If you are struggling to
lose weight and you are following a
healthy eating program, exercising regularly and being honest about your
food intake, then perhaps one suggestion would be for you to try a wheat-free
diet for 2-3 weeks; a
wheat free diet is an effective
weight loss strategy for many people.
The reason wheat-free
diets can be effective for
weight loss is that wheat flour is one of the most common
food allergies and intolerances found in people today; even a slight wheat
intolerance could be sabotaging your
weight loss results. By going on a wheat-free
diet for a few weeks, if wheat
intolerance is at the
core of your
weight loss plateau, you will quickly find yourself starting to shed those unwanted kilos and also feel a sense of renewed
energy levels.
What is a wheat-free diet?
A wheat-free
diet is when you cut out all products that are made from wheat (and wheat flour) including many breads, cereals,
pasta and pastries. A wheat-free
diet is not the same as a gluten-free
diet as wheat-free
diets only require that you cut out wheat products, however gluten-free
diets require that you cut out all wheat, spelt, rye, oats, and barley, because these
foods all contain gluten.
It is not easy to completely eliminate wheat from the diet, but it is easier than eliminating gluten as there is a much larger range of wheat-free
foods available. Any
foods which are labeled gluten-free are also able to be consumed on a wheat-free
diet but not vice versa.
What are the benefits?
The
benefits of cutting wheat out of your diet, particularly if you do have even a mild intolerance, is that it can have a huge impact on your
weight and the way that you feel. There are different reported reasons for this, but the biggest one is because wheat is so prevalent in Western
foods that we tend to eat way too much of it. When we consume too much of any particular type of
food we are in danger of developing a
food intolerance as our bodies are unable to cope with this over-consumption; this is why wheat and dairy are the most common triggers for
food intolerances.
The reason intolerances can occur when
eating a particular type of
food too often is that it can cause the digestive enzymes to be overwhelmed which in turn
causes that particular type of
food to no longer be digested properly. This happens most commonly with
foods that are not particularly easy to digest, which is the category of
foods that wheat and dairy fall in to.
So, how does cutting out wheat help you to lose weight?
If we continue to eat a
food that we have become intolerant to, such as wheat, it
causes bloating and
water retention and therefore makes us appear as though we have extra weight, particularly around our
stomach area. However, when we then cut out that
food the bloating and
water retention subsides, we lose the appearance of having that 'added weight' and our
body begins to function normally.
Another reason that cutting out wheat can assist with
weight loss is that
eating foods we are intolerant to affects our ability to digest
foods properly and poor digestion
causes constipation (which means we are not getting rid of waste products). Prolonged constipation and the inability to effectively rid waste products
causes the toxin levels in our
body to rise and the
liver is then forced to store these toxins in our
fat cells. As these toxin levels continue to rise, extra
fat cells are created and maintained to assist with storage of these toxins. So by cutting out the
food that we are intolerant to, our toxin levels fall and are no longer required to be stored in the
fat cells.
Going wheat-free for a few weeks may also be a great suggestion as a general 'detox' if you are
feeling tired and lethargic; going wheat-free for even a few weeks may help to relieve the digestive system of the heavy demands our Western
diet places on it and rid any toxins that may be building up.
When trying a wheat-free diet, make sure you give it a few weeks and note your
results in a
food journal; if you find that you have fewer signs of gas and bloating and increased signs of
energy levels and
weight loss then this could be a clear indication that wheat may be an issue for you.