Plaque is the stuff of coronary heart disease. It is CONTROLLABLE, it is STOPPABLE, it is REVERSIBLE.
But you must be equipped with the right information on diet, nutritional supplements, and hopefully the avoidance of medication.
This is the blog that accompanies the 
Once you eliminate this genetically-altered Frankengrain called modern wheat, the diet should center around vegetables, nuts, healthy oils like olive and coconut, fish, meats, cheese, olives, avocados and other real whole foods. This is, in fact, the diet that I have advocated in my heart disease prevention practice, as well as my online program for prevention and reversal of heart disease.
But what if you’d like a piece of cheesecake or a nice slice of dessert bread—but you don’t want to gain two pounds, spend 48 hours in the bathroom suffering with diarrhea and cramps, 3 weeks of joint pains and leg swelling, wade through mental “fog,” anxiety, and rage just because you had that momentary indulgence—as you would with wheat?
That’s why I’ve been focusing on recipes that allow you to have something familiar, e.g., chocolate coconut bread or biscotti, but using ingredients that will not generate the metabolic contortions triggered by wheat.
On perusing these recipes, you will notice that there are recurring ingredient themes. Many of the same ingredients pop up time and again. Among the most frequent, versatile, user-friendly, and tasty: Almonds.
You can use almonds as ground whole almonds, ground blanched almonds for a finer texture, ground roasted almonds, almond butter (though, for maximum health benefits, I prefer the ground whole almonds). Ground almonds allow you to recreate muffins, breads, scones, pizza crust, pie crust, biscotti, and cookies with health benefits that exceed that of whole wheat—but with none of the downside: no weight gain, no high blood sugar, no triggering of small LDL particles (#1 cause of heart disease in the U.S.), no accumulation of visceral fat, no appetite stimulation.
In short, you just have your chocolate almond biscotti or mocha cupcake and enjoy it, no health price to pay. So I call almonds the new wheat, except better. 
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Would you have to grind them by hand as to not lose nutritional value or can you use a food processor etc? Thank you for sharing, You have definitely change my families life for the better!
Hi, Amanda–
You can grind them by hand OR food processor. Or you could just buy them pre-ground, in which case they shouldn’t sit around too long to minimize oxidation. of the oils.
This seems like a good place to tell you – I tried making the almond biscotti with ground flax seed. The result was more like tiny bread loaves rather than crisp cookies. The dough was very moist. I haven’t tried again with less liquid, or cooking longer. They still tasted good.
Teresa
Yes, Teresa: Just try reducing the liquids a bit. You could also extend cooking time by a few minutes.
The result should be crispier, if that is what you desire.
Hi. I have swopped normal bread to almond bread for my five year old daughter and she loves it and her stomach is never swollen anymore, but now I been told that almonds is very high in phytic acid. Is this something I need to worry about? Have been following your blog since I started LCHF here in Sweden in jan. Lost 10kg slowly but without effort.
Thanks Linda
Hi, Linda–
I really do believe that we have to pick our battles. Obviously, eliminating wheat is such an enormous issue for digestive health that just taking that step eliminates many, many health problems.
I am not convinced that the phytate issue is truly important, provided your diet is otherwise healthy and wheat-free. Note that just about every food we eat has some negative aspect, e.g., lipoxidation products in meats, goitrogens in broccoli and cauliflower, aflatoxin in peanuts, lectins in plants, etc. Because we’ve got to eat something and most of these effects have no real-world consequences, I think that nuts are, for the majority, a great part of the diet.
Also, note that, epidemiologically, nut-consuming people live, on average, 2 years longer than non-nut consuming people.
I would not replace all the wheat products you once ate with nuts. I consider them treats. A very good article on the phytic acid in nuts:
http://chriskresser.com/another-reason-you-shouldnt-go-nuts-on-nuts
Kent Altena (Atkins Diet Geek) has some great videos showing how to adapt recipes to substitute almonds and flax seed for wheat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjmO4BIHPhk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEaZCHWLiTI&feature=related
He’s certainly helped me eliminate wheat from my diet entirely. (Does a mean wiener schnitzel too.)
Nina
I have not missed wheat a bit since discovering almond flour, coconut flour and flax seed meal. It’s all great stuff and I think it’s more filling than wheat, too.
Here is a simple recipe for Pancakes:
2 cups almond meal (Trader Joe’s has the best price)
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
6 eggs
a little salt
Mix wet and dry ingredients and then combine. Fry in coconut oil. I boil down some frozen mixed berries to which I add a little xantham gum or chia seeds to thicken. I also add a little stevia to sweeten. Then I put this over the pancakes with some whipped cream. They keep in the fridge beautifully and then you just microwave them to heat up again and you have a quick and easy breakfast.
6 eggs? I do a similar recipe with 1 egg, and it comes out great. Seems like a bit heavy on the eggs.
No health price, for most people perhaps. But some people are allergic to tree nuts including almond, or allergic to peaches, which are related to almonds. It’s actually fairly common. Why can’t we for once pick a staple food that everyone can always eat (if such a food exists)?
What about the phytates and high omega-6? I guess that nuts, in an evolutionary perspective was consumed sparingly and in seasson. Now we have almonds (or nuts) every day. What do you think about that?
BTW, greetings from Spaing, and great blog!
Every day is just trading a big problem for an arguably much lesser problem, especially if you use these nut flours as many do to serve as recreations of traditional desserts and thus carriers of sweeteners. But if they’re an occasional treat and not a staple source of calories, most people shouldn’t have significant problems.
Just made a batch of pumpkin muffins last night, I really like them but haven’t got the kids convinced yet..I am sure if I slathered them with chocolate frosting they would find them more appealing. They did like the pizza crust and waffles using almond flour though. Trader Joes has almond meal for around $4 a pound, beats the $12 a pound they are trying to charge for the same things at the grocery store.
When I first read that headline of yours “Almonds are the new Wheat”, I thought, ‘Oh no hear we go he’s about to denounce Almonds as the new evil’!
Was glad to see my fears dispelled.
Hahaha:-) I too thought that way… but now I know! We too love our almond meal pizza and almond flour muffins.
Hello – could you provide your recipe for almond meal pizza?
Thank you!
Check out the Hybrid Pizza on Stuff I Make My Husband blog. The crust for this pizza contains eggs, mozzarella cheese and coconut flour, etc.
I usually use a combo of coconut and almont flour. Her article the Great Pizza Experiment is awesome
HA! I was also going to comment that Dr Davis has done such a good job of teaching me that “wheat” is a bad word that when I read the title of this post I also immediately thought that almonds were now being ex-communicated! Phew!
Relax, Mer! Yes, almonds are a good thing.
Can you put a limit on the amount of baked goods i.e. almond flour muffins, cookies per day that we should consume
My thought as well, just after making two dozen low carb pumpkin muffins with almond meal
Me too! Was scared for a second!
And I must check out that recipe…
Mine came out crisp and wonderful!
I think there’s a lot of flexibility in the recipe (which I like) to make substitutions (such as using coconut milk) and agree that you can play with it! Playing with the recipe is a great excuse to make it again!
I am confused? Can someone explain the difference in almond butter and ground almonds. I buy an almond butter, that the only ingredient is “organic ground raw unblanhed almonds”. I have also gone to Whole Foods and had almond butter ground from raw almonds made on the premises by yourself. How is this different nutrient wise from eating almonds. If there is nothing added to the butter, what is the difference, if there is any.
Almonds are and have been for over a year now an important part of my wheat free gluten free diet (celiac condition). My lipid profile is great, with my historically low HDL at 27 having almost doubled to 48. For me, that is good. Any response would be appreciated.
Hi, IBH–
The only difference is that the butter is more finely ground. When you grind almonds, it first turns to ground almonds, then to almond butter if you continue.
By the way, don’t neglect your vitamin D; it usually causes HDL to go way, way up, though it can take over a year to do so.
THX FOR THE RESPONSE AND TIME. YOUR BOOK IS EXCELLENT, AND I HAVE SHARED IT WITH A NUMBER OTHER CVD PATIENTS, OF WHICH I AM A GROUP MEMBER OF THAT CLUB.
I HAVE NOT FORGETTON TO TAKE MY VIT. D3. THX TO MY DR. WHO BELIEVES IN TRADITIONAL AND COMP. MEDICINE, I HAVE BEEN BEEN ON 6000 IU VIT D3 FOR LAST 8 MONTHS. I STARTED, PRE SUPPLEMENTATION AT VIT D3 LEVEL OF 12, CRAZY LOW. NOW IT IS AT 45. JUST STARTED TO INCREASE TO 7000 IU/DAILY TO TRY TO GET TO THE 50-60 LEVEL.
THX FOR YOUR BLOG AND RESPONSE TO MY AND OTHER QUESTIONS.
You’re welcome, IBH!
Isn’t it surprising that many of the answers to heart disease are 1) so simple, and 2) the OPPOSITE of conventional advice?
Are these recipes in a book form or are they scattered amongst the Dr. Davis’ many blogs? If there isn’t a recipe book available, I hope, Dr. Davis, there is one in the making (in your spare seconds). I just love your blogs. Thank you very much. You do us all a great service.
Hi, Mary–
I hear you!
In addition to the recipes scattered in the blogs, there are about 40 in the Wheat Belly book, another 40 or so in the Track Your Plaque Recipe book.
My publisher, Rodale, has also mentioned the idea of a cookbook as the next in the Wheat Belly “series,” but nothing final just yet.
It’s nice to hear that you are enjoying them. After all, I’m no chef nor gourmet; I’m just trying to find a healthy path for everyone while enjoying some recrafted healthy dishes.