Name: The Plant Paradox
Rating: 3.3 (230 reviews)
Author: Steven R. Gundry

What’s in it for me? Don’t fall for the hype.

Chia seeds, quinoa, açai berries, goji berries, kale – It seems like everyone is into super foods and healthy eating.

But most people are unaware that some “healthy” foods are doing us more harm than good. Just take lectins. Lectins are a protein found in plant-based foods such as legumes and grains; and they can also cause weight gain and damage our health.

These blinks take you back in time to show you how the nutritional values in fruits and vegetables have changed. They explain which plant-based foods are harmful and to be avoided, while introducing you to the Plant Paradox Program so that you can start taking better care of your body.

You’ll also learn

what the human digestive system and a nuclear power plant have in common;
what legumes are and why you must avoid them; and
the recipe for a nutritious, body-cleansing green smoothie.

Defensive plant proteins cause confusion and weight gain.

If you’ve ever seen a wildlife documentary, you’ll be aware that animals don’t just sit around waiting to become another animal’s dinner. Instead, prey animals develop defenses like long legs to outrun predators and advanced hearing and eyesight to sense approaching danger. But what about plants? If you have always assumed that plants are any more willing to become your next meal, think again.

Just like animals, the plants we consume also have defensive strategies against predatory attacks. A crucial weapon in their arsenal is a family of plant proteins called lectins, which exist in the leaves, seeds, skins and grains of most plants.

When lectins are consumed, they bind to sugar molecules in the animal’s brain and nerve endings, inhibiting the predator’s cells and nerves from communicating properly. This lack of communication between your nerves and cells results in brain fog, a term used to describe moments when you’re experiencing memory difficulties or having trouble focusing.

Plants produce these lectins in an attempt to teach predators that they should avoid eating those plants in the future.

Unfortunately for humans, some lectins not only stimulate mental confusion, but also cause you to gain weight.

One type of lectin that causes weight gain is wheat germ agglutinin (WGA). Found in wheat, this plant protein causes sugar to enter our body’s fat cells, where the sugar is then transformed into fat, thus making us put on weight.

In fact, these fat-producing properties are the reason wheat was originally favored as the grain of choice by those living in northern climates. It helped them gain and maintain weight in a time when food was far more scarce. Back then, having a “wheat belly” would help you survive the cold winters.

In this day and age, however, with an overabundance of food and the ubiquity of central heating, the weight gained from plant consumption isn’t such a welcome side effect.

Lectins are harmful, but they also saved our ancestors’ lives.

In the previous blink we learned that even though they can keep us full, lectins cause us serious damage. But if they are not the ideal option, why are these foods in our diet in the first place? Why did our ancestors start eating them all those years ago?

The truth is that they had little other alternative.

Lectins contained in whole-grain products will drive your body to attack itself.

What do the human gut and a nuclear power plant have in common? Well, similar to a nuclear power plant, your gut holds energy-producing elements that must be contained to prevent it from damaging surrounding areas.

Your gut or intestinal tract contains trillions of different microscopic microbes. More precisely, 90 percent of our body cells are non-human, meaning that 90 percent of what we consider to be “us” is no more than a collection of non-human microbes!

The Plant Paradox Program is concerned with ridding your diet of unhealthy substances, like lectins.

So now we know about the harmful effects of consuming lectins. The next step is to learn how to regain not only your digestive but also your overall health. It’s time to take a look at the author’s six-week Plant Paradox Program.

Anyone looking to start the Plant Paradox Program should know and internalize the first and most fundamental rule: what you don’t eat is more important than what you do eat. That is to say, getting rid of harmful foods will have a more powerful outcome for your well-being than adding good ones.

Modern-day foods don’t contain as many nutrients as they did historically, but supplements can reduce that gap.

In 1936 scientists discovered that the fruits and vegetables consumed by American citizens were lacking certain vitamins and minerals. Fast forward 81 years and things aren’t any better. Luckily, we’re able to make up for this nutritional shortage with supplements.

The fruits and vegetables we eat nowadays are losing their nutritional value. A 2003 report examining the mineral content of fruits and vegetables over the period 1940 to 1991 found that their nutrition content was decreasing steadily. One explanation for this decline in nutrients is that, since the 1950s, we’ve upped the use of strong petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides on our crops.

Key ideas in The Plant Paradox