Wheat-Free Success Story: How Nicole Saved Her Son from Surgery

“Abel,
I hope all is well with you. I just wanted to send you a quick update.

After listening to your “Wheat Belly” podcast I downloaded the book on my kindle and began reading it. I then persuaded my husband to try going wheat free for 4 weeks. I was shocked when he agreed and even more shocked when my children (9 and 6) didn’t throw a fit when I told them what we were doing.

I really didn’t have a specific reason to try this other than curiosity. But what happened over the next 2-3 weeks had us amazed and really did change our lives for the better.

The biggest change was in my 5 year old son, Ben. For years he’s suffered from troubled breathing at night. It was a great concern for my husband and I, especially on the nights that I would check on him and he would be drenched in sweat, heart racing and gasping for airas he “slept”. We have a two story home and most nights we could stand at the bottom of our stairs and hear him breathing in his room.

I took him to the doctor and they observed that he had enlarged tonsils that were restricting his breathing at night. She suspected this was also the reason he was underweight and she was surprised his lack of sleep wasn’t affecting his behavior. She recommended that we remove his tonsils to “cure” him. I was really reluctant to go right to surgery because the tonsils are a part of the immune system and other than mild colds and the flu he had never really been sick (he’d only been on antibiotics one time).

I am sure you’ve connected the dots by now, but I have to tell you that I was absolutely SHOCKED the first night (about 2 weeks into wheat-free) I went to check on him while he was sleeping and he was breathing completely silently. The only thing we had changed was removing wheat.

We’ve been wheat free for over 6 weeks now and we are continuing to see improvements, not only in his sleep, but he’s gained almost 3 lbs and his appetite has increased dramatically.

I cannot express my thanks to you enough for your podcasts. I am grateful every night when I check on my son and leave his room with tears of relief in my eyes because he is sleeping restfully for the first time in years. I love how open minded your point of view is and the diversity of your guests.

If I had not found your podcast I wouldn’t have been interested in the paleo-style diet and my son would have ended up having a surgery that was completely unnecessary.

On a related note, we have all transitioned easily into the grain free lifestyle. My husband has easily broken past the 200 lbs. mark on the scale, a plateau that he has faced many times in the past. I’ve experienced modest weight loss, but more importantly I’ve lost over 3% body fat and I’ve had a dramatic reduction in crazy food cravings.

Thanks again and I look forward to learning more from you and your podcast in the future!!

– Nicole Essink

P.S.- I just commented on your Facebook page today about coconut oil in my coffee… HOLY CRAP – that stuff is amazing!”

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