Episode 3 of “Jimmy Moore Presents: Ask The Low-Carb Experts” features Dr. William Davis, M.D. who is the author of the New York Times bestselling book . Dr. Davis is a preventive cardiologist whose unique approach to nutrition (that is unlike what most of his fellow heart doctors are using) allows him to advocate for reversal, not just prevention, of heart disease. He is the founder of the Track Your Plaque program and lives in the state of Wisconsin.

Dr. Davis has been on the cusp of identifying the key causes of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease for well over a decade with his examination into the negative impact of consuming “healthy whole grains” that became the central focus of his long-awaited book released in August 2011. Dr. Davis was a special guest speaker on The 3rd Annual Low-Carb Cruise discussing his work promoting heart health through prevention with the use of an inexpensive CT Heart Scan test and he will be one of the featured guest speakers on the May 2012  sharing more about this in a lecture entitled “The Great Whole Grain Caper.” But he’s gonna be with us here on ATLCX and your questions are invited and welcomed!

Here are some of the questions we addressed in this episode:

REESE ASKS:I would love to know from Dr William Davis what his thoughts are on grains other than wheat e.g. 100% rye or spelt bread. Does he think that these are as harmful as wheat? I would also like to know if he knows anything about wheat production/modification in parts of the world other than the USA. I am from Sydney Australia and don’t know if our wheat is just as modified and dangerous.

PETER ASKS:I’d like to ask Dr. William Davis if he knows of other doctors who agree with him about wheat and its harmful effects on health, or is he a “lone crusader”?

KATHY ASKS:I intellectually accept and agree with everything in your book and have stopped eating wheat (all grains) a couple of years ago. But it’s hard to stay motivated when eating wheat does not give me any symptom that I can feel or see. If a person has no symptoms — please explain the adverse effects that may be happening anyway. Or do they take many years to show up?

TORI ASKS:I’ve heard from people like Elizabeth Hasselbeck that only 5% of the population has a wheat sensitivity and yet there are others like Dr. Daniel Chong who say that it is near 85%. I would love to hear Dr. Davis’ thoughts on this.

KIM ASKS:Thank Dr. Davis for the great work you did on Wheat Belly. It was a fascinating read, and it has helped me better understand why avoiding wheat (especially modern wheat) is optimal. My question is about rice. I eat a primal diet that includes a small amount of white rice from time to time (no more than 1 cup cooked per week). I have a few friends that eat more of a WAPF diet and enjoy soaked brown rice as part of their diet. They tell me that soaking the brown rice removes a lot of the anti-nutrients, making soaked brown rice a healthier alternative to white rice because it contains fiber and other nutrients. I’m just wondering, if properly/traditionally prepared, whether or not brown rice would be a better option than white rice in those rare occasions I indulge in eating this grain.

SARAH ASKS:I’ve always struggled with my weight and food addiction. The only eating plan that has ever been successful for me has been one that eliminates whole grains, sugar, and the other “bad stuff”. Although my blood pressure was never “high”, I always noticed a drop in my BP once I recommitted to a low-carb eating plan.

Fast forward to last July. My BP had been running high (140s/90s) for most of the year. I weighed the most I’d ever weighed (279lb at 5’3.75″ tall), so I finally kicked myself in the backside and recommitted to a low-carb, grain-free eating plan. My blood pressure didn’t drop.

By September, I was noticing an irregular heartbeat along with my high blood pressure, and in October, I made an appointment to see my doctor. He put me on 10mg of lisinopril and told me to come back in 3 months. (He knew about my eating plan and was fine with it because I was slowly losing weight.)

Five days before my 3-month checkup, I fainted in my bathroom. Since I’d never fainted before, I called my doc. He suggested that I stop taking the lisinopril until I saw him on the 16th, so that’s what I did. Within just a couple days, my blood pressure started creeping back up again, and I started feeling the irregular heartbeats again.

When I saw my doc for the follow-up, he told me to stay off the lisinopril unless my BP got up over 130/80 (consistently), he told me to keep trying to lose weight, and he told me to avoid salt. He also said that if my BP did go up over 130/80, I should start taking 5mg of lisinopril since it was likely working too well for me.

So here’s my question. When removing grains doesn’t control your BP, is there something else that I’m missing? I eat pretty strict Paleo right now (no grain, legumes, dairy, etc.), and my weight loss is slow but steady. (I weigh 248lb right now.) Oh yes, and I did end up having to start the 5mg dose of BP meds 3 days ago. My BP is back in a reasonable range again.

DONNA ASKS:My 17-year-old daughter asked me this: “what’s worse for you, whole grain bread or white bread?” I would have answered “white bread is worse” 2 years ago, but after giving up a daily serving of wheat germ (along with grains in general), my arthritis symptoms have virtually disappeared!

Is flaxseed safe?

JAMIE ASKS:Mainstream dietary “experts” argue that eating whole grains are good for you because of the “evidence”. Of course they have only looked at the evidence comparing eating whole grains versus eating refined grains AND they make the false logic extension that eating wholes grains are good for us. They fail to look at any research comparing eating grains (whole or refined) against eating no grains. This point is missed. What say you?

What do you say to people who say “Without grains, how will I get enough fiber?”

HEATHER ASKS:

I have purchased his fabulous book and listened to the podcasts he has been on lately. I think his ideas about wheat are brilliant. My seven year old daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in September 2011 with a blood sugar of 211 at the doctor’s office. She was immediately sent to the hospital so that her blood sugar could be under control and that they could teach us the proper way to inject the insulin and everything else that goes along with it.

The diabetic diet they wanted her to eat in the hospital was a joke – high carb, moderate protein and of course low fat. I couldn’t believe some of the food choices and how things were loaded with wheat and even sugar. The only sugar free item on the menu was sugar free jello! I argued with the dietician and told her that no way should my daughter be eating all these carbs, sugar and grains! By giving in and following this woman’s advice for just one meal – my daughter’s blood sugar rose to the 300′s. I immediately went back to the lower carb plan that I knew was right for her and had been controlling her blood sugar pretty well up until that point. I couldn’t wait to go home and put her on a high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet to control her blood sugar.

As soon as we came home and she ate this lower carb way – her need for insulin kept decreasing every day. She started off at 14 total units daily at the hospital and within days of being home she was down to about 5 units. A few weeks later down to 1 unit of insulin per day. By the beginning of October she was off all insulin. If she did take insulin it would cause her blood sugar to go too low. The doctor even agreed and told me not to give her insulin anymore until she needs it again.

Now of course, the doctor keeps saying she’s in that honeymoon period. Honeymoon period is when a type 1 starts getting insulin and the pancreas wakes up and starts making it’s own insulin again. I just keep thinking that maybe she was misdiagnosed and really a type 2 diabetic or that she has reactive hypoglycemia. I’ve asked that she have a c-peptide test and insulin tolerance test, but the doctor keeps refusing. She keeps saying she’s still in honeymoon period and this will probably be over soon.

Well, I want these tests so it will help us know if she’s really a type 1 or not. I will insist on these tests at the next upcoming appointment and if the doctor refuses I will get a 2nd opinion. I’ve been told I should do this by many people already. They just cannot believe the doctor is refusing the tests. So sorry that my story is so long, but my main point is that I notice that as long as my daughter does not eat wheat, sugar or too many carbs at one meal – she has wonderful blood sugar numbers!

The doctor said the record for the longest honeymoon period in her office was a boy who didn’t need insulin for 6 months. My daughter is already at 4 months with no insulin and her numbers are still great! Do you think it’s possible that her good blood sugars can continue forever with avoiding wheat, sugar and too many carbs at one meal without insulin?

QUEST BARS HAS A BRAND NEW NATURAL LINE: