Break the Bread Trap

Bread and similar wheat products are ubiquitous throughout much of the world. For many years, the USDA's food pyramid recommended 11 servings of grains and grain products. However, modern wheat is very different from the wheat our ancestors ate.

The proportion of gluten protein in wheat has enormously increased as a result of hybridization. Until the 19th century, wheat was also usually mixed with other grains, beans and nuts; pure wheat flour has been milled into refined white flour only during the last 200 years.

The resulting high-gluten, refined grain diet most of us have eaten since infancy has created health problems in the gut, the bloodstream, the brain, and sometimes also the joints, cardiovascular system and endocrine system.

"Gluten" comes from the Greek word for glue, and its adhesive properties hold bread and cake together. But those same properties interfere with the breakdown and absorption of nutrients, including the nutrients from other foods in the same meal. The result is a worthless, glued-together constipating lump in the gut rather than a nutritious meal.

At worst, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis and cancer can result from severe celiac disease or extreme gluten sensitivity. But there are many others who suffer from unexplained diarrhea, intestinal gas and bloating, joint pains, infertility or brain fog.