The Plant Paradox

Have you read The Plant Paradox by Dr. Steven Gundry and what are your thoughts?

Dr. Navjot Kaur, ND

Most of us have heard of gluten—a protein which is found in wheat that causes widespread inflammation in the body. Americans spend billions of dollars on gluten-free diets to protect their health. But what if we’ve been missing the root of the problem? In The Plant Paradox, Dr. Steven Gundry reveals that gluten is just one variety of a common, and highly toxic, plant-based protein called lectin.

Lectins are found not only in grains like wheat but also in the “gluten-free” foods most of us commonly regard as healthy, including many fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and conventional dairy products. These proteins, which are found in the seeds, grains, skins, rinds, and leaves of plants, are designed by nature to protect them from predators (including humans). Once ingested, they incite a kind of chemical warfare in our bodies, causing inflammatory reactions that can lead to weight gain and serious health conditions.

The simple fact is, lectins are everywhere. Thankfully, Dr. Gundry offers simple hacks we easily can employ to avoid them, including:

• Peel your veggies. Most of the lectins are contained in the skin and seeds of plants; simply peeling and de-seeding vegetables (like tomatoes and peppers) reduces their lectin content.
• Shop for fruit in season. Fruit contain fewer lectins when ripe, so eating apples, berries, and other lectin-containing fruits at the peak of ripeness helps minimize your lectin consumption.
• Limit the intake of lectin rich foods:
• Beans & Legumes
• Grains
• Squash – as easy rule to remember is if that vegetable has seeds it is considered a fruit
• Nightshades
• Eliminate corn and corn-fed meats – opt for only pasture raised meats

You're probably wondering so what should I eat?

Dr. Gundry also talks about the importance of intermittent fasting.

"We have an amazing repair system that goes to work when you're fasting. Not the least of which is [letting] your gut rest. It's probably one of the smartest things that any of us can do — putting the wall of your gut at rest, not having to absorb nutrients, not having to deal with the constant inflow of lectins or toxins. But I think more importantly, it gives [your body] a chance to finally do some serious cleaning of your brain"

Fasting activates autophagy, which is your body's way of cleaning toxins. To learn more about this process please read our other blog post called Autophagy by Dr. Walid Faraj.

Add the following foods to your diet:

• Leafy greens 
• Cruciferous vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, asparagus, garlic, celery 
• Avocado 
• Olives and Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Grass-fed meats, Free range poultry, Wild caught Fish
• Nuts and seeds

Here's a link to his website that has a list of acceptable foods https://gundrymd.com/plant-paradox-shopping-list/

The Plant Paradox can be found HERE