Ever since Dr. Steven Gundry came out with his book, very slick videos, and pervasive marketing campaign about the evils of lectin-containing foods… I’ve been suspicious. I didn’t change any of my eating habits, but I wondered if soaking or cooking de-activated these ‘damaging nutrients’ and the whole thing was a bunch of hype anyway.

Well I finally came across this excellent video by Dr. Michael Greger – referencing scientific trials and journals – that explains why lectins are not actually the big, bad evil Dr. Gundry says they are:

You’re welcome. And remember, there’s a recent trend where a savvy Internet marketer teams up with a personable-looking doctor and Kaboom! The docs stuff is all over social media, his blog is getting top ranking (because his site is done superbly and chock-full of keyword-rich blog posts). There are Google adwords campaigns, Facebook ads and super effective marketing funnels – which is not uncommon to any successful business – but the key here is that it all appears virtually overnight.

Dr. Josh Axe is another one I wondered about, until I went through his site and saw that Jordan Rubin is actually behind his whole gig. Those of you who’ve been around since the early days of the Internet will remember Jordan Rubin and his Before/After healing pictures from Crohn’s Disease, mostly credited to his Primal Defense brand of bacterial soil organisms. Yep, this guy knows what he’s doing.

I actually like Dr. Axe’s site and he has a lot of really good, reliable content on there. I’m simply making the point, that while positioned as a maverick or sincere doc, these guys are actually the spokesperson for a very experienced, thorough marketing team. Nothing wrong with that. But it doesn’t carry the veracity of a doc who came up through the trenches, or the crucible of their own personal story, like Dr. Joseph Mercola or Dr. Kelly Brogan. Just saying.

Those of you with active IBD know that beans and legumes are more difficult to digest and many of you don’t tolerate tomatoes well either. But if you remove the seeds and skin from tomatoes (like traditional Italians do) you may be able to tolerate them. And although most people know you need to soak beans and lentils for 24 hours, do you know you should also soak oatmeal and quinoa too?

If you really want to know what to believe in this fad-a-minute world of ever-changing health trends, simply look to how healthy, indigenous populations prepared their food 2-3 generations ago. Back when people had to be tuned into their bodies to survive, and were deeply connected to the energy and wisdom of plants. The landmark book for this is Dr. Weston A. Price’s Nutrition & Physical Degeneration. Or if you want the quick overview, it’s here online.