Here's an interesting little article which I came across in The Times today:

The Times, London, UK
November 08, 2004

How I knew not to eat wheat
ANN TRENEMAN


IF ANYONE had told me two years ago that I had a wheat intolerance, I would have laughed and said don’t be ridiculous. For me, the very idea was linked to those people who can eat so few things that it is a miracle that they manage to stay alive.

I saw wheat intolerance as a slippery slope, the next step of which was bound to involve becoming a windblown fruitarian. At the very least I was sure that it would require drinking liquid grass and hanging out in juice bars. Plus, I had never been allergic to anything and had no intention of starting now. So, as you can see, my mind was not so much closed as cemented shut.

Then, two years ago, I decided to lose weight. The 10lb that I had always meant to shed but hadn’t was becoming something a bit more. The weight had to go, but I had never been any good at dieting.

“Go on Atkins. You are guaranteed to lose a stone in two weeks,” said a friend.

Guaranteed? “Guaranteed,” she said, with an absolutely straight face.

It wasn’t as if muffins were my life or anything, but I did eat a lot of carbohydrates. Needs must, however, and so I went on Atkins. I did lose that stone, though it took longer than two weeks.

But, more than anything, I could not get over how much better I felt in myself. I had so much more energy and felt a lot lighter, and it wasn’t just because of the weight loss. I was buoyant in every way. And, most noticeable of all, the nagging stomach ache that had been my companion for years was gone.

Yet, I still did not realise the situation. Then, one Sunday, I went to lunch at a friend’s house. It was a carb feast of pasta and bread and cake. By mid-afternoon I felt ill. The stomach ache was back, and with a vengeance.

At this point, it all started to click into place. I tested it a few more times but gradually began to see that, as much as I wished it was not true, it was.

Once something like that becomes obvious, it is relatively easy to change how you eat.

I still have the odd piece of bread now and then, but the good old pasta days are gone for ever.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/articl...1346916,00.html



Nice to see a pro-Atkins article by the British media for once