Health and wellbeing – The importance of diet

Further to the blog I have been writing on the recovery of my mum after she suffered a major stroke. I wanted to elaborate on the importance of diet, particularly during this Covid-19 pandemic we find ourselves in.

Over the past decade I have spent a lot of money and time into looking into my health. I am a migraine sufferer and anyone who suffers from this debilitating brain disability or any other condition with no cure will understand the lengths you go to in order to get well.

When I was twenty one I suffered terrible pains all over my head, I felt like someone was cracking through my skull with a hammer, I was in tears and eventually I was sick and went to sleep. This was the beginning of my journey as a migraine sufferer.

After years of this condition and seeing numerous doctors, osteopaths, healers and god knows what else, I decided to take the matter in to my own hands.

My journey into optimum health began.

Today, rather than going into the detail of who I saw and how long it has taken me to get to where I am now I want to talk about the importance of diet, particularly the effect of wheat on our body and brain.

Sadly many people’s diets are less than nutritious. We all want something instant and quick. It horrifies me when I see television programme and the actor is throwing a readymade meal in the microwave or I hear friends talking about the amount of McDonalds they eat. I want to shout out ‘what are you doing?’ and I sometimes do.

In our grandparents time bread was seen as a nutritious part of your diet and something which filled you up and gave you the ability to keep on working and it was. These days however, this grain is not what it used to be and we are seeing catastrophic illnesses as a result.

‘We have never had so much food and been so sick’.

I used to believe the health freaks around food where just that and having cake, biscuits, bread and crackers really was harmless. I was putting on more and more weight, particularly around my stomach area and my head was getting worse, even with all the continuous exercise I was doing. I couldn’t understand it.

My dear friend who is very healthy and fit first pointed this out to me, she said, ‘I know what the problem is, as I scoffed another cracker into my mouth.  You are intolerant to wheat.’  Of course I didn’t believe this, grain is good for us. All of the food commercials tell us this (and how many profits are they making off the back of giving us this extremely addictive, high calorific food).

Wheat used to be a pure grain and was healthy, but now your innocent piece of bread comes through a grain which is often put together in a laboratory and short stacked to get more buck for your grain.

‘In modern times, humans have tried to increase yield by creating new strains, crossbreeding different wheats and grasses and generating new genetic varieties in the laborotory’. (Ref. Wheat Belly, Dr. William Davis).

Wheat is not the good source of fibre it once was and I would highly recommend reading Dr. William Davis’ book.  He is a cardiologist who believes that health should be in the hands of the public. He sees patients regularly in his clinic with severe illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis, heart conditions, and auto immune illnesses. He always gives one piece of advice to start with and that is to give up wheat. Patients report on their arthritis clearing up, people with extreme heart conditions get well; people lose weight without exercising, particularly around their tummies. It really is amazing how giving up this calorific poison can help you to return to optimum health.

I know this as my stomach has become flat again and I have lost weight since giving up wheat and gluten. I was beginning to get pains in my hands; I believe which could be the start of arthritis. As soon as I cut the wheat out the pain went. As soon as I indulge in a piece of bread or whole wheat pasta the pain returns.

Furthermore, even more frightening is the effects wheat has on the brain.  (Ref. Grain Brain written by renowned neurologist David Perlmutter, MD, who blows the lid off a topic that’s been buried in medical literature for far too long: carbs are destroying your brain).

Scientific studies are now showing the relation between Alzheimer’s and eating wheat. This innocent looking grain cause’s brain fog, lack of concentration, loss of memory and now it is found to be a main cause in Alzheimer’s.

Please read his book and other health professionals books who are clearly giving the same message, our diet is affecting our health and in a profound way.

If you are suffering from an illness which you can’t seem to find a cure for I would recommend seeing a nutritionist and having an intolerance test. It is very easy; they take a sample of blood and send this away to be screened. Two weeks later your results are back and you can find out exactly what your body is intolerant to. Needless to say wheat and gluten where off the charts for me, as well as dairy and interestingly egg white.

One last thing, did you know what the word gluten actually means? It means glue as it binds the wheat together. Now have a think about what this does in your stomach and this alone may put you off.

I am by no means a health professional as I stated at the beginning of this blog but I was a chronic migraine sufferer and no health professional could cure me.

It wasn’t only changing diet which helped my head but I can assure you diet is so important. After all we are what we eat.

Stay safe and stay well.