This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "The Plant Paradox" by Steven R. Gundry. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading.
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What are the three Plant Paradox phases? How does each one help create a new lifestyle?
Learn about the three Plant Paradox phases and see how the Plant Paradox Program aims to be more than a diet.
What are the 3 Plant Paradox Phases?
The PPP consists of three phases, which we’ll explore more in-depth in the next few chapters. Here’s an overview of the three Plant Paradox phases:
Phase 1: A three-day cleanse wipes the slate clean by nourishing your good microbes and getting rid of your bad ones. This helps you to start healing your gut, but you must follow up immediately with Phase 2 to avoid backsliding.
Phase 2: Eliminate or cut down on certain foods and eat more of others.
Here are the foods you’ll cut down on or cut out entirely:
- Eliminate major lectins, including grains, legumes, corn, and soybeans
- Eliminate most saturated fats, including whole-grain foods
- Eliminate sugars (including fruit) and artificial sweeteners
- Eliminate industrial farm-raised and free-range poultry and livestock, as well as farm-raised fish
- Eliminate crops sprayed with Roundup
- Eliminate GMO foods
- Avoid all endocrine-disrupting products
- Reduce omega-6 fats
Here’s what you’ll eat:
- All leafy greens
- Certain vegetables
- Tubers and other resistant starches
- Omega-3 fats, including fish oil, perilla oil, flaxseed oil, avocado oil, walnut oil, olive oil, and macadamia nut oil
- No more than 8 ounces of animal protein a day, typically from wild-caught fish and shellfish as well as eggs from pastured chickens
- No more than 4 ounces of your daily protein should come from grass-fed or pasture-raised meat
- A small serving of nuts, guacamole, or half a Hass avocado for a snack
- Limited dairy products from specific cow breeds or from sheep, goats, and water buffalo
Phase 3: In this optional phase, you’ll reduce your animal protein to just 2 to 4 ounces a day, and begin some form of fasting—either a monthly vegan fast, intermittent fasting, or lengthening time between meals.
PPP Overview
Unlike other diets, the PPP doesn’t ask you to count calories. Instead, the focus is on the type of food you’re eating; much of the PPP-approved foods have calories that will actually feed your microbes, so you won’t absorb all the calories you consume. That’s why you can eat much more food—as long as it’s the right foods—and lose weight.
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best summary of Steven R. Gundry's "The Plant Paradox" at Shortform .
Here's what you'll find in our full The Plant Paradox summary :
- Why eating more vegetables isn't enough, and why some vegetables are toxic to your body
- The science behind lectins and how they tear apart your body, making you fat and sick
- The 6-week program to get your body back on healthy grack
