How Bill O’Reilly got healthy - Fox host sheds weight by following “Wheat Belly” book – VIDEO

Farmers and dietitians disagree with his diagnosis that wheat has caused America’s obesity problem

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Irish American Fox anchor Bill O'Reilly

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Bill O’Reilly says his recent weight loss is all down to the New York Times best-selling book, “Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health”, by William Davis, M.D.

Speaking on his Fox show “The O’Reilly Factor” last week, the controversial right-wing anchor said, “A few weeks ago I told you I was cutting back big time on wheat.

“Look at the packaged food in your house — cereal, desserts, even soup —look at it all. You’ll see wheat in the ingredients. That’s because wheat is cheap and it fills you up."

He added, “I’m not a zealot. If I want a cookie, I eat it — but there are great gluten-free products out there. If you follow my advice you will feel better almost immediately.

“And perhaps live longer as well."

O’Reilly continued saying that he believes the United States obesity problems could be due to people eating too much wheat. He even suggested a PSA (public service announcement) on the subject.

He said, “If the government would tell people, you might not want to eat all of this wheat, because it is blowing you up.”

Speaking to KSN, Kansas’ local news, Dr. Justin Moore, Medical Director at Via Christi Weight Management said, “We spend somewhere in the ball park of $26 billion a year, subsidizing corn, wheat and soybeans as it is, so if we do that and then the government turns around and discourages people from eating those products, we end up with quite a surplus on our hands."

Scott Van Allen, a Kansas farmer, cultivates 2,400 acres of wheat. He said, “There would be a lot of farmers out of business, if that happened…This is my moneymaker."

He continued saying that O’Reilly's comments on wheat causing America’s weight problem were incorrect. He said, “To blanketly say that wheat is the cause of obesity, is just preposterous."

Moore, a clinical dietitian, agreed. He said, “There is no scientific evidence to back up that gluten is toxic to anyone who does not have celiac disease, which only affects about 1 percent of the population…What Bill has done is just cut out a huge potential source of calories from his diet by restricting himself, he has managed to lose some weight."

Here’s the KSN, Kansas’ local news, report on the subject:

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