“Australia is still very much stuck on the gluten-free train which is just replacing gluten with other grains … bloating and leaky gut here we come!” -@nomorelectins

We all know what it is to feel bloated.  Bleugh!  But what exactly is leaky gut? Well, leaky gut is a condition whereby the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged, causing undigested food particles, toxic waste products and bacteria to “leak” through the intestines and flood the blood stream,⁵ creating conditions linked to stomach problems, bloating, fatigue, skin rashes, irritable bowel syndrome, joint pain, and rheumatoid arthritis.

If your health is already compromised with an inflammatory situation, you don’t need to be further burdening your body. So think of a lectin-free diet being an eating regime that cuts out the lectins most harmful to our guts.

To say that I was overwhelmed when my husband’s health took a turn is an understatement, and so I can only imagine what it must be like when you’re the one that’s ill.  I can speak first hand of the benefits of following a lectin-free diet.  And it’s encouraging to know that you can give your body a break from warding off dietary pests multiple times per day, a window of opportunity to focus on getting the best out of your meds, and in some cases heal itself, get back in fighting form, and even safely sometimes reintroduce food-sources once best avoided.

The culprits

Lectins are a type of carbohydrate-binding protein. (Gluten—labelled by some as a nutrition “bad guy”—is probably the most notorious lectin.)

Gluten is a family of proteins found in grains, including wheat, rye, spelt, and barley.  Of the gluten-containing grains, wheat is by far the most common.³  Grains were never much of a problem for our ancestors. Before the invention of modern agriculture, grains were a minor and seasonal food source.  But our mass-produced western diets today are highly grain-based and available to us 24/7/365, increasing our exposure to potential invaders, and thereby increasing the work our immune systems must do to ward these invaders off.   Gluten-free is great but it really goes much deeper than that.  Many of the gluten-free marketed products are still full of lectins, and if your gut is compromised this can still be a real problem for you!

Lectins are naturally occurring proteins found in almost all plant foods ² (beans, corn, potatoes, and other fibrous foods), and they’re not all beneficial.

Plant lectins are the toxins produced by plants to keep predators from eating them. This chemical defence of plants can disorient or poison plant predators. ¹

Although considered toxic if consumed raw and in large quantities, lectins are water-soluble, and readily destroyed by soaking, cooking and processing.²  

Lectins were discovered almost 130 years ago, in 1888. That’s well over a decade before aviation, something we have since mastered. Yet these commonly occurring compounds largely remain a mystery. And while you may not be flying everyday, it’s guaranteed that you are eating foods containing lectin on a daily basis.⁶  Potatoes are not the best example because they are rarely, if ever, consumed raw.   As a child I remember my mother’s firm instruction never to eat raw potato!  Perhaps she didn’t even know why?   It is just one of those traditional cautions passed down through time.   Thus, eating normal amounts of cooked foods containing lectins (including potatoes) is of little to no health risk for most people. ²   

Humans can’t  digest lectins. These compounds usually pass through our digestive system unchanged. Occasionally, however, if someone’s digestive system is impaired, lectins sneak their way into  the bloodstream. It’s there that lectins can cause problems ⁴, kickstarting autoimmune disorders.  When lectins pass into our bloodstream, we often produce antibodies to them. Antibodies recognize foreign substances like bacteria and viruses, and mount an inflammatory immune system response to protect us.

Some foods—especially if improperly prepared—can trigger a very obvious immune response. This can cause inflammation of the digestive tract, possibly leading to nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting.⁴  Ordinarily, the lectin/gluten just pass through , but if it’s leaked into the bloodstream the immune-system reacts to it in a not so obvious measure, and by its very nature manifesting problems where there were none, and presenting as ambiguous symptoms that make for difficult diagnosis.

The foreign substances entering the blood can cause an autoimmune response in the body including inflammatory and allergic reactions such as migraines, irritable bowel, eczema, chronic fatigue, food allergies, rheumatoid arthritis and more.⁵

I encourage you to please have a read through the sources below I’ve tried to summarise here, and there are of course many others.

To assume that there aren’t lectins in everything would be naive.  Everything has a defence mechanism, and some are worse than others.  Depending on the type, lectins can be neutral. 

It was an unexpected turn of events with my husbands health that got me on this path after much prompting from a close family friend. At first diagnosed with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart), my husband suffered multiple cardiac arrests which was later attributed to a condition called sarcoidosis which had directly affected his heart.  There is not much definitive knowledge around sarcoidosis but we do know it was an immune-system overreaction to a viral flu-like infection that was misdiagnosed as bronchitis, and in its attack and his immune systems response left scarring on his heart muscle that affected the electrical system.  Now this family friend had different health issues entirely, and others I’ve ‘met’ on this journey have different issues still.  

I have found Dr Gundry’s Plant Paradox to be the most tried, tested, result-orientated version of any lectin-free regimes, and Autumn of Lectin-free Mama is a champion at information, keeping you inspired with delicious dishes and alternatives. 

For your ease of reference: Lectin-free Mama’s Print-friendly “Yes & No” lists.  

And this link by some awesome person when you need to get started in a hurry: The Plant Paradox Quick and Easy

Also visit Plant Paradox Australia Support Group for wonderful support.  

Your reviews, feedback  and requests are most welcome.  Drop us a line to happy@happyhabitat.com.au

Source reference:

¹ https://www.shortform.com/blog/plant-lectins/

² https://www.potatogoodness.com/lectins-in-potatoes/

³ https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318606#what-is-gluten

⁴ https://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-lectins

⁵ https://www.healthywomen.org/content/blog-entry/10-signs-you-have-leaky-gut—and-how-heal-it

⁶ https://www.superfoodly.com/foods-high-in-lectins/