What's With Wheat? - Celiac Disease, Gluten Intolerance, Gluten Free Diet
- ketogenicfasting
- May 6
- 5 min read
What’s With Wheat? The Alarming Evolution of a Staple Grain
Once upon a time, wheat was considered the staff of life—a golden grain that nourished generations across continents. But today, this very staple is under intense scrutiny. From kitchen tables to clinical labs, people are asking: What’s with wheat?
Cyndi O’Meara’s eye-opening documentary What’s With Wheat? explores this question with a critical lens, uncovering the startling changes that have quietly occurred in our food system—and how they may be at the root of a growing public health crisis.
A Grain Gone Rogue
Modern wheat is not your grandmother’s wheat. In fact, it’s not even your great-grandmother’s. Over the past several decades, wheat has been hybridized, industrialized, and mass-produced into something nearly unrecognizable to our bodies. What was once a hearty, wholesome crop has now become a suspect in the surge of chronic health conditions sweeping the globe.
Whereas ancient strains like einkorn and emmer had simpler protein structures and lower gluten content, today’s wheat is a genetically manipulated, high-yield crop designed for industrial efficiency—not human nourishment. And we are paying the price.
The Rise of Wheat-Related Disorders
Wheat’s transformation has coincided with an alarming rise in health conditions related to gluten and wheat consumption. Rates of celiac disease, once a rare autoimmune disorder, have multiplied in recent years. Even more concerning is the explosion of non-celiac gluten sensitivity—a condition that affects millions who may never test positive for celiac but suffer fatigue, brain fog, digestive distress, and inflammation when consuming gluten.
Tens of thousands are walking around with symptoms they don’t connect to their diets—assuming it’s aging, stress, or simply bad genetics. But according to O’Meara’s team of 14 global experts, for many, wheat is the hidden culprit.
Wheat and Autoimmunity: A Growing Concern
Beyond digestive issues, the film dives deep into the link between gluten and autoimmune diseases. Conditions like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus have been shown to worsen—or in some cases, even trigger—due to gluten exposure. Why? Because gluten has been found to increase intestinal permeability, leading to what many call “leaky gut.” This can prompt the immune system to attack its own tissues in genetically predisposed individuals.
It’s a staggering revelation, and one that brings new urgency to rethinking our relationship with wheat.
Changing Wheat, Changing Lives
The story of wheat is more than a food story—it’s a story of agricultural engineering, globalized food systems, and the unintended consequences of tampering with nature. As What’s With Wheat? makes clear, it’s time to reconnect with the origins of our food, to question the norms of our modern diets, and to get educated.
O’Meara’s documentary is not a call to fear food—but to become curious about it. To become aware. For many, cutting out gluten may be the single most transformative health decision they make. For others, it may be part of a broader journey toward understanding the impact of processed foods, chemical agriculture, and how far we’ve strayed from traditional food wisdom.
A Wake-Up Call for the Next Generation
Perhaps the most chilling part of the film is the focus on our children. Why are we witnessing skyrocketing rates of allergies, behavioral disorders, and autoimmune conditions in kids? The experts agree: the transformation of wheat, coupled with the modern Western diet, may be partly to blame.
Our bodies—and especially our children’s bodies—are signaling distress. It’s time to listen.
Directed by: Justin Brown
Starring: Sarah Ballantyne, Cyndi Omeara, Mark Sissons, Terry Wahls, David Perlmutter
🌾 Today’s Wheat: A Silent Saboteur in the Modern Diet
Walk into any grocery store, and you'll find wheat in nearly every aisle—from sandwich bread 🥪 to salad dressings 🥗, veggie burgers 🍔 to soy sauce 🍜. It’s the hidden backbone of the standard Western diet. But beneath its wholesome image lies a darker truth: today’s wheat may be one of the most insidious threats to public health that few are talking about.
Modern wheat is not just a grain—it’s a highly modified, chemically treated, and heavily processed product of industrial agriculture ⚗️. Since the 1950s and '60s, wheat has been genetically altered to boost yields 🌾📈 and resist pests, but not for digestibility or nutritional value. The result? A crop that contains more chromosomes, more gluten, and more unfamiliar proteins than ever before.
And we’re eating it daily:
🍞 Breakfast: toast or cereal
🌯 Lunch: wraps or crackers
🍝 Dinner: pasta, gravies, and even our “health food” bars
🔥 Inflammation Nation
One of the greatest dangers of today’s wheat is its inflammatory nature. Studies have shown that the type of gluten present in modern wheat can trigger chronic inflammation—even in those who do not have celiac disease ⚠️. This systemic inflammation contributes to:
❤️ Heart disease
💉 Type 2 diabetes
⚖️ Obesity
🧠 Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative conditions
Worse still, wheat contains wheat germ agglutinin, a protein that irritates the gut lining and disrupts microbiome balance 🦠. Add in glyphosate (a common herbicide) 🌿, and you’ve got a toxic cocktail shaking up your digestive health.
📉 Blood Sugar Spikes and Crashes
Think whole wheat bread is a safe choice? Think again. Two slices of whole wheat bread 🍞 can spike your blood sugar faster than a spoonful of table sugar 🍬. That rollercoaster of insulin highs and crashes:
⚠️ Wreaks havoc on metabolism
⚠️ Contributes to insulin resistance
⚠️ Fuels the obesity epidemic
For those dealing with weight gain ⚖️, fatigue 😴, or prediabetes, modern wheat adds gasoline to the metabolic fire 🔥.
🤯 Brain Fog, Bloating, and Beyond
Even without a formal diagnosis, many people report feeling better—both mentally and physically—after eliminating wheat. Common symptoms of wheat sensitivity include:
💨 Digestive distress (bloating, gas, constipation)
😴 Persistent fatigue
🧴 Skin conditions (eczema, acne)
🧠 Brain fog and trouble focusing
😠 Mood swings and irritability
They may seem unrelated, but they often share a root cause: inflammation triggered by modern food—especially modern wheat.
✨ The Good News? We Have a Choice
The danger of today’s wheat lies not only in what it has become—but in how unaware we are of its effects. But a change is happening:
🚫 More people are going gluten-free
🌾 Ancient grains are making a comeback
🥖 Artisanal sourdough is reclaiming tradition
🧠 Nutritionists are raising awareness
And documentaries like What’s With Wheat? 🎥 are shining a light on this modern-day food crisis.
🌱 Today’s wheat isn’t the enemy we see—but it may be the hidden villain behind countless chronic symptoms. Once revered as daily nourishment, it now demands a second look.
Your body might just thank you for saying goodbye 👋 to what wheat has become.
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