Earth to Jillian: It’s NOT about gluten!

Jillian Michaels made a major nutritional boo boo with this recent piece of hers: MYTH: If You Want To Slim Down, Go Gluten-Free. “Only about one percent of the American population needs to be gluten-free because of an autoimmune disorder called celiac disease. Most people do not have to worry about gluten and should eat whole grains as part of a balanced diet.” She makes the perennial mistake of the nutritionally ignorant: She equates wheat with gluten. As followers of the Wheat Belly message all understand, wheat does NOT equal gluten. Wheat is the perfect obesogen, a food perfectly crafted to cause weight gain. That’s because wheat contains: Gliadin–Upon digestion, gliadin is reduced to a collection of 5 polypeptides, each 4 or 5 amino acids long, that bind to the opiate receptors of the brain. Unlike opiates such as morphine and heroin, gliadin-derived polypeptides don’t provide pain relief nor euphoria, but only stimulate appetite. The power of the effect varies, but 400 more calories intake per day is common. In people susceptible to binge eating disorder or bulimia, the effect can be much greater, even dominating habit and mind, triggering intake of 1000 or more calories per day. Gliadin has another effect: increased small intestinal permeability. This is the effect that underlies the start of autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, but also leads to water retention, adding further to weight gain. Amylopectin A–Amylop...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Gluten-free Weight loss Source Type: blogs