What is it?
The Wheat Belly Diet is a weight loss diet that claims wheat is the biggest reason why people are overweight. Information about this diet is available in the official book, which is said to contain cutting edge information about the science of nutrition.
It’s also suggested that wheat can cause not just obesity, but other harmful effects such as high blood pressure, rashes, inflammation, and more. The book also mentions how the obesity epidemic in the United States is not caused by a lack of self-control, but with eating whole grains. In reviewing many kinds of diets our review experts have found the most effective for weight loss is the 18Shake Diet. This diet offers an appetite suppressing meal replacement and a fat burning diet pill. When combined they help to increase weight loss benefits without the use of stimulants or artificial ingredients. Learn more about the 18Shake Diet by visit the link cited here.
Do You Know the Best Diets of 2024?
Wheat Belly Diet Ingredients and Side Effects
The diet calls for people to stop eating the following:
• Any wheat based product. This includes noodles, bagels, muffins, doughnuts pancakes, and any form of bread. Also banned are tortillas, cornstarch, gravy, chips, tortillas, candies, soft drinks, and oatmeal.
• Fried or fast foods, hydrogenated fats, and cured meats.
• Sucrose, honey, agave syrup, and high fructose corn syrup. This also effectively bans certain types of fruit juices and soda.
• Gluten-free foods, fat-free, or low-fat dressings.
• Rice flour, potato products, pretzels, rice cereals, and white bread.
The following are allowed in limited amounts:
• Fruit with no more than 2 servings a day. The preferred fruits are melons, apple, nectarines citrus, berries and peaches. It’s advised to limit mangoes, bananas, grapes and pineapple.
• Only a serving of dairy products of any kind.
• Limit of 40 grams of dark chocolate with 70 to 85% cacao.
• Sugar free foods that arestevia based instead of aspartame based.
• Only 2 to 4 ounces of real fruit juice.
• Sweet potatoesyams, brown or white rice, soy, legumes, and beans.
Our review experts have crafted a comprehensive list of the highest rated weight loss diets.
The diet cautions for people not to eat gluten-free versions of the banned foods. Instead it’s advised to eat unlimited raw nuts, vegetables, grass-fed or sustainably raised meat, full fat cheese, and ground flaxseed.
Limited quantities of chia, quinoa, millet, amaranth, and beans are allowed once one stops eating wheat. This type of diet limits many kinds of unhealthy and high calorie foods, and it’s possible that this alone will cause weight loss, but it may be hard to sustain. A Dr. Melinda Ratini says:
“If you lose weight on the Wheat Belly Diet, it will likely be from making healthy food choices and not because you shunned gluten. There is no scientificevidence that foods with gluten cause more weight gain than other foods”
Other issues of this diet are outlined by Web MD:
“The Wheat Belly Diet is not particularly easy to follow… Banishing food groups is not recommended unless there is scientific evidence to back that decision up. And there is no prof that gluten is the bad guy in the obesity epidemic”
Therefore, the evidence shows that there is no reason to adopt this kind of diet. It can be difficult to stop eating all the foods the diet bans and limits. When making severe restrictions of dietary choices, it can make a diet difficult to follow. This can cause one to crave many unhealthy foods which make it hard to sustain for the entirety. This diet is recommended to be followed as a lifelong strategy. It can also be difficult to eat out as food choices are limited.
For a list of the highest rated weight loss diets, click on the link cited here.
EDITOR’S TIP: Combine this diet with a proven meal replacement such as 18 Shake for better results.
Wheat Belly Diet Quality of Ingredients
Many unhealthy and high calorie foods are banned on this diet. It limits foods which are known to be nutritionally weak as well. While this can lead to weight loss, it’s difficult to uphold due to the severe restrictions.
No evidence supports the idea that wheat causes weight gain however. A clinical review by the Journal of Cereal Science found:
“No data justified negativeopinionabout whole-wheatproducts in a healthy population”
“we conclude that whole-wheat consumption cannot be linked to increasedprevalence of obesity in the general population”
It’s clear from all the science available that there is no need to follow a diet like this. Click the link cited here for a comprehensive listing of the top ranked weight loss diets.
Wheat alone and the other foods which are banned are not enough to guarantee weight loss. It’s possible by limiting these kinds of foods that one won’t eat a high amount of calories, but it’s only because of calories and not due to the wheat.
The Price and Quality of Wheat Belly Diet
The book sells for $9.52 on Amazon.com. Other costs would go towards the foods one will have to cook. It’s possible that by limiting so many kinds of foods and allowing mostly vegetables, nuts, and organic and grass fed meats that one will be consuming less calories. This may lead to weight loss if one makes sure not to overeat.
However, there’s nothing in wheat that would cause weight gain if eaten in moderation. Many claims are made by the Wheat Belly Diet which has been disproven.
It can become expensive to have to keep purchasing organic and grass fed meats, as they are much more costly than regular meats.
Business of Wheat Belly Diet
The diet was created by a Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist. Since he deals with disorders of the heart, it’s unclear how he determined that the Wheat Belly Diet would be a solution to weight loss.
The doctor has been criticized for making unverified claims about wheat causing weight gain. There have been complaints that the doctor only uses what’s known as anecdotal evidence, which means certain people have claimed to have benefited but without any science to back it up.
One review on the doctor’s claims by St. Catherine University showed:
“Davis also claims that elimination of wheat from the diet results in the cure of many conditions, from diabetes to rashes. Nearly all the conditions he claims are made better by wheat removal are also improved by weight loss”
The review suggests that because the diet limits and removes high calorie foods, it’s possible any cure of illness is due to a reduced risk of obesity and not because wheat is bad for the body.Our review experts have compiled a listing of the highest ranked weight loss diets.
EDITOR’S TIP: The top 10 list of the best diets is available here.
Customer Opinions of Wheat Belly Diet
Here are some direct quotes taken from customer reviews:
“think it will be difficult for most people to follow consistently for a long time”
“Sections of the book amount to propaganda, fallacies, and unsubstantiated claims”
“people are setting themselves up for massive failure if they think they can adhere to the strict Wheat Belly diet”
“You are left with a pedestrian low carb diet”
People often mentioned that the diet was far too restrictive to be followed without either failing, or taking the joy out of eating. There were also concerns from people who felt that the claimed science is not actually legitimate.
Some customers didn’t understand why there were healthy foods such as fruits which are considered unhealthy by this diet. Many users also complained about it being hard to make meals with the limited food selection. This made it hard for many to eat out and enjoy foods that aren’t created at home.Discover which weight loss diets were ranked as the best for weight loss via the link here.
Conclusion - Does Wheat Belly Diet Work?
The Wheat Belly Diet calls for eliminating, limiting, and instead using more whole foods that are unprocessed. This diet can be healthy much like other similar diets which only allow few kinds of foods. No science has proven any of the claims made by this diet, such as the idea that wheat is a cause of health issues and obesity. Certain people with gluten allergies might benefit from avoiding these kinds of foods, but this is in a limited amount of the population. Clinical studies and reviews from real nutritionists and health experts have concluded that this diet makes unjustified claims.
Our review experts have found that out of all the diets available, the 18Shake Diet was the most effective for weight loss. It offers an appetite suppressing meal replacement and a fat burning diet pill. This helps to maximize weight loss by increasing metabolism, boosting energy, and aiding calorie burning, and providing many well-rounded health benefits. It has only natural ingredients with no added preservatives, colors, fillers, binders, or cheap thickeners.
Users of the 18Shake Diet have also left positive testimonials and reviews on the official website. Discover more information about the benefits of the 18Shake Diet by visiting the link here.
User Feedback
(Page 2 of 2, 26 total comments)Laura
You cant argue with proof in results from real people!!! The Dr. Has done his research along with the proof of his patients!! He said that with the success of his patients brought him to the realization that he had to share his findings with the public instead of keeping it just within his Wisc. Practice. It is a lifestyle change just as diabetes, high cholesterol, celiacs, etc. People with these kinds of problems have reduced and eliminated them by eliminating wheat - why would we all do this then? Proof is in the people who are eliminating and having the success that they are We can't trust the Gov't or anyone getting paid money for people having the diseases they do-they know there are problems with people eating wheat and they do not care - we have to look out for ourselves!!
posted Jan 28th, 2013 2:45 pmPenny
+I'm going on three weeks with the Wheat Belly recommendations and I'm finding it very successful. I've always been suspicious that I was allergic to wheat since I would have increased sneezing and coughing after ingestion, but I didn't want to admit it because I'm a bread freak. I also have tried Atkins but missed bread too much, so this diet works well for me. I find the recipes for bread work fine for me, just increased and decreased a few things until I got it right. It's not wheat bread but it can take the place of it. One thing I have noticed I can have two small pieces of wheat free bread and I'm full. Not like wheat bread where I'm craving for more! Down 8 pounds in 3 weeks, less sneezing and wheezing. May have found my problem after all these years.
posted Jan 19th, 2013 11:32 pmEliza
+Been on this plan for a month. Read both the Wheat Belly book and the brand new cookbook that just came out in Dec. 2012. So far I have noticed I am not hungry and I like that. Have to remind myself to eat when I get weak. I am a healthy person who has belly fat and exercises 4 times a week but cannot lose the fat. Other than the belly I am in pretty good shape for 61. I too threw all my wheat products away and find that shopping is so easy. Fresh fruit, organic chicken, fish and occasionally grass fed beef. Lots of organic veggies. Initially I gave up all bread but had to have a piece of gluten free toast in the morning. The recipes for wheat flour alternative desserts using Almond flour and stevia were very tastless and not appealing texture wise. Most were thrown in the garbage . I decided its better to do without or have one real cookie or piece of cake once in a while. Expensive to make too. None looked like the pictures in the book either. So all in all eating wheat free -no flour, wheat products, pasta is going well. Less bloaty and less jiggly belly fat. Will give it time. Have to substitute some gluten free products to make this a life long endeavor. Glutino makes terrific pretzel stix which you can dip into hummus or guacomole. Also gluten free bagel chips . Also using rice noodles to make a Pad Thai soup with chicken. I am eating rice but only once in a while and no more than 1/2 cup. Dr. Davis says no rice, potatoes ( I eat organic red skinned once in a while), pasta, sugar, flour etc. Hard to live that way but if you compromise like I am I think its very doable and a healthy life style. Also easy to eat out in restaurants (lots have gluten free menus now) and friends homes- just meat, veggies, salad, fruit. Best part is I do eat less-Dr. Davis says 300-400 cals less a day because you are not hungry. I agree and found that to be true. As far as the pounds dropping off I have not seen that but I am only about 10 pounds over my ideal weight. I think if you had poor eating habits and 30 or more pounds overweight that would be true. You would also no doubt experience the withdrawal symptoms he discusses that I never felt maybe because I eat well already-no sodas or packaged foods or fast foods. The scary stuff he says about how wheat is so chromosomally altered and how our bodies cannot process it makes sense and helps me to not want to eat processed wheat products. Why the USDA still advocates Whole Grains is a mystery. Even Dr. Oz says we should eat more whole grains. Its really scary....
posted Jan 12th, 2013 3:01 pmMary
+Isabelle De Los Rios touts the same philosophy, and when I purchased her book and cut out wheat and sugar, I lost 7 pounds in 14 days, my belly flattened out and I stopped being gassy all of the time (too much information, I know, but it may be helpful to someone, so what the heck)
posted Jun 6th, 2012 11:45 pmChristie Collins
+So far it is working for my husband and I, he has lost 8lbs and I have lost 3. we had to clean out our cabinets of anything containing wheat but after that it's pretty easy to follow and we don't feel hungry!!
posted Feb 13th, 2012 3:48 pmEvelyn Coburn
Is there a book available that I can buy?
posted Nov 8th, 2011 1:47 pm