Lectin Free Foods: A Complete List with Free Printable

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If you are familiar with a lectin-free diet, then you are probably familiar with the work of Dr. Steven Gundry. He wrote a book called The Plant Paradox, explaining the harmful effects of lectins. Plant foods and vegetables have been getting a bad wrap lately, with some people completely cutting them out of their diet.

To me, that is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Some people will be more sensitive than others, but there are a number of vegetables that don’t contain lectins, and there are ways to prepare foods to neutralize their threat. In this article, I will give some background information, and provide you with a free download of the “yes food lists” and the “no food list” from Dr. Gundry’s plant paradox diet. 

Plant’s Natural Defense System

In order for plants to continue to grow season after season, they need their seeds to survive long enough to produce more seeds. This means that the seeds are vitally important. In self-defense, some parts of plants, including the seeds, contain mechanisms to increase the chances of survival and propagation.

Among these defenses are anti-nutrients like phytates and oxalates, trypsin inhibitors, and lectins. There are different types of lectins, but they all have the same goal: protect the plant. Lectins are meant to harm a predator and discourage them from eating the seeds in the future. One way they do this by causing gaps in the intestinal wall barrier, which causes a condition known as leaky gut syndrome. 

How Do Lectins Cause Health Conditions? 

Lectins are related to a number of chronic diseases and other health issues. This is because they can cause damage all over the body, not just in the gut. One way they do this by binding to sialic acid, which is a sugar molecule found in the gut, the brain, between nerve endings, in joints, and all bodily fluids, including the blood vessel lining.³

As they bind, they can interrupt communication between cells and cause toxic, inflammatory responses. Cells in our bodies are communicating constantly. Without proper communication, the body systems suffer. Because sialic acid is so widespread in the body, lectins can cause many different negative symptoms by binding to it.

Dr. Gundry explains that in his practice, he saw that even people living a “healthy lifestyle” still had symptoms ranging from joint pain to poor digestion to chronic inflammation. (All thanks to sneaky lectins.) But don’t worry, he has also seen patients reverse heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, lupus (an autoimmune condition), and many other inflammatory, autoimmune diseases by removing lectins from their diet. Many of them experienced significant weight loss as well! 

What Parts of the Plant Have High Amounts of Lectins? 

Lectins are often found in the seeds, grains, skins, rinds, and leaves of plants. Whole grains are a nightmare, because they contain lectins in the bran and hull. For phases 1 and 2 of the plant paradox diet, avoid lectins entirely. Then later on, you can slowly re-introduce some, focusing on neutralizing them using a pressure cooker or through fermentation. 

The Harm of Medications

I would guess that among the most popular over-the-counter medications are acid-reducing drugs and NSAIDs like ibuprofen. As a society, we have become so dependent on drugs to silence our symptoms and make us feel better. But these medications are not benign.

These medications, along with antibiotics, change the gut flora and mucous layer of the intestinal lining. The result? A damaged gut wall, leading to leaky gut syndrome and many unwanted symptoms and conditions. (Think headaches, joint pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, acid reflux, bone loss, chronic diseases, infertility, and so many more.)

The good news is that better digestion, gut health, and overall health are possible! And as you heal your gut, systemic inflammation decreases, which decreases your need for acid-reducers and pain medications. 

Taking Back the Power

If you feel like your health has been hijacked, it’s time to shift the scales. The plant paradox diet will focus on rebuilding the gut wall and restoring balance to the microbiome by feeding good microbes while starving bad microbes. Phase 1 starts with a 3-day cleanse and a heavy focus on healing the gut lining. Then, phase 2 is focused on repairing and restoring healthy gut microbiome. 

Phase 1:

This cleanse is optional, you can start directly onto phase 2. This cleanse is meant to prepare your gut and amplify the benefits of phase 2. Remember that the long term goal here is an intact, functional gut lining and a healthy balance of bacteria in the small intestine and the large intestine. Here are lists of what to avoid and what to eat during the phase 1 cleanse.

Avoid the Following Foods:

• Dairy
• Fruits
• Sugar
• Seeds
• Eggs
• Corn
• Soy
• Roots or tubers
• Canola or other inflammatory vegetable oils
• Grains or psuedograins (quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, teff)
• Nightshade plants (eggplants, potatoes, peppers, goji berries, and tomatoes)
• Commercially prepared salad dressings or sauces
• Any form of beef or other farm animal meat

Enjoy the Following Foods:

• Bok choy
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cauliflower
• Kale
• Mustard greens
• Endive
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Swiss chard
• Watercress
• Artichokes,
• Asparagus
• Celery
• Fennel
• Radishes
• Onions
• Leeks
• Chives
• Wild-caught fish
• Pastured chicken
• Herbs (fresh mint, parsley, basil, cilantro, garlic)
• Ocean vegetables like kelp and seaweed, including sheets of nori
• Fats: (avocado, olives, avocado oil, coconut oil, macadamia nut oil, sesame seed oil, walnut oil, extra-virgin olive oil, hemp seed oil, MCT oil and flaxseed oil

Phase 2: 

This is a six-week (minimum) repair process. It’s important to stop eating foods with lectins so your body can heal. If your boat is taking on water, you can empty it with a bucket all you want, but you won’t be able to keep up with the fooding in of water.

First, stop the leaks, then your efforts will make much more of an impact! To stop the leaks in the gut, remove lectins. Then, eat nourishing foods, and let your body heal itself. Next, you can really eat to feed the good bacteria, and positively change the entire landscape of your gut.

As the environment of your gut changes, you will probably experience withdrawal symptoms, or die-off symptoms like low energy, headaches, grouchiness, and muscle cramps. The bad bacteria will be SCREAMING at you to feed them, but hold strong and these symptoms will fade away. The list of lectin-free foods and lectin-containing foods is very long, so I have made a free downloadable list of these foods for you. 

Guidelines for Buying Produce, Eggs, and Meat

When shopping for produce off of the low-lectin list, buy organic as much as possible. Organic produce has more vitamins and minerals, higher amounts of polyphenols, and less endocrine-disrupting chemicals.¹

When buying  eggs, poultry, and meat, remember that as Dr. Gundry says, “you are also what the thing you ate, ate.” Eating pastured, grass-fed meats will ensure a better ratio of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids, and a lower lectin count. 

Guidelines for Buying Dairy

When buying dairy try to buy products that contain A2 casein protein as much as possible. Most dairy products contain A1 casein protein. During digestion, it is turned into a protein that is very similar to lectins called beta-casomorphin.

Needless to say, this protein is very harmful and may even be linked to type 1 diabetes. ² Even grass-fed milk from a holstein cow contains this harmful protein. If it is not specified which breed of cow the milk is from, you can bet it’s from a holstein.

Why? Because they have the greatest milk production and therefore, the greatest profit for the dairy companies. Milk from the guernsey, brown swiss, and belgian blues all contain casein A-2. Sheep or goat’s milk is also safe. 

Decoding  Grocery Store Labels

Many product labels are “green washed”, and contain misleading, manipulative catch phrases. Here’s a breakdown of some common buzzwords to help you navigate the tricky marketing found on grocery store shelves.

Catchphrase	Translation
“All vegetarian feed”	This means the feed contains grains, pseudo-grains, and/or soy, all likely GMO. So, if you eat meat that ate “all vegetarian feed”, you are eating second-hand GMO, lectin-loaded grains.
“Free-range”	According to a 2007 U.S. federal law, free-range chickens can be packed into a warehouse and fed corn and soybeans as long as a door with access to grass is left open for at least 5 minutes a day. Sadly, most of these chickens never see the light of day. You want pastured eggs, not free range.
“Gluten-free”	This product likely contains  more sugar and lectins than the gluten-containing product it replaced.
“All natural”	Neither the FDA nor the USDA have defined this term. So, the best practice is to not give it any meaning either when looking at labels. The products are not offering any extra value, they’re just using this term so you will buy their product.
“No cholesterol”	The fats that replace cholesterol are actually worse, and are full of inflammatory omega-6 fats.3
“No trans fats”	First, look in the ingredients list. If any oil is partially or fully hydrogenated, there are trans fats in that product. As long as the amount of trans fats is less than 0.5 grams per serving, they are allowed to report it as zero. When this rule was made, many companies took a normal serving size, and decreased it to a smaller size, so that there would be less than 0.5 grams of trans fats in that portion. Then suddenly they could report their product as “trans fats free”. (Insert a massive eye roll here.)
“No artificial ingredients”	There can still be harmful ingredients in the product. Even something like “natural flavors” can include processed and harmful ingredients. Most of the “natural flavors” fall under the “generally regarded as safe” umbrella, which is just a loophole to skip the actual testing of foods. It’s scary how many ingredients aren’t legally required to be reported. If you want a no-artificial-ingredients-guarantee, your best bet is to cook food at home using whole food ingredients.
“Heart healthy”	Did you know that one product that is certified as “heart healthy” by the FDA is Froot Loops?! Yeah, you can feel free to question that heart healthy label whenever you want. A lot of these labels are used as selling gimmicks more than informative, regulated facts.
“All organic ingredients”	Sadly, GMO crops, if raised organically, can still be labeled “organic”. Organic ingredients is a good sign, but you’ll need to do further investigating to make sure the product is up to snuff.

Gut Health Recommendations

I hope this article has been helpful for you! In closing, let me share this quote that resonated so much with me. “Your body has the ability to restore itself to perfect health, once you eliminate the foods and other forces that prevent it from healing.” -Dr. Steven Gundry

If you are looking for another gut-healing option, try out these stewed apples for a happy microbiome. Or, for the perfect introduction to the world of fermentation, try this gut health lemonade. And let me know in the comments if you have any questions!

Sources

¹ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24968103

² Devil in the milk: Illness, Health and the Politics of A1 and A2 Milk, by Keith Woodford

³ The Plant Paradox, by Dr. Steven Gundry

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