DO YOU HAVE A WHEAT BELLY?

Ditch this insidious ingredient to score a slimmer waistline and improve your health

When we asked cardiologist William Davis, MD, what the worst food for your heart is, he didn't spend long thinking. His answer: Wheat. Then he told us that it's also the worst food for your belly. In fact, because of this, he's actually coined a new term. "I call it wheat belly, though I could have just as easily called this condition pretzel brain or bagel bowel or biscuit face since there's not an organ system unaffected by wheat," says Dr. Davis, author of the new book, Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight. "But wheat's impact on the waistline is its most visible characteristic." If you're carrying around excess belly flab, Dr. Davis's advice is clear: Give up the wheat. While that may sound drastic, he says that it doesn't mean never eating pizza, cookies, and cheesecake again. And that when you kick the wheat out of your diet, you actually quit craving wheat-filled foods. Just how powerful is this wheat-free approach? "When my patients gave up wheat, they lost an average of 26.7 pounds each," says Dr. Davis. This isn't an isolated finding: According to a Mayo Clinic and University of Iowa study, test subjects lost an average of 27.5 pounds each on a wheat-free diet. Of course, you're probably wondering: Why is wheat so bad for my waistline? The answer is simple: Because it's not really wheat anymore, says Dr. Davis. He explains that in the 1960s, a small group of scientists in Mexico set out to make wheat easier to grow and more pest resistant. That was good for the farmers, but bad for your health and your weight. The reason, according to Dr. Davis: Genetic engineering transformed wheat into a super carbohydrate that wreaks havoc on your body and makes you fat. And yes, says Dr. Davis, this even applies to the so-called "healthy" whole wheat that nutritionists say you should eat. In Dr. Davis's new book, Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, you'll get a complete guide to eating a wheat-free diet, which includes dozens of delicious recipes. It's truly a cardiologist-approved eating plan. Are you ready to change your body—and your life? Then click here to orderLose the Wheat, Lose the Weight.