The Plant Paradox: What's FACT, What's FICTION?

Here's a random question for you : What does Shark Week, Kelly Clarkson, and Warfare all have in common?

They all describe my Cooking Light assignment this week!

I was asked to review the book The Plant Paradox by Dr. Stephen Gundry. You know, the diet book that Kelly Clarkson credited on the CMT Awards red carpet a few weeks ago as helping to improve her health and to lose 37 pounds. I honestly wasn’t familiar with the book, but evidently other people are because there were no copies left on the shelf in my local area!

Once I found a copy, I was excited to start reading because 1) I’m a nutrition nerd and LOVE when there is new science to challenge existing knowledge and 2) the author Dr. Gundry's professional background is pretty amazing. However, what I found after reading was a book that read much like the transcript of an episode on the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week or a National Geographic wildlife episode! Not at all what I expected for such a popular diet book!

I don’t want to give too much away, but essentially Dr. Gundry proposes that plants use compounds called lectins as chemical and biological ammunition to attack our bodies to get us to stop eating them. But, we’re too stupid to stop eating them, so the more intelligent plants continue wreaking havoc on our bodies – the end result of which is autoimmune conditions and pretty much all chronic disease related issues like insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and obesity.