In some ways I am not a good person to write on this topic. I was so sick and so miserable for so long that giving up wheat and gluten was easy for me. I wanted nothing to do with it. My stomach hurt, my brain hurt, I was sick all the time, I had no waist, and I wanted out.

Yet I find that when I share my journey a lot of people are not able to stay motivated. Often they were never as obviously ill as I was. Sometimes they find being “that person” at a party who doesn’t eat anything too disturbing. Sometimes they love bread more than any other food…ever.

So if this is you, and you know that you need to stop eating dairy or gluten or corn (or, like me, all of the above) but you find it difficult, I would like to recommend a few resources to help you stay motivated.

To give up gluten – There is a book called Wheat Belly by Dr, William Davis. In addition to the book he has a blog at http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/ and some YouTube videos which start with this one at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSDkJEF9aBY Yes the information is a bit scary but it should convince you that this is not optional, and that you are doing your family a favor by putting them in a gluten free house.

To give up dairy – The book The China Study resulted in a dairy ban in my house. Somewhere in the first few chapters the truly horrifying studies of rats fed aflatoxin plus dairy compared with those fed only aflatoxin (aflatoxin is a potent carcinogen) combined with the sheer number of studies linking dairy consumption to cancer as well as heart disease (the protein in dairy, not the fat but the actual whey protein in skim milk and that is sold as a supplement in gyms) in humans spelled doom for cheese in my home even before I realized how ill it made me. Some of the information is repeated in the movies Forks Over Knives and Chow Down both of which are documentaries available at no cost from Hulu. The book, however, is the thing that made me push my family members who have no digestive issue with dairy to give it up.
Forks Over Knives on Hulu – http://www.hulu.com/watch/279734
Chow Down on Hulu – http://www.hulu.com/watch/172558

To give up corn – Although Wheat Belly does go largely after wheat, other grains do not get off the hook. Corn can cause the same scary blood sugar spikes that other grains cause. And yes, if you are eating corn and it isn’t organic is it almost certainly genetically modified (that is per the Department of Agriculture which estimates how much U.S. corn is GMO). But there is something I find even scarier. There are studies that show that corn in the US has aflatoxin on it about 20% of the time. Aflatoxin is very scary stuff and is regulated at the parts per billion level because it is so potent. The issue is that it is tested while it is still grain in a silo. So get a few good ears and you might miss the one with the toxin. It is difficult to find because it is regulated at ppb and not ppm. Yes the corn is destroyed when it has the toxin on it…if they find it. Not that I am some great guru on corn testing…I personally needed to learn about it, which is why I read what these professors say about the subject.
http://www.mafg.net/Files High%20Temps,%20Drought%20Are%20Causes%20Of%20Aflatoxins%20In%20CorncAXCDN.pdf
If you need more reasons to avoid corn the movie Genetic Roulette is quite sobering.
You can rent Genetic Roulette for $2.99 here
http://geneticroulettemovie.com/

None of these changes are easy to make until you really want to change. This information will hopefully give you the motivation to want to change enough to actually do it. I did not do it all at once, it took some time for me to completely give up all of these foods but it was well worth it and it was very possible when done one day at a time.

Best of luck to you all and Happy New Year!