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Take a look at what Wheat Belly Blog reader Allen posted about his cholesterol testing:

Just wanted to report that I had my first blood test since starting Wheat Belly back in July, 2012. I just got a note from my company doc:

"I just wanted to write as your medical consultant how impressed I was by your recent labs. You said you lost 20 pounds - congratulations. Your hemoglobin A1c was fine, not indicating pre-diabetes. And your lipid profile showed more improvement than I've ever seen from weight loss, exercise and diet - many find this just genetic and cannot get it down with just these measures, but your's has really improved.

Total cholesterol (in U.S. units) down from 264 to 197, LDL or bad cholesterol down from 203 to 138, HDL or good cholesterol from 21 way up to 47. Your triglycerides are normal now.

This is great - glad you were so successful!"

His doctor's comment that Allen's lipid profile "showed more improvement than I've ever seen from weight loss, exercise and diet" hints at the extravagant metabolic transformations that develop with elimination of all things wheat.

When you eliminate wheat, 2 + 2 = 11 . . . the total is greater than the sum of the parts. Beneath the surface of his markedly improved lipid values, Allen has also:

- Reduced or eliminated small LDL particles, the lipoproteins that are the REAL cause of most coronary disease.
- Has markedly reduced the process of liver de novo lipogenesis, the liver's conversion of carbohydrates, such as the amylopectin A and amylose of wheat, to triglyceride-containing lipoproteins ("high triglycerides") that lead to heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and "fatty liver."
- Reduced the production of postprandial (after-meal) lipoproteins, such as VLDL remnants, that lead to heart disease.
- Reduced the potential for LDL particle glycation, the glucose-modification of the (apoprotein B particle component of the) LDL particle. (Small LDL particles are 8-fold more glycation-prone than large LDL particles.)
- Reduced oxidized LDL particles of the sort that are more likely to be recovered from atherosclerotic plaque. "Glycoxidized" LDL particles, i.e., glycated and oxidized, are probably the primary form of LDL particles that cause atherosclerosis.
- Improved endothelial function - Reductions in VLDL/triglycerides, postprandial lipoproteins, and small LDL particles are associated with greater arterial flexibility ("endothelial function").
- Reduced various inflammatory phenomena - signaled, for instance, by reductions in c-reactive protein.
- Reduced potential for other health problems - Allen's striking rise in HDL - more than doubling - suggests improved protection from not just heart disease, but also cancer (via HDL's antioxidative function?).

Should Allen also lose weight and visceral ("Wheat Belly") fat, all the above benefits are further compounded, with further improvements in VLDL reduction, greater reductions in postprandial lipoproteins via de novo lipogenesis, further rise in HDL, etc.

Allen did this at virtually no cost, without side-effects, without drugs. He went against the advice of the USDA and its Food Plate, went against the advice of the National Cholesterol Education Panel that drafts guidelines for cholesterol treatment, probably went against the initial advice of his doctor . . . only to demonstrate stupendous correction of both overt and the hidden but correlated markers of metabolic health.

Wheat elimination is GOOD for you . . . VERY good for you.