Something was wrong. I was eating a totally organic, gluten-free diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, free-range chicken, and wild caught fish. No fast foods, no packaged foods. I made almost everything from scratch. But after meals, I often was bloated. Why? Did I have irritable bowel syndrome? Or “leaky gut”? Bloating would indicate one of those.
So I started poking around the internet, investigating both IBS and leaky gut and reading articles. I didn’t “check with my doctor,” as my own experience told me that all roads starting from that source inevitably lead, after multiple tests, to one or more pharmaceutical drugs – something I definitely wanted to avoid. I didn’t want to put a band-aid on my situation, but find out what was causing it.
While investigating whether or not I might have leaky gut, the subject of lectins started coming up. And articles by Dr. Steven Gundry, a former cardiac surgeon and cardiac researcher who runs an experimental clinic in California investigating the impact of diet on health, especially the effect of lectins on our “gut microbiome,” the microorganisms living in our intestines. All of us have about 200 different species of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in our digestive tracts, some of which are harmful to our health, but many which are beneficial and even necessary for good health.
Gundry, who has written many books such as “The Plant Paradox,” “The Energy Paradox,” and “The Longevity Pardox,” quotes Hippocrates, the fifth century Greek ‘Father of Medicine’ who said, way back then: ” All disease begins in the gut.” (Hippocrates was also the author of the oath named after him, which is – or was – historically taken by physicians: “Do no harm.” )
I started reading on the internet what I could find about Gundry’s research, as well as listening to his YouTube videos. He backed up his research with data drawn from his patients as well as research done from a variety of worldwide sources, most in the last ten years.
Just an aside here: if you “Google” Gundry, you might find a lot of articles deriding him as a “quack” or using other derogatory terms to turn people away from looking at what he’s saying. Unfortunately the current internet powers-that-be, such as Google and YouTube, don’t much like “alternative” views on health. What they prefer is that we’d all step in line to whatever the World Health Organization promotes, and the WHO is largely managed and controlled by – what a shock – the pharmaceutical companies.
In his articles, books, and podcasts, Gundry says that not all “health” foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are as good for you as they seem. Why? Because some of them contain lectins. And what is a lectin? It’s a plant’s form of self-defense, helping to discourage predators from eating that particular plant in the future.
As Gundry describes it: “a lectin is a specific type of plant protein that is actually bad for you. It binds itself to sugar molecules wherever it can find them in your body. Whether these molecules are in your blood, digestive system, or nerves doesn’t really matter. When lectins in food latch on to these molecules, they act much like barnacles do when they attach themselves to a boat.” Causing digestive problems, such as bloating, constipation, and diarrhea.
As well as autoimmune conditions and more. Remember what Hippocrates said: “All disease begins in the gut.”
Not everyone is sensitive to lectins (which are found in foods like oats, the nightshade family, peanuts, legumes, and so on – see the linked list below). But what if I was? Why not experiment and find out?
Gundry publishes a “Yes” list of foods, along with a “No” list – the big lectin offenders. I copied those lists, went to the grocery store, and started in on my experiment.