wheat bel•ly (wet be-le), n.
The accumulation of deep visceral fat
around our organs, such as the liver,
intestinal tract and kidneys. A wheat
belly is expressed on the surface as
the fat that hangs over the beltline,
otherwise called “love handles” or
“muffin tops.” According to Dr. Davis,
we see them on people everywhere.
» I call it a wheat belly because wheat is the most extravagant trigger
among the factors that grow this thing. It’s the result of consuming a
food — modern wheat — that increases blood sugar and, thereby, insulin
to very high levels: higher than table sugar, higher than many candy bars.
Repetitive high blood sugar and insulin begins a cascade of events
that leads to insulin resistance, a condition in which the body no longer
responds to insulin, leading to the accumulation of visceral fat.
You attribute the rise
in celiac disease over the
past 5 decades to an
inherent difference in the
wheat itself. How has
it changed over the past
50 years?
» A crucial point: The wheat products sold today are nothing like the
wheat products of our mother’s age, very different from the wheat of the
early 20th century and completely transformed from the wheat of the
Bible and earlier.
Ancient wheat, for instance, is emmer wheat, a wild growing, 4½-
foot tall, 28-chromosome plant. Modern wheat is a 2-foot tall, stocky
plant with an unusually large seed head and 42 chromosomes. Modern
wheat no more resembles ancient wheat than a chimpanzee does a
human — and a chimpanzee is closer to a human than modern wheat
is to ancient wheat.
