“Eating wheat, like ice climbing, mountain boarding, and bungee jumping, is an extreme sport. It is the only common food that carries its own long-term mortality rate.”
(William Davis, Wheat Belly)

“For the first time in history,” says Dr. Tom O’Bryan, “your kids are going to get sick earlier, get diseases earlier, and die earlier than you!”

The Dr. (his website is literally theDr.com) is a highly esteemed clinician who specializes in Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. If you’re wondering, is gluten really that bad? He says all gluten isn’t bad. Bad gluten is bad.

The bad gluten comes from wheat, rye, and barley. It doesn’t matter if it’s a modern hybrid or an ancient strain. Dr. Tom sites a research study from Harvard that concludes, “Every human, every time we are exposed to wheat, rye, or barley, every human develops intestinal permeability, every time.”

Dr. Pedram Shojai invited Dr. Tom to the set of the Urban Monk TV show to explain exactly why bad gluten is so harmful.

In this 53-minute interview, Dr. Tom masterfully conveys what he’s learned from 30 years of research on gluten. He uses direct, simple language to explain how bad gluten damages the digestive system of every human who eats it, every bite, every time.

He demonstrates how our intestines quickly repair damage caused by gluten until, one day, the next mouthful becomes the final straw and the system breaks. This is called a loss of oral tolerance. It means the body can no longer tolerate damage caused by bad gluten. The body becomes too weak and too tired to heal itself.

He uses analogies of shag carpet lining our intestines and cheesecloth lining every piece of shag. When the system is working properly, food is broken down into micro-molecules. Each micro-molecule enters the blood system through its designated shag. Calcium enters through one piece of shag, Vitamin C through another, etc.

However, the human digestion system is not able to break down gluten from wheat, rye, and barley into micro-molecules. So larger clumps of gluten, called macromolecules, smash against the cheesecloth, and tear holes in it. The body repairs the tear. The person eats more gluten. The gluten tears more cheesecloth.

Repair. Eat. Tear… Repair. Eat. Tear… Repair. Eat. Tear… This cycle repeats until the body is just too tired to repair and it gives up.

With the loss of oral tolerance, a cascade of really bad things begins to happen. Dr. Tom teaches that our immune system is designed to protect our bodies from foreign invaders just like our Armed Services do for our country.

With unrepaired holes in the cheesecloth, particles of food can enter the bloodstream before being completely broken down into micro-molecules. In my favorite analogy, Dr. Tom says when a clump of tomato gets into the blood system, the body says, “Whoa! What’s that? That’s not supposed to be here.” So it calls in General Tomato to build an army of soldiers to destroy every clump of tomato in the system — this defensive reaction is called inflammation.

Dr. Tom says that intestinal permeability (holes in the cheesecloth), commonly referred to as “leaky gut,” is a key factor in the development of autoimmune diseases¹. He explains that autoimmune diseases are the #1 cause of death for human beings today.

Is gluten really that bad? I am learning it is. I hope I have captured your attention enough to get you to click here and watch this important interview. There is much more to know than I am able to convey in this short post.

My takeaways from the interview are:

1. Watch the interview my wife and daughters
2. Get my family and myself “bad” gluten-free
3. Inspire everyone I love and care about to invest 53-minutes and learn more

Please let me know what you think after watching the interview: IS GLUTEN REALLY THAT BAD? IT DEPENDS…

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