CLUELESS REBEL

     There are a lot of people out there that think they are tough and disciplined. In fact most of us think of ourselves that way. We could never imagine ourselves stooping so low as to become something like a heroin addict. Yet the truth is most of us are not near as strong as we like to think we are. In fact a lot of us are more like heroin addicts than we can even imagine. If you don't believe me I dare you to try quitting wheat for two weeks. I don't just mean bread but all wheat. Seems like a dumb thing but most will be very surprised at how nearly impossible it is for even them. In fact I would bet the number of people that say they could do it would be huge compared to those in that group that actually could do it.

     I conned myself into trying it a few times. After all I knew it would be a piece of cake for me as I once decided to go cold turkey off of sugar for two years. Not a stitch of sugar other than what was in the bread I ate and the ketchup I ate every two weeks give or take. I checked the ingredients of everything I ate and if it had sugar in any of its five thousand forms then no can do. Dam that was a piece of cake... I mean carrot stick. So stopping wheat would be no big deal..., at least I thought.

     Well turns out if you want to find out what fighting an addiction like herion is like then try quitting wheat, if you have the guts that is. I can tell you right now that you will be unpleasantly surprised. In fact so much so that it is almost guaranteed that you will do the same thing any junkie does when trying to quit heroin.

     What's that? We just come up with a logical excuse at the first sign of pain.., and believe me you will feel the pain. Things like "this is stupid and why am I even doing this?" or "I will get back on it tomorrow as I have to get this report done and the withdrawal symptoms are distracting me" or "I am starving and there's nothing else in the fridge" or "maybe I should try to back off wheat slowly" or "I wonder if whole grain breads are different" or "This could be dangerous" or "I should talk to my doctor first" or bla bla bla...

     Now there is a good reason for this and that is scientists have discovered that wheat fires off the same area of your brain that heroin does.

     I tried numerous times to quit and it was brutal. Nothing even slightly like quitting sugar and I have always eaten tons of the stuff. "How" I managed to quit wheat the first time is a whole other story that is explained in the "My Candy Bar Diet" but here is what happened.

     First off before starting this I had a painful knee that you could hear grinding across the room when I moved it. Well about a month after quitting wheat it was back to completely normal with no pain at all. One day I was running up the stairs and stopped half way thinking wait a minute!!!, what the hell happened to my painful and what sounded like bone on bone knee?!!!!

     Second I used to have 3am heartburn that would launch me off the bed. After a few days of no wheat that was completely gone... Something I had "enjoyed" for at least four or five years if not a lot more.. On top of that it had been progressively getting worse.

     Third is I started sleeping better than I had in so long I couldn't remember.

     Forth without doing any exercise at all I shaved three inches off my waist over about a three month period give or take. I got leaner than I had been in years.

     Fifth was my energy went through the roof. One day while doing some painting on the seventh floor I ran down to the basement and back up twelve times no problem. We are talking ten foot ceilings for most floors and a sixteen foot ceiling on the ground floor!!!  

     Sixth was I lost most of my constant hunger I had. Before I could eat a huge meal and then 20 minutes later find myself looking in the fridge again. That was virtually gone. This actually saved me a lot of money in food bills!!! Apparently the "wheat" was making me hungry! Hmmm yes apparently this is why they put wheat in EVERYTHING??? It makes you hungry and the more you are hungry the more food they can sell you. Yes sometimes simple math is the best science... 

     Seventh was my mental clarity jumped way up. I felt sparkly and enthusiastic even though there was not a lot at the time to really feel all that sparkly about!

     The funny thing was even after all these positive changes a year and a half later I was back on the wheat. Since that time I have tried quitting numerous times. Each time noticing a huge improvement in my health. Each time falling back to the ease and flow of wheat.

     The one thing I will say though is you really owe it to yourself to try it. Sure it will be hard and most of you won't make it farther than a few days to a week but I saw symptoms I never mentioned here disappear that shouldn't have. You know... symptoms that remind you that you don't have a will. So if you don't feel you are up to par you will seriously want to give it a shot!!! If you make it two months and notice nothing then no problem. Go back to loaf diving Dumpsters pillowy soft and snowy white slabs of bliss!!! If you do experience drastic health improvements it could change the rest of your life!!!

     It is also good to remember that health on the upside of life (before 30) is no big deal. On the downside though (after 30 give or take) it is a big deal that gets bigger the older you get. Here is what I have concluded....

     Healthy people die fast and sickly people die slow. Ok not all the time but generally that seems to be the course. Dying slow is a lot of work and very expensive. Which is an issue if you were planning to take your money with you. Dying fast is like grabbing the train on the run. Sure it might jar your arm a bit and you don't get to savor long goodbye's but why linger in the acknowledgements when your story is over.

     Anyway it is worth a shot even as hard as it is after all the odds are hugely in your favor that you will be be pleasantly surprised! Oh and if you do try this I found out it is best to avoid the new marketing scam products that are labeled "gluten free"....  That's like a boozer going on alcohol free beer in order to quit... most times it will just lead you back to failure. Not to mention some real scientist have figured out they are worse than the real thing.

     Oh and if you want something a little more intelligent on why you should quit wheat google Wheatbelly by whatzhisname. A bit of a tedious book with very fascinating stories tossed in here and there.. Now needless to say his book is not approved of or recommended by the wheat growers association.....  : )

     Now to all you snowflakes out there just a reminder here that this blog is for entertainment purposes only. Trying anything I say here without first getting some prescriptions from you doctor could be Illegal and cause cancer in the sad state of California.