Since the term lectin is still largely unknown, we have compiled a few frequently asked questions.
GLUTEN
This is the so-called "gluten protein" and the reason why baked goods made from wheat, spelt, rye, emmer, einkorn & Co. are soft, elastic and fluffy.
Currently, avoiding gluten is very popular. This is often combined with a vegan diet. This is because many people experience digestive issues when consuming gluten.
GLUTEN IS A LECTIN.
Lectins are proteins found in plants that – to put it simply – protect them from their predators or, for example, ensure that their seeds are preserved from digestion in the digestive tract of mammals.
If you look closely, you'll notice that these are all plants that humans did not originally have on their menu: grains, legumes, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, pumpkins, zucchini, cucumbers, to name just a few prominent examples.
When I list the foods that fall into this category, it regularly leads to a huge outcry.
Understandably so, since these "foods" are at the top of our society's menu.
Why do I no longer eat gluten-free foods?
It began five years ago with a so-called autoimmune disease. The disease itself and the side effects of the medication had already caused me to lose all quality of life. That's why I scraped together my last bit of energy and embarked on a journey:
The first step on this journey was switching to a vegan, gluten-free diet. This bought me some time, as the symptoms lessened somewhat. But it was still far from being "healthy".
In a doctor's waiting room, I leafed through Steven R. Gundry's book "The Plant Paradox." Gundry advocates not only avoiding gluten (the most famous of all lectins), but all lectins.
The explanation sounded plausible and was the one I was looking for as to why I continued to have symptoms despite consistently avoiding gluten.
Most common gluten-free products rely on substitute flours made from corn, soy, legumes, pseudocereals, starch extracts, etc., which all have one thing in common:
They are rich in lectins.
Some of these lectins can be denatured by temperature, pressure, etc., so that they are no longer relevant to the human immune system. But not all of them.
OUR FOODS ARE THEREFORE NATURALLY (ALSO) GLUTEN-FREE.
BREAKING UP THE OPEN-UP HEALTH SCALE.
My further research into this topic, in addition to the issue of lectins, also yielded a number of other insights into the current state of research in longevity medicine. This is because:
There aren't just the two states "sick" and "healthy"; the health scale is open-ended.
In my opinion, there is no single "healthiest" way to live. Exploring what one can do (oneself) to continuously improve one's own health has become my hobby. The focus of my commitment is the goal: the "best possible" nutrition for our bodies, based on current research.
