Take a second to think—what is your primary source of carbohydrate—rice, potatoes, other grains and starchy vegetables? Do you avoid wheat-based products like plague? If so, you are not alone. Many people that are involved in fitness have this idea that anything made primarily of wheat—bread, pasta or any pre-made packaged good, will lead directly to fat storage and is a completely awful source of both carbohydrate and protein. Where did this idea come from?
Why the bad name?
First thing is first—wheat got a bad name because of three different facts that were tied together with false nutritional claims. Instead of taking a look at macronutrient profile and understanding that overall calorie consumption is the only thing that has a direct effect on body composition, people fall victim to the study of Bro-Science. Three myths include the glycemic index, a direct link to body fat and finally, celiac disease.
Wheat and its Glycemic Load
Much like all sources of carbohydrates, insulin is released to promote the storage of glycogen. The misunderstood portion of this concept is that a high spike of insulin will cause the opening of fat cells and thus, storage of fat in them. Highly processed wheat (whole grain or not) has an extremely high value on the glycemic index; even the “healthier” whole-wheat breads with minimal processing and a high amount of fiber have large effects on the body’s insulin response. Thus, when the glycemic index was said to be a factor in a food’s effect on weight gain/loss, wheat bread got a bad rep.
These claims are indeed true; many wheat-based products do cause a large spike of insulin. However, the fact that overall macronutrient consumption is the determining factor of body composition disproves its validity on the instant storage of body fat. The only negative effect that the glycemic load will have on a consumer is that the amount of satiety felt from eating that food and fitting a sufficient amount into your macros (much like any other calorie dense, high GI food.)
Wheat and Body Fat Linkage
Even though the topic of the glycemic index has been covered, I really wanted to touch base with the claim of the existence of, “Wheat Bellies” and how wheat apparently magically stores itself as body fat. We all have heard the big name companies and have seen the advertisements stating that wheat calories will go right to your gut, but why? Is this true?
There are two reasons that people [doctors and salesmen] try to claim that wheat follows a direct pathway to belly fat. The first reason is that most, if not all, pre-packaged snacks, frozen foods and cakes/cookies are made out of wheat flour. Therefore, this gave diet enthusiasts not only a reason to point the finger at wheat but it provides evidence to support the argument (barring that these foods attribute to our nation’s obesity rate.) With that said, there are two huge problems with this claim. First of all, and rather repetitive, the only reason that any food—cookie, cake, and cheese cracker—will lead directly to fat storage is because it is eaten in excess. The fact that excessive weight gain takes place when foods with high fat and sugar (calorie) content are consumed is not surprising. Regardless of the food’s ingredients, if it fits into your daily macros, it can be eaten without any issue. It just so happens that nearly 90% of these highly processed, non-satiating foods with high calorie contents are made with wheat flour.
The second reason, which I am able to further elaborate on, is wheat’s inflammation factor (IF.) A food’s effect on inflammation is essentially how it affects the body from a chemical standpoint. Although not commonly used in food descriptions, this is something that I see thrown around from time to time and leads me down a path to disproval. Here is why: inflammation is a process that the body utilizes in its immune response. When receiving a cut, bruise or any other negative blunder, that specific area of your body will become inflamed to make yourself aware that something has gone wrong. This response allowed for the development of a positive/negative IF value correlating with good/bad sources of food. As a response to something consumed with a negative IF, such as wheat, the body will inflame somewhere. Side effects of this inflammation include bloating, upset stomach, joint pain or even mild blockage of your body’s airways.
Where in literature does it state that a high IF is equivalent to storing body fat? Of course nobody enjoys feeling bloated or having potential side effects. Just because the body inflames as a response to the consumption of a food, does not mean that fat is being stored. Many other quality sources of calories have negative IF values and do not get the same grief as wheat. Why? We’ll discover that right now.
Wheat and Celiac Disease
For those of you that are unaware of what Celiac disease is, it is a disorder that does not allow those diagnosed with it to properly digest and absorb anything that contains gluten. Gluten is the protein found in wheat products, and when people that suffer this disease consume it, they can suffer from all sorts of negative effects such as stomach issues, joint pain, weight loss and more. You may be asking, “Okay, how does this affect fat gain and where does the IF of wheat come in?” IT DOESN’T!
Since there is a digestive disease that relates directly to wheat, many people (especially in fitness) utilize a gluten-free diet. Of course much like any other fad-diet in this industry, it was put on a pedestal as some magical answer to all weight-loss problems. But, when asked to provide an explanation for the fat loss, there is none to be found. Allow me to explain why.
My take on Gluten Free Dieting
As a matter of fact, I experimented with gluten-free dieting before. I limited my sources of carbohydrates to rice, quinoa and all sorts of potatoes. I tracked my macros, which were set at the same numbers as they were prior to going gluten-free. I felt no different, made no significant fat loss and had no magical disappearance of negative side effects to weight training and diet. Actually, I only felt highly deprived of foods that I loved to eat. From this experiment, I was able to arrive at my conclusion.
Remember before when we covered that many wheat-based products are high in added sugars, fat and therefore, overall calories? We also included the fact that they have a high glycemic load and thus, are poorly satiating?
These two facts are why I believe that anybody can claim that a gluten-free diet will lead to a decrease in body fat. If you are completely neglecting anything that contains wheat flour from your diet, you are not only limiting your solid sources of carbohydrates to starchy vegetables, fruits and other grains. What you are doing is kicking a very large amount of foods that will put you deep into your macros while taking limited space in your belly.
Conclusion
With my personal opinion on gluten-free dieting aside, I think we can agree that the idea of neglecting wheat-based products is absurd unless you suffer from Celiac Disease.
Not only is it going to lead to no better results than a diet containing gluten, but also it will force you to exclude a lot of desirable foods from your diet. The end result could be a loss in motivation to diet, the inability to consume foods you enjoy and, above all, the exact opposite of successful fat loss.
Contact Joe: jstringfitness@gmail.com
