All about lectins and lectin-free Diet

The American Cardiologist, Dr. Steven Gundry is an expert in lectins, these compounds in plants that disrupt our immune system. Lectins are a defense mechanism of the plant world that allows the survival of certain species by secreting these compounds and disrupt their potential aggressors. Some lectins seek to paralyze the nervous system of certain insects. These compounds are active in our human system.

Many clients come to see me in my practice in Montreal in osteopathy with physical tensions that can be related to the level of the abdomen and it is often more than a massage or a treatment in osteopathy that they need on the long term. Of course, releasing these tensions manually will temporarily help these clients, but when their metabolism becomes inflamed again due to the lectins, the tensions will inevitably return. It is important to address the different causes that affect the client’s metabolism and removing lectins from the diet is sometimes very effective.

Until recently in the human history, the strength of the human microflora, combined with the traditional methods of soaking and fermenting the food, made it possible to fight against plant lectins.  However, with the invasive presence of antibiotics, as drugs, but also in animals intended for human consumption, and fertilizers such as glycophosphates (Monsanto’s Round Up was patented as an antibiotic), the human microbiota is less endowed with its ability to control the impact of lectins. The emergence of chronic diseases and autoimmune diseases increasingly present are for Dr. Gundry a direct link with the impact of these methods of industrial agriculture. Glycophosphates are everywhere: California wines, vegetable oils and vegetables and all the basic grains in the diet and more. The fermentation methods of the past made it possible to reduce lectins by a great deal and the ways of soaking, sprouting and cooking grains and lentils with a pressure cooker went in the same direction.

Lectins agglutinate. Gluten is one of them. They bind the blood but also have a biomimetic capacity where they take the form of certain proteins in the body and disrupt the body’s defense system. The immune system attacks then its own body.  Gluten can do this in the pancreas, on the thyroid gland and in the cerebellum according to the specialist Datis Kharrazian, DC. The immune system attacks the body and follows hypothyroidism or neurological problem, he explains. Lectins infiltrate the blood stream through a permeable bowel.  Dr. Gundry explains that anyone with signs of anxiety and depression certainly has a permeable bowel.  All those who have an autoimmune or chronic disease, those with skin problems like eczema or psoriasis, diabetics I and II, those who are overweight, those with neurological problems, all have intestines permeability and intolerance most likely to lectins.  Dr. Gundry, himself a cardiac surgeon, suggests that some heart-related problems such as arteriosclerosis are produced by lectins that create inflammation of the artery walls where clumps cholesterol. And not the reverse. He also cites two scientific articles proving that lectins crawl along the tenth Cranial Nerve X, from the digestive tract, to the brain and cause Parkinson’s disease.

Where are the lectins?

Legumes, nuts, all grains such as wheat, corn, spell, rye, quinoa etc. and the Solanaceae family are the main sources of lectins. Also in some vegetables like zucchini and squash, as well as most fruits.

Good then what to do.

A non-lectin transition diet is Dr. Guntry’s solution with results that can be very fast in a matter of days. Then keeping this diet until the complete disappearance of all symptoms.  And then, have the ancient methods of fermentation, soaking and cooking to disable lectins reintroduced into the staple diet once the symptoms have disappeared.

Here is the food!

Lectins are present in

Legumes

• Soy (except miso and tempeh because they are fermented)
• All lentils
• Tofu etc.
• Red, black beans, pinto etc.

Nuts and seeds

• Cashews
• Peanuts
• Pumpkins
• Sunflower
• Chia
• Brazil (some say there are no lectins)

Grains

• Rice, especially the husk of brown rice
• Wheat
• Kamut
• Spelled
• Rye
• bulgur
• Buckwheat
• Quinoa (The Incas germinated and fermented it)
• Tortillas
• Corn

–The Solanaceae family

• Tomatoes (the peel)
• Peppers (peel and seeds)
• Hot peppers (peel and seeds)
• Eggplant
• White potatoes and chips

– Fruits and Vegetables

• All fruits except berries
• Ripe bananas
• Goji (damn)
• Melons
• Zucchini
• Squash (Especially the peel)
• Peas

– All farm animals and grain-fed fish

– All conventional and / or unfermented North American dairy products

– Seed oils and polyunsaturated oils

• Soybeans
• Sunflower
• Palme
• Canola
• Corn
• Etc.

I know, it’s a lot of good foods. So what is left?
One falls into a fairly paleo-anti-inflammatory classic diet often offered by holistic functional medicine.

Dr. Gundry’s lectin-free diet

Fat and Oil

• Olive oil
• Coconut in all its forms
• MCT oil
• Sesame oil
• Cod Liver Oil
• DHA oil and Omega 3

Nuts and Seeds

• Pecans
• Dr Gundry seems to tolerate in his diet walnuts, pines, pistachio and macadam in small quantities
• Linseed
• Hemp seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Tiger nuts

Olives

Freshwater algae

• Spirulina
• Chlorella
• E3Live

Flour

• Almond
• Hazel
• Arrowroot
• Plantain
• Sweet potato

Fruits

• Avocado
• All berries, in seasons and limited quantities

Fermented Products

• Kefir with water or coconut
• Kim Chi
• Sauerkraut
• lactofermented vegetables

Eco Conscious Meat and Fish and Animal Products, in moderation

• Wild fish (choose the least toxic and consume chlorella or activated charcoal at the same time to remove heavy metals)
• Grass-fed meats
• Poultry free range without antibiotic
• Wild meat
• Bone broth
• Ghee
• European cheese and yogurt from Europe (milk is not contaminated) (for those who tolerate dairy products.

Vegetables

• The whole family of cabbages (broccoli, kale, cabbage, etc.)
• Bok choy
• Asparagus
• Arugula
• Cresson
• Celery
• Onions
• Beets
• Carrots
• Artichokes
• Radish
• Leeks
• Spinach
• Green leaves
• Lettuce
• Garlic
• Fennel
• Herbs
• Algae
• Mushrooms

Starchy foods (in moderation)

• Sweet potatoes
• Green bananas
• Plantains
• Rutabaga
• Yucca
• Turnip

To consume absolutely every day

• Inulin (as a prebiotic to feed the microbiota, it could be more useful than probiotics, and less expensive)

•  Pomegranate peel extract
• Chicory Inulin

To be added daily as an option to repair the intestinal lining faster

• Essential amino acids
• Chicken bone broth protein
• Curcumin Meriva or Turmacin
• Colostrum
• Restore from Biomics Sciences

Many clients must then include these informations in their day to day life following an osteopathy session and can find release in their tensions and upgrade their level of comfort. Ask your osteopath for more informations. With a session at OptimumOsteo, we will consider the diet to enhance metabolism and vitality.

There you go!

If you have comments or suggestions, do not hesitate to write me!