid upside down. It means that you won’t get complex carbs that slowly release sugar from pasta or a slice of bread.

Let’s break this down:

• Table sugar is made of simple sugars, and these are easily absorbed.
• Wheat, on the other hand, even whole grain wheat, is modern day wheat — which means it has been engineered over the last 50 years.
• All modern day wheat may indeed be classified as a complex carb.
• But the complex carbohydrates in wheat are mostly amylopectin A.
• Amylopectin A is highly digestible.
• In fact, digestion of amylopectin A begins in the mouth with the enzyme amylase, which accounts for the incredibly high glycemic index of wheat.

Sometimes removing wheat isn’t enough to lose the wheat belly. Gut dysbiosis plays a key role in the inflammatory cascade and in poor health. In the latest book on the belly fat phenomenon, Belly Fat Effect, Mike Mutzel connects this harmful abdominal fat with the health of the gut. As Mutzel explains, addressing the modern obesity epidemic and controlling disease-causing belly fat is about more than “calories in, calories out.” It starts with restoring healthy levels of gut bacteria, designed to burn fat, first.¹⁷

It is important to understand the delicate balance of microflora in the gut:

• Understanding modern wheat and the role it plays in degenerative disease is clearly a big piece of the puzzle.
• We must educate ourselves about why all forms of wheat, even whole grain and organic, are inherently dangerous.
• Soaked and sprouted Body Ecology grain-like seeds (amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, and millet) can be eaten instead as a prebiotic that will not feed pathogenic Candida in the body but will feed healthy bacteria in the gut.
• Wheat belly, or visceral fat, is a sign of inflammation often related to a number of other health conditions.
• Controlling visceral fat and inflammation is a unique process that starts in the gut.

A wheat belly is dangerous, but it’s possible to restore health and lose stubborn belly fat when you support your gut first of all. With the help of the Body Ecology Core Program, designed to help heal digestion and improve overall wellness, you can balance your inner ecosystem and decrease the inflammatory cascade that is causing the body to store excess belly fat.

Making simple changes each day can have a transformative effect on your health. Along with gut support, cultivating a daily attitude of mindfulness could help to lower belly fat by a pound, on average.¹⁸