The latest in a slurry of no-grain bestsellers is The Plant Paradox by cardiologist Steven Gundry, MD. While I do have some issues with his premise, the book has a lot of merit and his research is clearly taking him in the right direction. For example, his upcoming book will be about the importance of seasonal eating—something key to Ayurveda and the topic of my second book, The 3-Season Diet, written in 1999.
As I write this review, I do believe we have much common ground to celebrate. That said, some of his statements both stretch the truth and jar a logical mind! For example, on p.170, he writes, “The next time you ask for a fruit salad as a ‘healthy’ breakfast, I suggest that instead you order a bowl of Skittles candy. Go ahead—it’s the same poisonous stuff.” I’m sorry, but fruit and Skittles are not the same to our bodies!
Low-Starch or Seasonal?
The Plant Paradox is another low-starch diet in disguise in that he blames the seeds in fruits, anti-nutrients in grains and beans, and nightshade properties of potatoes and tomatoes to explain why most starchy foods should be avoided.
I have one argument regarding this premise. Researchers believe that 1-2 million years ago, our ancestors evolved to express a gene to manufacture our own amylase, a digestive enzyme exclusively engineered for starch.15 Why would we express a gene for eating starch if we were not eating a significant amount of starch?
Plus, as most foods, starches are seasonal, and we did not eat them year-round. Our diets and microbiomes shift dramatically from one season to the next, giving our digestive systems a break, so the body does not overeat, become dependent on, or get too good at digesting any one food group.16
Eating the same food over and again, as we do in the West, breeds digestive complacency and digestive overuse issues like the food intolerances we see today.
Receive my free monthly seasonal eating guide with grocery lists, recipes, and superfoods for each month of the year.
Antinutrients + Lectins
The basic premise of his book is that humans are not equipped or have lost ability to digest lectins, antinutrients on many nuts, seeds, grains, beans, and a host of other foods, like fruits and nightshades, which include peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, and others.
Many plants have armed themselves with antinutrients that make seeds and outer skin on, say, eggplants or tomatoes “poisonous” to ward off bacteria, fungi, and predators like us! So, he basically suggests a lectin-free diet, which excludes most seeds, all grains, some nuts, all beans and legumes, nightshades, and places significant limits on fruits.
Gundry suggests nightshades, such as goji berries, eggplants, tomatoes, and potatoes, along with zucchini, cucumbers, and others originated in South America and have only been available to the Western population for about 500 years. Therefore, he says, we do not have the genetics to digests lectins on the seeds and skins of these foods.
I might agree with him if that were true, but nightshades like eggplant,3 ashwagandha,5 goji berries (a superfood), and many other nightshades,4 along with mung beans,2 garbanzo beans,1 and ancients grains, like wheat and barley, originated in Asia, India, and/or Africa, where they have been consumed as part of Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years.
Gluten, Wheat + Dairy
Researchers from the University of Utah found gluten residues in ancient hominids in Africa from some three million years ago,7 which debunks the popular notion that we only stated eating wheat after we started growing it. Bread baking was recently dated back as far a 16,000 years ago and it was the baking and our love for bread that is thought to have spawned the need to grow our own wheat.6 Other studies found that hunter-gatherers in Asia were making flour with naturally occurring wheat and barely 23,000 years ago.8
I dive much deeper into the origins of wheat in my book Eat Wheat.
David Perlmutter’s book, Grain Brain, is another with the premise to get off food that makes you feel bad. I have debated him on this point in two podcasts:
These ideas have given us a $16-billion-a-year gluten-free industry, which never existed before in the history of humankind.
People often do feel better getting off of wheat, which is what I experienced in 1984 when I first started in practice and regularly took my patients off wheat and dairy for their digestive woes. It was very clear that they felt better without wheat and dairy . . . for a spell . . . but then the digestive concerns came back worse. So now, as I predicted, Grain Brain has been replaced by the next bestseller, The Plant Paradox, where not only is wheat bad, but anything with a lectin or anti-nutrient is bad as well.
The diet road we are going down today is one that says the cause of your digestive, mood, weight, or health problem is the food you eat and once you take the right foods out of the diet, all your health concerns will be solved.
In Eat Wheat, I cite 600 studies to make the case that it is not wheat, dairy, or lectins but our ability to digest them that matters. Simply removing foods is symptomatic relief at best.
Dangers of a Gluten-Free Lectin-Free Diet
The Hygiene Hypothesis, or hormesis, is the idea that our immune system developed over millions of years from eating hard-to-digest foods that may irritate the intestinal lining. That irritation is the stimulation we need to create an immune system.
Emerging science shows removing these gut irritants may severely compromise our immune systems. While nightshades and lectins, like gluten, phytic acids, and other antinutrients, are irritants and hard to digest, they have also been found to be extremely therapeutic.12
Two major Harvard studies, both evaluating 100k+ people over 30+ years, found that folks who ate the most gluten had lower levels of heart disease and a lower risk of diabetes compared to those who ate the least amount of gluten.9,10
Other studies have found that folks who go gluten-free have:
- Four times more mercury in their blood than wheat eaters.
- Significantly less good gut bacteria and more bad gut bacteria than wheat eaters.
- Have less killer T cells (a measure of immune strength) than wheat eaters.
- Higher cholesterol levels than gluten eaters.11
Just avoiding a hard-to-digest food may offer some symptomatic relief, but if you do not address the cause, you may be unknowingly destroying your immune system, making you much more vulnerable to immune threats in years to come.
Lectins may irritate the gut, but they also stimulate a gut response. That is called gut immunity, which is 70% of our immune system that has developed over millions of years.
Dr John’s Take on The Plant Paradox
Dr. Gundry uses an easy-to-digest diet to help repair the gut from the so-called lectin damage. I agree that taking these foods out of the diet is part of the gut repair process. But I would not call the damage “lectin damage.”
I would call it a broken-down digestive system from too many processed, out-of-season, refined foods and oils laced with pesticides that kill microbes in our mouths that make digestive enzymes needed to digest and break down these foods.
Dr. Gundry does talk about the seasonal nature of fruits and that they should only be eaten once a year, in late summer, during their ripe season. But this concept is true for all foods. Nature has been rotating foods seasonally for billions of years and we seem to have evolved to need a break from one seasonal nutrient to another. The nutritional cycle, which I write about in The 3-Season Diet, is an annual cycle. It takes a full year (not a day) to get all our nutritional needs met.
Plant-based antinutrients change from winter to spring to summer. The primary fuel we burn changes from fats in the winter/spring to carbs in the summer/fall. Gut bugs also change seasonally, suggesting once again that we should change our diets with the seasons.13,14
Eating pesticide- and glyphosate-sprayed, highly processed, and refined wheat and bread three times a day, 365 days a year, will break down anyone’s digestive system and make you sick. It is not the wheat or lectins or type of dairy—it is overeating the same foods, out of season, sprayed with pesticides and preserved with ultra-processed vegetables oils that are 100% indigestible.
No doubt taking starch out of your diet will help you lose weight, as starch is a fall-harvested macronutrient we evolved to need in order to store energy and insulate for winter. The problem with these low-starch diets is that, like most diets, most folks fall off the wagon.
What if we just ate whole foods (no processing) with most of them eaten in the season in which they grow? This is the basis of Ayurvedic, Centenarian, Mediterranean, Ancestral, and most traditional diets around the world. Eating seasonally, while initially avoiding some hard-to-digest foods, while rebooting digestive strength, is how to get started.
Learn more on how to digest like an 18-year-old again without having to continually take foods out of your diet with my Digestive Health articles.
Think not what foods you should avoid, but what foods you should eat more!
Sue Sarafin says
I would love to see a podcast with you and Gundry. And I read your 3 season diet in 2010 after finding it at Mt. Madonna Center in Watsonville. Great information and makes sense, ends the one diet protocol. I gave the book to two other friends too. Thank you for all the time you put into the free information.
Lisa says
Love this thank you. Would love to see your thought with blood types and lectins and Dr D’Adamo.
Cindy says
Hi,
I believe if each and every human were in deep connection to their bodies and digestion they could live a better, healthier life. I have been practicing an Ayurvedic diet since 2005 and have really come into realization of how food impacts my health. I DO believe the body can become allergic to some foods after consuming them for a long amount of time. For instance people say “I can’t digest raw onions anymore” “I can’t eat spicy foods anymore” This could be similar to histamine sensitivities -I also think that if you cleanse in a healthy way you can overcome some of these allergic reactions AND eat seasonally based on your dosha (would love to hear your thoughts on this subject)
I do also believe that all these single focused diets-Keto/Paleo/Lectins/ etc. can be misleading and hard to follow on a consistent basis. QUALITY of the foods plays a HUGE role in all diet choices. For instance there are tons of processed Keto products now that are tempting and not helpful.
Completely agree with the gluten free comments.
Finally to understand whats going on with the body when your having issues- I take the advice of a dermatologist told me when I was having some itchy skin issues in college-he said “go off all the products your using on your skin and re-intro them one at a time…” come to find out I was allergic to a chemical in nail polish…
You can do this with foods, keep a food diary and find out whats really bothering you..could take some time but it works.
Cheers!
Manjari says
The Hygiene Hypothesis says these foods help stimulate our immune system. That is actually the exact reason I’m not eating gluten right now, because I have an autoimmune disease (Hashimoto’s) and have read that glutens stimulate our immune system. What should someone like me, with an autoimmune disease, do?
LifeSpa Staff says
Hi Manjari,
Great question. An auto-immune condition is an over zealous immune reaction. New research is pointing to the lymphatic system of the brain and CNS that may be congested due to chronic digestive issues that congest the lymph further upstream.
Wheat–a seasonal food in it’s whole unprocessed form has acted to trigger gut immunity as did tomatoes, potatoes, goitrogens, oxalates, nightshades and others for thousands of years.
Once the brain lymphs congest–the CNS does not know whether to send one or 100 fire trucks to the fire. The result is an over zealous immune reaction.
I detail this process in my many lymph articles and in my Lymph eBook as well as my book, Eat Wheat.
OK, so now that you have been diagnosed with an auto immune concern it is best that you avoid the triggers like wheat.
Be Well,
Dr. John
Manjari says
Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I am new to your website (my mom sent me a link to this article), and I will look further into your other information on the lymphatic system. Thanks again!
Marie says
I will add a few comments about wheat that should be considered.
In North America we hybrid wheat, especially in Canada, to extend the season, earlier planting and later harvesting. This has disrupted the enzyme balance. I am sensitive to wheat myself. I took it out of my diet for a decade or more. But interestingly I do not have issues with sprouted wheat salads from organic wheat or essene bread (a spouted wheat bread where the sprouted berries are smashed and formed into a cake and baked at a low temperature. So, it is not wheat, per se but how it is consumed and how it is grown. Many folks in North America with wheat sensitivities can eat wheat in Europe, without a reaction. They have not hybrid their wheat the way we do.
I believe carbs, in their natural form are very healthy. Gut health is essential to our vitality and when that goes off it must be addressed comprehensively, band aids are, as you say, a ask to the underlying issues and only prolong the road to health.
Eat as much as you can in its simplest form. Learn to cook. 70% of your foods should be living and fresh, even if you cook them. The rest is grains and nuts and oils. Real food should please you. If you crave junk your body is corrupted with an over growth of unhealthy microbes, you have become addicted to chemicals that are added to processed foods to create addiction, or you have succumbed to advertising or other emotional associations that are ruling your judgement.
There is a story from India that is told to educate one on the path to spiritual health. The story is about the use of sugar cane juice to cure hepatitis, as it has been used traditionally. When you are sick, when the liver is sick, the juice is unpleasant and bitter. As you become healthier it becomes sweeter. So, the story teaches that when the spiritual self is sick, introducing a spiritual way is hard and we don’t like it, it is bitter and confusing. As we become spiritually healthier the spiritual path becomes sweeter. If you have taken this course I your own life choice around a spiritual life you know this is true beyond words. But it is also true around the health of your body and your commitment to become truly healthy. At first it creates confusion and resistance, it is so much work! But eventually it is both simple and sweet.
Sam says
Thank you, you article is timely. After reading Dr. Gundry’s book Plant Paradox, I implemented some of his suggestions into my diet( I was interested in the correlation between what I eat and how that affects my psoriasis). Eliminating nightshades helped with other my physical aliment( adult onset muscular dystrophy). It also helped with my lack of deep sleep, brain fog, and CFS. Mind you before I started this change I was limited in what I could eat and digest. I can only eat cruciferous vegetables and sometimes organic chicken. I also read some other books that pretty much have the same philosophy of eliminating certain foods for a period of time then reintroducing them back slowly. For me I’ve done this over the last thirty years, it hasn’t worked. Which brings me to where I am today in agreeing with you in that its lack of digestive strength. Where do I begin Dr. Douillard ? Will your book Eat Wheat answer some of my questions ? Perhaps you can suggest other material for me to read. I understand that you are not accepting new patients at this time, hopefully in the future I can sign up. Again, thank you for a very informative article.
LifeSpa Staff says
Hi Sam,
Thank you for the note. That is exactly why I wrote Eat Wheat; to help people like yourself troubleshoot and reboot your digestive strength with whole foods and herbs. There are also hundreds of articles on every aspect of digestion, liver, lymph that can act as back up info for you. Use the search tool on my site and you will find what you are looking for.
Be Well,
Dr. John
Concetta Pirrone says
Besides the rational and thought provoking information you provide, I appreciate your soft and open approach to other voices in the field whose ideas you may be countering. It is so refreshing to listen to you appreciating others for their contributions, even while you have a different point of view. Thank you.
Manjari says
I second this!
Jo Mama says
Intuitarianism is the only way to go – we are all snowflakes and truly one of a kind in body mind and soul. There is no one way for anyone. It’s not so much what you eat, as it is what you think about what you eat! Put love into your food from the moment you pick it/ buy it/ order it/ wash it/ cook it/ plate it…and bless it with your heart and your hands… and ask for maximum nutrients to be delivered into your body. Muscle test it. And keep putting your own personal question out there to the infinite wisdom and the wisdom of your higher self…and the answers for You will come 😀
Ashwi Jagadish says
Thank you Dr Douilard ! I love your balanced approach and effort to try and bring together ancient wisdom and modern science! I have benefited a lot from reading your articles in the last decade and I continue to do so ! Thank you for all that you do ! Deepest gratitude !
Samia says
Eating the same food over & over again, as we do in the West, you say. The same situation exists in the Middle East, where the men get “favism”. In typical scientific style, it’s attributed to inherited deficiency of some enzyme or something. But they don’t look any deeper than that. In populations where they didn’t overdo it on beans (probably broad beans) this problem didn’t develop. Why men only? Maybe because men are weaker.
Also, in the far East, they eat rice every day, 3 times a day, for millenia. Probably some of their health problems can be traced to that lack of diversity in diet, but the doctors aren’t looking for any connection, so why would they find it. Just blame same “gene”.
Anyway, I do like this article, Dr. It really is all about digestion, a lot of our health issues.
MATTHEW SVIRIDA says
“Four times more mercury in the blood than wheat eaters.” I believe this is due to the increase in rice intake of gluten-free individuals. It’s not like eating healthy wheat is going to prevent mercury build-up. If you are gluten-free you might want to avoid or reduce rice.
Dr John says
Hi
Please read my article
The Dangers of a Gluten Free Diet to get the details of the study. Could you be think of the arsenic found in rice?
Tania says
This is an EXCELLENT article! It was many years ago when I, as a teenager with severe “hay fever,” was told by an excellent old-fashioned chiropractor, that eliminating sugar would make all the difference. As difficult as it was since sugar is in everything, it did the trick!
My husband and I adhere to an ORGANIC Mediterranean diet, and now hardly ever eat out primarily because ORGANIC in today’s dangerous food world is so important, and restaurants generally do not focus on that.
It is at the gym where I see an on-going ad with the multi-million/billion dollar lawsuits dealing with chemical poisoning of those using popular weed killers, etc. It is interesting that medical health professionals test for all sorts of allergies, etc., but don’t seem ever to test for all of the chemical poisoning of the food that we ingest!
Dr. Douillard is right on about the pesticide and glyphosate sprayed, highly processed and refined wheat (and so many of our foods) being the problem !
The comments here are wonderful citing God-given food; it is common sense! If only we could just use good common sense and not allow ourselves to be swayed by all these ridiculous “food fads” that serve only to confuse us.
Jen says
This is great info. However, I would like to point out that for some of us, nightshades are poison. When I consume them I have varying symptoms, from debilitating joint pain, fatigue, to severe depression. Different nightshades affect me in differing manners, but Always with inflammation. Perhaps you could help those of us with this intolerance learn how to digest or assimilate the solanine poison so that we would not get ill from it.
Francesca says
I completely agree with you, Jen. It´s already known that nighshades are very bad for people with some autoimmune diseases such as reumatoid arthritis. Perhaps we should always make a distinction as how food affects healthy people and sick people. And even people with the same disease (let´s say arthritis) will react (slightly) differently to the same foods. This individual factor is decisive but also, unfortunately, so very elusive.On the meantime, in my opinion, people should be careful when making general statements about food.
LifeSpa Staff says
Hi Jen,
Thank you so much for saying that.
That is exactly why I start the article saying if you don’t feel good eating wheat then don’t.
But don’t stop there. Dig in and find the root of the digestive sensibility as prevention for more serious concerns down the road.
Be Well,
Dr. John
Claire Shuman says
Bread has been around since Bible times, and the prophet Ezekiel gave us a complete protein recipe that is sold in frozen isle of grocery stores today. Jesus ate a Mediterranean diet consisting of fish, olives, figs, veggies, bread, fruit and wine. Meat was reserved for special occasions and the scriptures forbid eating scavengers of the earth (pork, lobster, crab, anything with a split hoof) and for good reason, these creatures were created to clean up the earth and are full of toxins. I think if this way of eating was good for my Lord, then it is good for me. I’ve come to notice theirs always a diet fad going around and all these fads are doing is causing eating disorders and elimination of food groups in the name of “being healthy“. I believe you are really spot on in that it’s our ability to properly digest the food that is causing all the issues.
Donna Schwieder says
Thank you so much, Dr. Douillard! Like Penny said, she’s learned so much from your generous sharing of all you’ve learned. I have too! Whenever my daughter and I hear about a new diet plan, we look at each and wonder what would Dr. Douillard say? ?
I’ve only read parts of Dr, Gundry’s book, The Plant Paradox. I was so very amused when he wrote about plants conjuring up toxins against plant predators like us humans! That made me laugh out loud. He mentioned that plants didn’t like to be eaten. How about animals, I wondered. He didn’t mention them.
Since I don’t believe in millions and millions of years with the messy “chance god” Evolution, I find all these diets and food explanations faulty. I believe in God who designed and created us “ready made” and gave us plants to eat. He lets us have a free will to discover and develop varieties. He allows us to make mistakes (like over-processing, GMO’s, use of pesticides, etc.) to our own detriment. Thankfully we have people today who try to work with His creation and not against it. Ancient and traditional foods and plant remedies are still the best. We have lots to discover about our beautiful bodies and we don’t need to base all diet truths on what humans were eating in 50,234 BC.
Thank you, Dr. Douillard, for being a sane and intelligent voice in the dark and crazy Diet Wilderness!
Claire Shuman says
Excellent insights, well said!! The Bible has much to say about what we should and shouldn’t be eating. The Word of God never goes out of science. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Holly says
Thank you for the sanity check on the Plant Paradox paradox. 🙂 Some of the things Dr Gundry says rubbed me the wrong way too, like eating fake meat (Quorn) products which sound scary as heck to me. Why not instead occasionally eat pastured beef or poultry? I choose Natural food over highly processed unknown stuff that is not natural for us.
I would enjoy a discussion between you and Dr Gundry. He seems to be a very reasonable and moderate speaker and I do think he has some good points. But I tend to lean toward Ayurveda as the older, more tried and true method with thousands of years of practical knowledge. It is easy to get distracted by the latest and greatest thing, but I for one, will be continuing to go back to basics.
LifeSpa Staff says
Thank you Holly
We are reaching out to him to invite him on our podcast!
Stay tuned!
Annette says
I appreciate your article and research very much. I’ve watched Dr. Gundry’s videos and was troubled with the idea of eliminating so many plant foods. It is another book / theory tossed out into the world that causes more conflict and confusion for the masses of people. I for one am going to pull your 3-season diet book off my shelf and put into action. Thank you
LifeSpa Staff says
Thank you Annette. Keep us posted!
Penny says
Thank you John! I really appreciate hearing that you, in the past, also removed many foods from patients diets. Then in 6 months problems resurfaced. Learning from experience is so much easier, and you deliver the information clearly. Your open mind and honesty keep me waiting by my inbox for your next insight and lesson. I’ve learned so much from your generous information. Keep educating me so I can help open others thoughts on health and healing. And, yes, many of us have read and own your earlier books. They are often referenced and reread. Keep one step ahead and keep sharing your expertise.
LifeSpa Staff says
Thank you Penny for the kind words
Babs says
My FEAR is not necessarily the gluten, though my genetics and lab testing detect high risk of celiac disease, it is the pesticides and genetic modification of what used to be natural grains that make them “unhealthy” for human consumption. It’s the bug and animal deprived soil and the contaminated water issues that also affect the health worthiness of any plant. And even after going without gluten for years, it is my understanding that the gut cannot be fully healed enough to tolerate gluten. I’ve was also advised years ago to not eat nightshade plants because the lectins in their seeds and skin are not easy to digest and not tolerated well with celiac prone guts, especially if they are not from heirloom seeds. I’m totally into traditional diets, but what are they worth if the foods that make-up modern versions of those diets are not from “traditional” plants? I will admit that I miss the variety of foods I used to eat because grains and nightshades added a lot of options to my dietary choices. Unfortunately, in the region of the US where I live, not much is locally grown, the availability of choices is limited, and the quality is not top-grade.
heidi says
I’m curious about eating gluten if I have one of the celiac genes. I know I have some healing to do on my digestive system but not sure if my ultimate goal should involve going back to gluten. Thoughts?
LifeSpa Staff says
Hi Heidi,
If you have been diagnosed with Celiac, the goal is not to eat wheat again but to boost digestive strength so further food intolerances and deficiencies do not occur.
Be Well,
Dr. John