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

 Defensive plant proteins cause confusion and weight gain.

 Lectins are harmful, but they also saved our ancestors’ lives.
 Lectins contained in whole-grain products will drive your body to attack itself.
 The Plant Paradox Program is concerned with ridding your diet of unhealthy
substances, like lectins.
 Get optimum results with the Plant Paradox Program by starting with a three-day
cleanse.
 Modern-day foods don’t contain as many nutrients as they did historically, but
supplements can reduce that gap.
 Final summary

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.

Until about ten thousand years ago, which isn’t that long ago in the grand scheme of our
evolutionary history, the average diet was largely made up of animal proteins. Unfortunately,
this was also around the time the last Ice Age ended, when many of the animals living in cold
climates died. As a result, there was less animal protein to consume, and humans had to find
another food source.

The other food source came in the form of grains and legumes, and with that, agriculture was
born. Domesticating plant sources saved humanity from starvation and introduced us to many
different types of lectins that we’d never been exposed to before. Quickly, grains and beans
became a staple diet in many cultures all over the world, leading to both pros and cons.

For example, in Ancient Egypt five thousand years ago, there were bountiful wheat granaries
that held enough stock to feed all the local people, as well as the slaves who built the
pyramids. This abundance of food enabled Egypt to rise into a mighty and prosperous
kingdom. But according to modern analyses of mummified remains of ancient Egyptians,
those whose diets were high in grain were overweight and showed signs of tooth decay.

So, though grains kept our ancestors alive, the lectins contained in those plants were harmful
to their health.

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!

These microbes are what convert the food we consume into energy. Without them, food
would be completely useless to us, and we would quickly starve to death.

We need microbes to help us survive, and our intestinal tract acts as a prison and keeps them
in place. If the microbes can escape from the intestinal tract, our body recognizes them as
foreign invaders – that is, as an illness – and the immune system is alerted. Thus, our body
begins to attack itself.
This self-attack on our bodies is triggered when we eat whole-grain products because the
lectins increase the permeability of our intestinal tract, allowing the microbes to break
through.

This new health risk only exists today because for centuries societies used to remove bran –
the crucial component that defines a food as “whole-grain” – from grain. Think of French
baguettes, Italian ciabatta and the white rice found in Asian countries – all bran-free.

Whole grains are now deemed a “health food,” so people want to incorporate them into their
diets, thereby funneling lots of lectins into their bodies to weaken the defenses of their
intestinal tracts, making them more susceptible to illnesses such as Crohn’s disease, which is
an inflammatory bowel condition.

So, we know lectins are bad news. What can we do to prevent them from causing us harm?
Let’s continue with the next blink and find out.

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.

A patient of the author found that following the Plant Program cured his vitiligo, a skin
condition. The author could have easily claimed that the favorable results came from a diet of
anti-inflammatory, antioxidant-rich foods as outlined by the program. However, he knew that
wasn’t the case. The patient’s recovery was due to him no longer eating the wrong foods –
that is, food containing lectins – and adding harmful substances to his gut.

Keeping this in mind, to take care of your health you need to abide by the rules of the Plant
Paradox Program and completely cut out a number of unhealthy foods from your diet.

One food group that you must eliminate is legumes, which are foods such as peas, lentils and
all types of beans, including soybeans. This is because legumes – especially beans – contain
more lectins than any other food group. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control claimed that
one-fifth of all food poisoning incidents in the United States were from lectins found in
undercooked legumes.

Get optimum results with the Plant Paradox

Program by starting with a three-day cleanse.
Similar to how a farmer prepares the soil before he plants any crops, you must also get your
gut ready before beginning the Plant Paradox Program. What’s the best way to prepare the
environment within your gut?

The answer is a body cleanse.

If your gut is already looking worse for wear, then healthy foods won’t have much of an
impact on you. Therefore, you must first focus on repairing any damage to your gut with a
three-day cleanse.

The first step of this process involves removing all possible traces of lectins – we’re talking
fruit, legumes, grains, dairy, sugar, seeds, soy, eggs, beef, tomatoes and root vegetables.
Keeping away from these products will effectively put a stop to inflammation in your body,
which is set off by your immune system responding to lectins, thereby enabling your gut to
begin healing itself.

Though you have to stay away from several products during a cleanse, this doesn’t mean that
you have to sacrifice all the foods you love.

There are plenty of other nourishing options from which to pick. For example, you could start
your mornings with an invigorating, body-cleansing green smoothie, made from romaine
lettuce, mint, spinach and avocado. Or why not have the daily recommendation of up to eight
ounces of pastured chicken or wild-caught fish served with a side of vegetables such as
cauliflower, cabbage or broccoli?

Regardless of which gut-restoring vegetables you pick, make sure you either eat them raw or
cook them in healthy oils like avocado oil or extra-virgin olive oil. Then finish off your meal
with some coffee or green or black tea. And don’t forget to drink eight cups of water each
day!
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.

The low nutrient content in our fruits and vegetables means that they don’t do much for our
health. However, you can compensate with supplements during the Plant Paradox Program.

Way back then, our ancestors were hunters and gatherers who only ate plants growing from
soil that was organic and rich in minerals, as well as animals which also fed strictly on these
plants. Consuming these plants and animals meant that our ancestors’ diets also had a pretty
high mineral content.

Nowadays, you can substitute these important minerals with supplements such as vitamin D,
which is crucial for cell regeneration in your intestinal walls, and vitamin B12, which is vital
in protecting the inner linings of your blood vessels.

Our ancestors enjoyed enriched diets, and by following these nutritional guidelines, we can
try to match their healthy way of living.

Final summary
The key message in this book:

For many, many years, the plant foods we think of as healthy have been destroying our
bodies. Some plants contain proteins called lectins, which are released to poison the
predators that try to consume the plant. In other words, by eating these plants, we end
up poisoning ourselves. To reverse this damage to our bodies, the author outlines the
six-week Plant Paradox Program, which is designed to eliminate all traces of lectins
from our diets.
Actionable advice:

Don’t eat a yoga mat.

You probably wouldn’t want to eat your yoga mat for dinner, right? So why are you eating at
McDonald’s, Burger King or any other fast-food restaurant? The food you consume at these
eateries contains a substance that is also found in your exercise mat: Azodicarbonamide. It’s
used to bleach flour and condition bread dough. The chemical makes the gluten in bread more
immediately available to your digestive system, subsequently irritating your gut. So
remember to keep on walking when you come across another McDonald’s.

Got feedback?

We’d sure love to hear what you think about our content! Just drop an email to
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thoughts!

Suggestedfurtherreading: Super Immunity by Joel Fuhrmann, MD

Super Immunity (2011) reveals the secret to a better, stronger immune system and healthier
body: superfoods. These blinks shed light on the shortcomings of modern medicine and teach
you how to take advantage of the healing powers of plant foods rich in nutrients and
phytochemicals.