Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health Reviews

• 
  Keith Akers

  Oh God, do I have to read this? No. I refuse. I don't have time. I'm not angling to be the one to pick through the errors, and write the "definitive refutation." So this isn't a "refutation" of the book or even an indication that wheat may not, after all, contribute to the obesity problem.
  
  Gluten intolerance and celiac disease are real, and they may be more widespread than people realize. I know some vegans who are gluten intolerant and there's even a blog,
  http://getoffgluten.blogspot.com/ which deals with vegans looking for alternatives to wheat. So I am not saying, "eat all the wheat you want!" by any means. But I have enough information to say that this is not a useful book, and here's why.
  
  In the first chapter he says "vegetarians are fat." He also refers to a national trend to reduce fat and cholesterol and increase carbs. There is indeed a tendency to take in more carbs in the U. S., but this is highly misleading -- it's a trend towards greater consumption of junk food. The amount of fat, cholesterol, and "complex carbs" is actually pretty much the same. Secondly, it is just false that vegetarians are fat. I am a vegetarian (vegan in fact), am not gluten intolerant, and eat wheat every day. I am not fat, slightly underweight actually, and none of my veggie friends are fat. You cannot go to a vegetarian conference or event and fail to notice that vegans and vegetarians are generally not obese or overweight. This has also been documented in studies, also, but it's easier just to invite people to visit your friendly local vegetarian potluck or meetup and count the fat people.
  
  He also criticizes "The China Study" based on some inane correlations published on the internet.
  He cites Denise Minger, but it's clear that the author doesn't understand and doesn't seem to be trying to understand the science. One might be able to show a decisive correlation between colon cancer and TV viewing, but that doesn't establish causation; he's pulled out some superficial correlations and considers that a refutation of "The China Study." He also recommends using oils generously, including coconut oil (saturated fat city). He also recommends eating meat, eggs, and cheese "in unlimited quantities." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition editorialized a few years ago than more than one egg per day could increase all-cause mortality by 40%.
  
  At this point, it becomes apparent that he is really yet another Weston Price Foundation promoter. I suspect that this may be an attempt to revive the Atkins (high-protein, low carbs) diet, so that even after driving a stake through its heart, zombie-like, it rises from the grave to wreak havoc on the unwitting.
  
  Even though there's probably a lot of good stuff in here on problems with wheat, you'll have to be an expert already to sort out the good from the bad. Given the fact that I can just open the book up, read the introduction and first chapter, look at the index, and immediately find a bunch of problems, I don't think that I could read the rest of it with any assurance that the author has a clue. So even though there may be a lot of good material in here, reading this book won't enlighten you. You'll still have to figure out this stuff somewhere else, then come back to the book, and sort through his argument.
• 
  Laurel

  Before reading a book like this I like to check over some of the critical reviews, just for kicks. I'd already purchased it, so after reading the reviews, I was regretting that I bought it. Then I read it. I liked it. A lot.
  
  You may have heard that if you want to know if a book is true, you should put it to the test. I would challenge the critics to do that. I have never gone without whole wheat, and I'm going to put it to the test because I find his information to be credible. I'd like to be inflamation free and not have any joint pain, so I'm on day two without wheat. Wish me luck!
  
  
  
  It's January 8th and I'm happy to report that not eating wheat has allowed me to go off glucosamine. I no longer have joint pain in my knees. Also, I don't wake up feeling depressed in the morning and my mood has improved overall. I would have to say that my improved mood has been the biggest surprise, and one that I know for certain is from wheat. I reintroduced wheat after two weeks and could see that the wheat caused the swing in my mood. It was a remarkable swing, one that made me say, "Wheat is not worth it."
• 
  Ngaire

  Look, I used to be the last person on the planet who would have considered giving up wheat. I thought people who gave up gluten were crazy (unless they had celiac disease, obviously). I knew that pasta and brown bread were healthy for me - I'd had it drummed into me since childhood. But since I was about fourteen or fifteen, I've had bad health - low energy, bad skin, weight problems, digestive issues - nothing serious, but a host of things that made life that bit harder and less pleasurable. They'd improved a bit through exercise, but not much. When I read about Wheat Belly, I was willing to give it a try, despite never ever having tried any kind of fad diet before. I figured, I can't feel worse, right?
  
  Turns out I could feel worse. I was gluten-free for about three years and I became very anemic and had low vitamin B12. My energy plummeted even further, I couldn't sleep and I had terrible headaches. I lost a ton of weight - probably 35-40lbs, so everyone kept saying I looked great, but I felt awful. I was thin, for sure. Which our culture sees as evidence of health, unfortunately. But I was not healthy. I wish that somebody had mentioned taking a multi-vitamin. I thought I was doing everything right, but I was missing out on a lot of nutrients.
  
  Not eating wheat was so restrictive and isolating and it made me obsess about food. And unfortunately, my body seems to have become dependent on the B Vitamins that are added to wheat products, because I struggled with B vitamin deficiencies throughout my gluten-free life. Before you start this diet, my advice is to start a good quality multi-vitamin. B vitamins are routinely added to wheat products, so when you go off wheat, you may become deficient in them like I did. A good probiotic is probably the other thing I would recommend.
• 
  Benjamin Sobieck

  As the husband of a diagnosed celiac (not the trendy self-diagnosed kind, the objective and measurable autoimmune reaction to gluten protein kind), I gave this hot book a real chance. After all, we're living in a virtually wheat-free home already (I still eat wheat bread). Bottom line: It takes a decent idea (reducing wheat consumption) and blows it way out of proportion.
  
  To me, there are five main weaknesses to the author's argument:
  
  1) The author's anecdotal evidence. When the patients eliminated wheat from their diets, they lost weight. The author may be a doctor, but even he must know this isn't good enough. Clinical studies of the weight-wheat relationship are needed. Unfortunately...
  
  2) The clinical studies he cites deal with celiacs, and he uses them to build a case for non-celiacs. This does nothing to support his case. If you're not a celiac, your body is going to react to wheat differently. This cognitive dissonance is glazed over, as is...
  
  3) The author's incredible hubris when making outlandish statements. In one passage, the author writes, "Eating a three-egg omelet that triggers no increase in glucose does not add to body fat." Seriously? The author also states fiber content in wheat products doesn't affect blood sugar. That doesn't add up. Foods high in fiber digest slowly, which prevents blood sugar from spiking. True, a big load of carbs will spike blood sugar, but fiber can spread that spike into a plateau. To disregard that seems unusual and suspect to this reader. But that's not nearly as bad as...
  
  4) The claim that eliminating wheat is a catch-all cure. Name the ailment, the author will trace the source back to wheat. Eliminating wheat will solve all your problems. Without the M.D. after the author's name, this book would've been viewed as the snake oil that it is - albeit trendy snake oil. If you accept fad diets as sound science, I guess there's no convincing you. If none of these four points persuade you, the fact remains that...
  
  5) This is all just one person's theory. For as damning as some of the passages are, he does make some decent points. Modern wheat hybrids designed for yields and commercial consistency, for example, might have sacrifed consumer health along the way. Diets high in wheat also tend to be high in processed foods, which are generally the worst of the food options out there. Great. But causation and correlation are two different things.
  
  Without further study and clinical evidence, this book remains a shaky idea promoted by someone building on refugees from the Aitkins diet craze. Like that wave, this one will pass, too, only to be replaced by something else. If eliminating wheat works for someone, great. But I suspect the majority of this book's readers will eventually move on to the next "poison" in the cupboard. Corn? Rice? Soy? Oats? It's not a question of if, but when.
  
  But I will give this book and the accompanying wheat-noia credit: It gave my celiac wife some better options at the grocery store!
• 
  John Stinson

  I have a few friends who have gone wheat free and have experienced some positive health benefits so I thought I'd give this a read.
  
  In this book cardiologist William Davis explains how eating wheat leads to a wide range of health issues including digestive disorders, immune problems and yes, schizophrenia ... due to its especially negative effect on the regulation of blood sugar. Wheat was OK a hundred years ago but has been GMO'd beyond recognition. (I just saved you reading the first 200 pages).
  
  Near the end of the book he drops the big - "Oh, and by the way" ... no sense replacing wheat with other carbs or you won't see the health benefits. So limit rice, oats ... fruit is bad (berries OK), no legumes either. More proteins and fats (meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, cheese, nuts, seeds and peanuts. At the end of the day, despite all the history on why wheat is so evil .. it's just another low carb Atkins style diet book.
  
  Very annoying ... I wish he'd mention that at the beginning.
• 
  Daniela

  The book The Wheat Belly by William Davis, M.D. should be required reading for everyone in the world.
  
  We've all heard about the No Carbs approach in diets like Atkins, South Beach etc. Efforts have been made to explain and counter arguments about toxidity etc. were made to discredit all of those diets as they were too restricting. So the word of warning right off: Davis agrees with the low carbs recommendation to the extreme. He calls his book The Wheat Belly, as wheat is the widest used and most readily available grain (product) in the world. He does refer to all gluten containing, genetically altered grains by this one term: Wheat! Through crossbreading it has been turned into a high yield, low growing plant to produce as much grain with as little loss as possible. Through modern food science it has become possible to alter it to growing specifications that are the most satisfying for the producer. At the same time people were advised to eat as much whole grain product as possible as it was advertised as healthy. Unfortunately this development occurred too fast for human digestion to keep up and was done without even checking how the cross breeding affected the consumer. Through the process wheat gained attributes that neither parent plant was known to have on humans. Chemical processes in the body that affect not only digestion, weight gain and intestinal problems (like celiac desease) but shockingly were responsible for all sorts of health problems from heart desease brought on by weight gain, to high blood glucose levels and resulting diabetes and effects on the brain that suggest an addiction and contribute to problems like ADHD, dimentia and other brain related health problems.
  
  One of the most convincing points is that despite the fact that people were advised to eat low fat high fiber diets the population has grown more and more overweight and obese.
  
  Davis compares our diets nowadays to that of our ancestors, where the ones of about two generations away still got non genetically altered wheat and those from a few thousand years ago hardly ate grains at all. He argues that if we were to follow the hunter and gatherer diets of our forefathers we would be following what our bodies are still genetically programmed to digest: Meat and fats as well as vegetables and fruit, with very little grain. And if grain, then because of the adverse effects of gluten on digestion in many people, gluten free grains.
  
  This is not a fad diet book, but a scientific text, that states many studies and examples about the facts Davis descibes. A deeper insight into the changes of human physiology over time to see if and how any progress towards better digestion of today's "wheat diet" has been acquired would make this work complete.
  
  Davis does include a small recipe section that is geared towards replacing wheat products in a satisfying way.
  
  An eye opener and if even half the facts are true, one would hope that society could adopt eating habits more adapted to our bodies to produce a healthier population.
  
  In Canada the food guide has already been changed away from the largest amount of calories having to come from grains, to the recommendation to eat mostly vegetables and fruit. If meat moved up on the scale and grains moved back into last place, it appears after reading this book, we would be receiving very good advise.
  
  Absolutely recommended for those with celiac desease, weight problems and other thus unexplained health issues that are worth a gluten free/ wheat free trial. Parents of autistic children and children with ADHD might find this very interesting and helpful. Yet everyone could benefit from following this diet if what it claims is indeed true: Better all over health and a cure to many ailments.
  
  
  http://pagemarks.wordpress.com/catego...
  
  
  
• 
  Melissa

  Was this ever painful. I stopped 1/4 of the way through. He should call this the Atkins diet. It's not wheat he has a problem with. It's carbs. He puts most fruits and beans on his be careful list. That kills his credibility right there. And although he has "references", 90% is not referenced and is simply anecdotal. So essentially, based on his theory a vegetarian diet would be bad with all those legumes, whole grains and fruits I guess. Since people following vegetarian diets have much less risk of heart disease, cancer and obesity, then how does his theory make any sense. I can go on all day, however my last rant will be about his use of the word "genetic". He makes it sound like North American wheat is genetically modified, which it isn't. Wheat has taken on many hybrid forms over the centuries as has essentially every fruit and vegetable. So should we then put up a fight against all plant based foods. Oh and did I mention that when he gained weight all he ate was processed Wonder bread, Ho Ho's, pasta and no vegetables. Maybe the problem was way too much processed wheat. You decide for yourself why so many people have weight problems.
• 
  Erin

  Let's be honest--I'm going to be in favor of this book because of my point of view. I'm supporting my own (research-free) thesis that wheat is bad for you. And this dude's an MD, he backs up his science with footnotes, the subject interests me, and I've had personal experience giving up wheat in my own life (although I haven't been able to stick with it for long periods, but I eat way less than I used to) and know the positive changes it can have on the body. I read some reviews have called this book junk science, but frankly--I think what's passing for hard cold facts from the USDA (and the current medical community) is junk science too, and we eat wheat because it's cheap, easy, and tastes relatively good (it's hard to screw up pizza.) But there is really compelling research Davis compiles about the negative (sometimes deadly) effects wheat can have on the body long term and how many different ways it can affect people. He focuses mostly on giving up wheat in the diet, but he doesn't give corn or rice a pass either in large quantities. And he CERTAINLY doesn't give "gluten free" foods a pass--he thinks they're terrible in general and raise the blood sugar just like wheat does (but with less negative effects). The book made sense to me, and it was relatively easy to read (although I skimmed the more science-y parts of the reading). I've been modifying my diet long enough that I wasn't overly impressed by his menu plans in the back (he advocates sugar replacements like splenda, and i hate that stuff), but the rest of the book was really interesting. It really does make me look at that bagel more critically...even if choose to have a bite of it. I really never felt better (and less hungry) than when i gave all that stuff up for a month...but man, it's hard! Don't let anyone tell you different.
  
  And if I never hear the phrase "heart-healthy whole grains" again, it will be too soon. Davis uses the term (mockingly) on every other page...i will definitely be attuned to it when i see it in ads or in articles!
• 
  Yasmeen

  Atkins diet in disguise. Listen, folks, according to this book: you're not ONLY supposed to cut out wheat, nope. You are supposed to cut out all gluten, all gluten-free products (with rice, oat, and all grains basically), most fruits, and anything with carbohydrates (potatoes, corn, beans). Of course you will lose weight, how much meat and fat can you eat in a day?
  
  ASSUMING it's true (it's not, because it's anecdotal and some pseudo science) I will never ever attempt this diet and limit what I love. I rather die prematurely than stop eating fruits and grains just because some author decided it would be cool to go low-carb.
  
  Guess what? No one lives forever. And our ancestors probably died in their 30s and they ate all natural and non-GMO products. So there. :)
  
  That is how it is with people, they like to blame food groups on their health problems. Give me a person with absolutely no health problems and I can assure you it is not because of their diet ONLY. Everyone is different, our bodies are different, so having everyone follow the same diet is UTTER. STUPIDITY.
  
  Stay away from any diet that cuts out a major food group or type. It's most likely because the author is biased and personally hates the taste of that food.
  
  Those bagels on the cover do look delicious though.
  
  
• 
  Tiana Warner

  Call it "The Carnivorous Squirrel Diet." I liked the book up until the last chapter. He outlines (perhaps in too much detail) reasonable, scientific evidence to support why a diet free from genetically modified wheat is better for you in every way. While he states that you should cut wheat altogether, I'm going to argue and say that if you eat wheat that has not been genetically modified, you will not suffer these consequences, since the genetic modification is what causes the problems. But I digress. When he got to the end, though, he suddenly listed all the other foods you shouldn't eat for similar reasons. He lists every food imaginable except for vegetables, berries, nuts, seeds, cheese, and meat. He gives you an impossible diet that would leave anyone miserable, especially if you don't like to eat meat. What about quinoa? Yams? Wild rice? Rye? Stone-ground, unsalted corn chips? Lentils or other legumes? No, no, and no. He states that you can eat unlimited nuts and cheese, which I believe is flat-out wrong. Nuts and cheese have been shown to be healthy, sure, but only in moderation. The whole diet he proposes at the end is absurd. Yes he makes a good argument against GMO wheat, but that's as far as it goes for me.
• 
  Trish

  I came across this book on someone’s Currently-Reading list, of which they said something like, “Thought I should know something about this phenomenon everyone is reporting, wheat belly.” Oh, all right, I thought halfheartedly, “Me, too.” I mean, maybe the fat epidemic is mostly caused by wheat. Why not? It doesn’t seem to have been fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, protein, or any other thing the medical field has targeted for elimination in the past fifty years. Maybe it is whole grains. I should check it out.
  
  I am deeply suspicious of any diet that suggests eliminating an entire food group from a person’s diet. Somehow it seems like a radical fix. Our entire eating regime is centered around whole grains, and Davis, M.D. is suggesting it is probably all wrong. Since most Americans have serious weight issues which the generation before us did not have to the same degree, who’s to say he isn’t right? Certainly fewer whole grains wouldn’t hurt, is my reasoning.
  
  Davis’ amazing status reports on his clients sound like Donald Trump on crack: “Incredible,” Davis crows, “My client lost 64 lbs in 6 months!” Wow, I think, that almost sounds dangerous. Must be because that major food group was supporting every other thing he knew how to cook. Poor guy. But it’s true. Imagine eliminating wheat from breakfast alone, and then go through snack, mains, desserts. What’s left? Carrots and celery? Gee, that sounds familiar…
  
  My suspicions about wheat being problematic run back, oh, several hundred millennia. How could it be that something so central to everyone’s diet around the world is suddenly a problem? Davis suggests, with no data, that it could be genetically-modified wheat. He is trying to keep this book for the non-scientist, I understand, but if his diet works, we’re going to be looking pretty closely at modified wheat to see what’s different.
  
  Davis cites the rise of increased instances of celiac disease, IBS, diabetes, and suggests wheat and its gluten has something to do with it. “Wheat elimination is not just about eliminating gluten. Eliminating wheat means eliminating amylopectin A of wheat, the form of complex carbohydrate that actually increases blood sugar higher than table sugar or candy bars.” No wonder a loaf of fresh French bread can induce a wave of well-being, and a slight follow-on mania.
  
  A wave of exhaustion comes over me. I realize this is a big thing—eliminating gluten and wheat from one’s diet. I have seen plenty of menus by now which concentrate harder on providing gluten-free than they do vegan offerings. Vegans are not, however, known for slim profiles unless they simply eat nothing, which is also a possibility. When one is young, drinking one’s meals is a common phenomenon. Craving protein is common in this group.
  
  In an effort to determine what folks eat who don’t eat wheat, I flipped to the end of the book where Davis has curated a few recipes. He’d mentioned in a couple of places a non-wheat “flaxseed wrap,” and I was curious. Davis’ wrap is made with a large egg, tiny amounts of paprika, onion powder, baking powder and salt, along with 3Tbsp ground flaxseed w/ 1 Tbsp water, and here’s the kicker: 1 Tbsp melted coconut oil. I tried it. It tasted overwhelmingly of coconut oil, which is a little like crack to ordinary folks living in America’s northeast in winter. Wilted kale, mushrooms, onions, and yellow squash in fig balsamic placed in the wrap was delicious, yes. It would work. He suggested it for breakfast. I’m not so sure about that. Lunch, maybe.
  
  But what I discovered in Davis’ other menu items is that he’d also cut out sugar. He used sugar substitutes. I thought the latest word was that sugar substitutes were going to kill us. Well, anyway, here’s the culprit, I thought. No wonder these folks lost weight. I am probably more likely to blame weight gain on sugar than anything, but in the end it is probably processed foods, which contain both wheat and sugar. Whatever, we are eating ourselves into early graves. So, stop eating. Go running—or whatever it is that raises your heart rate and floods you with endorphins. And just remember, getting it all isn't really getting it all. Be happy. Don't worry.
  
  Too much of anything is still too much. That’s the lesson here. We have an embarrassment of riches. Besides the folks with legitimate allergies and illnesses, we could all probably do with less. Strange, isn’t it? We struggle to get enough and then we discover satiety is probably going to kill us, just like lack of satiety. What a dilemma.
• 
  Sharon

  When I began reading Wheat Belly, I had already decided to give up Wheat since I must eliminate it to follow the FODMAP diet (I'll explain that after the review), and wanted to see if this book addressed FODMAP (it doesn't), or what else I could learn about wheat with regard to digestive disorders.
  
  It's tough for me to decide if this book should get two or three stars. It does have some useful information, but it's sandwiched in alarmist-style marketing. The book is also *highly* repetitive. The useful information could easily be contained in a 30-page booklet without the need for constant reminders that we're all fat, we're killing ourselves with our food, and wheat is the worst thing you can ever consume. The author falls just shy of typing the book in all caps.
  
  Here are some neat tidbits from the book:
  - Whole wheat bread (glycemic index 72) increases blood sugar as much as or more than table sugar, or sucrose (glycemic index 59).
  - Wheat acts like an appetite stimulant, causing wheat-eaters to eat more food, more often.
  - Wheat was altered in the 70s and 80s to increase product yields, yet is not considered "Genetically Modified" because genes were not added or removed. However, the wheat of today is not the same wheat of generations past.
  - Wheat has addictive properties and may cause withdrawal, the addiction is from the gliadin protein that is an opiate.
  
  Here are some uncool tidbits from the book:
  - The author is not always correct, and downplays other food allergies:
  "How many other foods have been associated with such a protean array of skin diseases? Sure, peanuts and shellfish can cause hives. But what other food can be blamed for such an incredible range of skin diseases, from a common rash all the way to gangrene, disfigurement, and death? I certainly don’t know of any other than wheat." (Kindle location 3131)
  
  - The author advises you lie:
  "The most diplomatic way to pass up any dish you know is a wheat bomb is to claim that you have a wheat allergy. Most civilized people will respect your health concern, preferring your deprivation to an embarrassing case of hives that could ruin the festivities." (Kindle location 3723)
  
  - The focus of the book is on weight loss, not improving your health. It begins by claiming that wheat is the cause of being overweight, yet near the end of the book shifts to explaining that carbs must be reduced, as well as fruit. For example, if you are going to have strawberries, you should not have more than two. Two? Really? This is Atkins in a new book cover with scarier tactics in place.
  
  In general, I highly dislike the style of this book. It does have some useful information, but any author who advises me to lie, automatically makes me question his credibility.
  
  Now, back to why I am giving up wheat:
  I recently learned about the FODMAP diet (developed at Monash University in Melbourne), as a diet that may be helpful to folks like myself who suffer from digestive disorders, such as IBS or Gastroparesis. It is a diet to reduce symptoms, not lose weight. When I studied the list of foods to avoid, I noticed many of my "trigger" foods on that list, and, realized with alarm that my diet consisted largely of foods to avoid! I made changes and noticed an improvement with 24 hours. A day later, even more improvement… I am now on Day 5 of a low FODMAP diet (which includes being wheat-free) and am doing much, much better.
  
  I highly encourage anyone with a digestive disorder to research the FODMAP diet and consider making changes even for just a day or two and then taking things from there.
  
  As far as everyone giving up Wheat? Well, that's up to you...
• 
  Andy

  I don't know how to square it with the First Amendment, but there ought to be a law that these health/science/diet books have to be reviewed by the FDA or something. I'm not saying they should be censored or banned, but just have some 0-10 quality rating. They are making medical claims and are used like medicines to address health issues, but the average person has no way of telling what is bunk.
  
  Wheat Belly is toward the bunk end. It relies largely on anecdotal evidence (stories about some patients the doctor-author saw) and on extrapolations from biological trivia to supposed health implications.
  
  It is also just sloppy. There are things anybody can check that he gets wrong: like who makes Cheerios (he says Kellogg's).
  
  This is not, as some reviews suggested, a practical version of Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. It is a grossly oversimplified take-off on it. The problem is that the actual science on this is messy. We know that there's an obesity/diabetes/etc. problem. We know that it's about some kind of environmental change probably related to diet. We know that the quick-fix solution of "low-fat" is not based on much and doesn't work very well.
  
  But you can't jump from that to "no-wheat" as this book does, on the basis of the evidence presented. Maybe no-wheat would help some people. It would be good to study that with some proper science and find out. And then write a book.
  
  Obviously, reducing junk food is a good idea, but nobody needed this book to know that.
  
  
  Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease
  
  Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
  
  
  
  
• 
  Erica

  Fast, fascinating read, and if even half of what he says is right, wow.
  I'm inclined to think most of what he says is right because so much of it I directly experienced just a few months before I read it. Perhaps I have a mild wheat allergy that makes my case a good example for him--at least one of my aunts has a life-threatening wheat allergy, so it's not far-fetched.
  
  I started cutting back wheat a few months ago on the advice of another book, and had all the withdrawl symptoms Davis talks about for about a week and a half. I was crazed for carbs, could never feel full, had no energy. Then it subsided and I love all of the effects of this new way of life--I'm not hungry in the middle of the day, I don't graze because I just don't need to, I never feel hugely bloatedly full like after a heavy pasta meal. I love most wheat products, so especially through the holidays I had to cheat a bit. But on the whole otherwise this diet is easy (once you get over the hard part) and honestly, the pounds have fallen off and I feel so much better than I did a year ago. There are other effects too: he talks about a lifting of a "mind fog" that squares with my experience, and I honestly don't feel as down this winter as every other winter I've lived in the Midwest (maybe it's not really the winter?). It encourages me/us to cook a bit differently than we did, but there's also so many wheat products that I just won't ever miss again: those crappy hot dog rolls at the supermarket, poor bread for toast and sandwiches served all over (good bread for some things will continue to be hard!), etc. I've gotten to a place where I'm completely wheat free at home and can almost always order something wheat-free when out to eat. I've had a policy of eating what friends and family kindly serve me since I was a teenager, one that I'm not going to break now--but overall I'm liking this new way of eating and feeling, and loving the ability to fit into jeans from years ago. After reading a few books now, I'm utterly sold on the low-carb way of eating, and now believe in the bankruptcy of circa-80s "low-fat" diets. I kind of feel about this book the way I felt about the ONE migraine book that's worth its salt out there (Buchholz's Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program)--that I need to shout this message from the rooftops, or at least share my copy with anyone who seems interested. I feel that much better. (Unfortunately, I have Wheat Belly on my Kindle, so I can't just pass it around!)
• 
  B

  The first hundred pages of the book were quite interesting and eye opening. Indeed there are a lot of potential downfalls that we as a society have suffered as a result of mass processed wheat. Unfortunately we have to read through almost an additional hundred pages of vilifying wheat before we get to the concrete eat this, not that. I found that second hundred pages rather tedious, I'm already on board and ready to give up wheat, and now you are going to walk me through the complexities of every remaining organ system and how wheat may have a detrimental effect?
  
  While I think there is good science behind all of the potential adverse effects I also felt like there was some degree of scare tactic. I think we can indeed benefit from reducing or eliminating wheat however I'm just not seeing enough people in my day to day life suffering immensely as a result of eating wheat. Celiac disease is a very serious condition, and though its incidence may be increasing it is still not as common as many other diseases.
  
  With regard to the recommendations for diet changes, they make a lot of sense but aren't particularly revolutionary. Reduce the amount of processed foods (specifically reducing or eliminating wheat) and increase the amount of vegetables, meat, and fruit in the diet. Eat healthy oils and fats. Where I disagree with Dr. Davis' recommendations is in regard to other sources of carbohydrate. He is very critical of wheat's high Glycemic Index, yet recommends very sparingly foods with a low GI like chickpeas. Despite the push for healthy unprocessed foods many of the recipes in Appendix B contain artificial sweeteners.
  
  Does the book achieve the call to action to want to give up wheat? For me, yes I am motivated to change. I would suggest reading the first few chapters then skipping to part 2 and getting down to planning exactly how you will achieve that. This is a decently written book that suffered from poor editing.
• 
  H3dakota

  Frankly, I have mixed reactions to this book. It seems to be well researched until you hit the dramatic claims made with no backup. The opening chapters about the history of wheat & how it has been altered over the past 50 years? Fascinating stuff, no doubt. However...
  
  If I read one more time that stopping all wheat consumption would CURE DIABETES, I was going to scream. I agree that changing to a low carb diet & controlling your weight CAN manage type 2 diabetes to the point of potentially not needing any medication whatsoever. That is a well known fact - manage your diet, your weight & you do not need to take medication - if you have type 2. Eating wheat does not cause diabetes nor will giving it up cure it. Making statements like that irk me as bad as medical professionals that tell me that drinking juice will cause diabetes. It makes my head explode.
  
  Want to drop 50 pounds without exercise or getting stuck starving yourself? Just give up the wheat!
  
  Guys, losing your hair? Give up wheat & watch it grow back! Got the old moobs & can't seem to get rid of 'em? Give up the wheat & watch your manly chest come back!
  
  Teens - wanna get rid of that acne? Give up the wheat!
  
  Giving up wheat can "cure" or prevent cancer, arthritis, joint pain, IBS, ADHD, schizophrenia, autism, Lupus (it's never Lupus!), ataxia, even dementia! Or at least those are some of the claims in this book, anyway.
  
  It's SO frustrating when an author takes a great concept/idea & then blows it by going overboard. Halfway through the book, it was beginning to feel like an old time snake oil sales pitch!
  
  I can't argue that I feel tons better in the few days that I've given up all wheat - which I'd already done before starting this book. Why not provide succinct facts, actual studies & some viable proof? Turning to wild claims & poorly backed statements takes a good thing & makes it unbelievable.
• 
  Faye

  What a great start to the year. A month ago if you'd asked me if my little weight problem had anything to do with the wheat I consumed, I'd have said no. About my ongoing exhaustion with little exertion? Of course not.
  
  I started this book on Dec 28 and stopped eating wheat at the same time to see if it made a difference. Felt good - almost instantly deflated half of my muffin top. (Sorry if this is too much information.)
  
  On New Year's Eve, I ate some brie wrapped in croissant pastry. You, know, it's a holiday! Instant bloat to the point of not really being able to carry on the festivities.
  
  No wheat since then and I can't remember that last time I felt like I had so much energy. I don't think I'll ever eat wheat again and I don't generally like to say I'm going to do or not do stuff unless I mean is.
  
  I don't feel deprived at all. What's the best part of pizza? Cheese and tomato sauce of course. Peanut butter on toast? Peanut butter al the way.
  
  Does the book have some flaws? Well, maybe it's a bit technical at times, but it answered all of my concerns and gave me the ideas on how to do it right.
  
  If you've got a spare tire and/ or you're on a January health quest, I'd highly recommend a copy of this book! I'm convinced this will be a book that changed my life.
• 
  Nancy

  Who knew?! Who knew that all I had to do is to cut wheat gluten out of my diet?! On the one hand, Dr. Davis has me convinced that WHEAT = POISON and even though I am not normally a suggestible person, I am now afraid to eat wheat. On the other hand, I feel GREAT, I have lost 4 lbs - a little more than a pound a day and, for the first time in my life since I was a child, my stomach is not bothering me. Really - I was chomping on Rolaids when I was five. This morning, I had grapefruit juice and 2 cups of coffee without my Nexium - no stomach problems at all. The other thing - I used to have a cup of coffee going all day long. My coffee intake has dropped - I suspect because I do not need the energy lifts that I required before "Wheat Belly".
  
  Dr. Davis knew my story - the gradual gain of weight even though I ate whole grain, low fat, no sugar foods. Prepared foods are never on my shopping list. But, especially lately, my blood pressure, my weight, my blood sugar and my cholesterol kept creeping up no matter what I did. I exercise, I don't eat sugar (except the very occasional jelly bean), I don't eat fatty foods, even cheese (which I adore), and I used brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole grain bread. I even make my own granola. The last time I went to the doctor, he told me he wanted me to only eat chicken, turkey and fish with steamed vegetables and salads to lose some weight, bring my blood pressure down, my blood sugar down and my cholesterol under control. I mean really, who can live like that? I go for my next blood test next week - I will let you know how I make out. I am going to be thinner, though.
  
  Dr. Davis made a good case explaining why modern wheat is causing so many gluten problems. He linked it to asthma (I ran yesterday and didn't need my inhaler for my exercise-induced asthma), heart disease, dementia, premature aging (got my attention there!!), digestive problems, neurological problems and some that I cannot remember. Like I said, I am PETRIFIED to let a piece of wheat pass my lips. In some way, it may be similar to Atkins and South Beach, because he makes a case for limiting all carbohydrates, although I don't think it is as extreme. The one criticism I have: his recipes - oh, I don't think so. He likes coconut a whole lot more than I do, and they just look awful. I do not believe in eating what will gag me for any diet.
  
  As far as following the no-wheat plan, since I don't buy many if any prepared foods, it has been easy to adapt. For example, on Sunday, we had non-Pasta Fagiola. My husband is doing this with me, but he said he is not noticing the benefits that I am. But, to sum it up, I have more energy, I am losing weight, my stomach feels better than it ever has and I don't have hunger issues that can make it impossible to stick to a food regimen. This was a worthwhile book to read.
  
  Update: About One Week of Gluten-Free Living: I am down 5 lbs, was hoping for more, but weekends are for partying. I have started running again - I have not had to use my inhaler for my exercise-induced asthma. My energy levels are GREAT - even though the time change has knocked me for a bit of a sleeping loop. I have not needed my daily naps AND my coffee consumption is down to about 2 cups a day from about 5 or 6. After YEARS and YEARS of heartburn, I have not needed to take my Nexium. I can eat cheese again (I have cut out sugar & wheat so I am going to eat cheese - which I love) without at problem. The thing is, I feel GOOD!!! In fact, I feel WONDERFULl!!! I am even doing some housework... I go for blood work on Friday. I will keep you posted - this is just TOO easy!!
• 
  Pat Herndon

  Bait & switch. Someone already wrote this book....Dr. Atkins! Paleo?
  
  I say all of this because this book proposes one premise that is simple and appealing, just quit eating wheat and the pounds will drop off. Lots of us would love to think how wonderful such a simple solution to weight loss could be. And, the book begins with a firm assurance that this is all it takes. But, then the author begins to mention avoiding other starchy foods. By the time he wraps up, he is advising vigorous avoidance of all starchy foods and even avoidance of fresh fruits! He totally intermingles his understanding of celiac disease with a generalized advice for everyone to avoid wheat and gluten. This is misleading and under emphasizes the risk to those with celiac disease while over emphasizing the impact for those without celiac disease.
  
  I hated this book. It is pop science aimed at the vulnerable minds of overweight Americans who are seeking the easy solution to weight loss. The bad thing is this book starts out implying that it offers an easy approach, but rolls out a very rigid approach. Bait and switch.
  
• 
  Mitzi

  This went from a 5 star first half to 1 star second half.
  
  The first part was a fascinating history of what we call "wheat" today in the modern world. Apparently, today's wheat is nothing like what our parents and granparents ate in the 1950's and before - and absolutely nothing like the first wheat that man ate back in the paleolithic. The author implies weight problems, the rise of celiac disease and a myriad of other health issues correlate directly to the "new wheat". I was intrigued because I have some of the heath concerns he was addressing. . .
  
  Just as I was being won over to attempting a wheat free trial, the book went off the deep end. In the last 3rd the author starts an all-out war against carbs and gluten. The way it came across to me was, "by the way - you also need to cut all other gluten, oatmeal, and most carbs and fruit to really be healthy, AND don't even think about trying gluten-free products because they have other bad stuff". I was REALLY annoyed because in the first 2/3 he repeatedly says if you cut out JUST wheat your going to be so much healthier, lose weight. etc.. I felt duped!
  
  Ok, so what should we eat according to Dr. Davis? MEAT, CHEESE, EGGS, NON-STARCHY VEGETABLES, A FEW BERRIES AND HEAPS OF NUTS - like our stone-age ancestors, except, ooops, I know they didn't eat dairy and they also died at around 35. The author states oatmeal, sweet potatoes, beans, legumes and "bad fruits" are basically going to make you fat and diabetic so you should severely restrict or eliminate them. Compared to the South Beach diet (which the book description talks about as an extreme "no carb diet" - totally untrue after the first 2 weeks) this is WAY more restrictive. Basically, it's it turns into a revamped Atkins diet.
  
  I don't know anyone who could follow this way of eating long term. In fact the author/dr. even talks about many of his patients falling off the wagon and binging on carbs regaining all of the weight.
  
  Personally, I am going to try just eliminating wheat for a few weeks and see what happens, because that's why I picked up the book in the first place . . . I should have know from the title not to read this!
  
• 
  Gary Patton

  Dr. Davis, the author of this book is a renowned U.S. cardiologist.
  
  Would you believe that modern hybridized wheat is deadly? Did you know that modern hybridized grains are principally responsible for the plague of obesity and insulin resistance in North America?
  
  Can you believe that, after all of the years of healthcare professionals telling us to eat whole grain bread, that it spikes our blood sugar level worse than does white bread?
  
  And if that's not bad enough, there are other dangers that "Wheat Belly" will reveal for you.
  
  After fourteen years of live food veganism and researching wellness, I was incredulous at the amount of misinformation I'd been fed about modern grains?
  
  I've been a "starch freak" as long as I can remember. But Dr. Davis convinced me, via his research documentation which so-called nutrition experts have never told me, to give up gluten grains.
  
  I beat my addiction in about two months once God's naturally healing body dumped the toxins.
  
  Enjoy and be well!
  
  GaryFPatton in Toronto
  (gfp '42™ 2014-03-25)
• 
  Crystal Starr Light

  Bullet Review:
  
  Wheat is BAD because humans have done woo woo to it and we weren't mean to eat wheat and also probably not milk - oh, wait, that's totally okay, because fat is fine because that's the belief I have and all the evidence I have proves it!
  
  Also, in addition to omitting EVERYTHING wheat, regardless if you have celiac's disease or a real wheat allergy (I am happy though that this book has made gluten-free chic and brought those afflicted with those ailments way more options in the grocery story), if you REALLY want to be healthy don't eat: rice, quinoa, lentils, more than 10 blueberries, bananas, pineapples, and oats. Eat as much cheese as you want, but limit milk and yogurt because DIABETES!
  
  Oh, and you don't need to count calories because that's only for those horrible wheat addicted people who buy into "low fat" diets. Eating mountains of meat and cheese and avocados and (RAW ONLY!) nuts are however totes okay. I guess we don't need to worry about heart disease or gout - wait, I'm sorry, I forgot, every single health problem, from my psoriasis to arthritis to glaucoma to schizophrenia is the fault of wheat!! Not overeating junk food in general, nope, it's ALL wheat's fault!
  
  This diet makes those raw vegan fruitarians on YouTube and Joel Furhman's diet look like a breeze. Basically 90% of the foods I regularly eat would be gone - and while I can 100% get behind excising Cheetos and McDonald's from my diet, I don't want to give up oats and EFFING STRAWBERRIES just because this guy gets off on eating mountains of cheese and RAW ONLY nuts.
  
  If this works for you, I applaud you for the willpower and congratulate you on the success, but I don't see how this is sustainable (for either the planet or for a long term health regime) for the common person. This is just not that easy of a diet. How do you eat when traveling or entertaining? (Oh, wait, right - lie to your friends you have a wheat allergy to get out of eating food!) Who has time to go to the grocery story or farmer's market every other day to stock up on this much organic, free range meat? Oh, and if you can't afford it...well, you just better try because otherwise, you aren't being healthy!
  
  There is more than one road to lifetime health, whether it's this nightmare program or vegatarianism, veganism, low fat, low carb, Weight Watchers, Paleo, mindful eating, Gabriel Method, Joel Fuhrman, etc. I HATE it when books like this refuse to acknowledge there is more than one avenue to health and exclusively insist their way is the ONLY way.
  
  (BTW, this book applauds layperson, Denise Minger, whose only credentials are "I like numbers!" for "debunking" the China Study - again, not saying the China Study is the end-all, be-all, but not every scientific study is a damned conspiracy! It's my personal gut reaction to be skeptical of any book that champions her amateur work against many researchers with decades of experience in creating studies and analyzing statistical data. Read the
  The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters for why expertise isn't a bad thing.)
  
  If you want to eat this diet, throw out everything in your kitchen cupboards, head to the woods and start chasing down rabbits and foraging mushrooms.
• 
  fleegan

  My husband decided to go wheat/gluten-free over a year ago. I didn’t get it. He was never diagnosed with Celiac Disease nor an allergy to wheat. I was kind of mad about it because it seemed to be terribly limiting food-wise. Not only was it inconvenient, but it was more expensive because it pretty much means you can’t have any processed foods. Everyone knows that processed foods aren’t good for you, but they are cheap and convenient.
  
  We both work and have different schedules so the only meal it really affected was dinner. I adapted and learned how to make some gluten-free meals. It wasn’t difficult, it just involved a little more planning. The only real hassle was that we couldn’t go out to eat together, and if we were invited to dinner with friends we’d usually decline because of menu issues. Eventually we figured out more things he could eat, and our friends, who are awesome, learned what things he could eat and now it’s not a big deal at all.
  
  I had seen some gluten-free cookbooks and books on Celiac Disease, but there didn’t seem to be anything on just a wheat-free lifestyle. The cookbooks were a disaster because there was nothing easy about the recipes (many strange and expensive ingredients). I ran across this book, Wheat Belly, which seemed exactly what I needed to read. It was a diet book, sure, but more than that it approached the wheat/gluten-free diet as more of a lifestyle, much like vegetarianism.
  
  I’m so glad I read this book. Dr. Davis explains why the wheat we eat today is different from the wheat we ate 60 years ago. He goes back as far as ancient, wild wheat all the way up to the wheat we hybridize today. I found this history of wheat extremely interesting. In fact, I found that part of the book more useful than the parts where he would talk about his patients (he’s a cardiologist) coming to him to get healthier, him adjusting their diet to no wheat, and them getting better, feeling better, and becoming more healthy. Not that the stories of his patients weren’t interesting, they just were not as compelling as the info about the wheat itself.
  
  I appreciated the way he wrote the book, it was easy to read, the science parts were made as simple as possible, the patients’ stories/examples were kept to a minimum, and he never came off as a superior listen-to-me-I’m-a-doctor doctor. He knows that eliminating wheat and gluten from your diet is really difficult at first. And he’s not pushy about it. He’s very mild in his pitch, which is so
  refreshing. He asks you to try it for two weeks, if you make it, try two more weeks. If you make it through four weeks of no wheat/gluten, then you’ve passed the threshold of wheat withdrawal, and if you’re feeling healthier and better than you were before, just keep eliminating the wheat. It gets easier the longer you go without it.
  
  His approach goes a bit further than just wheat. He does want you to give up carbohydrates. He goes into great detail about what carbs do to your blood sugar. I thought, “Oh no, here we go with the Atkin’s Diet.” But he’s quick to point out that you should not just eat a bunch of meat all the time. And while he’d prefer to give up all carbs, and he’s talking about potatoes and apples and other starches (the kind of things that raise your blood sugar level) he also concedes that they’re not unhealthy if you keep them to a minimum.
  
  Like most diet books, the part at the end has some good recipes, and not just recipes but ideas for food substitutions. He even makes a one week meal planner to get you started. The meal planner was kind of shocking because it honestly had more food on it per day than I usually eat.
  
  The only thing I did not like about the book was that sometimes the author would use metaphors to compare wheat to pop culture references. I get why he would do that, to add some levity to a diet book. But the references were kind of jarring and really took me out of the book. Especially since three of the references were famous murderers. Why? I mean, comparing the sneaky effects of wheat to the poisoned Kool-Aid Jim Jones made his followers drink? It’s a terrible comparison. There was nothing sneaky about the poisoned Kool-Aid. The people who didn’t want to drink it, because they knew it would kill them? Were forced at gun point to drink it anyway. So number one: making a Jim Jones Kool-Aid reference isn���t clever or funny, it’s a cheap laugh and old (like making fun of airline food. or Son of Sam. or O.J. Simpson.) And number two: The metaphor doesn’t even work. This happened several times in the book and in each instance it was very distracting, which is unfortunate because while I appreciate an author trying to make things more entertaining, in this type of book it really isn’t necessary.
  
  If you have friends or family who are wheat/gluten-free and you don’t know what the big deal is, or if you’ve thought about adopting a gluten-free lifestyle, I would definitely start with this book. It is so easy to read. Dr. Davis covers a multitude of health issues that a wheatless diet will help. And he provides some really simple recipes that will help get you started. It got me started.
  
• 
  Crystal Smith

  My mindset when I approached this book was one of skepticism. I am always leery of diets that recommend the complete abandonment of something natural that people have been eating for centuries. At least I had always thought of wheat as natural. According to this author, it is not quite as wholesome as most of us believe.
  
  The apparent disconnect between wheat's healthy reputation and reality is the main thesis of the book. The author argues that wheat has been so transformed by hybridization and genetic modification that it is completely different from the wheat known to our grandparents (or maybe even parents.) The end result is all kinds of health problems that can be improved or even healed with the elimination of wheat from the diet.
  
  His argument seems solid enough and his book seems very well researched. He makes a good point that wheat has become a disproportionately large part of most people's diets. But what started as an argument against wheat became, in the concluding chapters, a war on carbs in general.
  
  I can understand reducing wheat because it is so dominant in our diets, and eliminating it if you have severe problems. But the author also recommends that people cut way back on foods like fruit, rice, legumes--all kinds of carbohydrates.
  
  At this point the author lost me completely. I just can't get behind this kind of unbalanced diet that emphasizes protein at the expense of carbs like the Atkins diet. He made a compelling case about wheat, but leaves people few options other than meat, dairy and vegetables. A little too restrictive in my mind, especially since I am a vegetarian.
• 
  Rosemary Ellis

  I am not intolerant to gluten or living with celiac, but am striving to improve my lifestyle and diet, and took a look at this book at the recommendation of a friend. Dr Davis, a cardiologist, basically equates modern wheat / wheat- based products as poison to the human body, capable of not only causing food cravings but of contributing to, if not causing, serious diseases.
  
  Some of what Davis says about wheat seems to make sense. Eating any high-glycemic foods can cause cravings, after all. But when he encourages meat and cheese consumption over fruit and legumes, that's just so contrary to what other experts expose in The China Study and Eat To Live. And when Davis encourages limiting most carbs other than the low-glycemic veggies, i just can't accept that. My problem with this book is that although it sounds scientific, it contradicts many of my current practices which are working for me, and I have no way of knowing what it true.
  
  It's too bad that these kinds of books aren't routinely reviewed and endorsed or exposed by scientific peer reviews. I would love to see an unbiased fact check of this book.
• 
  Chris

  My name is Chris and I was a wheataholic. Wheat is the ultimate Franken-food. Dr Davis sure convinced me that wheat is evil. If you remember that Oldsmobile commercial, "It's not your grandfather's Oldsmobile," well the same could be said of wheat. The wheat we eat now is not the same wheat that our parents ate. It's been hybridized and changed into dwarf wheat with high yields and its molecular structure has more than doubled in chromosomes. No thought was given to the effects of these changes on the body and our metabolism. Wheat spikes your blood sugar more than pure sugar but new wheat even more so. The biggest lie and fiction in modern health is that wheat grains are healthy and good for you. Davis makes the case through his personal anecdotes with patients and clinical studies. Time and time again Diabetes 2 patients go into "remission" when they remove wheat from their diets. Wheat even affects LDL and the use of statins for your circulatory system. I'm in the process of doing a complete wheat-ectomy. Lots of good info here and some that gets complex and difficult to understand-especially on the complex changes involving LDL. Not even the doctors seem to understand the biochemistry of wheat and the human body. Hopefully more will embrace Dr Davis'view. Modern wheat stimulates you to eat more and is a corporation's dream come true. I'm going to miss my baguettes. No, I'm already over them.
• 
  Diane S ☔

  The more of these types of books I read , the more confused I become. That wheat is processed differently and that wheat may be the culprit in the current obesity crisis is I guess possible. I think maybe alot of it has to do with the fact that we just move less. Quite a bit less. Our parents may not have exercised but they moved, whether it was cleaning, lugging vacuums up and down, baking and kneading, they did not have drive thrus, and they walked, to the park the store or wherever. My mom did not learn to drive until after my father;s death. So I guess I don't buy the it's only the wheat theory. Plus every single diet is different, this one lets you have unlimited cheese, the paleo says nope, no cheese for you. That vegetables are good is no great revelation, we all know this.
  
  Maybe everyone just needs to find their own path, what works for them, get up and move and quit reading these books.
• 
  Dave Roberts

  I've read this book and a number of commentaries on it.
  
  The book is written by a physician, so you tend to trust its assertions of fact, but after a while, I became suspicious and starting to look for scientific commentary on the book.
  
  The thesis of the book is that the wheat that is so much a part of our diet today is bad for us because it has been manipulated and transformed from the original plant that occurred in nature. It has been changed--the "green revolution" is all about wheat plants that have several times the yield of previous plants, and the green revolution is helping to reduce starvation all over the world.
  
  The author states that if you eliminate wheat from your diet you'll lose weight--but he doesn't recommend replacing the wheat with another carbohydrate, he recommends a low-carbohydrate diet. Such a diet is well known to be effective in losing weight.
  
  I finally concluded that the science in this book is of little value. If you cut carbs drastically you'll lose weight--and that's about all that's in this book of any real value.
  
  I don't know why physicians, who have considerable scientific training, so often write these books of pseudo-science that spread useless fictions so widely. Perhaps it's because the credibility of their profession gives their books credibility, so they sell...perhaps it's all about the money.