Simply Eat!

I met Jon Benson in July and just got his booklet called Simply Eat. I am promoting this information product because the food tips and information have helped me in a significant way. You see - I have been a vegetarian for many years, eating a healthy plant-based diet. However any time I would eat beans, rice, breads, soy, seeds, and nuts, I would experience digestive distress, such as bloating, abdominal pain, general malaise.

I thought it was only me and my unique response to food. Are you like me and have a hard time after eating beans and grains? Do you gain fat when you eat even whole "unrefined" healthy carbohydrates like brown rice, nuts, and seeds?

Soak All Grains, Legumes, Nuts and Seeds

I learned a food tip from Jon Benson's ebook Simply Eat: to soak all grains, legumes for 24 hours prior to cooking them. I remember that my grandmother used to soak legumes, beans over night. For many years, I took short-cuts and skipped the habit of soaking, rinsing, (and lightly sprouting) grains, legumes, seeds and nuts. I stopped eating these types of foods completely - until recently.

The grains, legumes, and nuts taste the same, and through the re-hydration process, they even become fluffy in texture, slightly sprouting . But, more important than that - they are now "lectin-free"...or 90% there.

What are Lectins?

Lectins are protein and protein-family substances that love to bind to sugar and can wreck havoc in your digestive system. They have a nasty habit of rendering even the most healthy of foods (almost always plant-based) very unhealthy for you to consume.

High Lectin-Containing Foods

Foods with high concentrations of lectins, such as beans, cereal grains, seeds, and nuts, may be harmful if consumed in excess in uncooked or improperly uncooked form. Many legume seeds have been proven to contain high lectin activity. Soybean is the most important grain legume crop, the seeds of which contain high activity of soybean lectins.

Toxicity of Lectins

The toxicity of lectins has been identified by the consumption of foods with high content of lectins - which can lead to diarrhea, nausea, bloating, and vomiting. Adverse effects may include nutritional deficiencies, and immune (allergic) reactions.

Possibly, most effects of lectins are due to gastrointestinal distress through interaction of the lectins with the gut epithelial cells. The soybean lectin  by-product is able to disrupt small intestinal metabolism and damage small intestinal villi via the ability of lectins to bind with border surfaces in part of small intestine.

Recent studies have suggested that the mechanism of lectin damage might occur by interfering with the repair of already-damaged epithelial cells. Lectins can result in irritation and over secretion of mucus in the intestines, causing impaired absorptive capacity of the intestinal wall (Ayyagari, Narasinga Rao, & Roy, 1989; Duranti, 2006; Francis,  Makkar, &; Becker, 2001). [see Wiki references ]

Some viruses use lectins to attach themselves to your cells during infection. Lectin may cause leptin resistance (leptin,  the hunger hormone, regulates appetite and metabolism).  Over time can you imagine how lectins erode your health capacity and lead to chronic complaints.

Soaking Reduces Concentration of Lectins

Heat processing can reduce the toxicity of lectins, but low temperature or insufficient cooking may not completely eliminate their toxicity, as some plant lectins are resistant to heat. You can reduce the concentration of lectins by simply soaking grains, brown rice, legumes (beans), and raw nuts and seeds in water for 24 hours.

According to food allergy researcher Dr. David Freed, soaking breaks down the structure of lectins in grains and legumes, then they are destroyed within 10 minutes into the cooking process.

More Food Plan Tips - Simply Eat!

You may be sniffling or having a hard time with "good carbs" in your high fiber diet due to the lectins. There are other reasons, but this is probably the most common reason . Change your relationship with food. Try soaking first and see if you can digest your nuts, seeds, grains better.

For more tips like this one, as well as the steps that a make any food plan easier, faster, more powerful to shed fat in a healthy way, I recommend you read Simply Eat!  today.