You can't go into any bookstore or health food store without seeing a copy of Dr. William Davis' bestselling diet book, Wheat Belly. Following right behind this success is his Wheat Belly Cookbook. Dr. Davis is a cardiologist and gives this idea credibility. Gluten-free diets initially were for celiacs, those who have an auto-immune condition whereby they are allergic to anything containing wheat.

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• English Muffins

  Gluten-free English muffins can have nearly double the calories with five times the fat and less fiber!

• Pretzels

  Gluten-free pretzels can have 40 percent more calories, less fiber and a whopping six times more fat!

• Pasta

  Gluten-free Pasta can have 50 percent more calories and less fiber.

• Bagels

  Gluten-free bagels can have 7 more grams of fat and 5 grams less fiber than whole grain bagels, plus more calories!

• Hamburger Buns

  This gluten-free bun has more than twice the calories plus 6 more grams of fat and 3 fewer grams of fiber.

• Sneaky Chef Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

  <strong>Sneaky Chef Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (Makes about two dozen)</strong> 1 cup GF Flour Blend (see below) 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 8 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed 2 egg yolks 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/4 cup White Bean Puree (puree canned or cooked beans until smooth) 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove butter from refrigerator to let soften. In a large bowl, whisk together GF Flour Blend, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars until creamy. Beat in egg yolks, vanilla, and White Bean Puree. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed. Stir in chocolate chips. Make small cookies by dropping heaping teaspoonfuls, spaced about an inch apart, onto nonstick or parchment- lined baking sheets. Spray tops of cookies lightly with oil and flatten with the back of a spatula. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on a metal rack. Store cookies in airtight container at room temperature. Sneaky Chef Gluten-Free Flour Blend: 2 cups rice flour (ideally "brown rice flour") 2/3 cup potato starch (not "potato flour") 1/3 cup tapioca flour (or tapioca starch) 1 teaspoon xanthan gum Combine all ingredients in a bowl. This blend can be stored in a sealed, labeled plastic bag in the refrigerator for months.

• Quinoa

  Quinoa is naturally gluten-free, contains 111 calories and 3 grams fiber per half-cup cooked serving.

• White Beans

  Beans are naturally gluten-free and high in fiber (100 calories and 5 grams fiber per half-cup serving).

The problem today is that not only those with celiac disease suffer from wheat allergies. A large part of the population suffers from side effects connected to the consumption of wheat. This appears to be due to how wheat was processed in the past, compared to what's being done today. New wheat proteins are added to address world hunger issues to increase production which means these plants are getting more pest control, nitrates and irrigation. The result has been a strong physical reaction by many to these new forms of wheat including weight gain. However it has not yet been proven by clinical trials.

So where does weight gain come in? Well regular bread raises your blood sugar quickly due to the high glycemic index. High blood sugar is associated with type 2 diabetes and obesity. Dr. Davis actually states that flour is worse for your blood sugar than sugar! Two slices of whole wheat bread raises it higher than a candy bar! This is how the vicious cycle begins. After your blood sugar spikes, it falls, creating hunger and then the addiction to wheat continues this damaging cycle. The result is excess fat and weight gain. Dr. Davis believes that eating wheat promotes fat storage especially in the belly and also increases your appetite. Once you cut out wheat your blood sugar stops spiking, your appetite is reduced and thus you lose weight. Easy formula, but challenging to maintain.

Some grains to substitute for wheat are coconut, rice, bean and potato flour as well as ground nuts. Eat more natural foods including: vegetables, organic meats and healthy oils and keep fruit to a minimum due to the sugar content. Forget about fast food, most beverages and snacks. If you do this you will lose weight.

The Good of the Wheat Belly Diet:
• No need to count calories, fat or portion sizes. Just eliminate every trace of wheat.
• Lean protein, vegetables and nuts and seeds can lower cholesterol and stabilize your blood sugar.

The Bad of the Wheat Belly Diet:
• No wheat! Can you do this for life? That means no bread, cookies, pasta or any of your favourite comfort foods!
• Wheat is not only in bread and pastas. It is virtually in all processed and packaged foods! Salad dressings, sauces, cereals, baking powder and even gum, just to name a few.
• Keep in mind when you eliminate all wheat you're also eliminating certain beneficial nutrients such as: B vitamins, zinc and fibre.

My personal belief is that if you have a moderate wheat allergy, try organic products that have been less processed and keep your wheat to whole grains.

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• 1. You Should Eat By Your Blood Type

  Whether you're A, B, A/B, or O, the theory goes that depending on your blood type, you should adhere to one of four possible eating plans: low carb/high protein, low fat, vegetarian, or just an overall balanced diet. The reasoning is based on biochemistry and evolutionary theory and, according to both Pace and Brill, has no scientific proof whatsoever. "Blood type has to do with receptors on red blood cells and doesn't dictate what you should or shouldn't eat,” Brill says. If you match your diet to one of the blood type plans and lose weight, the reason is because of a sudden change to your diet or drop in calories, not because you're a universal donor.

• 2. You Can Lose Weight by Eliminating Any One Nutrient

  If only this was actually true. Just cut out all carbs/sugar/fat (and eat as much as you want of everything else) and voila, the weight melts off. The problem, Brill says, is that when you cut out one nutrient entirely, you're likely to compensate with another. So if you eliminate all fat from your diet, there's a good chance you'll amp up the carbohydrates, and often the white processed variety. Or if you cut carbs, you may end up eating more fat. And while sugar doesn't have much nutritional value, vowing to let nothing sweet pass your lips is just a recipe for a binge. "Good carbs and healthy fats are part of a balanced diet, and have loads of health benefits. It's absurd to sacrifice either, and it's not a realistic way to eat for life," Brill says.

• 3. Eating the Same Food 24/7 Will Make You Slim

  Seventh grade, as everyone knows, is a social minefield of cliques, mean girls, and pre-adolescent insecurity -- and in an effort to lose the extra three pounds I was carrying, I decided to eat plain tuna fish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day until I could fit into a smaller pair of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans. That lasted through lunch. Sub in any singular food and you have a weight-loss method that's ebbed and flowed in popularity over the years; for example, the all fruit diet and the notorious cabbage soup diet. There are myriad reasons this is a wrong-headed approach to weight loss, Pace says, but the main one is of course sustainability -- forget keeping this up for life (imagine if, 31 years later, I was subsisting solely on canned tuna). Few can maintain this approach for longer than a day.

• 4. Avoid Wheat, Lose Weight!

  Gluten-free eating -- cutting out all wheat-based products -- is all the rage, and according to Brill and Pace, utterly pointless unless you have a diagnosed wheat sensitivity or celiac disease (an intolerance to gluten), and then it's more likely that you would have lost weight due to the unpleasant symptoms (like diarrhea) this condition can cause. If you notice any weight loss on a wheat-free diet, it's because you've probably cut back on starch -- and by extension calories. The rest is hype.

• 5. Separate Protein and Starches

  I knew a guy -- a skinny guy, oddly enough -- back in my 20s who was a zealot about food combining, a popular diet method in the 80s and 90s. Though he had zero nutritional education, he was emphatic in his belief that your stomach releases a variety of enzymes, each responsible for digesting a particular nutrient. Eat certain foods together -- protein and starches, for example -- and apparently you'd wreck some sort of digestional havoc that keeps you from optimal weight and health. According to Brill, this just isn't how digestion works. "Digestion begins in the mouth the minute you start chewing, as saliva begins to break down food," she explains. "Once it hits your stomach, acid is released that doesn’t distinguish between nutrients but goes to work packing food into smaller and smaller particles so nutrients can be absorbed into the bloodstream and waste can make its way through your digestional tract." Plus, notes Pace, certain foods work in concert, boosting absorption of nutrients.

• 6. Eat Like Your Ancestors

  While the basics of diets like <a href="http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-strategies/paleo-diet-eat-cavewoman-and-lose-weight">Paleo</a> and the Warrior Diet before that are sound -- eat only whole, unprocessed foods -- the rules are often random and not something that a caveman or woman would have followed: you can eat sweet potatoes but not white, and butter but only if it's clarified. And besides, who is to say our cave-dwelling forbearers were healthier (no one probably lived past 30)? In fact, archeological findings show that humans evolved and our brains became larger when we started to cook and turn grains into food.

• 7. Drink Your Diet

  If you're of a certain age, or just obsessed with Oprah, you may remember the day she wheeled 60 pounds of fat onto the stage (to represent her 60-pound weight loss), wearing a pair of chic, high-waisted Calvin Klein jeans. Her secret? Months spent on an all-liquid diet known as Optifast, during which time not a single morsel of food passed her lips. Unfortunately she gained back every single ounce as soon as she started eating real food again. If you want to try a juice fast for a few days to jumpstart your diet, go ahead (though Brill recommends this only under medical supervision and notes that it's likely only water weight you've lost). Ultimately, your need to chew will always win out.

• 8. A Single Nutrient Has Weight-Loss Powers

  Add one specific nutrient to your diet --typically a healthy fat -- and poof, goodbye belly fat! The problem, Brill says, is there's just not enough scientific proof to back this up. "Generally these types of diets are healthy, since they're often based on the Mediterranean diet, but there's no real proof that one single nutrient, however healthy, can actually target and reduce fat," she says. Plus, there's still the matter of calorie control-- you can't just load up on healthy fats and expect to lose weight. The issue really is about balance: getting enough of the right types of nutrients rather than favoring one over the other is what helps your body function properly.

• 9. Eating Baby Food

  If you are a grown adult, there is one reason that you should have baby food in your possession: you have a baby. OK, maybe if you just underwent a serious surgical procedure and can only stomach pureed food; otherwise eating like an infant doesn't provide adequate protein or flavor (Ever tried it? There's a reason babies are always spitting out the strained peas). And do you really want to go to work with a day's supply of Gerber in your purse to lose five pounds?

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