However eliminating wheat is actually harder than it sounds.

It’s hard to imagine a life without wheat. It is literally in almost every food we consume, every meal, every drink and every snack.

But new research indicates wheat is having a profound impact on our health.

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While carbs maybe yummy, they’re helping you stack on the kilos. According to a new book ‘Lose The Wheat, Lose The Weight’ if we eliminated wheat from our diets we would lose up to 4.5 kilos in just two weeks.

56-year-old Debbie Barry weighs 81.6 kilos. Her blood pressure is up and she’s been advised to lose weight.

We put the Lose The Wheat, Lose The Weight diet to the test on Barry and 42-year-old Karen D’Aprille and her partner 37-year-old Shaun McInerny. All are keen to shed the promised 4.5 kilos.

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"I'd love to get to under 90. I'd love to say I could be under 90 again," McInerny said.

For all three of our dieters, it was a big adjustment eliminating wheat. It’s in herbal teas, beers, cereals like All Bran and Corn Flakes and muesli.

You’ll find it in cottage cheese, sausages and deli meats, and even soy sauce, tomato sauce and marinades.

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"When we eat a lot of wheat our brains are producing what we call endorphins, which is a bit like the chemicals we produce when we have drugs, so when we take drugs we want to have more drugs because it's this addictive chemicals in our brains, and that's what studies are suggesting when we have wheat products, we want more wheat products," dietician Judy Davie said.

Davie says this diet encourages us to get back to the basics, with less processed foods, which will automatically help you lose weight.

"The food actually is remarkable and it's substantial, so this just looks like a normal pancake but in fact it’s a ricotta and buckwheat pancake, and buckwheat has no wheat, no gluten," Davie said.

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So how did the dieters fare?

Well between them they lost almost ten kilos and 88 centimetres – with no exercise, and just no wheat.

• almond milk
• soy milk
• coconut flour
• lean meats
• tofu
• vegetables
• extra virgin olive oil.

The diet proved so popular in the US, it’s featured in this month’s prevention magazine.

According to editor Jacquie Mooney "it doesn't involve exercise, but you know it's always important to be going for a walk and doing those things, and being active on a regular basis.

“But the great thing about this diet is you don't necessarily need to do that to see the results," she concluded.

Prevention's 36-page mini magazine - Lose The Wheat, Lose The Weight - is available free with the July issue, on sale at supermarkets and newsagents nationally now.

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