Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to The Dr. Gundry Podcast, the weekly podcast where Dr. G gives you the tools you need to boost your health and live your healthiest life.
Dr. Gundry (00:13):
Is your nutritionist lying to you? Chances are you’ve heard quite a few mistruths from your well meaning MD or dietician about what’s actually a healthy diet. That’s why this week I’m here to debunk the major nutritional myths out there that you may be hearing. Plus, find out how you can save money while buying organic. And the truth about lemon water. Is it really that beneficial like we’ve all been told?
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The five foods you need to buy organic or else buy organic. You’ve heard me say this a thousand times to avoid those nasty health harming herbicides like round up by buying organic when it’s feasible for your budget. In fact, I have an entire video dedicated to the evils of this poison and how to avoid it titled, “The number one worst ingredient hiding in your food.”
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But the good news is you can actually save quite a bit of money on your grocery bills, knowing which items you absolutely need to buy organic in which you don’t. So let’s talk about the ones you don’t need to buy organic if you’re trying to save some bucks. The rule of thumb is if it has a shell or a peel that you’re going to get rid of and you can throw it out, then you should be okay to buy non-organic.
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For example, avocados, you should be okay because you’re going to throw the peel away, walnuts and most nuts for that matter. Melons, onions, yams, pomegranates, passion fruit, all of these, you are usually going to get rid of the peel so that whatever might have been sprayed on them and certainly something could have been sprayed on them, you’re going to toss it.
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Now, with foods that have shells and peels, the less you have to worry about buying organic. Now, one might argue that the nutrition in the organic version of these foods like an avocado or a walnut might be better. But believe it or not, there are contradictory studies comparing organic versus non-organic produce. And while some studies do show an increased content in polyphenols, and as you know, that’s really important, other studies have really failed to find a significant margin in these.
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So in these sorts of foods where you’re going to throw away or peel the surface off, buying non-organic is where you can save some money. Okay, now, here are my top five foods to buy organic no matter what. Mushrooms, berries, cruciferous vegetables, leafy greens, and lectin-free flours and grains like millet and sorghum. We’re really seeing more and more lectin-free flours come on the market. And it’s actually really exciting to see.
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We’re seeing sorghum flour, we’re seeing tapioca flour, we’re seeing tiger nut flour. And most of these, you want to try to buy organic. You’ve probably seen that almost all oats in this country, including organic oats have glyphosate, which is actually really scary. So you’re not going to eat oats anyhow. But the point remains, you really want to try to find organic, safe lectin-free grains when you’re going to use them to bake, because the odds are if they’re not organic, they have traces of glyphosate, which you want to avoid.
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Now, there’s certain of these flours that should be safe if you don’t buy organic like coconut, like cassava, like arrow root, things that grow underground like tiger nuts. So those flours should be particularly safe because you’re in general not going to contaminate them with glyphosate. Now, almond flour, the big thing mistake that I see people make is they’re buying ground almond flour, not blanched almond flour.
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As many of you know, almonds unfortunately have a lectin in their peel. And so many times, I see people who are using almond flour without getting blanched almond flour, and that’s really important. So organic almonds, don’t have to worry about that so much because you’re going to throw the shell away, but make sure you take one more step and take the peel away before you use almond flour.
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So same way goes with oils. You want to find for the most part organic olive oil as your main source of oils. Why? Because pesticides are sprayed on olive trees. In fact, in many places of the world there’s a funny little bug that is growing into olives and Italy has outbreaks of these every few years. It doesn’t look bad for this year, but this year’s crop is pretty much decimated because of the heat wave and there may be very little olive oil. But try to buy organic olive oil, that way you know because those olives are picked off the tree and squeezed and make olive. So anything that’s been on the olive is going to be in your olive oil.
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Same way with coconut oil. You don’t have to worry about coconut oil because the hull is going to be removed. Sure, it’s great if you see organic coconut oil and most of the time that’s what you see, but if you don’t see it, don’t panic. Same with perilla oil. Perilla oil, most that I’ve seen are organic. It’s unusual for perilla crops to be sprayed with pesticides. So that’s what you do with oils.
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Finally, when we’re talking about produce with peels and shells, there are a few foods you actually should eat the peel because of their incredible nutrients. Let’s talk about citrus first. Believe it or not, some of the best ingredients nutrients in citrus are actually in the white pith. That’s the stuff that you peel off and throw away.
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The pith contains large amounts of polyphenols and also phytonutrients, including a compound that you’ve heard about quercetin, sometimes pronounced quercetin that is present in the pith of citrus. It’s also present in the peels of apples and it’s also present in onions. And as many of you know, quercetin is actually one of the strongest antihistamines there is without producing any drowsiness. So eat the peel, the pith of the citrus.
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Now, the other part of citrus is the actual peel, and it is loaded with a compound called D-Limonene. D-Limonene is one of the best liver protectors there is. In fact, I have D-Limonene in one of my products to support the liver. How do you get that? Well, you can certainly have some of that peel and eat it. Buy kumquats when they’re in season. Kumquats you get the whole package, you get the citrus fruit, you get the pith, and you get the peel in a really tasty package.
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Slice them up whenever you see them, put them in your salads. It’s a great way to get all these nutrients. Kiwis. Kiwis, believe it or not are probably the lowest glycemic fruit that you can eat. Great news, they’re packed with fiber, but fun fact, the polyphenols are concentrated in the peel. So buy organic kiwis, chop the ends off and then eat the peel. Eat it like an apple or slice it up. It takes a couple of times to get used to that fuzziness, but you’ll get the benefits of a load of polyphenols and you’ll amaze your friends.
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Now pistachio, as you know, I’m a huge fan of pistachios because of their melatonin content and their polyphenol content. But I have many patients, in fact, I just saw one yesterday who go on pistachio binges because I say they’re so good for you. And when you buy shelled pistachios, it is really easy to overeat them. Here’s the trick, buy pistachios in the shell. Buy them roasted and salted, I don’t care. Buy them raw, peel them.
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There’s a little kind of paper thin thing that’s left inside the shell, sometimes it’s attached to the nut. That little shell piece is actually the highest concentration of polyphenols that anybody’s ever measured. So it’ll slow down your eating if you crack your pistachios and take the time to dig that little piece out of there, that little thready thing, and eat that as well. And you’ll get a double bonus from the benefits of pistachio.
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And one more quick note about vegetables. Now, especially when folks start out on my eating protocol, people tend to overdo it on cruciferous vegetables, which can sometimes suppress thyroid function, particularly when you’re going all in on cauliflower and broccoli and bok choy or Brussels sprouts and cabbage. In fact, just this week in different parts of the country, I saw two patients who pretty much had switched over to a full cruciferous meal at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and both of these individuals had suppressed their thyroid function.
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Now, their thyroid levels were perfectly normal, but we could pick up that their thyroid was struggling. And it’s an easy fix. Don’t go all in on any one class of foods, particularly the cruciferous vegetables. Most of you will not be harmed by this, but I’ve seen it enough that a word of warning. All right, that’s it for the day. The important organic vegetables that you need to buy and the ones you don’t have to worry about.
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And as a regular listener of this podcast, I bet you spend a lot of time studying the list of ingredients of packaged foods to ensure you’re eating yes foods that feed your gut. So why not do the same meticulous vetting when it comes to finding a quality doctor? With Zocdoc, you finally can. This free app shows you patient review, doctors that take your insurance and available when you need them, whether you want to fix an achy back, straighten your teeth, get that new mold checked out or anything else, Zocdoc can help you find every specialist under the sun. They not only help you find a doctor, but also help you find an appointment as soon as possible.
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It’s as simple as downloading the Zocdoc app to find a doctor that is right for you at a time that works for your schedule. Millions of people use Zocdoc and I highly recommend it to find a quality doctor fast. Go to zocdoc.com/gundry and download the Zocdoc app for free. Then start your search for a top rated doctor today. Many are available within 24 hours. That’s Z-O-C-D-O-C.com/gundry, zocdoc.com/gundry.
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Have you struggled to manage a healthy weight and strengthen your gut lining? It truly can be tough, but when you seal a leaky gut, the weight tends to fall off naturally. And good news, one of my favorite good gut buddies as a keystone for gut health is finally in supplement form. It’s Akkermansia. This miraculous mucus producing lectin blocker, good bacteria strain, nourishes your body’s microbiome to keep your gut healthy.
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And Pendulum is the first and only company to offer probiotics containing this incredible strain I’ve been talking about for years. They’re patented Akkermansia muciniphila bacterial strain in a standalone probiotic or in pendulum glucose control design for people with type two diabetes.
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These probiotics are the only way you can reintroduce Akkermansia back into your body since you can’t get it from any foods. And they’re offering a 20% discount on the first month of an Akkermansia membership with code Gundry20. Go to www.pendulumlife.com and use my code Gundry20 at checkout. That’s P-E-N-D-U-L-U-M-L-I-F-E.com and use my code Gundry20 for a 20% discount on your first month of membership.
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We’ve all been there spending hours a day looking at our phones, computers and TV screens. It turns out these screens emit blue light, which is incredibly harmful leading to issues such as poor sleep, low energy, and even weight gain. To mitigate these side effects, I always recommend getting yourself a pair of blue light blocking glasses. I wear my Bon Charge previously known as blue blocks, blue light blocking glasses every night when my wife and I watch the news.
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Should you drink lemon water every day? All right, you’ve heard all about it and you’ve seen it everywhere, the lemon water trend. And if you’ve hopped on board, I’m here to tell you, you’re wasting your time and your lemons. That’s right. Lemon water is not all it’s cracked up to be. So where does this idea come from?
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Well, the idea started out that lemon water is actually really good for you because of a one of the oddest and quite frankly most unfounded diets there is out there, the alkaline diet. Now, interestingly enough, lemons are acidic. They contain citric acid, but they are associated with alkaline effects. What the heck does that mean?
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Well, the body operates at a very, very, very tightly controlled pH level, a fine balance between acids in the body and alkaline effects in the body. And while it is absolutely true that most vegetables have an alkaline effect, they trend towards the alkaline side of the pH scale and many animal products tend towards the acidic effect, there really is no evidence that eating a slightly alkaline diet or drinking a slightly alkaline water has any effect on your body’s pH balance.
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This became very trendy and still trendy because you see all the alkaline waters for sale now. And normally, the normal pH is 7.0. We, our bodies operate on a pH between 7.35 and 7.45. So a very, very narrow band. Interestingly enough, Italian waters, Italian sparkling waters by law required to have a balanced pH of 7.0 or higher.
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So you would think that if you’re kind of trying to get rid of acids in your body or you’re eating a lot of acid contained foods that you ought to balance that with alkaline water, with alkaline foods. The problem is there is so little available bicarbonate in alkaline water or in these foods that you would actually have to eat tons of these foods to have any effect on your pH, even your stomach pH, and you would have to drink untold thousands of gallons of lemon water a day to have any effect on your alkaline status.
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In fact, on our podcast a few years ago, we had an expert in AL and water, one of the founders of studying alkaline water and he had a good chuckle about the idea that we could actually affect our alkalinity by using alkaline and water. So that’s not why they have lemons. Well, what are people saying about the benefits of lemon water?
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Well, according to an article by Harvard Health, there are quite a few benefits and here’s their benefits. Well, the first being that it prevents oxidation. Now, you’ve heard me talk about oxidation and in fact, one of the reasons I’m not a big fan of the cholesterol theory of heart disease is that if you like that theory, then cholesterol has to be oxidized. It has to be rusty or rancid. Fish that smell bad that’s the omega-3 fats in the fish that are oxidizing and that’s that fishy smell. That the amount of antioxidants in lemon water are so infanticidal that again, that’s not where to get your antioxidants from.
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How about phytonutrients? Yeah, lemons are an excellent source of phytonutrients, but all you’re doing by drinking that lemon water is getting a very dilute amount of phytonutrients. You’d be much better off taking that lemon that you were going to squeeze in the water and eat some of the peel, eat the pith and have a bite of the lemon.
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In fact, my father used to actually eat a lemon with salt almost every day of his life. That’s the way to get a lemon into you. Harvard says it’s a great source of vitamin C. Here’s the problem with vitamin C. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin. Once you take vitamin C within two to four hours, it’s left your system. And so the amount of vitamin C in lemon water is very small, and once you drink it, it’s gone.
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So as I’ve told you before, it’s really important to have a continuous supply of vitamin C in our body because we’re one of the few animals that do not manufacture vitamin C. So my advice, get yourself timed release vitamin C capsules. They come in 500 milligrams, they come in a thousand milligrams, take one twice a day. If that’s a pain in the neck, get yourself some chewable vitamin C about 500 milligrams and chew for a day every morning, noon, dinner and before you go to bed. That way, you’re guaranteed to have a continuous supply of vitamin C.
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Just to remember, rats have been bred to not produce vitamin C. Those rats live half as long as a normal rat when you give those rats who can’t produce vitamin C, vitamin C continuously in their drinking water, they reestablish their normal lifespan. That’s how important continuous exposure to vitamin C is.
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How about a potassium boost? Actually, lemons are not a great source of potassium, and just getting that little bit of potassium is not going to be enough to help your muscle cramps. As you know, I recommend potassium, magnesium aspartate for muscle cramps, and there’s actually good data out of athletic performance that potassium magnesium improves muscle performance in athletes.
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Finally, lemon water prevents kidney stones. Well, it’s true that having a lot of citric acid is one of the treatments for one type of kidney stone, but here the same thing happens. You have to take citric acid multiple times during the day at much higher concentrations than you’ll ever get in lemon water.
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So throw the lemons in your food, but don’t put it in your water. So what are you going to do instead? Get yourself your balsamic vinegar. Get yourself other vinegar. Vinegars are going to give you huge benefits. You’re going to get all the polyphenols that you get from vinegars, you’re going to get all the postbiotics, short chain fatty acids from vinegars, and you’re going to get all the post biotic benefits that have now been shown to occur when we drink or eat fermented foods.
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There are lots of other good options. Water based kefirs, kombucha, which is low sugar. Now, word of warning, there are so many high sugar kombuchas out there that it’s scary, and I spend some time looking at them in the grocery stores every week. Kombuchas have been sugarized, because quite frankly, kombucha is an interesting taste. And to cover it up, companies have added more and more and more sugar to their products, so you’ll drink them.
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Now, back to balsamic vinegar. A lot of people really don’t like the really kind of bitter vinegary taste of balsamic vinegar. Here’s a trick. I have no relationship with this company, but I use their product. It’s called Napa Valley Naturals, and they make a 25 year age balsamic vinegar, which is thick, it’s almost sweet tasting, it’s syrupy and a little goes a long way, and it’s incredibly reasonably price. You can find it in a lot of stores, you can find it on Amazon.
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Again, I have no relationship, but it’s a great way to get a high quality balsamic vinegar into your sparkling water that makes it taste like a Coke. And for those of you who are not aware, I actually invented the idea of the new Coke made out of balsamic vinegar and sparkling water well over five years ago. And you can actually watch my YouTube on how to do it.
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Finally, you’re going to see in my upcoming book that dead bacteria that are left over from fermentation actually carry important messages to the bacteria that live in our gut. So anytime you can have a fermented food, even though it has no living probiotics, you’re way ahead of having something like lemon water, which has none of these benefits.
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Now, if a little lemon water motivates you to hydrate throughout the day, that’s great. Be my guest. Mix it up. Use limes for a while, use lemons, use tangerines for a while, that’s fine. If that’s what you want, go ahead and do it. Just know, if you are drinking lemon water for the health benefits, there are so many better options out there for you, and that’s what I’m here to do, give you the best options for your immediate and long term health.
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Five lies your nutritionist might be telling you. And even if you don’t see a nutritionist on a regular basis, you’ve probably heard and believed at least one of these things. So pay attention. Number one, eat your fruits and veggies. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Lots of sugary delicious fruit with vegetables as an afterthought. After all, fruits and veggies are created equal, right? Absolutely wrong.
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In fact, fruit is full of sugar. And studies have actually been done where people have been asked to eat fruit and some vegetables or vegetables and some fruit. And guess what? The people who ate the fruit had much more diabetes. The people who ate the vegetables and a little bit of fruit didn’t get diabetes. So fruit and vegetables are not equal. Instead, make your mantra, eat a lot of veggies in a few in season, select fruits.
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And remember, if it’s got seeds, it’s a fruit, not a vegetable. Focus on leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower, tubers and mushrooms and enjoy fruit, especially high polyphenol in season fruit like berries but as a treat. Number two, eat whole grains every day. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
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In fact, traditional cultures that eat grains and rice, eat dehulled grains. Why? Well, by removing the hull, they’re removing the most lectin dense part of the grain, making it easier for their body to digest. But even white rice and white flour isn’t that great for you. And if you’re going to have breads, make sure they’re raised with yeast or sourdough starters and think of bread or rice as a way of getting healthy fats into you.
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So instead, skip whole grains and starches designed to fatten you up. And if you’re craving a carb, try sweet potatoes or lectin-free seeds like millet or sorghum. These have no hulls and they’re a great stand in for traditional rice and whole grain dishes. You’ll love them. Number three, a low fat diet is best.
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Eating low fat doesn’t actually mean you’ll be less fat. In fact, in many cases, the opposite is true. Ever since the low fat diet craze started about 40 years ago, we’ve been getting fatter and fatter. Now, the trick is eating the right fats, things like coconut oil, avocado oil, nuts, and most of all, extra virgin olive oil.
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In fact, I believe you should make it a goal to eat 12 tablespoons of olive oil a day for optimal health. Yes, that’s around 1400 calories per day of olive oil. But that’s okay because quite frankly, it’s not the calories that count, it’s the types of fat. And a huge European study following people for five years, eating a liter of olive oil per week showed that they lost weight compared to a low fat Mediterranean diet.
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Number four, eat more protein. America has a protein problem, but it’s not what you think. The truth is you are not eating too little protein, you’re probably eating much too much. You don’t really need animal protein, but if you must eat it, use only about three to four ounces of animal protein per day. That’s about two and a half eggs. That’s about a can of tuna or sardines. The rest of your protein should come from the plants you eat. Why? Think about it, a gorilla and horse have far more muscle than you and I could ever possibly achieve, and yet all they eat is leaves and grass.
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Number five, you need to eat five to six meals per day every day. I know being hungry is no fun, but guess what? Your body was designed to be hungry. So what am I talking about? Thousands of years ago, your ancestors didn’t just walk to the refrigerator to get food, they had to hunt for it or gather it. That meant sometimes they’d eat five times a day and most times they wouldn’t eat at all. It all depended on the availability of their food.
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So eating four, five, even six meals a day is a little ridiculous because it’s not the way your body was designed. Instead, try intermittent fasting. In fact, try for a minimum of 12 hours and really pushing on most occasions to about 16 hours a day of not eating. And I got news for you. Your body will love it. So clearly nutritionists are getting it wrong and you’re the one paying the big bucks for bad advice. With that in mind, it’s easy to keep your body performing at its healthiest.
Heather Dubrow (33:19):
Hi everyone, it’s Heather Dubrow telling you to check out Heather Dubrow’s World on PodcastOne. Every week, we discuss the hippest, hottest news trends in health, wellness, parenting style, and so much more, including all things housewives and botched. Download new episodes of Heather Dubrow’s World on Thursdays and Fridays on PodcastOne, Apple Podcast, Spotify and Amazon Music.
Dr. Gundry (33:46):
It’s time for the audience question. This question comes from Lumen Splendor on IG. Dr. G, are there lectins in buckthorn berry seeds? If not, what are the benefit of eating them? Well, in fact, buckthorn is omega-7, and it is incredibly good for your blood vessels. In fact, studies out of the Cleveland Clinic suggests that it may be one of the best things to eat in your diet, either buckthorn oil or the berries and seeds.
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No, there’s no lectins. Great question. Now, it’s time for the review of the week. This comes from Roy Saxton on YouTube. He says, “The plant paradox has been so helpful to me. I lost 39 pounds, reduced my diverticulitis pain to near zero and feel better about myself. Keep up the good work with your books and podcast.”
(34:37):
Well, thanks very much, Roy. Just today I was in Saint-Tropez France eating lunch, and a woman in her family from Germany stopped and asked if they could ask me a question, and she wanted to thank me for doing all I did and changed her life. So really, thank you so much for writing in and telling me that that’s why I do everything I do as I’m always looking out for you.
(35:05):
Thanks for joining me on this episode of the Dr. Gundry podcast. Before you go, I just wanted to remind you that you can find the show on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcast. And if you want to watch each episode of the Dr. Gundry Podcast, you could always find me on YouTube at youtube.com/DrGundry, because I’m Dr. Gundry and I’m always looking out for you.
