Dr Oz: Health Foods Making Us Sick
Dr Oz introduced a doctor who claims that the root of your weight and digestive problems are fruits, legumes, and whole grains, the exact foods Dr Oz tells his viewers to eat every day. It’s the latest controversy shaking up the world of nutrition. He welcomed heart surgeon Dr Steven Gundry who he’s known his entire career.
Dr Oz: Killer Fruit? Is Fruit Bad For You?
Dr Oz began by asking Dr Gundry his opinion about apples, the one food we’ve been told to eat every day to keep the doctor away. Dr Gundry said “this is killer fruit.” Dr Oz then pointed out that there are certain fruits that seem to “protect themselves” from us. Pineapples have spikes, artichokes have spiky leaves, and coconuts have hard shells.
Dr Gundry explained that plants have evolved to protect themselves. But there’s a number of plants that don’t have those mechanisms visible to the eye. Dr Gundry argued that still, those other plants can protect themselves because they do not want to be eaten.
Dr Oz: The Theory That Plants Are Making Humans Sick
One doctor is raising the red flag over seemingly healthy foods that he claims are actually making us all sick. So what’s the truth? (bootbearwdc / Flickr)
To better understand Dr Gundry’s theory, Dr Oz and YouTube star Nick Uhas went back in time to when plants ruled the earth. Eventually, bugs and animals started eating plants and the plants figured out a way to fight back. They added harmful chemicals to their seeds, rinds, and skin and because the animals would get sick from eating them, over time the animals started looking for other food sources.
According to Dr Gundry, humans started eating those plants as well and also felt sick. Instead of attributing our sickness to the plants, we blamed other things like gluten. Dr Gundry believes we’ve wasted our time developing medicines to treat digestive, autoimmune, and heart disease, when really we just need to cut out plants.
Dr Oz: Lectin In Plants Making Us Sick
Dr Gundry claimed that the chemical in plants making us sick is called lectin. Dr Gundry explained that lectin is the plant protein called the “sticky protein” that likes to bind to cell membranes or pry apart our gut wall. Dr Gundry believes lectin sticks to our cells, and their foreign proteins, so our white blood cells see those foreign cells and attack our own cells as if it’s an invader. According to Dr Gundry, that’s the cause of autoimmune diseases.
Dr Gundry thinks humans are eating those foods and feeling sick, but then blaming something else. Because of that, we take antacids, over-the-counter pain relievers, anti-depressants, and more, but we keep eating them. The problem isn’t just in our intestines either. Dr Gundry believes it’s also in our bones, our joints, and our brain.
All plants have lectin, but according to Dr Gundry, some we’ve gotten used to because we’ve been eating them for millions of years. We’ve been eating leaves of trees and various fruits for millions of years, but more often we’re eating things that originally came from America, and our ancestors aren’t from America.
Dr Oz: Night Shade Vegetables & Whole Grains
According to Dr Gundry, the biggest offenders are night shade vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and goji berries. The peel and the seeds have the concentration of lectins because thats the defense system of the plant. Whole grains are also big offenders, which Dr Oz found shocking.
Dr Gundry explained that we’ve been throwing the hull of whole grains away for 10,000 years, ever since we started eating wheat. Approximately 4 billion people used white rice as their grain of choice and throw the hull away, not eating the brown rice. We’ve been trying to eat white bread and only the poor people got the whole grain bread because that was the “bad stuff.”
“I mean, can you imagine a French or Italian eating a whole grain brain?” Dr Gundry asked. “An Italian whole grain pasta? I mean, how ridiculous is that?”
Dr Oz: Should We Switch Back To White Bread, Pasta & Rice?
There is less lectin in white bread because lectin is primarily in the hull. There is lectin in white bread, that’s the gluten, but Dr Gundry stated that gluten has gotten a bad rap because we’ve been tolerating gluten for 10,000 years. There are countries that rely on gluten. Seitan in Indonesia is pure wheat gluten. The French and Italians eat gluten in pasta and bread.
Dr Gundry argues that in an effort to eat healthier, people actually started getting sicker. He said it all started when whole grains began being touted as healthier. Before that, no one had issues unless those few people who are truly celiac.
Dr Oz: Are Beans & Seeds Making You Sick
Lastly, Dr Gundry started that beans have one of the highest lectin contents of any food group. Dr Oz was most worried about seeds because they’re the foods he eats most often. But peanuts and cashews are actually beans from America and 94% of us carry an auto-antibody to the peanut lectin and peanuts are one of the best caused of heart disease to have ever been discovered. Dr Gundry also shared that cashews were thrown away by the Amazonian Indians because they were “so deadly.” Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and chia seeds are American seeds that have a high lectin content.
There have been two studies that reported chia seeds promote inflammation in human volunteers, despite their omega-3 fats. What do you think about Dr Gundry’s stance on these seemingly healthy foods? Share your opinion in the comments below.
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