I have dedicated my whole adult life to learning and teaching about healthy foods, healthy eating and healing the body with food. I discovered macrobiotics when I was 24. I proceeded to apprentice at a macrobiotic cooking school for two years and went on to cook for people and eventually start teaching cooking classes in 1997. Since then, I have continued to learn about food, the healing properties, vitamins, mineral content and the energy of the foods to further my knowledge to help people heal using food. The majority of the time I have been walking on this earth has been studying and teaching about healthy food. So, when I hear about diets that advocate crazy things such as ‘taking the skin off vegetables is better’ or ‘eat white rice instead of brown rice’, it kind of DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!
I thought I would take the time to write a blog about the mis conception of LECTINS in our food. Yes, it is true people think that taking the skin off vegetables will make them healthier for you because you would be removing the lectins. And yes, the popular books saying lectins are bad, say that eating white rice is better because it has less lectins. Let me be clear, WHITE RICE HAS NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE!! And if you have been following me for a while, you know how much I teach about the incredible nutritional value of brown rice. Plus, MOST OF YOUR VITAMINS AND MINERALS ARE LOCATED RIGHT UNDER THE SKIN OF VEGETABLES. Always eat the skin when every possible.
When I learned about healthy, whole foods, I leaned that lectin had anti-cancer properties. When people started saying to avoid lectins, I could not understand why because lectins can help you not get cancer. Why would anyone tell people to not eat wonderful healthy whole foods such as: whole grains, lentils, beans, kale and more that have been eaten for hundreds of thousands of years (some even longer) that also can help fight off cancer?
What are Lectins?
Lectins are proteins found in most plant foods, animals and bacteria. They are found in higher amounts in plants that are not cooked and therefore their lectins levels are lowered when cooked. The lectin in the plant is the protective layer on the plant protecting it from outside sources that would harm the plant. In Oriental medicine they teach us, what the plant does in nature, it does inside our bodies when we eat it. Therefore, eating lectins will protect your body from harmful things trying to invade the body.
Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that are highly specific for sugar groups that are part of other molecules, so cause agglutination of particular cells or precipitation of glycoconjugates and polysaccharides. Lectins have a role in recognition at the cellular and molecular level and play numerous roles in biological recognition phenomena involving cells, carbohydrates, and proteins.
“Lectins are ubiquitously found in bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals [12–14]. The term lectin was coined by Boyd and Shapleigh in 1954, to indicate a nonimmunoglobulin protein that binds carbohydrate molecules without modifying them [15]. Lectins are currently considered carbohydrate-binding proteins that reversibly interact with specific saccharides in glycoproteins and glycolipids [16]. Lectins differ by their biophysiochemical properties, inhibiting various organisms, including fungi, viruses, and insects, while also acting as immunomodulatory molecules [17–19]. Additionally, lectins are involved in immune defense, cell migration, cell-to-cell interactions, embryogenesis, organ formation, and inflammation.”
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2020/1631394/
Scientific Research
Scientifically they are researching how to make drugs with lectins because of their anti-cancer properties (I am not a fan of drugs but wanted to share this info to get the point across of lectins anti-cancer properties.)
“These proteins can interact with free and/or cell surface oligosaccharides and might differentially bind cancer cells, since malignant transformation is tightly associated with altered cell surface glycans. Therefore, lectins could represent a valuable tool for cancer diagnosis and be developed as anticancer therapeutics. Indeed, several plant lectins exert cytotoxic effects mainly by inducing apoptotic and autophagic pathways in malignant cells. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding the basis for the use of lectins in cancer diagnosis and therapy, providing a few examples of plant-derived carbohydrate-binding proteins with demonstrated antitumor effects.”
“In a time when biotechnology is rapidly improving, researchers have found a plethora of natural resources to be potential panaceas against cancer. Among such compounds are the lectins family which hold great potential for cancer therapy. Lectins are highly specific proteins that bind to carbohydrates and are found in many plants, animals, and bacteria. Lectins found in animals are most often found to aid in cell interactions, while plant lectins are known to ward off potential predators or pathogens [1]. However, all lectins share the property of involvement in both normal and pathological biological processes and all have varying degrees of interaction with the immune system. Based on their defensive properties and commonly known ability to induce apoptosis in cells, much research has been done to study the effects of plant and animal lectins as a prospective treatment option against cancerous cells.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6272365/
“It is important to remember that eating foods with a high amount of active lectins is rare. One reason is that lectins are most potent in their raw state, and foods containing them are not typically eaten raw. Cooking, especially with wet high-heat methods like boiling or stewing, or soaking in water for several hours, can inactivate most lectins. [6] Lectins are water-soluble and typically found on the outer surface of a food, so exposure to water removes them.”
“Lectins can act as an antioxidant, which protects cells from damage caused by free radicals. They also slow down digestion and the absorption of carbohydrates, which may prevent sharp rises in blood sugar and high insulin levels. Early research is also looking at the use of non-toxic low amounts of certain lectins to help stimulate gut cell growth in patients who are unable to eat for long periods, and in anticancer treatments due to the ability of lectins to cause cancer cell death.”
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/anti-nutrients/lectins/
Why would anyone eat raw kidney beans?
This is referring to the supposedly negative effects of eating lectins. “The most publicized accounts report severe reactions in people eating even small amounts of raw or undercooked kidney beans.”
Other crazy claims about eating lectins.
It has also been said eating foods with lectins can create holes in your digestive tract or create an auto immune dis-ease.
Holes in your digestive tract can be created if you take certain types of pharmaceutical medicines including antibiotics. Known for the way it kills bugs, by their stomach exploding, Bt toxin (bacillus thuringiensis) being put on our food will create holes in your digestive tract.
And an auto immune dis-ease, is created by your body being too full of toxic heavy metals. Usually brought on by again, pharmaceutical drugs, vaccines being the best way to get too much heavy metals into your body. There can be other ways to get an accumulation of heavy metals in your body, however, pharm drugs is one of the biggest contributing factors.
If these healthy, whole foods (the ones that have lectins) that the human species has been eating for hundreds of thousands of years created auto immune dis-ease and holes in your digestive tract, we would have heard about it way before now. We would have had an epidemic of these conditions a long time ago. Logically this just does not make sense that lectins are to blame for all of these problems.
I always teach this: When wondering if a certain way of eating or a certain food is healthy or not, ask yourself, how long has the human species been doing or eating this? If the answer is that we humans have been eating these whole foods for a very long time and with no ill effects happening, you can be confident that it is a healthy food to eat.
Note:
The place where all this mis leading information about lectins comes from is a very popular book that recommends eating a high protein, high meat diet. (I will not mention the name of the book in my blog.) I respect people’s choice to eat meat of not eat meat, but I advocate for a vegan diet. And there is no way that eating a very high protein, very high meat diet will create a long healthy life for anyone. (It may be a temporary fix of some of the symptoms of dis-ease for a short period of time but is not a diet to sustain our human bodies.)
I also did not see this popular book talking about organic foods. The pesticides, such as glyphosate, on our vegetables could be the culprit of any ill effects that they think are coming from consuming the whole foods.
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The best way to learn about healthy, whole, organic, vegan foods is to attend a cooking class!
Upcoming Cooking Classes:
Christmas Dinner Cooking Class
Wed. Dec. 6 - 6 to 8:30 PM (ET)
In person $60.00 - Virtual $50.00
Don't miss out on the last in person, whole dinner cooking class of 2023. These recipes are rich, delicious and are perfect for your special Christmas Dinner. Vegan - Whole Foods - Organic - Gluten Free - Sugar Free.
Tempeh Stuffed Butternut Squash with Stone Ground Mustard Sauce, Garlic Baked Sweet Potatoes with Squash and The Best Maple Fudge.
Pear Cherry Chocolate Pie with Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust
Wed. Dec. 13 - 6:30 to 7:30 PM (ET)
$25.00 - Zoom Class
This is one fantastic pie! The crust is a chocolate cookie and the filling is Pears, Dark Sweet Cherries and Chocolate Chips. The dessert is gluten free, organic, and no refined sugars. This pie will 'Wow' them for the holidays.
Love of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan 2024 Calendars
Two of my passions in life are cooking and my love for the U.P. (what we in Michigan call the Upper Peninsula).
Every year I create a calendar with picture I have taken of the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan throughout the year. I also write an inspirational poem about each picture. I have such iconic places featured in this year’s calendar such as: Quincy Mine, Tahquamenon Falls and Bete Grise Beach on Lake Superior.
Give the Gift of Health for the holidays this year!
Gift Certificates for Cooking Classes or Counseling Sessions make the perfect gifts!
Cookbooks are a great gift also! https://www.macroval.com/buycookbook.htm
Hi everyone! You can also listen to my radio show, REAL FOOD with Chef Val, all about Lectins, that I did last week. https://www.blogtalkradio.com/macrovalrealfood/2023/11/22/real-food-with-chef-val