The Plant Paradox : : the Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

Locations
Call Number: 582.13 Gu, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Health & Fitness / Diet & Nutrition / Gundry, Steven
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch

Introduction: It's not your fault -- Part I. The dietary dilemma -- The war between plants and animals -- Lectins on the loose -- Your gut under attack -- Know thy enemy: the seven deadly disruptors -- How the modern diet makes you fat (and sick) -- Part II. Introducing the Plant Paradox Program -- Revamp your habits -- Phase 1: kick-start with a three-day cleanse -- Phase 2: repair and restore -- Phase 3: reap the rewards -- The Keto Plant Paradox Intensive Care Program -- Plant Paradox supplement recommendations -- Part III. Meal plans and recipes.
"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 and heart surgeon 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."--Jacket.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Gundry doesn't do science, he sells supplements and dreams. submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 24, 2019, 9:03pm In a few ways, this book is hard to rate. Do I rate it on whether the no-lectin diet is successful in curing my particular issues? Or do I rate it on whether the book is well-written, scientifically sound, and easy to read and understand?

Well, I haven't tried the diet, though I have a severely limited diet for other reasons (GI and migraine), and some of my limits coincide with Gundry's lectin reasoning (for example, I don't eat anything in the nightshade family - potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers). The last three are big on his list. If I had tried his diet, I would have thought, "Look! He's right! My migraines are better with no lectins!" when really it is specific to nightshades. But anyway, I haven't tried his full diet (as I suspect many raters haven't... or haven't done and stayed on!) so I can't rate it on that.

What I can speak to is the book itself: the writing, the presentation, and the documentation. For this, Gundry gets 1/5 stars. He sells his idea like a televangelist, using emotional appeals to attempt to get reader buy-in. His book is utterly filled with anecdotes of successes. Do you know how much an anecdote is worth in science? Zero. So how much are a thousand anecdotes worth? 0 x 1000. He makes repeated claims that people don't stay on other diets (e.g. paleo, Atkins, etc.) because they are too hard and too depriving in the long run, and claims that his diet is easy. Where's the data, then? Because his requires a complete and utter lifestyle change around food. I've done that (I can't eat gluten, egg, dairy, nightshades, green/red/white/black beans, most chocolate, and a handful of other things) and it's freakin' HARD. (He also claims he went to the gym an hour a day while in med school to become a surgeon, and I'd like to see the data on that, too, because I've had friends in med school, and that's as preposterous a claim as almost any in this book.)

Gundry engages in multiple claims without documentation, including that Egyptians were "skinny, nonmuscular people" and says we know this because of how they were drawn on their frescoes (so in Picasso's time did people's faces come apart?). He claims twice that 12,000 years ago the average human was 6 ft tall, then at 8000 BCE averaged 4'10". He links this change to the agricultural revolution (see... grains are the problem). Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and he does not provide it. More concerningly, he gives two citations of Over The Counter meds (one pain reliever and one acid blocker) that were introduced as prescriptions "because they were so dangerous." This is pure fear mongering, and does not identify that introduction as a prescription is part of the FDA's monitoring process.

But all of those things aside (and they should not be put aside), Gundry - who studied as a cardiologist and was apparently a very good one - is writing a book about diet. He rarely to never provides actual studies linking his claims to sound scientific evidence relevant to the current issues. He states that his diet has cured diabetes and cancer. He says that he has discovered things that experts in their fields don't know. And then he sells you supplements with his brand name on them.

There's just no way. Recently in the news there was a second human completely cured of HIV, through means of a high risk bone marrow transplant. It was EVERYWHERE in the news. One man cured of HIV! If Gundry *really* cured someone of cancer, wouldn't that -for real- be a thing he would turn into a legitimate scientific study, repeatable and verifiable? Wouldn't a scientist and doctor want that? There are bunches of websites out there by (medically trained) nutritionists and doctors who can pick apart his lack of science better than I can (https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/04/the-next-gluten/523686/, https://nutritionstudies.org/the-plant-paradox-by-steven-grundy-md-commentary/)

Gundry doesn't do science, he sells supplements and dreams.