Lectins are thought to bind to sugars and can possibly make arthritis worse for people.

I got into pressure cooking and began cooking a lot of dry beans, because you don’t have to soak them. This got me thinking about why beans cause problems with humans when they aren’t soaked. What’s going on there? Well, it turns out that soaking reduces lectins. This in turn lead me back to articles I had read about Tom Brady not eating tomatoes. I do find it kind of funny that people trying to limit lectins are told to eat white flour instead of wheat. You just can’t win :)

Health Foods Can Be Harmful

The lectins in night shades are mostly in the peel and the seeds and traditional cultures know how to deal with night shades; they peel and de-seed them. Wheat germ also creates heart disease. Lectins present in American plants we were only exposed to these roughly 500 years ago when Columbus started coming over. Things like tomatoes. Some areas learned to peel and de-seed tomatoes, but most of us don't. The problem is that we simply haven't had nearly enough time to adapt to them. It's thought that lectins can penetrate the walls of stomach causing leaky gut.

High lectin foods

• tomatoes
• potatoes
• beans
• cashews ( are actually beans )
• peanuts
• eggplants
• peppers
• grains ( especially brown bread )

Another point on grains, don’t you find it odd that when a farmer wants to fatten a pig or cow for slaughter that they feed them grains?

Low lectin foods

• dark chocolate ( at least 70% cacao )
• walnuts
• pistachios
• macadamia nuts
• coffee
• olive oil

Okay lectin foods

• Almonds

What is happening?

Lectins can break down the gut all and cause “leaky gut”.

If there is one single lesson it is to learn how to prepare foods that contain lectins. 4 billion people remove the hull of rice and eat it white. Why? Is brown rice really better for you simply because it has a lower glycemic index? The answer is probably not. In fact, “the glycemic index of brown rice is only about 10 to 20 percent less than white, so it digests relatively quickly, too.” Plus, if you eat it with vegetables they help to slow down digestion, so it doesn’t matter. In addition to the issue with lectins in brown rice, it’s probably even unhealthier given that the arsenic in the soil is mostly in the hull that people are consuming with it.

Eat resistant starches, like tubular vegetables:

• Taro
• Celery roots
• Sweet potatoes
• Jicama
• Yams
• Parsnips
• Mushrooms

Eat 2 cups of mushrooms a week to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Even just small portions has been shown to prevent MCI (mild cognitive impairment). “In a six-year study that included over 600 adults over the age of 60 living in Singapore, researchers found that eating more than two portions of mushrooms per day was related to having a 50 percent lower risk of mild cognitive impairment.”

Lectin Demonization Unfair?

The Plant Paradox Debunked

It’s always important to check on the people that you are listening to for advice.

Reference

• https://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-lectins
• https://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/01/tom-brady-doesnt-eat-tomatoes-peppers-mushrooms-or-eggplants-according-to-his-chef
• https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-lectins#section6
• https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319593.php
• https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-lectins
• https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319593.php
  
• Does eating mushrooms protect brain health?
  
• The Longevity Paradox Book
  

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