My Bilateral Total Knee Replacement And Addiction Experiences: ROOT CAUSE OF ARTHRITIS & OTHER DISEASES

Yes, I am still writing about the dangers of modern wheat because there is just too much information to share. This is a continuation of my previous post on "Root cause of arthritis and other diseases". If you have not read it, please read it first then continue here.

With this shocking revelation of the dangers of modern wheat - something that is in almost all our food, what do we do next? The biggest challenge is how can we resist all these extremely attractive and delicious wheat and high carb food created by the manufacturers. They are all around us in bakeries, supermarkets, malls, restaurants, cafes etc. And the more we eat them, the more we crave for it. Even vegetarian restaurants serve wheat and high carb food. What about all the Chefs in cooking shows? Most of their recipes are made of wheat and high carb food too. Well, I don't blame them because nobody would crave for salmon, chicken or vegetables but we will crave for more wheat and high carb food. This is the addictive component of wheat which is the worst carbohydrates.

Its been almost a month now since I published the first part of this topic and I observed that some people took it positively and tried to make changes in their diet. Some are in denial because they feel that they do not consume much of wheat and high carb food but when I found out what they actually eat, its a different story. Some don't even care much about it even though they may know the danger now because they cannot divorce themselves from it. This group is basically the same as smokers or addicts who know the danger but they just cannot quit. They also feel that they are not going to live that long anyway so might as well enjoy food first. Well, I can't blame them because this was exactly how I felt before. I even thought that eating everything in moderation should be okay but why is my belly still growing bigger, blood sugar level and everything else seemed to be going up?

In my previous post, I shared about relevant information from a book called Wheat Belly which was written by a cardiologist named Dr. William Davis which instantly became a best seller in New York Times. In his book, Davis wrote about the dangerous effects of modern wheat on our health. It was said earlier that wheat is not only found in many food products but in certain medicines and cosmetics such as lipsticks. It is also in wrappers of chewing gums so that it does not stick to the paper. What about oats? Yes, some of the so called "Heart Healthy" oats does contain wheat. So we have to be careful by checking food labels and not be deceived by the so called "Healthy Whole Grains", "Healthy Heart", "Cholesterol Free", "Vitamins Enriched", "Organic" and so forth. The reality is that no matter what the manufacturers labelled the product, it is still wheat.

THE EFFECTS OF MODERN WHEAT

According to Davis, modern wheat has been proven to cause increase in appetite and food obsession due to exorphins which is an addictive property of wheat. Wheat also causes obesity particularly in visceral fat, diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, acid reflux, osteoporosis due to high acidity, accelerated ageing, dementia, brain dysfunction, cancer, celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome and the list goes on. Wheat also causes worsening of symptoms of inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's diseases. It also worsens symptoms of people with ADHD, autism, depression, schizophrenia and bipolar. But wait - there is more.

Wheat also causes hair loss. Have I got your attention now? Did you say hair loss? Yes. According to Davis, hair loss is sometimes unavoidable, due to the effects of toxic drugs or dangerous diseases. People undergoing cancer chemotherapy, temporarily lose their hair because active non-cancerous cells such as those in hair follicles are also killed in the process. Certain inflammatory diseases such as lupus can also cause hair loss. Wheat consumption can now be added to the list of causes of hair loss. "Alopecia areata" refers to hair loss that occurs in patches, usually from the scalp, but occasionally other parts of the body or even the entire part of the body. Wheat consumption causes alopecia areata due to a celiac-like inflammation of the skin. The inflamed hair follicle results in reduced hold on each individual hair, which causes shedding. When caused by wheat, alopecia can persist for as long as wheat consumption continues.

Davis related a case about one of his patient named Gordon who had coronary disease. For two years, Davis tried to get Gordon to drop the wheat but to no avail. You see, Gordon owned a bakery. Bread, rolls and muffins were part of his life every day, seven days a week. It was only natural that he would eat his own products. However, one day, Gordon came to see Davis and revealed that he had started to lose clumps of hair, leaving divot-like bald patches scattered over his scalp. His primary care doctor diagnosed alopecia but couldn't explain a cause. He was so upset with the hair loss resulting in his asking his primary care doctor for an antidepressant and concealing the embarrassing situation with a cap. Of course, Davis's first thought was wheat. It fitted Gordon's overall health picture; small LDL particles, wheat belly body configuration, high blood pressure, pre-diabetic blood sugars, vague stomach complaints and now hair loss. Finally, Gordon agreed to eliminate wheat despite the difficulties that he would face but he stuck to it. Within three weeks, Gordon reported that hair had begun to sprout up in the bald patches. Over the next two months, vigorous growth resumed. He also lost twelve pounds and two inches from his waist. The intermittent abdominal distress was gone, as was his pre-diabetic blood sugar. Six months later, reassessment of his small LDL particles showed 67 percent reduction. Though dropping wheat was tough for Gordon judging from where he's coming from but I agree that it sure beats having to wear a toupee.

Wheat also has destructive effects on the skin. Now this ought to wake you up as well. According to Davis, if wheat can affect organs such as the brain, intestines, arteries and bones, it can also affect skin which is the largest organ. Skin changes do not generally occur in isolation. If an abnormality due to wheat is expressed on the skin surface, then it usually means that the skin is not the only organ experiencing an unwanted response. Other organs may be involved, from intestines to brain except that we may not be aware of it.

Wheat can exert age-advancing skin effects such as wrinkles and lost elasticity through the formation of advanced glycation end products. Just as digestive by-products of wheat lead to joint inflammation, increased blood sugar and brain effects, it can also result in reactions in the skin ranging from acne, skin rashes, oral ulcers, psoriasis, dermatomyositis and many other skin conditions.

One of Davis's patient by the name of Kurt has excess small LDL particles, low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides. Naturally, Davis advised him to eliminate wheat and he did so. After three months, Kurt lost eighteen pounds and his wheat belly. But strangely, the reddish-brown rash over Kurt's right shoulder, spreading down to his elbow and upper back, that had plagued him for more than seven years had disappeared. None of the three dermatologists whom Kurt seeked treatment from could cure him except for the temporary relief with steroid creams. The solution was as simple as eliminating wheat.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER CARBOHYDRATES?

According to Davis, if we remove wheat, we have removed the most flagrant problem source in the diet of the people who otherwise follow healthy diets. Wheat is the worst of the worst carbohydrates but other carbohydrates can be a problem source as well, though on a lesser extent. However, high carbohydrates causes wide fluctuations of blood sugar and glycation, severe resistant to insulin, growth of visceral fat and inflammatory responses, all of which leads us to have tired, beaten pancreas unable to keep up with the demand to produce insulin. Continued carbohydrate challenges forced on flagging pancreatic function leads us down the path of pre-diabetes and diabetes, hypertension, lipid abnormalities, arthritis, heart disease, stroke and all the consequences of excessive carbohydrate consumption. Therefore, in addition to wheat elimination, an overall reduction in carbohydrates is also beneficial.

THE EFFECTS OF CARBOHYDRATES

There is another interesting book by Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS (a nutrition expert) called "Living Low Carb". In this book, Bowden even quoted Davis's findings about the dangers of modern wheat. I learnt a lot more about carbohydrates and its effects on our body from Bowden's book.

Many of us are aware that sugar is linked to diabetes and so it is bad for our health. Therefore, we cut down on our consumption of sugar particularly in our drinks. But its not sugar per se. All the high carbohydrate food that we consume such as breads, pasta, cakes, cookies, capati, roti canai, rice, noodles, donuts etc. are eventually broken down as sugar in our body. If we consume high amount of carbs, can you imagine how much of sugar will be floating in our system?

So what happens with all that sugar in our system? According to Bowden, our pancreas would be hard at work to produce insulin in order to prevent blood sugar from rising too high. Then our liver notices the amount of insulin produced and get to work. Some of the sugar or glucose is transported to our muscle cells for energy and to the brain for function. What happens then to all the excess sugar? They are packaged into triglycerides (i.e. fats found in the blood and in the tissues). The high level of insulin accompanying the high-carb meal stimulates the cholesterol-making machinery; the body starts churning out more cholesterol, which it then packages (together with triglycerides) into little containers called VLDLs (very low density lipoproteins), most of which eventually become LDLs (low density lipoproteins) or "bad" cholesterol. This is how a high-carb diet raises both triglycerides and cholesterol.

Why sugar, you may ask? Bowden explained that sugar is sticky while proteins are smooth and slippery. The slippery nature of protein lets them slide around easily in the cells and do their jobs effectively. But when excess sugar keeps bumping into proteins, the sugar eventually gums up the works and gets stuck to the protein molecules. Such proteins are now said to have become "glycated" (this is similar to what Davis mentioned about glycation). The glycated proteins are too big and sticky to get through small blood vessels and capillaries, including the small vessels in the kidneys, eyes and feet, which is why so many diabetics are at risk of kidney disease, vision problems and amputation of toes, feet and even legs. If our joints gets glycated, we end up with arthritis as explained in my earlier post. So in simpler term, if certain part of our body gets glycated, we will end up with problem in that area.

IS FAT WORSE THAN SUGAR?

According to Bowden, sugar is far more damaging than fats. But all this while, we have been inundated with the idea that fat causes high cholesterol and heart disease. Yes, we have been misled and we never questioned its validity. How are we supposed to know when doctors seemed to be singing the same song and happily prescribing us with more medications? So my friends, if you have not heard of this anywhere, you are hearing it here - sugar (including all carbohydrate food which are broken down as sugar in the body) is the main culprit in causing diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatod arthritis, cancer as well as a host of other diseases. As you can see, everything is related.

Fat is the single most misunderstood component of the modern diet. Bowden explains that saturated fat is a completely neutral fat. It burns like any other fat. If we are eating a high-carb diet, the effect of fat may indeed be more damaging. But if we are eating a low-carb diet, insulin is low and saturated fat is handled more efficiently. So when carbs are low, we are burning that saturated fat as fuel and we are also making less of it.

One recent study has shown that when obese patients are put on a high-saturated-fat diet but without starch, the body weight decreased, body-fat percentage decreased and total triglycerides decreased. The researches concluded that a high-saturated-fat / starch-avoidance diet resulted in weight loss after six weeks without any adverse effects on serum-lipid levels.

Bowden also said that our body must have protein and animal fats which can also provide the necessary calories. Carbohydrates only provide calories and nothing else. They have none of the essential elements to build up or to repair the tissues of the body. Therefore, the body does not have physiological need for carbohydrates. Yet is has always been a world wide practise of Dietetic Associations to recommend that we consume the majority of our calories from carbohydrates as a healthy diet. How can this be a good advice when the exact opposite happens after high consumption of carbohydrate food? Doesn't this raise the question of why obesity, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, cancer and other diseases are so prevalent in today's world? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, the verdict is that saturated fat is not guilty. It has been wrongly blamed for causing high cholesterol and heart disease. Wait - what about eggs, seafood and red meats? Yes, you guessed it right. They have been wrongly blamed as well.

LIVING LOW CARB

There are tons of diets out there and I have personally tried so many of them but nothing has worked on a long term basis. In one of Oprah Winfrey's talk show, it was said that the magic formula for losing weight is to burn more than we eat. Yeah, it made sense to me at that time. But after I exercised very hard on the treadmill in the gym for one hour, the machine tells me that I have burned 300 calories. What?? 300 calories only after all that hard work? It was unbelievable. I might as well eat 300 calories less. At that time, I continued to work my butt out and ate less calories. Eventually, I lost weight but I was hungry all the time and before I know it, all the weight came piling back on after I gave in to my cravings.

Now I understand that it is not reliable to count on exercise to lose weight. In fact, we do not burn much calories after exercise. The fact is that we feel a lot hungrier after exercise and therefore, we tend to eat a larger meal. What about calories? Do we need to count calories? Studies have shown that when people are put on high-carb meals with less calories, they still put on weight. But when people are put on low-carb meals with higher calories, they still lost weight. So the answer is obvious that calories is not the problem. The problem is in the type of food we eat. Wheat and high-carb food have been proven to be the worst enemy here. Should we still exercise if it doesn't help us to lose weight? Of course we should because exercise helps us to improve our overall health and fitness.

With all these information in my hands now, living low carb appears to be the most logical and sustainable way of eating for me. If it can prevent me from having arthritis in other joints, prevent other diseases or reverse any existing health problems without any medication and lose weight at the same time, it is a small price to pay. There are tons of positive research conducted on low-carbing approach of eating which resulted in no significant harmful effects. In fact, the only side effects are weight loss and improved health.

Well, I have been living low carb for three months now and I found it to be the easiest diet because I don't feel hungry so it doesn't feel like I am on a diet. To be honest, I have never eaten so healthily before. I have filled the gap with lots of fresh food such as vegetables, greens, fruits, meats, fish, seafood, eggs, tofu, cheese, nuts etc. Living low carb is not bland, plain and boring as you might think. Think of barbeque spare ribs, steak, cheese, grilled chicken, fish and pork, are these boring? Definitely not for me. It is a matter of removing the bread, potatoes, rice, noodles and so forth. It is actually more satiating after a low-carb meal and I find that I can taste the food better. What about vegetables and fruits? Fresh salads and green smoothies can be very yummy and refreshing too. I usually have a big portion of fresh salads together with my protein. Even though meats are acidic forming but it can be neutralised by the vegetables, greens and fruits which are alkaline. High carb food on the other hand are very acidic and therefore, causes more health problems.

I find that Western low carb meals are a lot easier to prepare than Chinese meals. Yes, I still cook Chinese meals for dinner maybe once or twice a week and I can eat all the dishes and drink the soup without the rice. Its a matter of getting used to it. Afterall, this is how we eat at Chinese wedding dinners. Basically, it all boils down to making better food choices.

For the first time in a long while, I am enjoying seeing myself in the mirror. I have lost one dress size and still losing without much effort, without counting calories, without going hungry and without having to exercise to death. My blood sugar level has come down from 6 to 5. I can see a significant improvement in my immune system and reduction in bad cholesterol, acid reflux and body aches. I am still monitoring my blood pressure which I know will come down eventually. I feel energetic and still managed to climb another 547 steps at Batu Caves last weekend (see post on 2 years post BTKR).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I would like to say that I have changed the way I look at food. I used to eat what I like and avoid what I don't like without a second thought about nutrition. And I will give in to my cravings for unhealthy but attractive high carb food. But now, I make an effort to eat what is good for my body. If I have to rely on this body to last me a long time in a healthy manner, I have to take better care of it. It is a far cry from what I used to think - eat first then worry later. Am I perfect in living low carb? If perfection is key, I would be doomed. Actually, I don't really find it difficult living low carb but if I do derail a little once in a while, I don't feel guilty and sweat over it. I just get back to it on the next meal.

Now back to my earlier question - "Does OA still exist after TKR?". I can safely say that we may not have arthritis in our TKR joint but we may still have arthritis in other joints. In fact, I am already feeling it in my hands. We may also have potential to have arthritis in any joints. The good news is that we can prevent ourselves from getting arthritis or prevent further damage to existing arthritic joints. The power is in our hands to make changes particularly in the food that we eat.

I always believe that things happen for a reason. All these experiences with obesity, addiction and total knee replacement have been a blessing for me because if not for them, I would not have learnt about the importance of exercise and the impact of food on our body and health in general. And I would not be blogging about it.

If eliminating wheat can reverse all the health problems that we are facing today, shouldn't it banished forever? Logically, yes but the stakes are too high. Its the same problem with tobacco. It will never happen because the implications are too great. It involves the farmers, manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, doctors, hospitals, government, workers and so forth. Hence, we have to take this into our own hands and make the best decision for ourselves and possibly, our family members too. After all, we are in charge of our own health.

Lose the wheat and brace yourself for better health! ... William Davis

Experience a myriad of health benefits and weight loss by living low carb. ... Jonny Bowden

Just to prove to you that low carb meals are not bland, plain and boring, here are a few pictures of the low carb meals which I dished up. They are so easy to make and you can find tons of low carb recipes in the internet from Paleo Diet, Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet, Dukan Diet and so forth.