The Plant Paradox Review
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By CANDICE GREY ConsumersCompare.org Update: Jul 10, 2024 |
“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.”[1]
Gluten is a hot topic in this book because of its popularity among diets and elimination. First of all, what is gluten? You might hear this word and just relate it to a gluten free diet, but according to the Celiac Disease Foundation,
“Gluten is a general name for the proteins found in wheat (wheatberries, durum, emmer, semolina, spelt, farina, farro, graham, KAMUT® khorasan wheat and einkorn), rye, barley and triticale – a cross between wheat and rye.” [2]
The book talks about gluten being a plant based protein that is called lectin. Lectin is said to cause inflammation throughout the body, and be harmful overall according to this author and book, but some people beg to differ in small ways. The big ah-ha moment in this book is when Dr. Gundry reveals lectins are not only found in grain and gluten foods, but also in non-gluten items. Even though a food item might appear healthy, it is not always the case. Let’s backtrack a little and I will explain what a lectin is. Lectins are a simple type of protein that can bind to cell membranes, which essentially forces cell interaction. They can be both good and bad in the body. The good news comes because they help broaden the immune system, but the bad is based on the fact that it can irritate certain people’s intestinal tracts. [3] According to Precision Nutrition, “Lectins are abundant in raw legumes and grains, and most commonly found in the part of the seed that becomes the leaves when the plant sprouts, aka the cotyledon, but also on the seed coat.”[3] These lectins can be found in gluten free items like vegetables (skin), seeds, and in certain dairy products too. If you are solely gluten free to avoid lectins, you might want to dive in and do more research on where they reside. A few tips the author gives in the book about how to avoid lectins are to:
- Peel your veggies because lectins can hide in the skin.
- Always shop for fruit in season because there are fewer lectins present in ripe fruit.
- Switch brown rice for white because grains with hard outer shells are more likely to cause digestive distress.
In the book, there is a full list of lectin containing foods, lectin free recipes, and a detox eating plan to follow to become more healthy. How tough is this book to follow and apply really? Is there truth to what is being told, or is it too over the top? According to The Atlantic,
“The publisher—the “health, wellness, lifestyle, and inspirational” division of HarperCollins called Harper Wave—elaborates that readers will learn to be wary of compounds found in “grains of all kinds (especially whole wheat), beans and legumes (especially soy), nuts (especially almonds), fruits and vegetables (eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, etc.)” in addition to “dairy and eggs.” [4]
As you can see, this really does not leave a lot of wiggle room to eat many foods, especially because some healthy foods are even looked down upon. This is not all bad, but in reality, to follow this book to the tee will be a challenge.
The Plant Paradox Reviews
Because there are a variety of people looking into this book for many different reasons, there are mixed reviews. Some people really liked the outline of the book and what it was saying, and others just thought it was pure regurgitation of many people’s ideas in one book. Others said the information matched up with science, but that following the suggested diet and eating plan was far too strict for many people unless medically they were forced into it. See below for a variety of different reviews in regards to the Plant Paradox book. Ben (2017, 5 star),
Glmus (2017, 4 star),
Inglish (2017, 3 star),
Julie (2017, 1 star),
The Bottom Line: Is The Plant Paradox Book Worth Reading?
Risky. Don’t get me wrong, the idea of the book overall seems to have the right motives in mind, but the approach might be a little over the top for many readers. You have to really be willing to change the way you think entirely about consuming food on a daily, if not hourly, basis. For some, this is just not going to be easy, and therefore the diet will not be doable in the long run. The science is there, and then it gets weird. The author believes that lectins are the most dangerous substances that plague the American diet, and many of them come in the form of plants. This is all true to an extent, but the bottom line is we need nutrients to survive, and taking it to this far of an extreme might not be the healthiest for you physically or mentally. If you are sold on the idea, however, there is no harm in trying it out, you are just risking your time and money.
I looked to see what was in this book but being that I truly believe already that vegetables, grains and fruits are not as good for you as the 7th day adventists want you to think. (look that up) I found the comments on how it might not be good for you to show where this author/reviewer stands. I am going to get the book and see what he has to say because other than those comments this reviewer said were bad the rest was ok.
I actually read this book cover to cover & took it to my Functional Medicine doctor and nutritionist who were treating me after 3 days in ICU for AFib caused by my thyroid being too high. After a stack of blood labs were analyzed I had 2 autoimmune diseases both in the 200s. After confirming that Dr Gundry’s science was reliable, I went on the diet. Within 1 month my autoimmune numbers both dropped by 100 points each! In the first month I lost over 13 pounds of inflammation & my heart never went into AFib again after suffering with it for 4 months prior. By month 10 I had lost 55 pounds, not even trying. By month 11 my blood labs came back showing that both autoimmune diseases were GONE! My thyroid was completely healed! My insulin sensitivity was gone! I was flying kites with my grandkids again! This book has become my Bible for eating. After the initial phases of the diet, you can eat most of the lectin-free foods again – with proper food preparation, like removing peels & seeds or using a pressure cooker. By-the-way, my family prefers eating MY food because it tastes gourmet! It’s a commitment but worth the effort b/c you can’t BUY your health!