Living Without Wheat with Lisa Grudzielanek, MS, RDN, CD, CDE

 
Mike Mutzel: I’m just going to make sure that everyone can see my screen. We have the special for tonight’s webinar. We’ll get going here in just a few minutes, but Lisa and I were just talking about the oatmeal and the high-sugar potential. So Lisa, you want to repeat what you said this morning and tell us about TV episode and what we’re talking about the carbohydrate level with oatmeal?

Lisa Grudzielanek: Sure. This morning, I did a nutrition segment on the local news. I’m in the Milwaukee area and I go on over the week and do nutrition statements, and today was about turning super foods into junk foods. One common mistake that I see being made is with the use of oatmeal. I have so many clients coming in that are eating oatmeal to help lower their cholesterol; however, they really are missing the concept of how carbohydrates affect cholesterol. The point of the piece I did was if a person has one packet of oatmeal with one tablespoon of sugar, and a serving of fruits and a banana, they do that five days a week through the course of a month, that’s sugar equivalent is over 5 ½ cups of sugar. So, what they think could be helping them is actually making the problem worse related to small LDL particles, weight management, blood sugar, etc. So, the food they’re eating they think is going to help these problems, actually, is part of the problem.

Mike Mutzel: That’s amazing. And a lot of people just take the oatmeal with the banana, sugar, raisins, and whatever, and they don’t offset that with a protein or fat.

Lisa Grudzielanek: Correct. So, they’re just doing that, out the door, and then they’re hungry in an hour later because their insulin spikes, and then they’re hungry.

Mike Mutzel: Right. I’m sure we’re going to talk about it, but you mentioned something that I love to hear from what we’ve talked about, that the correlation between eating carbs and then having a concomitant increase in blood lipids. Are we going to talk about that in the webinar?

Lisa Grudzielanek: We can talk a little bit about it certainly. I give the presentation tonight on tidbits more so on practical perils for beginning a wheat-free lifestyle, but it’s one of the things I’ll be addressing when we talk about carbohydrate content because that is very important to optimize health and particularly small LDL particles, which are the No. 1 cause of heart disease that we’re looking at. So absolutely, it plays a role.

Mike Mutzel: So what do you tell patients? I know that’s somewhat confusing for people. They’re used to hearing about saturated fat, and animal parts and whatever in terms of raising cholesterol. How do you make that bridge in the people you’re doing nutrition consults with? Do you have mechanisms?

Lisa Grudzielanek: I pretty much tell them dismiss everything they are told to this point regarding nutrition, and we’re going to download a new program today. The new program is we’re not afraid of fats, we’re not afraid of saturated fats. We’re going to embrace these healthy types of fat – coconut oil, olive oil, healthy fats and meats – and we’re going to dismiss this notion that carbs are healthy, especially the abundant amount of carbohydrates that most Americans are eating. We’re just not able to thrive metabolically with the continuous supply of carbohydrates. So, it’s a lot of radication on what really is truly going to help their conditions and what is actually causing the problem.

Mike Mutzel: Yeah, that’s awesome. I like that – download a new program.

Lisa Grudzielanek: A whole new program.Reeducate and reboot.

Mike Mutzel: Right. That’s true. Everyone needs that – people that like you said. Oatmeal is so funny. Everyone in my family thinks it’s the healthiest thing in the world.

Lisa Grudzielanek: You guys are crazy. My dad has insulin-dependent diabetes, and for years, I’ve been struggling to tell him to get off this oatmeal kick. Finally, he listened to me after years of nagging. And along the hole, his insulin was cut down dramatically by making changes to his food plan, of course, and one of them is getting rid of that darn oatmeal.

Mike Mutzel: Now, what would Dr. Davis say about oatmeal and the potential cross-contamination with gluten- and gliadin-type foods?

Lisa Grudzielanek: Dr. Davis would strongly advise against oatmeal from the simple fact of the glycation that it’s prone to, because it does raise blood sugar very dramatically. He advises his patients not to eat oatmeal, and yes, of course, it can cross-react with meat and processing, so he would definitely say, “Leave that alone.” Just better alternatives than oatmeal for breakfast by far.

Mike Mutzel: Welcome everyone. It’s Mike and Bettina here. Bettina, how are you tonight? She’s on there somewhere. We’re having a great conversation with Dr. Davis, as Chief Nutritionist and Program Director for the Wheat Belly Lifestyle Institute. Lisa grabs that one act. Lisa – thanks so much for joining. I really appreciate you coming on.

Lisa Grudzielanek: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Mike Mutzel: Awesome. We’ll go ahead and get this thing going. Here’s a special for everyone if you want to jot down this code in case you can’t make it to the end. We’re going to dive in just some really great science and nutrition information, and then talk about how we can weave in some of the Xymogen products, so I’m going to show this for another second and then transition over to Lisa’s slides, and we will go ahead and get rocking here.

Lisa, you’re going to see a pop-up that says “Is it okay to show my screen?”

Lisa Grudzielanek: Okay. Yep.

Mike Mutzel: Cool. I see you perfectly.

Lisa Grudzielanek: Let’s go from the beginning. You there? We’re good?

Mike Mutzel: Yeah, good. Awesome.

Lisa Grudzielanek: Alright. Let’s get started. So, just a normal disclosures of fronts and disclaimers. These opinions tonight are going to be my own based on my clinical experience. I’ve been a registered dietitian and nutritionist for the past 12 years. I’m based in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. As Mike alluded to, I worked for years with Dr. Davis, and I’ll tell you a bit more about our work and what we’re finding. I’m just so excited to get moving along. Also, some more common disclosures – that I am not a Xymogen employee; I do use Xymogen products quite happily with great results; I will be compensated for the presentation tonight, and I am not a shareholder. So, much of the information I’m going to go over tonight, at least for the first half of the discussion, you will find a course laid out in the New York Times Bestseller, “Wheat Belly,” which began a movement back in the fall, 2011. This presentation may not be the most exciting for the biochemist in the crowd, but I am going to refer to studies that are, of course, linked in the Wheat Belly book. If you want the studies, you want the research, I’m going to give you the resources for that, but instead, I would like to focus on the practical applications of this very important message. So, gearing the stories of front lines, information you take back to your practices tomorrow, impacts on change. The topics to cover – we’re going to briefly go to the whole business on why wheat is so darn bad for us; we need to address why carbohydrate intake is important for optimizing health, and tips to remove wheat and what the heck do I eat when I’m wheat-free. Again, I alluded to all these references. All of Dr. Davis’s books – the “Wheat Belly” book, he’s got two cookbooks out – are great resources if you’re looking for information. The original book has oodles of references. This conversation is aligned also with the “Grain Brain” book, which we are all familiar with as well – a lot of similar references in there. We also have a Wheat Belly Lifestyle Institute, which launched – I want to say two months ago now. This is an effort to disseminate more how-to information. So, the Wheat Belly Lifestyle Institute is the dashboard for all things Wheat Belly; you’ll find information and resources there. Dr. Davis’s next book, “Wheat Belly Total Health,” is being released this September of 2014. So, we’re working on amping up this website in anticipation of that release, but there’s a nice how-to course there; there are videos and PDFs, and all sorts of things, and of course, Dr. Davis’s blog.

Without further ado, this conversation tonight is not going to be about gluten. We are going to be talking about why gluten is a problem for, or I should specifically say, wheat – we kind of want to focus on this wheat aspect. There’s more to this whole conversation than celiac disease. The thing in here and nutritional process is all. If you don’t have celiac disease, then you don’t have to avoid gluten. Well, we’re addressing the other 90% of people who have a problem with the components in modern wheat. I’ll be discussing briefly gliadin, wheat germ agglutinin, and amylopectin A; why modern wheat is responsible for waking, appetite stimulation, arthritis, joint pain, destruction of gastrointestinal health, neurological and behavioral problems, and so forth. This all flies in the face, of course, of glowing endorsements from official providers of dietary advice that are telling us to eat these whole grains.

Real brief history here – the summary of modern wheat. If we trace the history of wheat in the human diet, we start with a hundred gather of culture – that goes back to about 10,000 years, around 8500 B.C. Bottom line is wild einkorn wheat was what was eaten at this time, and it’s naturally mated with another grass, and it created this 28-chromosome emmer wheat. Why I’m kind of going through – I don’t want to get to all the chromosomes and so forth – but emmer wheat is the wheat of the bible; it’s the ancestral form of wheat. This was a dominant strain of wheat for many years, and I make this important distinction because this is not what we’re eating today. So many folks in my office will say, “Well, it’s in the bible. We’ve been eating it for years.” We’re not eating what we ate years ago. Wheat never really was good to begin with for humans to consume, and it’s been made much worse through genetic modification. Wheat, in turn, mated with another wild grass, gained some more chromosomes, and so now, we’re left with several hundred years later has been various strains of 42-chromosome Triticum strain of wheat. As we move along, that was pretty much what was around for, as I said, hundreds of years, and then we get into those snafu in the 1960s, when we started kind of monking wheat a little bit. So, until that time, wheat was the product of natural forces and human cultivation, but as the population grew in the 20^th century, world hunger prompted agricultural and genetic researches to seek out ways to increase yield of grains, particularly related to wheat, corn and soy. Norman Borlaug, an American biologist, working at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, which is east of Mexico City, he pursued methods to increase the yield of wheat. Using various techniques, he created high-yielding semi-dwarf strains. This strains of wheat stood 18- to 24-inches high, rather than nutritional amber waves of grain we think of 4 ½ nutritional wheat. So, Dr. Borlaug actually won the noble prize for his work. Descendants of this high-yielding semi-dwarf wheat now dominate worldwide, so virtually any bagel, any pasta, noodles, cookies, cakes, pastries, etc. now all are made with this semi-dwarf wheat. It’s what we are now consuming. With that being said, why does this matter if the wheat is now shorter than it once was years ago? Well, what happened with those changes is that they changed the proteins in the wheat. One of the most important changes was changes they made to gliadin, and gliadin is one of the key proteins of gluten. We’ve all seen this before in our studies, and we know gluten has two proteins – gliadin and glutenin. Well, gliadin underwent many changes. The gliadin protein actually underwent some genetic techniques, such as bed-crossing, to select for specific characteristics; they breeded it with non-wheat grasses; they did something maybe called “embryo rescue” – all of these were for purposeful mutations and characterizations that they wanted the wheat crop to have. Note again that these manipulations predated genetic modifications. It predates the genes splicing that’s done now. Some of the health problems that are related are due to these changes they made to this gliadin. If you remember back to our biochemistry days, one of the most important things we learned was structure function of protein. You cannot change the structure of protein without having functional changes of how that protein is going to act. So, you change the structure of gliadin protein, you’re going to change the function of how that protein operates. Modern wheat, despite all the genetic alterations, it has made its to the world field, world consumption, we started consuming this grain without any documents of safety. Again, these are all predated – the consents and disclosure; they altered this grain and unleashed it to the public without any safety data. We’ve essentially been the guinea pigs since 1960, and we’re seeing some of the travesties of that now.

So, we’ll look in gliadin. Gliadin is actually broken down into the body to polypeptides, the little protein molecules that bind to the opiate receptors in the brain. Gliadin stimulates our appetite. When I mentioned that it attaches to the opiate receptions in the brain, this is where, of course, morphine and heroine, and other drugs of choice bind to. With the gliadin, however, we don’t get that euphoria or that pain relief that other drugs do when they bind to the opiate receptors, we simply attain appetite stimulation. So, this gliadin protein is believed to be addicted in some susceptible people. So – why is one cookie never enough? Why can I go through a whole loaf of bread? So, this gliadin protein that is stimulating the appetite, it can increase the intake of calories 400 or more per day. Therefore, if you remove wheat, you’re going to have a natural appetite suppressant where you can eat 400 or less calories per day without hunger. So, lose the wheat, lose the appetite-stimulating effect. There’s actually been some use of an FDA – and I might as well look and see if it’s on the market at this point. It was pretty close, but an opiate-blocking drug that will help with reducing appetite. In my practice, I would say we can do the same thing without putting on a drug if we get off of wheat. It was a very, very common phenomenon that patients will say, “I’m just not hungry,” and it’s pre-profound.

Gliadin proteins have also been linked to behavioral outbursts in children with ADHD and autism, paranoia, schizophrenics, mania in bipolar diseases, food obsessions, and binge eating. Gliadin disables the normal intestinal paracellular barrier by the regulation of zonulin. I’ll show you a little picture on that in a minute, but the point is here. It’s creating, as we all like to call it, “leaky gut,” in intestinal tissue of celiac patients and those on normal controls. So, let’s get to that.

The slide is a little busy, but this is talking about zonulin, which was discovered by Dr. Fasano, I think in 1990. It poses a unique problem with wheat. Wheat has that gliadin protein, and it has that particular capacity to unlock the intestinal barrier. This then allows foreign substances into the blood, and this is the presumed reason why people who eat wheat have more autoimmune and inflammatory diseases because of this leaky gut that’s created when the gliadin-induced zonulin is released. So, we will see rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune things like lupus, antibodies, the thyroid, lung and airway inflammation, intestinal issues such as colitis and Crohn’s, joint inflammation is very common. With gliadin disabling that normal intestinal barrier, this upregulation – the zonulin system traces phenomenon in both the intestinal tissue of celiac patients, as well as normal controls. Again, we’re not just talking about people who have celiac disease, but quite frankly, all of us. To kind of allude kind of a summary point for the gliadin piece there, we’re going to talk about wheat germ and gluten in a moment. But because of this effectiveness of gliadin really creating system-like autoimmune and inflammatory disease, Dr. Davis believes very strongly that there is not an organ not affected by the consumption of modern wheat. A good area looked for literature and researched on this as well that’s in an easily accessible location is greenmedinfo.com worked by Sayer Ji. He has a lot of information on his website and has like a database of research and studies and all the conditions that have been notably affected by wheat. Last time, I think there was 250 conditions, so it’s very potent what it’s doing us.

Wheat germ agglutinin – this is another component. Gliadin is one component of modern wheat that is harmful for the reasons we just spoke about. The next substance within wheat is wheat germ agglutinin. What this is is a lectin that’s in wheat. All types of plants have lectins; they are the proteins that protect plants. So unlike animals that possess various forms of immunity, humans here – we have antibodies, we have inflammatory cells. Plants have lectins to protect them against fungus, molds, and insects. So, some plant lectins, such as those in yams or beans for example, they’re pretty benign, while as ricin from castor oil of plants are highly toxic. The lectin from wheat, while not as toxic as ricin, is still quite toxic. So, a direct toxic effect can happen when we put wheat germ agglutinin directly into a laboratory animal; it induces epithelial damage in the intestinal tracts. Wheat germ agglutinin really powerfully binds to cell membranes, such that the gastrointestinal tract is pretty much destroyed. As humans, we, of course, are not ingesting pure wheat germ agglutinin, but we consume them in small quantities – typically 10-20 mgs per day, thereby exposing ourselves to these toxic effects a little at a time. So, there is also an indirect toxic effect – this leakiness. Similar to what we just spoke about with gliadin, wheat germ agglutinin has a unique ability as well to unlock the intestinal barriers and allows foreign substances into the blood stream – another presumed mechanism for why there’s so much autoimmune and inflammatory diseases that are resolved when folks get off of wheat, or part of the causal agent from consuming wheat. The last piece of the background on modern wheat is amylopectin A. Amylopectin A is a carbohydrate found in wheat. Back in my undergrad days, we learned about carbohydrates, we learned about complex carbohydrates, and we learned about simple carbohydrates, and we learned that complex carbohydrates are very healthy for us, and that’s what we want to encourage all of our patients to eat. Well, guess what? The complex carbohydrate of wheat is amylopectin A, and it readily breaks down into glucose when digested. Amylopectin A has a branching structure that makes it highly susceptible to digestion by the enzyme amylase in our saliva and stomach, and it thereby releases blood sugar very rapidly and in very high levels. So, we have a high glycemic response from the carbohydrate in wheat. We therefore have high blood sugar, which then triggers high insulin; of course, high insulin, we have more fat storage, and you have this constant two-hour cycle of being hungry and wanting more junk carbohydrates. So, I like to kind of educate my patients that eating a diet rich in whole grains is really like eating a diet filled with sugar, and to get off this sugar rollercoaster, we really have to change the composition of what they’re eating. If we look at the basic chemistry here – amylopectin A – it makes sense why some people have this hunger every few hours; they’re literally being fueled to be hungry.

What we’re seeing here next – these are the values generated by Dr. David Jenkins – original study of glycemic index of foods. This is published back in 1981; similar values have been corroborated many times since. Note that – let’s see here – you’re blood sugar rise that can occur from sucrose. The glycemic index of table sugar is 59. The glycemic index of whole wheat is depending on the study – 72 – you might see it a little high or a little low depending on the study. The point is that sucrose has a lower glycemic index than wheat bread. This is actually how Dr. Davis first stumbled onto having his patients remove wheat from their diets; he was actually to get them to lower their blood sugar. So he pulled out a list of glycemic index and started looking out what foods are high in glycemic index, and told his patients to take them out of their diet. Low and behold, they came back with lower blood sugars, but they also came back with, “Hey Doc, my hip isn’t in pain anymore,” or “My acid reflux is gone,” etc. So, the other thing I’ll point out regarding this glycemic index table is that older and overweight people will likely experience higher blood sugar levels with these various foods than slender and young adults. When we’re doing glycemic index, it’s usually not rating a 60-year-old sedentary patient; they’re usually young and slender, so just keep in mind this information is always applicable who you were talking to. Thereby looking at glycemic index – we’re not suggesting people have Snickers bars every day, but it’s just a throw into the face of really understanding how certain foods are affecting blood sugar, namely that table sugar is actually less than shredded wheat, whole wheat bread, and corn flakes. This is simple fact that most often is missed. I’d like to call it the nature of a trap when we’re trying to look at what foods are really going to be healthy for one’s food plan.

Moving on then, to kind of summarize what we spoke about thus far. Wheat consumption is associated weight gain via at least two mechanisms. We have the appetite-stimulation via gliadin-derived exorphins, so when we’re eating the wheat, the gliadin is broken down to those polypeptides, attaches to the opiate receptions in the brain, and stimulates our appetite. And then high blood sugar effect of amylopectin A, is easily broken down to raise blood sugars. We could also throw the third thing in there that it is rated high in the glycemic index as well.

So, enough about the history; let’s move on to what we are seeing, and what we are seeing going wheat-free is health transformations. In the office today, I had a client that I was working with, and within 10 days of going off of wheat, her carpal tunnel and her wrist went away; she had pains in her knee that resolved; casein bloating and generated things were gone; and within the course of three months of being off wheat, this particular patient, her depression had greatly reduced to the fact that she was off from medication for the first time in 15 to 20 years. So, we see a lot of things; we see autoimmune and inflammatory diseases improve. Thyroid antibodies – if you have clients and patients with thyroid antibodies that are elevated, you will see over time that these release because the body is no longer fighting the thyroid, the inflammation is reduced, so those antibodies come down. Fibromyalgia – I have two or three clients now on the last year, that are common, walking with a cane due to fibromyalgia, then after a couple of months, initially, they have a lot of improvement, but usually by two-three months – a phenomenal transformation in health, no longer needing the cane, and correcting vitamin D and other things – but fibromyalgia has a lot of fabulous turnaround. Depression, as I mentioned, lifted. Very common here about energy being increased. Menstrual cycles are milder – I hear this a lot our female clients. Appetite – this is a huge one where it’s worth the shot for many patients just simply for appetite. If there’s a client and patient that says, “You know I don’t feel any different.” Many people, if they’re not having those outright symptoms that many patients are because some patients say, “I don’t feel any different. I didn’t eat wheat for a week, but I didn’t feel any difference.” There’s a lot of education you need to do there, but one of the motivating factors remain on a wheat-free plan is your appetite is reduced. So, they don’t have that gliadin-driven constant appetite; it really is a nice “appetite suppressant,” reduction in cardiovascular parameters such as triglycerides, HDL, blood sugars go down. In inflammation, you’ll see zero-active protein go down; you will see fibrinogen go down; blood pressure; acid reflux usually resolves within five days out of wheat; irritable bowel; Crohn’s, colitis – we’ve seen all of that type of thing improved.

Here’s a list of medications stopped after wheat elimination. As you can see, it’s quite a profound list. Many commonly prescribed medications, such as acid blockers; diabetes medications are lessened; depression medications are then lessened or removed; asthma; pain medication; you name it over 70 – I think when we did an assessment one time – 50 to 70 medications we’ve seen in totality removed off of wheat elimination.

One thing I want to mention here. I’ve mentioned depression a few times, and I’m not saying that wheat, of course, is a cure-all for depression. We know it’s a multi-factorial issue. All of our neurotransmitters are important, and 80 to 95% of our serotonin is produced in the gut, the second brain. So if our second brain is having imbalance and we can improve our balance in our second brain, it makes sense why mood and mental status or mental health will improve. So, removal of wheat does help improve our gut microbiota, and is one factor that we think is related to why there’s improved mood getting off of wheat because we see it very commonly. Another thing that we do when we’re moving people from wheat is putting them on a probiotic, and so we use this Max DF product, and that product does a lot of beneficial effects that help re-inoculate the gut bacteria with lactobacillus and different bacterium in there. We’ll usually have people on a course of about 50 CFUs for about 8 weeks to help reinoculate the gut in addition to removing wheat. It’s also important to, just to make a disclaimer, that dietary strategies cannot mitigate disease, it cannot replace drugs; however, Xymogen products can give your patients their best chance to stay healthier longer.

And here’s that product that I was mentioning earlier. It’s a really great probiotic that we have great success with some patients with.

A little bit of background also on the ProbioMaxDF and some clinical applications. Again, bowel regularity – you might hear patients who get off of wheat and say, “Oh, I’m still a little bloated,” or “I have a little indigestion still,” and you’ll usually find out that it will clear up quite nicely with a probiotic for a couple of weeks, at least.

Coconut oil is something that I add in a lot to my patient’s food plans as well, simply just cooking with it – a tablespoon or two a day. I actually tell them not to worry about overdoing it. Just enjoy your coconut oil. The lauric acid in coconut oil is, of course, very good as an immune booster. Its antiviral and antibacterial properties are very helpful in helping heal leaky gut, and just help with the gut integrity as well. We all know probably some of the benefits, too – maintaining that healthy LDL:HDL ratio; that’s another one factor why one might consider coconut oil is the healthy balance it can achieve along with food plan with one’s lipid panel.

Let’s get on to some case studies here. These are some folks that have eliminated wheat from their food plan, have been following the Wheat Belly lifestyle. This is Gary. He’s a financial analyst out of New York. He would tell you – he’s self-professed, “I’ve been affected my whole life;” he removed wheat from his diet, and he lost a total of 80 pounds. He had horrible GI concerns that went away. He had seborrhea that resolved. He had rashes on his elbows that resolved. He didn’t know what normal bowel movements were like until after wheat removal. So, he’s very happy; he has kept his weight off now for close to year and a half. So, Gary’s much happier.

Here we have Alvin. Alvin went down 70 pounds in a year. He had, prior to removing wheat, COPD, acid reflux, asthma, pulmonary hypertension, metabolic syndrome, prediabetes. He weighed 332 pounds, and as I mentioned, he lost 70 pounds in a year. His blood sugar on the start was 160 over 100, and he was on oxygen when he slept. So, he no longer requires oxygen; he has no symptoms of respiratory illness; all the swelling in his legs and heart failures, gone; his blood sugars are in the low 80s; and his blood pressure is 130 over 80. He is also thrilled to know that he had been on 10 different prescription medications, and now, he’s on none. So, complete turnaround for Alvin.

Kaitlyn, again on her 20s, and you see her in her wedding dress there. You can see her in a year later  110 pounds less. She went from size 22, down to size 6. She was young enough; I think at that point, she didn’t really have any major problems. She was just startled with being so overweight and fatigue, and is living a healthier, happier life since removing wheat.

Viola – she declared herself free from wheat, and she went down 70 pounds, in three dress sizes, just from cutting out wheat. That was her main focus. I’m going to mention a little bit in some of these cases coming up – they really did focus on carbohydrate intake more so than others. We’re going to talk more about that, but to maximize weight release, we often have to look at carbohydrate intake. Viola’s done a really nice job. Her A1c’s gone 76 to 64. She has no more swelling or pain anywhere in her body. She’s 55 years young, and she feels much better without all the inflammation. She’s sleeping better and more energy. She said she feels 30 years younger.

Then we have Lauren. Lauren has been wheat-free, grain-free, sugar-free since November of 2012, and she’s lost 110 pounds. Again – wheat – but also watching overall all her grain and sugar intake. She was a size 18-20 when she started in the picture on the left. Now, she’s a size 6-8. When she lost quite a bit of weight, she’s been involved in fitness, but all these examples so far are without exercising. So, it’s kind of an interesting note as well that Lauren here, on this example, she does exercise, she’s in Crossfit now, but she had lost all this weight, and then she’s gotten to the exercise piece.

Lastly, one more example. I’m trying to give examples of men, women, and different ethnicities. Here’s a husband and wife team. Carolyn and her husband, who combined lost 90 pounds, and they feel 20 years younger. Carolyn, as well, no longer has ankle swelling; the swelling is a thing you will see a lot – facial swelling, leg swelling, any type of edema – quite often is reduced to do that inflammatory process being reduced off of those harmful additives in modern wheat – gliadin and wheat germ agglutinin. So, getting back to her – her skin is softer; she had scabby bombs that are gone; her husband as she would say was kind of pretty moody – his mood has improved. Together they are eliminating wheat and doing it as a team, and so obviously for them, it was really helpful to do it as a team. Both of them – cholesterol numbers, blood pressure numbers – looking fantastic.

So, I’ve said a little bit here about the whole carbohydrate thing. Wheat free – step No. 1 – fabulous. Remove wheat – I’m going to give you some tools on how to do that in a moment. But for prevention control and possible reversal of conditions, you really need to look at limiting all carbohydrates. The bottom line is all carbohydrates break down to sugar. Whether you’re eating the Snickers bar or a wheat piece of bread, a piece of fiber or milk, or actually a piece of whole-grain bread, some milk – all carbohydrate sources break down into sugar. Ideally, grain-free is great, but wheat-free is the place to start. One of the things I talk to my patients about is explaining to them that if they have elevated blood sugar or insulin resistance, that they have a severe carbohydrate intolerance or severe carbohydrate sensitivity, that their body is not able to metabolize carbohydrate in a manner that it would. So, trying to frame it for them that there is a medical reason behind this – if there’s elevated blood sugar, there’s some type of imbalance going on, and the body can’t handle the carbohydrate like it once did. So, kind of explaining they have this intolerance or sensitivity, and wheat is a great place to start; it occurs as a flagrant trigger for blood sugar. Ideally, grain-free, you will see even better transformations and help. But the message tonight is obviously getting the first step done, and then we kind of work on the next steps, but all carbohydrate because what you will see quite frequently is people doing a lot of fruit, or they might do, for example, quinoa or rice, which are of course gluten-free, but they’re also carbohydrate sources. So, they will not have the most weight release possible if they’re over indulging with carbohydrates.

The current dietary advice is perfect to develop diabetes. Why would I say such a thing? Well, the normal amount of blood sugar in your blood, at any given time, is about a teaspoon. So when you’re looking at a food label, or when you look at the back of the label where it’s telling you “sugar grams,” every 4 g is 1 teaspoon of sugar. So if you look, for example, at soda; we know all the sugar in soda is added sugar, so if the label said 30 g of sugar (you can take 30 divided 4), you will know how many teaspoons of sugar are in that kind of soda. With this math based on a 2,000-calorie-per-day food plan, 300 grams of carbohydrate is advised by some “health authorities,” and this equates to a cup and a half of sugar a day – that’s way more sugar than the human body requires in a day. All this carbohydrate intake, of course, leads to insulin resistance, which underlies the development of diabetes; it can increase our blood pressure, our inflammatory visceral fat, and it turns off fat burning. So, how I explain this to my patients and clients when I’m working with them is you cannot burn fat in the flames of insulin. It’s a pretty simplistic way to say things when people understand it. Insulin is a fat-storage hormone, and if you’re pumping out loads of insulin every day because you’re eating carb, carb, carb, carb – you cannot burn fat in the flames of insulin. You have to reduce that insulin resistance, and the way to reduce the insulin resistance is by reducing your carbohydrate intake. Glucose toxicity leads to inflammation, of course, that causes heart disease and cancer. Small LDL particles – we do NMRs or fractioned cholesterol particles in the clinic, and this is by far the most common cause of coronary artery disease and heart disease. So, small LDL particles are flagrantly raised by excessive carbohydrate intake. You will see folk’s small LDL particles drop like a stone once they reduce their carbohydrate intake, particularly wheat – it’s the biggest offender there. Obviously, we’ve been hearing also more about dementia, type-3 diabetes; these are all talked about in Grain Brain as well. We are now focusing on brain health, and there’s a dramatic link there with the brain becoming insulin-resistant. So, people with diabetes have at least twice the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Mike Mutzel: Now Lisa, before we keep going here, what test do you like to recommend for the assessment of the LDL particles?

Lisa Grudzielanek: We do what’s called an “NMR.” It’s a lipoprotein analysis, so it breaks down all the particles. The old school ways, of course, the standard lipid panel, which is calculated LDL value, but the actual measurement of the small particles and the large particles you’re getting a break down of the LDL:HDL – that’s what we’re looking at.

Mike Mutzel: Right. So, just like LipoScience that comes standard in the LabCorp or whatever.

Lisa Grudzielanek: Exactly – whichever layout that has more detailed information. Within that test result, you also get an insulin-resistance score, and so that’s something that’s a great talking point as well to talk to the patients about.

Mike Mutzel: I love your analogy here, that you can’t burn fat in the flames of insulin. That’s awesome. I think people resonate with that. So, is that insulin score that you’re referring to that comes standard in your LabCorp or Quest, is that what you’re using or you’re using triglycerides? Tell us more about this insulin resistance.

Lisa Grudzielanek: It’s kind of a combination of a couple of things. For example, the insulin score in the lab that I looked at goes from 0 to 100, and Dr. Davis will tell you he likes to see that insulin resistance or the insulin score in a single digit. So, if you’re doing a fasting insulin, ideally seeing that in a single digits. And if you’re getting it from LabCorp or these other ones that give a range from 0 to 100, you want to see that in single digits, essentially as low as it can go; under 10 would be great. So, we’re looking at that; we’re looking at triglycerides. If someone has a high triglyceride level, I explain to them that just means you have more fat in your blood. And how do we get fat in our blood? Well, we get fat in our blood when we have excessive carbohydrate intake. Carbohydrates not burned for energy will increase your triglyceride. If they’re not drinking heavily, this also raises triglyceride. You know, we’ll look at triglyceride. If I have a patient in front of me and they have high triglyceride and high small LDL particles, I know without asking them one single question about their nutrition intake that they’re overeating carbohydrate because those are the lab factors that you’re going to see elevated from excessive carbohydrate intake, unless they’ve met with me prior, they’re all probably eating wheat.

Mike Mutzel: Right. That’s awesome. And you said grain-free, for the people that are a little bit more active, say they’re exercising like you mentioned, patients and clients are doing Crossfit – what do you recommend them? Sweet potatoes or yams or we’re talking just ketogenic diet?

Lisa Grudzielanek: Well, sweet potatoes, some rice, they might have quinoa; quinoa’s actually a seed and not a grain. So, it’s all individualized. Mostly clients I see are not doing Crossfit, they’re not very active, but if they are, we individualize things. What we’re kind of a sweet spot is to know for carbohydrates tolerances – you know, checking your blood sugar. So, if you check your blood sugar before you eat and then check it an hour after, and we’re aiming for essentially no change. If you’re having a flagrant increase in your blood sugar, say by 50 or more points, well then, you certainly know that you’re body can’t handle that carbohydrate level. There are other factors in there. Obviously, use your carbohydrate better. If you’re exercising and depending if you’re checking before or after, but generally, sweet potatoes, small portions of rice or quinoa.

Mike Mutzel: Right. That’s really good. So, it’s like a modified glucose-tolerance test that’s really more specific to people’s normal diet.

Lisa Grudzielanek: Right. It just depends if someone’s doing grain-free, they’re not obviously going to be doing rice, but they might do some sweet potatoes. If they’re just essentially a person who’s avoiding wheat, and they’re just going to stick off of wheat, do low-carb, they might do some rice in that particular person. So, it’s just a little bit more individualized to meet them where they’re at.

Mike Mutzel: Sure, but for the folks that you mentioned that aren’t exercising, are you basically – do you and Dr. Davis recommend pretty much no carbohydrates or keep it to just fruit and vegetables?

Lisa Grudzielanek: I’m actually going to get into that next.

Mike Mutzel: Oh, cool.

Lisa Grudzielanek: How much we recommend. It’s variable. Let’s see if we can move the slide and move ahead here. It’s not advancing. Let’s see.

Mike Mutzel: Maybe if we just exit out the presentation because sometimes, it freezes.

Lisa Grudzielanek: Alright.

Mike Mutzel: That’s weird.

Lisa Grudzielanek: There we go. Yehey… Technology.  To answer Mike’s question, what are we recommending, what Dr. Davis and I are essentially recommending is zero-glycemic index. So, we spoke earlier about how glycemic index can be a little misleading. Say for example, oatmeal; oatmeal has a glycemic index of about 55. Well, oatmeal still causes very high blood sugar; it still causes glycation of protein; it can still cause negative effects, of course, of high blood sugar on the brain, etc. Low glycemic is a little “healthified,” is because we’re essentially looking for zero-glycemic index, and that would be most vegetables, your meats, your seafood, nut seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, eggs, herbs, spices. So, essentially foods that are going to cause minimal of any blood sugar change. We don’t have a flagrant blood sugar increase with salmon, but we do when we have basic chips, of course. Essentially, that’s kind of what we’re shooting for, and we’ll address the carb issue; it’s really a personal attention issue. We do individualized things, but a good rule of thumb, a generally safe place for most people would be about 15 carbs per meal. I say it for most people because if you have a patient who’s on insulin or secretic guts that are going to be having pump out more insulin on mealtime, these patients have to be monitored very quickly. We want working with someone who understands how to pull back with their insulin, how to adjust their medications. When someone is starting a low-carb plan, we often tell them to cut their insulin doses in half. They may be cutting certain medications in half, but again, working with their healthy professional accordingly. A general rule is when I’m working with a client and they’re looking for weight release, or they’re looking to dramatically lower, for example, their lipid profile, their small LDL, we’ll have them do 15 carbohydrates per meal or less. Again, here’s that rule of thumb for checking the blood sugar, and we’re really aiming for no change if possible. If you have the ability to have folks check their blood sugar, it’s a really great self-empowerment tool. I find this really is a motivator for a lot of clients when they can see it’s an actual, at the moment what’s happening, and they can see how food’s responding. One thing also that can help when they’re learning about these carbohydrates is to give them some resources. With today’s technology, apps are of course everywhere. There are tons of apps you can utilize, and I listed a few of them here. My Fitness Pal, probably one that I would say is very, very common; so many of my clients are using that. But other thing we talk about in sessions is to educate them on carb sources and non-carb sources. So again, I’m a nutritionist and registered dietician, I’m educating them on what a carb is, or what a carb isn’t; I’m talking to them on how to find the carbs in the label. Some people will do very well, and they want specifics – tell me 15 gms of carbs per meal. Some people will do well with saying, “Just kindly give me a core plan. Let me know the foods I kind of need to minimize and let me know which ones are my ‘freebies,’ like the vegetables.” IFM has a good core nutritional food plan handed out that many in our field use, but it’s kind of individualized. During the education and process, I talk a lot about sabotage, so friends and family, it could be a really challenging so  we need to talk through that and how can you manage those situations. Sometimes, there’s not a good answer. If someone is married and their spouse is on board, and they’re going to have their junk food in the house, that’s challenging. My advice is focus on what you can do and not what you can’t do. You can’t make other people change, but you are responsible for your own actions. Let’s focus on what you can do in a positive way.

So, moving on to deleting the wheat. Step number one, plain and simple, is wheat elimination. One thing I should mention here is about 40% of people do experience a brief wheat withdrawal, where for the first three to five days, they will experience nausea, fatigue, might have an upset stomach. These symptoms are basically from getting off of that opiate. So, you’re taking an opiate substance every day and then you stop that substance, you might have headache and fatigue, and not feeling your best in the next couple of days. It is not harmful; everybody survives. You just have to kind of a mouth strap to get through those first couple of days for those people that do experience that; not everyone does. The same thing can happen if you remove wheat and then you have it, whether it be accidentally, unintentionally, or you actually choose to eat some wheat. We call this “wheat re-exposure syndrome,” and we will see asthma flare-ups, bowel urgency in some, others experience constipation, acne, foggy thinking, horrendous fatigue, and sinus congestion. So, this actually is a way that keeps people on the straight and narrow because they don’t want to feel so crutty by having the wheat. It’s kind of a learning curve, and a lot of people just kind of needed to go through that, on their own experience that.

When you’re removing wheat, there are obvious food sources, such as bagels and breads, and so forth. Those are very obvious – anything made with flour. Generally, we’re talking about most grocery stores are made of wheat, whether it be white flour or wheat flour, Dale, whole grain – it’s wheat.  So, read labels and avoid products with wheat, wheat flour, gluten, or vital wheat gluten. These are substances that we want to avoid.

It’s locking up again. Let’s see here. Sorry about that.

Mike Mutzel: No, that’s okay, Lisa. While we’re figuring out that computer thing, you mentioned the pre-imposed glucose test for people that are trying to figure out you know, does this carbohydrate load that I normally eat affect my blood sugar? Do you recommend the finger sticks – the finger prick the inexpensive glucose testing – is that sufficient in your opinion?

Lisa Grudzielanek: Oh, sure. Yep. You don’t need a prescription to get a blood sugar meter and strip. When someone has a diabetes diagnosis, they, of course, can get those prescribed. But we’ll just have folks go to your local pharmacy, and they’re all fairly accurate from your least expensive to your most expensive. Well, of course, where they’re making the money is on those test strips. The test strips can be a buck of piece. So, have people selectively look at various meals or certain meals. If they do the same practice every day, they don’t need to check breakfast every day. You might check that at a time or two, and then you know where you’re at, and then move on to maybe lunch. So, the finger sticks, is yes; it’s a nice tool that can certainly help.

Mike Mutzel: Sure. What if you click on PowerPoint below in the orange… There we go.

Lisa Grudzielanek: Alright. Food additives – these contain gluten until proven otherwise. Here’s a list of items that could potentially have gluten; of course, wheat is part of gluten so they might be possible source of wheat exposure. It’s kind of what I explain to people is whether you eat a piece of wheat bread, or you have maltodextrin or food starch that is made with wheat, you can have the same symptoms. It might not be an obvious source of wheat, but these can definitely play a role. However, to make things easy on you, so you don’t have to memorize all these possible things that might have wheat, a real easy trick is using the labeling laws. The US Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act law states that manufacturers must identify in plain English the eight most prevalent food allergens; one of which is wheat. So, this tip is really helpful because if you have a label in front of you – on the bottom, you’ll see in bold, “contains milk, contains nuts, contains wheat.” The labeling law says that it has to be listed in the ingredient list as wheat – so they might say, “wheat flour,” “wheat starch,” and then down below that in bold, it’s going to say, “contains wheat.” So, that’s a real easy trick to not have to memorize all of this is that if it says, “contains wheat” on the label or “wheat” in the ingredient list, it has to be listed in “what are the other” and it might be listed in bold depending on the manufacturer, then you know it has wheat, and it’s off the table; it’s just something you’re not going to consume.

Overlooked sources of wheat: The goodness is a lot of foods are naturally wheat-free – your meats, your vegetables, fruits, oils, nut seeds are naturally wheat-free. Where we’ll get into trouble is when we’ll buy anything out of a box or packaged food. That’s where they like to sneak in wheat starch and wheat flours, and so one might wonder, “Why is wheat in so many of these foods? Why would it be in a candy that no one thinks would have wheat in it?” And so, the argument is, the food scientists know that it stimulates our appetite that’s why they are putting them in all these foods. Soy sauce is one thing for example. Look for wheat-free soy sauce. It’s readily available; you just need to be purchasing a wheat-free soy sauce.

Other sources of wheat – this is kind of another area where I might not get into this in the first session, but this is something where – of course, Xymogen does a great job with making sure wheat is out of their products; their products are gluten-free. But prescription medications and base makeups and so forth can have wheat. This is more kind of a perhaps stage two, where people feel phenomenally better when they get food sourced out and taking a second look then later on some of their body-care and self-care products.

Beverages may also contain wheat. So, ales and beers for example. Bloody Mary mixes is sneaking in there. Flavored coffee gets people. I don’t even know why that may have wheat and gluten in there. The thing in liquor is vodka and whiskey. If you go and read about it, it’s okay. If it’s distilled, all of the wheat should be out of it; it should be technically “gluten-free” if a vodka’s distilled. However, I will tell you from personal experience, myself included, that distilled liquors don’t always go over so well. Many folks still claim that they have sensitivity to vodka’s made from wheat even if they’re distilled, particularly also whiskeys when they’re distilled. So, the better bet is if you prefer some of these liquors that are – for example like a vodka, choose one that’s made from grapes or other varieties that you’re not even dealing with the wheat thing. So, whiskey is kind of stuck. Rum is not made from wheat, so you can kind of offer that in here. It always comes up in conversations, “What can I drink?” We go through that. Wine is in a safe bed as well. Wine coolers, you need to watch; wine coolers can have barley or wheat in them.

Another thing we can look for in labels is a certified-gluten-free emblem. It’s a testing done to make sure it has less than 10 parts per million. If something’s gluten-free, it’s wheat-free. With that being said, we want to make sure that we do not replace the problem “wheat” with another problem. Gluten-free products are typically made from rice starch, tapioca starch, cornstarch, and potato starch. Of the few foods that raise blood sugar higher than wheat, these dried, powdered starches top the list. This would be my number one bribe when all of these folks coming in, “Oh, I’m living wheat-free/gluten-free,” whatever they want to use, and they’re just loading their food plan up with all of these gluten-free junk foods. So these, of course, are not good for your blood sugar and not good for your health. I have not met a person yet who needs tapioca starch, cornstarch in their food plan; these are not the answers to health. We have to be very wary of these types of products, and instead enjoy real foods. Vegetables in all varieties, except the starchy potatoes and corn; high-quality protein sources – chicken and turkey, fish, etc, eggs (yes, including the yolks); healthy oils; raw nuts and seeds; some cheeses; and then unsweetened beverages are all real foods to enjoy.

Produce – this is a go-to. The bottom of the pyramid, so to speak, is produce: asparagus, avocados, brussel sprouts – you see the list there. These vegetables are the homeruns. So, who do you know who has diabetes, arthritis, or heart disease because they eat too much cabbage or asparagus? Nobody. So, these are the vegetables or food group that I really try to work in as best as I can in a folk’s food plan, so that they are having an abundant amount of foods, they loaded themselves up for all the nutrients that they need to feel their best. With that being said, some fruit (the keyword is “some”) – unlimited vegetables, some fruit (and the reason, of course, for the fruit is it does contain carbohydrate). So, we don’t want to go too excessive on fruit intake. Children can of course handle more than adults; children are a whole different ball game. Fruits berries are best, which are lower in the glycemic and loaded in fiber, and some citrus, apples, etc. after that. Plenty of healthy fats, if we’re going to dismiss the notion that whole grains are healthy because of course, this whole-wheat business, the wheat has got us into so much trouble as it is, then we’re going to accept that fats are healthy once again. We’ve been hearing this message more and more, and I think it’s getting finally breaking through, but things like coconut oil, nuts, and avocados and seeds – these are the foods we should include daily in our food plan. We’re not fearful of fats; we want to encourage folks to eat these foods, and they’re usually very happy to oblige. When you tell them you want some of these foods in their plan, they’re very excited.

Unsweetened condiments – these are different condiments that you can include that’s going to add some spice and life to the meals and to different things there. This is a tip that I use with my clients when we’re kind of trying to get things on the ball here. So, we’ve talked about where wheat is, how to get it out of their food plan, discuss with them the reasons – the rational why and the possible benefits they can achieve. So then, how do they get started? What I’ve learned in my 12 years of practice is failing to plan is planning to fail; this is probably the number one reason in my experience that people really struggle on making lifestyle changes is they don’t plan ahead. They have no idea when they walk on the door what they’re doing for dinner; they don’t go to the grocery store; they don’t have a menu. So, the simple couple of questions here, I literally walk through with them and say, “Okay. What are you going to plan your menu on? Let’s say Tuesday.” “Great, you’re going to plan the menu on Tuesday. Once you have your menu plan, you can create your grocery list based on your menu. You know what you need to get in the grocery store once you have your menu done.” “Okay, great.” “When are you going to go to the grocery store?” “Oh, I’ll go to the grocery store on Wednesday.” Super. Then the last piece of the puzzle is, “When will I get ahead,” meaning when am I going to do some food prep and cooking ahead to create grab-and-go convenience; when am I going to cut up those salads fix-ins or make a tuna salad, or boil some hardboiled eggs, put my nuts in a Ziploc thing to take to work – when am I going to do all of that? I tell folks that they could even start with an hour once a week doing a little bit of food prep; it’s going to make their world so much easier. So, we spend some time answering these types of questions and then giving them menu ideas; things that are quite frankly very simple. So, they might do a shake in the morning, but instead of loading it up with a bunch of fruit, they might put half a cup of blueberries in there with a nice protein powder, and some coconut oil, some almond milk, and some spinach. You know – eggs, apples, cheese, yogurt – very simple things. Lunch – you can see a variety of salads, soups that don’t have, of course, regular sugar noodles in them, maybe like a vegetable soup or whatnot, and the list goes on and on, literally going Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, looking through their week. “Oh, Friday – you know, Johnny’s got practice,” so let’s do a slow-cooker meal that day because we wouldn’t have time to cook. Saturday, we’re going to eat out; what do I eat out? Well, you can pretty much do any meat with veggies, with the side salad. On the salad, your sure bet on the restaurant is vinegar and oil; the salad dressings might be contaminated with wheat, so vinegar and oils are pretty much a safe bat. Snacks are straightforward and simple – nuts, veggies, hardboiled eggs – those sorts of things. So, just literally walking through very simple ideas. Most of us have about 10 to 12 meals that we make and rotate through for dinner. So, it’s not a bad idea to sit down and write down, “What are the 10-12 things we make routinely for dinner” or those “How can I eat those wheat-free or low-carb,” or whatever the conversation is. You start to list, and maybe once every week, you add something new; once every two weeks, if time is really pressed. But you can very easily develop a repertoire of some basics that you can go to. There’s thousands and thousands of recipes out there. Of course, Dr. Davis has his two cookbooks. There are plenty of others out there. Paleo approaches all are usually pretty much in line with the Wheat Belly approach because paleo, of course, is grain free. Some of them, we just need to be watching the honey and the dates they might be putting in their products, but all in all, they’re usually pretty safe.

One word about weight release here is weight loss is often a driver, and I like to focus, when I’m working with clients, that weight is a symptom of an imbalance in your self care. So, let’s change the focus on you, your behavior – let’s get you feeling better first, and then your weight loss is then a side effect. So if someone is feeling better, they’re going to be more inclined and more on board to continue to do additional things. That’s why I feel so passionately about getting people off of wheat because I get by, they feel better, they’re not as achy, their acid reflux is better, they’re sleeping better, their energy is better, they’re walking without labored breathing – all these sorts of things really help them feel better and are able to focus more on themselves emotionally, physically, nutritionally and spiritually in an integrative approach.

We’re going to end up with a few couple more supplements here that can be utilized while you’re also doing the wheat-free approach. It’s important to remember again that dietary supplements cannot mitigate disease or replace drugs. However, Xymogen products can give your patients their best chance to stay healthier longer. So, some of the things that I use in practice, as well as Dr. Davis, of course,  being a cardiologist, he’s very, very big on vitamin D and fish oil. And so, I love the Ultra Omega Fish Oil (900 mg per capsule) because it’s such a potent amount in one capsule. Many folks, of course, are vitamin D-deficient, who are always optimizing that. Vitamin D is available in 200 and 500; I particularly just use the 500 because most folks I’m dealing with are very deficient, and they need anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 IU a day. So, checking vitamin D levels and supplementing that accordingly. It’s also available in liquid form through Xymogen. And tons of clinical application for why one might use vitamin D – the immune function is a key one. There’s also a vegan option, so for anyone who’s looking for that, Xymogen does carry that as well. Of course, bone health, immune function – we’ve all heard the wonderful benefits of vitamin D and why we need it.

This is the fish oil I mentioned – OmegaPure 900. Generally speaking for overall, just covering the basis – 2,000 mg a day is usually where I like to get most people on. So, they’re going to be taking at least two of this a day. If we’re treating it for lipids, we’re going somewhere in the range of 3,000 to 6,000 EPA/DHA per day; that could get up there with a number of tablets, however, with this type of product, it’s much more convenient because 900 mg is one capsule, so they can take less capsules. Of course, omega-3 is really beneficial for arachidonic acid; it affects the production of that, thereby it facilitates with decreasing inflammation, supports healthy glucose, insulin metabolism, and so besides lipids, there’s other things we, of course, get fish oil for.

The OptiMetaboliX in vanilla delight goes very nicely with smoothies in the morning. So if someone wanted something quick, this would be a good option for them to throw in their smoothie or some spinach, some ice, almond milk, or if they want to do it with water, they can. It’s flavored vanilla, so it goes very nicely in a smoothie in the morning. And it’s got the InSea² product in there, which can help impact the glycemic response. So, a really good product, also to help with the blood sugar regulation and lipid metabolism. InSea², as I was mentioning, this is the brown seaweed blend – really good product; I will use this one as kind of, so to speak, like a carb blocker. This product has an optimized blend of the purified polyphenols from brown seaweed, and it uniquely slows carbohydrate digestion by interacting with both the alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase, and it thereby reduces the impact of high glycemic foods. I’ll give this one to folks, in particularly, who are struggling with carb issues, and they will go ahead and take two capsules, 30 minutes before a carb-containing meal. So again, benefits of the glycemic effects there. With that, I will hand it back over to Mike.

Mike Mutzel: Alright Lisa. Thanks so much. That was awesome. We do have quite a few questions. Do you have a minute to hang on?

Lisa Grudzielanek: Sure.

Mike Mutzel: Some questions came in regarding legumes. You mentioned some of the lectins found in wheat, but what about the lectins found in legumes?

Lisa Grudzielanek: The lectins in beans are similar to those in yams and they’re pretty benign. Some people just really have a hard time breaking down beans due to the fiber issue in them. We don’t necessarily say, “Don’t eat beans,” but with the beans, we’re looking at it more as a carbohydrate issue, and make sure the carbohydrate intake is not going to be a problem, but it’s more of a digestion issue. We find often that people needs this enzymatic support to help break those darn beans down. But the lectins in beans are pretty benign; it’s not like the ricin lectin from castor oil.

Mike Mutzel: Sounds good. Let’s see here. People are requesting a copy of your slide. How do you feel about that?

Lisa Grudzielanek: Sure. I won’t have a problem with that.

Mike Mutzel: Okay. Well, we normally do the videos, and maybe what I’ll do so we don’t have any much tweaking with them, I can cover them to a PDF.

Lisa Grudzielanek: Sure.

Mike Mutzel:Alright. So let’s talk about oat bran. A question came in about oat bran, a much lower glycemic index food than the oats. What do you think about that?

Lisa Grudzielanek: Yeah, I think it is lower glycemic index. I guess if it’s something that – I guess how they’re going to use it. My experience is they’re using oat bran to make muffins, or they’re using oat bran – you know what it is combined with. It’s kind of the example in the beginning when we spoke about oatmeal mixed with sugar and fruit, it becomes a very high glycemic thing. So, it could be benign, but I guess it depends on how they’re going to use it. Of course, it’s wheat- and gluten-free. There will be just some cross-contamination issue. Is it a certified gluten-free oat bran I guess it just depends on how they’re going to use the oat bran.

Mike Mutzel: So basically, what you’re saying is avoid it if you can. There are so many beneficial fruits and vegetables that you can eat instead.

Lisa Grudzielanek: Definitely.

Mike Mutzel: The other thing I do want to mention about the OmegaPure 900, some folks do know, but that’s the IFOS-certified; it’s enteric-coated. We have a really good feedback with that. I think from the price standpoint for both wholesale and retail.

Lisa Grudzielanek: It’s an awesome product.

Mike Mutzel: Yeah, really. We have awesome feedback on that. One thing I just want to mention on the ProbioMiXDF; that’s totally dairy-free, gluten-free. A lot of the companies – well, I shouldn’t say “a lot” – but you want to look at your probiotics because some of the probiotic brands out there, they grow on the strains on barley in wheat containing growth media. We actually have a growth media, it’s a potato starch growth media, totally dairy- and gluten-free. So, that’s something that’s unique to Xymogen as well.

We do have a live question. I’m just going to unmute it here. Dr. William. Hey there, Dr. William, I’m sorry I hanged up for a while. You used to have a question. Guess not.

Thank so much, Lisa. This was an excellent webinar. We have the special available for 24 hours. The code is there: SP-WEB-040914. We look forward to getting everyone to archive. We’ll get this up about tomorrow morning for you. So Lisa, thanks again. Hope you have a great evening. Take care.

Lisa Grudzielanek: My pleasure. Thank you. Good night.