About The Plant Paradox• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harper Wave; 1 edition (April 25, 2017)
“Dr. Gundry is a true trailblazer, always at the forefront of scientific knowledge. The Plant Paradox shows the world what pioneer thinking is about and is a must-read book for anyone interested in being as healthy as nature has designed them to be.” --Alejandro Junger MD, New York Times bestselling author of Clean, Clean Gut and Clean Eats
“The Plant Paradox elegantly explains how plants defend themselves from being consumed by humans, and how eating the wrong ones at the wrong times immeasurably hurts our health. An eye-opening read.” --Mehmet Oz, MD, Professor of Surgery, New York Presbyterian/Columbia University
Most of us have heard of gluten—a protein found in wheat that causes widespread inflammation in the body. Americans spend billions of dollars on gluten-free diets in an effort to protect their health. But what if we’ve been missing the root of the problem? In The Plant Paradox, renowned cardiologist 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.
At his waitlist-only clinics in California, Dr. Gundry has successfully treated tens of thousands of patients suffering from autoimmune disorders, diabetes, leaky gut syndrome, heart disease, and neurodegenerative diseases with a protocol that detoxes the cells, repairs the gut, and nourishes the body. Now, in The Plant Paradox, he shares this clinically proven program with readers around the world.
The simple (and daunting) 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.
· Swap your brown rice for white. Whole grains and seeds with hard outer coatings are designed by nature to cause digestive distress—and are full of lectins.
With a full list of lectin-containing foods and simple substitutes for each, a step-by-step detox and eating plan, and delicious lectin-free recipes, The Plant Paradox illuminates the hidden dangers lurking in your salad bowl—and shows you how to eat whole foods in a whole new way.
• Publisher: Harper Wave; 1 edition (April 25, 2017)
“Dr. Gundry is a true trailblazer, always at the forefront of scientific knowledge. The Plant Paradox shows the world what pioneer thinking is about and is a must-read book for anyone interested in being as healthy as nature has designed them to be.” --Alejandro Junger MD, New York Times bestselling author of Clean, Clean Gut and Clean Eats
“The Plant Paradox elegantly explains how plants defend themselves from being consumed by humans, and how eating the wrong ones at the wrong times immeasurably hurts our health. An eye-opening read.” --Mehmet Oz, MD, Professor of Surgery, New York Presbyterian/Columbia University
Most of us have heard of gluten—a protein found in wheat that causes widespread inflammation in the body. Americans spend billions of dollars on gluten-free diets in an effort to protect their health. But what if we’ve been missing the root of the problem? In The Plant Paradox, renowned cardiologist 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.
At his waitlist-only clinics in California, Dr. Gundry has successfully treated tens of thousands of patients suffering from autoimmune disorders, diabetes, leaky gut syndrome, heart disease, and neurodegenerative diseases with a protocol that detoxes the cells, repairs the gut, and nourishes the body. Now, in The Plant Paradox, he shares this clinically proven program with readers around the world.
The simple (and daunting) 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.
· Swap your brown rice for white. Whole grains and seeds with hard outer coatings are designed by nature to cause digestive distress—and are full of lectins.
With a full list of lectin-containing foods and simple substitutes for each, a step-by-step detox and eating plan, and delicious lectin-free recipes, The Plant Paradox illuminates the hidden dangers lurking in your salad bowl—and shows you how to eat whole foods in a whole new way.
About Steven R. Gundry, M.D.Steven R. Gundry, MD, FACS, FACC, is the director of the International Heart and Lung Institute in Palm Springs, California, and the founder/director of The Center for Restorative Medicine in Palm Springs and Santa Barbara.
MY REVIEW:
5 stars
When I first picked up this book, I had no idea it would be addressing a medical condition that I have – autoimmune disease. This is only one of the issues that Dr. Gundry treats. I thought at first that the book was just another fad diet book. There’s so many out there! The inside cover gives a brief introduction to lectins. Everyone is familiar with gluten, and a gluten-free diet seems to be one of the major dieting fads right now, but Dr. Gundry explains that gluten is only one of many lectins, and that many of the so-called gluten-free foods still have lectins that cause inflammatory reactions that can cause a lot of health problems.
This book busts some diet “truths” that I’ve always believed, such as the skin of a fruit being the healthiest part. Whenever I juice, I normally juice the whole fruit, peel, seeds and all. Dr. Gundry says that lectins are highly concentrated in the peel and seed. The same with brown rice. Most people think brown rice is healthier than white, but the outer coating is full of lectins.
Dr. Gundry gives a description of a “typical” male patient that would come to him at the behest of the wife. The male was usually overweight, had high blood pressure, maybe cholesterol issues. The wife seemed at first to be healthy, thin – was following what is considered by most people to be a “healthy” diet. But upon interviewing both spouses and doing a workup on both, he would discover that these “healthy” wives weren’t so healthy after all, and often were on several medications for issues such as reflux, depression, autoimmune conditions, etc. Dr. Gundry blamed the lectins in the diet.
The first half of the book explains Dr. Gundry’s theory in a way that is easy for anyone to understand. I think it is highly important to understand the diet you’re following rather than just blindly following a diet.
I almost gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 because the foods he says we should eat are not going to be easy to find. This has been an ongoing problem with me in regards to trying to follow a diet like this. From what I can understand, I would need to know what the animals were fed on, because what they eat can be a problem…how the vegetables were grown, because that could be a problem. I think I can speak for most people when I say that we truly want to be healthy, but sometimes finding the right foods can be nearly impossible, and when you do find them, expensive! Personally, I’ve been trying some of these meal delivery kits lately, but even with those I haven’t found anything that lets me completely tailor a diet to my needs. Although, on the plus side, there are some recipes included, which is helpful. There’s also a meal delivery system mentioned in the book that I am definitely going to check out. I thank Dr. Gundry for this book that has provided me with a more in-depth knowledge of how my diet could be causing my autoimmune condition.
DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for writing a review. I was not obligated to give a positive review, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
MY REVIEW:
5 stars
When I first picked up this book, I had no idea it would be addressing a medical condition that I have – autoimmune disease. This is only one of the issues that Dr. Gundry treats. I thought at first that the book was just another fad diet book. There’s so many out there! The inside cover gives a brief introduction to lectins. Everyone is familiar with gluten, and a gluten-free diet seems to be one of the major dieting fads right now, but Dr. Gundry explains that gluten is only one of many lectins, and that many of the so-called gluten-free foods still have lectins that cause inflammatory reactions that can cause a lot of health problems.
This book busts some diet “truths” that I’ve always believed, such as the skin of a fruit being the healthiest part. Whenever I juice, I normally juice the whole fruit, peel, seeds and all. Dr. Gundry says that lectins are highly concentrated in the peel and seed. The same with brown rice. Most people think brown rice is healthier than white, but the outer coating is full of lectins.
Dr. Gundry gives a description of a “typical” male patient that would come to him at the behest of the wife. The male was usually overweight, had high blood pressure, maybe cholesterol issues. The wife seemed at first to be healthy, thin – was following what is considered by most people to be a “healthy” diet. But upon interviewing both spouses and doing a workup on both, he would discover that these “healthy” wives weren’t so healthy after all, and often were on several medications for issues such as reflux, depression, autoimmune conditions, etc. Dr. Gundry blamed the lectins in the diet.
The first half of the book explains Dr. Gundry’s theory in a way that is easy for anyone to understand. I think it is highly important to understand the diet you’re following rather than just blindly following a diet.
I almost gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 because the foods he says we should eat are not going to be easy to find. This has been an ongoing problem with me in regards to trying to follow a diet like this. From what I can understand, I would need to know what the animals were fed on, because what they eat can be a problem…how the vegetables were grown, because that could be a problem. I think I can speak for most people when I say that we truly want to be healthy, but sometimes finding the right foods can be nearly impossible, and when you do find them, expensive! Personally, I’ve been trying some of these meal delivery kits lately, but even with those I haven’t found anything that lets me completely tailor a diet to my needs. Although, on the plus side, there are some recipes included, which is helpful. There’s also a meal delivery system mentioned in the book that I am definitely going to check out. I thank Dr. Gundry for this book that has provided me with a more in-depth knowledge of how my diet could be causing my autoimmune condition.
DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for writing a review. I was not obligated to give a positive review, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
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