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> My digestive system got wrecked trying to be on a mostly vegetarian diet over several years after the housing bubble popped. The gist of it is that the lectin

> My digestive system got wrecked trying to be on a mostly vegetarian diet over several years after the housing bubble popped. The gist of it is that the lectins (and other defense mechanisms in the husks) of legumes and nightshades disrupt the mucus lining of the intestines, which leads to leaky gut and stool getting into the body cavity and blood (leaky gut), which may lead to autoimmune diseases like colitis and arthritis. Something about animal protein heals this lining, probably because humans evolved as scavengers eating leftover kills and carrion from top predators. Do you have a citation for this? I've never heard anything like it before.

zackmorris 7y ago
Ya sorry, it's a relatively new concept: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319593.php https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319593.php My feeling is that it's similar to how allergies/cancer/etc often have 2 or more triggers that must coincide to set off the condition. So for example, maybe people who wouldn't typically have gluten sensitivity (a lectin), ended up with it because they distrupted their gut flora by eating, say, the glyphosate in oats (especially processed oats like Cheerios). It could also happen if they eat compounds not typically encountered in nature, like those present in GMO foods. Western medicine has a blind spot when it comes to these holistic effects because it tends to mainly study single root causes and cures. We also don't yet have enough long term studies, because GMOs only went mainstream around the late 90s and we're only just today able to start tackling big data with machine learning. But many people were wary of herbacides, pesticides and GMOs because there were no long term studies yet. Unfortunately a lot of unscientific practices got rammed to market during the George W Bush years, and during the dot com boom years before that under Clinton where money trumped public health concerns. Ok and really all through the 80s as well... For anyone who reads this, and especially vegetarians dealing with IBS, what really helped me was the glutamine powder you buy at any workout supplement shop. Then I laid off legumes and nightshades (especially peanuts and peppers) for 6 months to let my gut rebuild. Use a pressure cooker to break down the lectins in beans, and also try de-husked grains like white rice instead of brown rice, or say sourdough bread over whole wheat bread. Then be aware that the gut is always breaking down and rebuilding, so treat it maybe like red meat or alcohol and try limiting yourself to a day or two of beans/salsa in a row instead of eating them every day. Also the Gundry ProPlant protein powder (hemp, flax, spirulina) helped me. If you're under 40 and don't yet have IBS, you might be seeing other symptoms like puffyiness, weight gain and lethargy that feels kind of like chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. For me, that coincided with discovering I had sleep apnea. I had been chronically tired for as long as a decade.
- intopieces 7y ago
  While I don’t doubt your story and haven’t read your link, what is interesting to me is that I have been a vegetarian for 13 years haven’t had any of these symptoms. What explains the variation here?
  - losteric 7y ago
    Gut flora - you likely have a healthier microbiome, or at least one that was able to adapt to a vegetarian diet. Microbiome variance is a relatively new area of research but studies have already highlighted links to IBS/IBD, autoimmune conditions, and psychological conditions.
- DangitBobby 7y ago
  This is very interesting... I am a vegetarian who has been eating a ton of legumes the past few days and I've been having a bout of what I suspect is IBS. I should cut back on peanuts and see how it goes. Coincidentally, I also had sleep apnea at one point, though exercise exercise (very minor weight loss) made it go away.
  - johnsimer 7y ago
    Peanuts have mold which can lead to candida infections. My nutritionist says to avoid peanuts altogether
- odyssey7 7y ago
  Emulsifiers are also being investigated for causing issues like that. I find them to be a more compelling explanation for rising rates of these issues. A lot of specialty vegan and dairy-free products are filled with them to turn plant-based ingredients creamy or milky. They're also very common in non-specialty processed foods that many vegetarians eat more of than omnivores. News article: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-emulsifiers/study-links-common-food-additives-to-crohns-disease-colitis-idUSKBN0LT26S20150225 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-emulsifiers/study... The study: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14232 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14232

zackmorris 7y ago

Ya sorry, it's a relatively new concept: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319593.php https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319593.php My feeling is that it's similar to how allergies/cancer/etc often have 2 or more triggers that must coincide to set off the condition. So for example, maybe people who wouldn't typically have gluten sensitivity (a lectin), ended up with it because they distrupted their gut flora by eating, say, the glyphosate in oats (especially processed oats like Cheerios). It could also happen if they eat compounds not typically encountered in nature, like those present in GMO foods. Western medicine has a blind spot when it comes to these holistic effects because it tends to mainly study single root causes and cures. We also don't yet have enough long term studies, because GMOs only went mainstream around the late 90s and we're only just today able to start tackling big data with machine learning. But many people were wary of herbacides, pesticides and GMOs because there were no long term studies yet. Unfortunately a lot of unscientific practices got rammed to market during the George W Bush years, and during the dot com boom years before that under Clinton where money trumped public health concerns. Ok and really all through the 80s as well... For anyone who reads this, and especially vegetarians dealing with IBS, what really helped me was the glutamine powder you buy at any workout supplement shop. Then I laid off legumes and nightshades (especially peanuts and peppers) for 6 months to let my gut rebuild. Use a pressure cooker to break down the lectins in beans, and also try de-husked grains like white rice instead of brown rice, or say sourdough bread over whole wheat bread. Then be aware that the gut is always breaking down and rebuilding, so treat it maybe like red meat or alcohol and try limiting yourself to a day or two of beans/salsa in a row instead of eating them every day. Also the Gundry ProPlant protein powder (hemp, flax, spirulina) helped me. If you're under 40 and don't yet have IBS, you might be seeing other symptoms like puffyiness, weight gain and lethargy that feels kind of like chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. For me, that coincided with discovering I had sleep apnea. I had been chronically tired for as long as a decade.

intopieces 7y ago
While I don’t doubt your story and haven’t read your link, what is interesting to me is that I have been a vegetarian for 13 years haven’t had any of these symptoms. What explains the variation here?
- losteric 7y ago
  Gut flora - you likely have a healthier microbiome, or at least one that was able to adapt to a vegetarian diet. Microbiome variance is a relatively new area of research but studies have already highlighted links to IBS/IBD, autoimmune conditions, and psychological conditions.
DangitBobby 7y ago
This is very interesting... I am a vegetarian who has been eating a ton of legumes the past few days and I've been having a bout of what I suspect is IBS. I should cut back on peanuts and see how it goes. Coincidentally, I also had sleep apnea at one point, though exercise exercise (very minor weight loss) made it go away.
- johnsimer 7y ago
  Peanuts have mold which can lead to candida infections. My nutritionist says to avoid peanuts altogether
odyssey7 7y ago
Emulsifiers are also being investigated for causing issues like that. I find them to be a more compelling explanation for rising rates of these issues. A lot of specialty vegan and dairy-free products are filled with them to turn plant-based ingredients creamy or milky. They're also very common in non-specialty processed foods that many vegetarians eat more of than omnivores. News article: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-emulsifiers/study-links-common-food-additives-to-crohns-disease-colitis-idUSKBN0LT26S20150225 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-emulsifiers/study... The study: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14232 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14232