{"id":14033,"date":"2020-08-31T19:29:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T23:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=14033"},"modified":"2020-09-10T21:23:44","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T01:23:44","slug":"lectins-and-weight-gain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/","title":{"rendered":"Lectins and Weight Gain: Is There a Connection?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the connection between lectins and weight gain? Would a lectin-free diet help you lose weight?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With fad diets constantly promising a way to lose weight quickly, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-plant-paradox-diet\/\">the Plant Paradox Program<\/a> aims to help you understand where that extra weight is coming from, and about the relationship between lectins and weight gain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more to understand how eating lectins and weight gain go hand-in-hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Plant Paradox Explains Lectins and Weight Gain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>From the low-carb, high-fat keto diet to whole-foods-based paleo diet, there are countless eating programs promising to help you lose weight and be healthier. The Plant Paradox Program (PPP) is an eating and lifestyle program based on the way foods and products affect your body and immune system; it involves eating lots of the <em>right <\/em>plants, while avoiding others, in order to reach and maintain a healthy weight and live free of chronic and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-autoimmune-disease-diet\/\">autoimmune diseases<\/a>. The program is based on the premise that <strong>small things can cause big problems and the key to your health is less about what you <\/strong><strong><em>add <\/em><\/strong><strong>to your diet and more about what you <\/strong><strong><em>remove<\/em><\/strong><strong>.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why <\/strong><strong><em>Not <\/em><\/strong><strong>Being On The PPP Is Making You Fat And Sick<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Lectins and weight gain go together for several reasons. First, lectins break through your gut wall and into other areas of your body. Your immune system recognizes the lectins as foreign invaders and attacks. In order <strong>to fight the war on lectins, your body needs its soldiers\u2014white blood cells\u2014to be well-fed, so it diverts calories from your muscles and brain and stores them as fat (fuel) for your white blood cells.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, your body makes you hungrier so you\u2019ll ingest more calories to fuel the battle. Your body stores the fat near the battlefront to make it easily accessible to the white blood cells (in other words, belly fat is a sign of a battle happening in your gut).<strong> <\/strong>So being overweight is a sign that a battle is going on inside your body.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lectins also masquerade as certain hormones, in some cases instructing your cells to continually store fat.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lectins\u2019 fattening effects were beneficial to our ancestors because gaining weight gave them a better chance of surviving winter, when food was scarce. But in today\u2019s context, lectins and their fattening effects are no longer helpful but harmful.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, human genes are designed to help you live long enough to have offspring to propagate the species, and then die off so that the next generation has enough food and resources to do the same (again, this adaptation is less relevant for humans today). The grain-and-dairy diet does just that, fattening you up and then bringing on diseases that prevent a long, healthy life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are countless diets out there\u2014including low carb, ketogenic, and low-fat\/whole-grain diets\u2014but most don\u2019t address the root issue, which is that <strong>the food that you eat and products you use trigger biological responses in your body that make you fat or unhealthy.<\/strong> Additionally, many diets focus on major short-term efforts that produce quick results but don\u2019t change long-term habits, so you gain the weight right back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the connection between lectins and weight gain? Would a lectin-free diet help you lose weight? With fad diets constantly promising a way to lose weight quickly, the Plant Paradox Program aims to help you understand where that extra weight is coming from, and about the relationship between lectins and weight gain. Read more to understand how eating lectins and weight gain go hand-in-hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,43],"tags":[126],"class_list":["post-14033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-self-improvement","tag-the-plant-paradox","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lectins and Weight Gain: Is There a Connection? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Does it feel like dieting doesn&#039;t work? That may be because you were still eating lectins. 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Read why lectins and weight gain are connected.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-31T23:29:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-11T01:23:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/china-study-diet-for-weight-loss.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"681\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"510\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rina Shah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287\"},\"headline\":\"Lectins and Weight Gain: Is There a Connection?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-31T23:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-11T01:23:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/\"},\"wordCount\":536,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/china-study-diet-for-weight-loss.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Plant Paradox\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/\",\"name\":\"Lectins and Weight Gain: Is There a Connection? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lectins-and-weight-gain\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/china-study-diet-for-weight-loss.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-31T23:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-11T01:23:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"Does it feel like dieting doesn't work? 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