Don’t eat your veggies? Lectin-free dieting surges

Ever heard of lectin? It is a compound found in plants and it’s cooking up a lot of controversy. So much in fact that a growing number of people are embracing lectin-free eating. That means eliminating many fruits, vegetables and grains.

The food pyramid, I can tell you, is not healthy for the for the average American Dr. Adam Riker, surgical oncologist

Living a lectin free lifestyle means throwing out just about everything your parents told you about healthy eating.

“The food pyramid, I can tell you, is not healthy for the for the average American,” said Dr. Adam Riker.

A Naples surgical oncologist, he spent decades researching the root causes of illness. Even writing a book on health practices. His book, The Riker Regimen includes information on lectin. He explained to WINK News health and medical reporter Amy Oshier that lectin is produced by plants as a form of protection. “They don’t want to get eaten by other things, so they produce these chemicals.”

The thought process is, that they pass on detrimental impacts to us- or animals that may eat them. At the heart of the matter, is the gut, Dr, Riker said, “So we eat a lot of fruits or, a lot of vegetables, it causes inflammation in our bodies, mainly inflammation in our gut. You get what’s called a leaky gut. where a lot of the stuff that we’re eating gets taken up by the body, and we get an immune reaction.”

Dr. Riker believes this leads to whole body inflammation, which leads to disease.

“We know that cancer incidence is increasing, and I can almost guarantee you it’s a result of what we’re eating.” Riker said. “So part of that is, if we’re eating lectins causing gut inflammation.”

High on the lectin list are beans. Including the humble, lovable peanut- which is actually a legume not a nut. As this dietary trend grows, it’s putting some people in a pickle.

A lot of lectin-laden items are staples at Sylvie Szabo’s organic cafe. “We do a lot of plant-based options in our wraps, salads….”

At the Living Vine Organic Cafe, they bank on veggies, beans and chickpeas, to help vegetarians flesh out their diet.

“It’s the best source of protein, if you remove meats you have to compensate with some type of protein and beans are great options for that,” Szabo said.

The substitute, Riker says, is animal protein. “Don’t kill the messenger, there’s a lot of data on this now, of a carnivore type lifestyle, which is all red meat, fish, eggs, bacon, and that actually has been shown very recently, over the last five to 10 years, of probably being a much healthier lifestyle than a plant based diet.”

Controversial, yes. The idea of flipping the food plate certainly creates food for thought.

Dr. Riker is updating his book to include more research on the value of meat in the diet.

You can take a look at his book The Riker Regimen, by clicking here.

Here’s a sample of some fruits and vegetables that are considered “high” in lectin:

• Beans
• Peas
• Soy
• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Eggplant