Why Do I Have A Beer Gut When I Don't Drink Beer?

I have always been skinny. When I was a kid, I was very active, riding bike, camping with the Boy Scouts and walking to school, but didn’t like sports. Mom fed us a diet that was mostly meat and potatoes. My parents were trim and also active.

In college, I played badminton and archery to fulfill the gym requirement and continued to do serious bike trekking. When I got married in 1961, I weighed 130 pounds.

By age 40, as a mid-career professional, I was heavier and began to develop a gut and “love handles.” My neighbor got me started running. At first, I couldn’t run a mile, but soon I was training at 5 miles, then 10 miles. After years of avoiding sports because I was no good at it, I found I had the genes for endurance running. I studied training techniques and nutrition, and followed the advice of world class runners. I ate a diet high in carbohydrates (complex carbs - lots of pasta). Beer was considered a refreshing beverage after a workout, and contains minerals for electrolyte replacement. Meanwhile my wife, who was always on a diet, suffered watching my son (who was a swimmer) and I eat ice cream out of soup bowls. I ran a marathon, and turned in a respectable time of 3:46. I was training 70 miles a week and lifting weights, but the love handles remained.

I read a book titled “Fit For Life.” They recommend eating only high water content fruit in the morning. I followed this advice for a while, but was disillusioned by the picture of the authors who looked emaciated and sick. It is hard to get all the essential amino acids and balanced nutrients on a pure vegetarian diet. The Chinese and Mexicans solve this problem by cooking chicken and vegetables and serving it with rice, so I moved toward more fish and Chinese/Mexican cooking. I ate “healthy” cereals (oats, muesli, granola) for breakfast.

I continued to run through the 80’s and 90’s, eating the diet recommended by the American Heart Association, which called for low fat, low cholesterol and healthy whole grains. I was taught that fat makes you fat, and sugar is burned by the body preferentially for energy. Not to worry if you exercise a lot. The gut and the love handles enlarged, and my weight slowly climbed to 165, and my cholesterol climbed into the danger zone. My wife had us on a low fat, low salt diet because of her blood pressure. My waist increased from 32 inches to 33 inches.

At age 63, I retired and had more time to exercise and travel. My knees began to complain, so I did more biking and less running. I was able to keep my weight stable, but cholesterol climbed. The Doctor recommended oat meal to help with Cholesterol, and put me on a Statin.

By age 66, I joined a Medicare Advantage program which gave me Silver Sneakers. I joined a Gym, which gave me access to torture machines to work out.

In 2010, I had a sudden onset of debilitating arthritis symptoms, and a Rheumatologist put me on a combination of Prednisone and Meloxicam. I was able to function normally, but these potent anti-inflammatories have side effects. I hired a personal trainer, who gave me exercises to improve flexibility and range of motion. I wanted to get off prescription drugs. My Doc. Referred me to a Chinese Physician who, in addition to M.D and D.O. degrees, is a Master Acupuncturist. He can treat you with Eastern medicine, Western medicine, and he is a Christian who believes in the power of prayer. He treated me with acupuncture, and counseled me on diet, supplements and attitude. He admonished me to not eat anything white – no white bread, no rice and no potatoes. Within 6 months, I was off prescription drugs except the Statin. My cholesterol remained high, although I ate lots of Oatmeal. To my horror, my fasting blood sugar showed I was in a pre-diabetic state. In spite of my sweet tooth, I cut out all candy, donuts, sugary drinks and switched to Stevia to sweeten my coffee. Six months later, I had lost about 10 pounds and my blood tests were all normal. Sadly, the gut and love handles increased my waist size to 34. My Chinese Doc. is a vegetarian who said the only way to get rid of the gut was to eat raw fruit and vegetables, preferably purchased locally. I bought non-GMO and Organic food at the supermarket.

About this time, I discovered the book “Wheat Belly” by William Davis, M.D. The book was first published in 2011, and became a best-seller, but I never heard of it. An updated version was published in paperback in 2014. On page 7, he tells a story much like the one above – this for a Cardiologist 10 years younger than me. It is difficult to summarize the revolutionary material in this book. To put it simply, everything they have taught us in the last 50 years is wrong and mostly backwards. The “Nutritional Pyramid” is upside down. Everything they told us to eat is bad for you and the stuff they said to avoid is either irrelevant or good for you. The only exception is sugar. There is no place for sugar in human nutrition. You will get more than you need no matter what you eat – even when you try to avoid it as much as possible. However, the worst thing you can eat is wheat (not the wheat our ancestors ate without any problem, but modern dwarf wheat that is genetically modified). It CAUSES diabetes, heart disease and a whole host of autoimmune diseases. The next worst thing is oats.

Dr. Davis’ thrust is Celiac Disease and other diseases caused by gluten intolerance gluten is wheat protein, but it is present in other grains also). You can gain a large benefit from eliminating all forms of wheat (it is in everything – cake, cookies, rolls, biscuits, salad dressing). Yup, whole wheat bread, brown bread, oat bread, 9-grain, 12-grain, whatever all contain added gluten and bad wheat. He provides a whole section in the book with recipes for tasty foods made without wheat. Avoid “gluten free” foods. They add things to replace the gluten that are almost as bad. Beer is made from wheat, and contains some of the bad stuff. Alcohol is metabolized like sugar, and causes the dreaded insulin spike.

While looking for “Wheat Belly,” I stumbled upon “Eat Fat, Get Thin” by Mark Hyman, M.D. Dr. Hyman is a specialist in Functional Medicine. His book was just released available in hard cover only. Look for discounted prices online. Fascinated by the provocative title, I bought it and read it. Wow, what a revelation, and he backs up what he says with the results of many clinical studies and lots of references. The U.S. Government and the alphabet soup of agencies that follow their recommendations have simply ignored what has been proven overwhelmingly:

1. Fat does not make you fat. A low fat diet will make you sick.

2.The fats they forbid (Omega 3 saturated fats) are good for you. Olive Oil and Coconut Oil are very good.

3. The fats they recommend are very bad for you (polyunsaturated Omega 6 oils – safflower oil, corn oil, canola Oil, etc.). Soy Oil is a special case, best to avoid it. Soy is an inflammatory.

4. Hydrogenated oils are lethal (trans fats).

5. The cholesterol you eat is not the same cholesterol that is in your bloodstream. All that’s important about cholesterol is the particle size. Certain foods affect the particle size. Dietary Cholesterol has almost zero correlation with heart disease.

6. Carbohydrates (not just wheat) cause diabetes, heart disease and other diseases. “Healthy Whole Grains” are to be avoided

The two books are not contradictory, they are complementary. Dr. Hyman also includes recipes and specific recommendations for supplements and where to buy them. His website, www.eatfatgetthin.com has lots of resources.

I started the 21 day challenge after following the avoid wheat diet for about a month , and am down 2 notches on my belt. My weight is stable at 150. Read the books and form your own opinion.