Transcript:

Dr. Davis: Well, Hi Amanda. Thanks again for agreeing to tell your story. Now, I know a little bit about your story, because you’ve posted it on the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Facebook page, but would you mind going through what your health and life was like before you undertook all this?

Amanda: Sure, sure. So I always had weight issues, hormonal issues, growing up. I always had really bad cycles, really bad pain, and so I just had all the horrendous polycystic ovarian syndrome symptoms, and really bad acne.

My dermatologist realized I might have PCOS. I was referred to a gynecologist in college, who put me on birth control pills, which started the issues with other stuff (later on in life), and always, just the weight issues — I just couldn’t figure out why. I mean my mom would be like “You’re eating like a bird. You’re not eating much.” I would just gain weight, and gain weight, and so, really battled.

By the time I hit my mid-twenties I felt like I was 90 years old. I just … and I think it was frustrating because the worse I got, doctors would say “Well, you’ll never lose weight. You’ll be diabetic by 35. You’ll have high blood pressure … like, you’ll never, you’ll never, you’ll never…”

I think, by the time (when you see that picture), I think I’d really just given up. I mean what’s the point? Why not eat the fried food, and all the crap, and all the sugar, and all the soda, because it doesn’t matter anyway.…

D: This is at age 27?

A: Mm-hmm. Yeah the pain was so bad in my 20s and 30s, the physical pain, that I don’t know if I hadn’t changed my lifestyle if I would if I would be here anymore. I had had so many suicidal ideations. And one day, I was just at the very bottom, and my dad, who’s a pastor, he knew, and he called me up and said “I’m on my way. I’m three hours away, but I’m on my way.” I know that was a turning point. If I hadn’t found the nutrition support, and the supplement support, I don’t know if I would be here anymore — I really don’t. I was at that low of a point.

I was just really frustrated because everyone kept saying — I would go to the doctor, go to the doctor, go to the doctor, and I finally got to the point; why? The pharmacist in this larger city knows my name — you know like you shouldn’t be known by the pharmacist when you’re in your 20s. I was like: no, I don’t want to go on another medication. I was on Adderall. I was on (I think) anti-anxiety medication, antidepressant. I was on birth control pills, which I found out later depleted my progesterone, which was causing me to be very moody, and I was just … you know, just on everything.

So, when I found you and your books this past summer, it just totally clicked. I was like: this is it. I’ve lost 22 pounds. I’m almost at the weight I was when I graduated from college in 2002, so, yeah.

D: How do you feel nowadays?

I feel good; I feel good. I teach Refit, which is dance fitness. I teach that twice a week. I do aquatics. I work full-time. I’m a [motion coprocessor?], so I work with clients at night.

In that picture — the before picture — it was me barely able to survive work. I didn’t sleep at night. I would crash after a few nights of not sleeping. And then on the weekends, I would just sleep all weekend — just kind of depression, and just not sleeping for the week. I would just crash. I definitely have a whole lot more energy.

D: What became of all your prescription medications?

A: They went in the trash.

D: How about all the PCOS phenomena?

A: I don’t have the symptoms anymore.

D: Great, great. You don’t have diabetes? You don’t have high blood pressure?

I don’t have diabetes. In fact, I was pre-diabetic, when I had lost my weight, and I was vegan. I was working with the integrative doctor, and he even was like “well, maybe you’re just genetically predisposed.” Well I changed some things, went back the next year for lab work, and I was out of the pre-diabetic level. So, I don’t have diabetes at all. Oh yeah, that was right, they also tried to put me on metformin with the PCOS. That made me so sick that I was like, I’d rather have the hormonal issues than be sick like this all the time. So that one went the trash too.

D: Did you start with the 10-Day Grain Detox?

A: I did. I had listened to your podcast and I started reading Wheat Belly, and then I was trying to figure it all out. I thought I was grain free, but then I read the 10-Day Detox and found out tapioca starch wasn’t. The day that I joined the group, and started reading the 10-Day Detox, I got a lot of help. There were some things that I needed to tweak, that I thought I was doing right, and I wasn’t.

You’re so right: when we get rid of the sugar, and the those grains, that we don’t have the opiate effect on our body. We just don’t crave food anymore. I don’t want the cake. I don’t want that stuff, because I know I would feel horrible afterwards. It is amazing how you get your brain back. It’s amazing that when I found you and your books, I was ready, I was humble. I was so ready. My husband will try to give me popcorn, or he’ll try “um, don’t you want this?”, and, no, act like it’s poison — like get it away from me. I don’t want it. I don’t like the way I felt on that. So, no regrets at all.

D: Great. Amanda, you truly look terrific. You are clearly a grain-free sort of lady. Thank you for taking the time to tell your story.

A: Absolutely. Thank you.