Interesting Information About Lectins

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ElliotB
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Interesting Information About Lectins

Post by ElliotB »

I know I am affected by gluten. I am pretty sure that I also have issues with lectins and, as such, have stopped eating vegetables (and most fruits). As I had already cut back dramatically over the past couple of years anyway the adjustment is minimal. I do and have been taking numerous supplements that are high in potency in the nutrients we are supposed to get from vegetables and fruits and seem to be OK with those. My blood work indicates my nutritional health is good. Keep in mind that most modern vegetables and fruits are quite limited in their nutrition because of over farming and other modern farming techniques. They are also loaded with pesticides and organically grown products are not really any better in any way over conventionally grown foods (although slick marketing would have you think otherwise).

I came across this informative article on Lectins and as apparently they can be very bad for those with an autoimmune disease, I thought I would share the info here:

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/arti ... ctins.aspx

FWIW,
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tzootsi
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Re: Interesting Information About Lectins

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Not eating vegetables and fruits doesn't sound very healthy to me. What do you eat? Yes, lectins can be a problem in some foods, but cooking lowers the toxicity. I can't imagine things like carrots, broccoli, kale, blueberries, etc are hazardous to your health. I would however limit things like beans, particularly kidney beans. It's possibly true that most factory farmed veggies have less nutrients than home grown, but I believe they still have plenty of much needed vitamins, minerals and micro nutrients (which are not found in supplements.) I suspect there are micro nutrients and enzymes in fruits and vegetables that haven't even been researched yet, let alone put into a pill. If you are concerned about pesticides, why not buy organic? It's a well known fact that plant based diets lower the risk of all kinds of health problems. You can read all kinds of stuff on the internet that can scare the pants off you, but you have to be realistic.
David1949
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Re: Interesting Information About Lectins

Post by David1949 »

So various diets eliminate different foods.
The Swank diet eliminates most red meat and dairy
The gluten free diet eliminates wheat (Which is in almost all prepared food)
The starch solution diet eliminates all meat and animal products.
And now this diet eliminates lectins

So if you try to follow all of these you will be at great risk of starvation.
The Swank diet and the gluten free diet seem to work for some people.

I would want to see data that shows this diet improves the condition of someone with MS before I try it
ElliotB
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Re: Interesting Information About Lectins

Post by ElliotB »

"Not eating vegetables and fruits doesn't sound very healthy to me."

That is not a surprise. Most people feel this way. After all, we have always been told to 'eat our vegetables', that they are good for us.

But if you take the time to find out the facts about modern fruits and vegetables, you may come to a different conclusion. I certainly have.


"What do you eat? "

High good fat and Omega 3 Grass fed meats, high Omega 3 poultry, high Omega 3 eggs, wild caught seafood and fish (also high in Omega 3 and other beneficial fats), some berries, milk and cheese from grass fed cows, a very limited amount of just a couple of varieties of nut. It is not an easy diet.


I have been having blood work done several times a year for several years and my blood work continues to show good results, with improvements in many areas, especially cholesterol which has been quite high (I am now in the normal range for the 1st time in my adult life (I turn 60 later this year). I had a MRI last year which showed no disease activity. My results have not really changed negatively since I changing my diet to vastly reduce the intake of fruits and vegetables.


"if you try to follow all of these you will be at great risk of starvation."
Very true!


"The Swank diet and the gluten free diet seem to work for some people."
All diets seem to work great for some but not all.

"I would want to see data that shows this diet improves the condition of someone with MS before I try it."
Not sure which diet you were referring to but I have yet to see any scientific data on ANY MS diet that shows it improves the condition of someone with MS for more than the statistical average of 70%-80% which is the range percentage wise of those that do well irregardless of following any specific diet/protocol. The bottom line is that the majority or those with MS do well because that is the nature of the illness - it goes into remission. Most never progress beyond RRMS, thankfully!

By the numbers, the Swank diet, probably the most well known of all MS diets, did not really greatly outperform the general MS population (if at all). By their own admission, they claim an 80% success rate, really not any higher than the general MS population. And that is their claimed success rate, not substantiated with even 1 scientific study in over 50 years!


You may find this article informative titled Vegetable-Free Living:

http://www.rogermwilcox.com/vegetable/veg1.html
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tzootsi
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Re: Interesting Information About Lectins

Post by tzootsi »

To each his own, I guess. Who is Roger Wilcox? what qualifications does he have? If you search long enough on the internet you can probably find someone who swears that living on m&m's is the secret to health and the Earth is really flat.
ElliotB
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Re: Interesting Information About Lectins

Post by ElliotB »

The facts are the facts. This information that I originally presented is not new and has been confirmed by numerous sources.

In any case, the author of the original article I linked to is not anti vegetables, the authors simply confirm that it may not be necessary to eat vegetables if you don't want to IF you maintain nutrition in other ways which is basically what I have been doing.


A good book on the subject written by a doctor is:

The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain
by Dr. Steven R Gundry M.D.

And there are others.

I made changes to my diet due to necessity. The lectin topic is not new, just not popular, rarely mentioned and seems far-fetched. I have been doing research on MS for hours almost every day since my diagnosis, about 5 years ago. Yet I had never heard the word prior to about 6 months ago.

The other major issues with vegetables are not new either but not a popular concept/topic. After all, we have all been told veggies are good for us and we need to eat them for good health. My dieting results confirm the claims being made about them with regard to them not being necessary for good health are spot on, IMHO.

Medicine is not an exact science. Doctors and researchers do the best they can and often make errors. They make changes to their thinking over time but typically do their best with the information available at the time. Hindsight is 20/20! But as more information becomes available, opinions and treatments often change. A simple example, years ago the recommended treatment for treating colds and fevers was quite different than current thoughts on their treatments.
jerrygallow
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Re: Interesting Information About Lectins

Post by jerrygallow »

Wow so much I disagree with squeezed into one post. I don’t know where these numbers and data are coming from that are thrown around on this thread. But unfortunately about 85% of us will transition into the progressive form of the disease. Only about 12 to 15% have the so-called benign course. So statistically, most of us are in for trouble. Now if my evidence or proof you mean a phase 3 clinical trial that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, well though only pharmaceuticals get that level of scrutiny. The game the medical profession plays is the way they use terminology. So for example they would say there is no evidence that OJ killed Nicole Brown Simpson. That is because in a well-designed, highly publicized rial, The outcome fail to substantiate guilt. Now those reasonable thinking people among us might say wait a minute, there was at least some evidence wasn’t there, or there would never have been a trial. So you will find published papers on diet usually from University, and to me that is evidence enough. Dr. Swink published in a very prestigious medical journal with high standards of integrity, to me that is evidence. And to say that his study did not outperform The general MS population is just wrong. 2/3 of the people who did not follow his low fat diet had died by the end of the study. 2/3 of the patients who had followed the diet, had virtually stopped at their progression and some of them were still walking well into their 80s. It’s a very easy diet to follow, and I have chosen to follow it to some degree.
ElliotB
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Re: Interesting Information About Lectins

Post by ElliotB »

Truly glad it is working for you!
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