Welcome to Healthy Living Week at OnMilwaukee.com! The resolutions are made, now the real work begins. But we're here to help get you – and keep you – on track with stories about medicine, diet, exercise, spiritual and emotional health, and more. Healthy Living Week is brought to you by Pairdd: easy gluten-free cooking at your fingertips.
This blog was originally posted in 2011. I've revived it for the end of Healthy Living Week this week.
Bread’s having a bad month, at least in my world. With several of my friends and family on gluten-free diets, eating fewer carbs and embracing stepped-up attacks on the wheat industry it seems bread is getting a bad rap. It’s the new high-fructose corn syrup.
Bread, it appears, is toast.
Obviously bread isn’t going to disappear any time soon. It’s a huge part of our diets, and if you buy the good stuff really how "bad" can it be for you?
Yet, a good friend of mine, who’s in great shape – a marathon runner and fitness buff – recently switched to a gluten-free diet. He says he’s "never had as much energy" and while quitting wheat, flour, bread, cookies, bagels, most beers, pizza, pasta and more has been tough, he’s singing the praises of a g-free and bread-free lifestyle.
So, is bread bad for you? One local doctor thinks so. William Davis MD, has a besting selling book on the subject. In "Wheat Belly," Dr. Davis says eliminating wheat will not only shrink your belly, but save your life.
He told the blog faboverfifty.com, "When you look at the makeup of wheat, it’s almost like a group of evil scientists got together and said, how can we create this God-awful destructive food that will ruin health?" Wow!
Davis continues, "First, amylopectin A, a chemical unique to wheat, is an incredible trigger of small LDL particles in the blood--the No. 1 cause of heart disease on the United States. When wheat is removed from the diet, these small LDL levels plummet by 80 and 90 percent."
Everyone’s body is different, and many people need to go gluten free. Others have allergies or other health issues. Of course, consult your doctor before doing anything too crazy. But, if my recent talks with family and friends are any indication, I think bread might be in trouble.
I’m not quite ready to go totally wheat or gluten free, but hearing the benefits from friends, family and professionals makes both options sound appealing.
Thoughts? Chime in via the Talkbacks.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
