Last spring, I woke up to discover that I had agreed to do four speaking engagements in the space of a week. It always seems like a good idea when I first sign on for these events, but then I go through a spell of reluctance when I have to pack my bags and get on the airplane. I am learning to trust, however. Once I’m on the road, I get into the spirit of things and remember that I am being divinely guided and there is always something for me to learn.

 After my first scheduled talk in Salt Lake City, I flew on to Detroit where a storm delayed my flight to stop number two: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. My hosts Anne and Paul, who had arranged this first-ever speaking engagement in Atlantic Canada for me, took me to dinner in Halifax. I hadn’t seen them since the previous year and I had to comment on how absolutely wonderful they both looked. They told me they had made some changes to their eating habits based on the work of Dr. William Davis and a miracle took place. They were so trim and glowing with good health I had to hear more about Dr. Davis and his books Wheat Belly and the Wheat Belly Cookbook.

 Anne and Paul explained that Dr. Davis’s program is not a diet but a wheat-free lifestyle. It’s not mere abstinence from wheat, but a process of understanding the food we eat and our relationship to it. Dr. Davis’s research revealed how the changed components of modern wheat stimulate appetite, contribute to the expansion of abdominal fat, trigger autoimmune diseases, and contribute to a wide range of other common health conditions. Wheat contains a substance called gluten, a substance which causes inflammation and which some people are even seriously allergic to. I was amazed and couldn’t wait to read Wheat Belly and discover for myself the story behind my friends’ remarkable health transformation. Whatever lifestyle Anne and Paul were living certainly worked!

 After reading Wheat Belly and another great book from Hay House called Wheat-Free, Worry-Free by Danna Korn, I was ready to try it myself. I felt great without wheat and the belly fat that came with it. I called my dear daughter, Tracy, who has battled with her weight for years. I insisted that she read Wheat Belly and give the program a try. She gave up her morning bagel and found that the wheat-free regimen worked for her, too.  I was so glad for her. It wasn’t the weight itself that worried me as much as the other health problems that come with excess pounds around the middle of your body. There were so many good reasons to banish belly fat. I thought about my mother who never had a weight problem but complained that her “pot belly” never went away no matter how little she ate. When I asked about her daily diet, she told me she had a little cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. Who would ever suspect that wheat, which has always seemed so wholesome, could cause so much damage?

 As Dr. Davis explains, the wheat of today is not the wheat of yesteryear. My childhood Wheaties^®, the breakfast of champions, are no longer what they once were. Today’s wheat has been modified beyond recognition to make it more viable as a mass-produced foodstuff. The agricultural industry has developed wheat that is pest-resistant and high-yielding but so modified as a food that it has an unexpected and unwanted effect on the people who consume it. The best way to verify the effects of this change for yourself is to change your eating habits and see if you feel and look better on a wheat-free diet.

 And it isn’t only wheat that has been “improved” by science for the modern world. A firestorm of controversy surrounds the concept of “GMO,” genetically modified organisms created to make the food we eat more “convenient” to grow, ship, and store. People are asking for producers to label their food products “GMO” when they include genetically modified ingredients. Producers are going to enormous lengths not to do so. We need to ask why.

 The blessing in all of this is that we are waking up to the need to know more about our food –where it comes from and what is being done to it along the way. We are what we eat and it’s a good idea for us to reach back to the natural origins of all the food we eat and make sure there’s still a connection. Today’s kids will benefit from our present efforts to learn more about our food supply and make better choices for our health.

 Needless to say, I was extremely grateful that I let go of my reluctance, accepted the gift of guidance from Spirit, and made my trip to eastern Canada. After my talk in Halifax, I flew on to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to speak—where I was fortunate enough to meet another traveling performer—the one and only Sting! Then I returned to Toronto, where I spoke at the Hay House I Can Do It Conference and later was blessed with a hug from Amma, the hugging saint who happened to be visiting Toronto, too. All things considered, my four-stop whirlwind tour of June, 2013, was an experience I will never forget. I have since made the acquaintance of Dr. William Davis and will be doing some work with him in the future. Going gluten-free just might be the solution to our country’s frightening obesity problem. There is always a bigger reason for us to let go and let God.  Listen when life beckons you in a certain direction, or when it sends you a teacher, or sets up a synchronistic series of events.