New, just read Gundry's book, questions

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Jan18
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New, just read Gundry's book, questions

Post by Jan18 »

Hi, I just read Dr. Gundry's book in one sitting. My mom and aunt died of Alzheimer's and I am ApoE 3/4. I tried to search for answers to my questions on various threads here, but decided it would be more time efficient if I might just be allowed to ask a few specific ones and get some guidance. Or if anyone can direct me to a thread that discusses these topics, great. My searching around was unsuccessful.

Is there an actual list of specific foods to eat and not to eat? There is a very brief summary of those on pp. 277-278 in the book, but I'd like a very complete list of specific foods. And relating to foods, I did read that some people do eat some of the "not recommended" foods, but in moderation, and that others suggest finding out by your own gut reactions which foods you can tolerate and which you cannot. How exactly do you know what foods cause you problems when issues can arise any time of the day? It's not like you eat a food, along with nothing else in the meal, and as soon as you eat it, you experience upset or bloating or diarrhea or other symptoms. How do you isolate which food might have caused those symptoms? Would you recommend food allergy testing? Or is it mainly grains and dairy that are the culprits, along with perhaps, beans? What do those in the know here think of the new research on lectins, that I learned about through Dr. Gundry's online presentation touting his probiotic/prebiotic supplement. Does anyone here use that? And basically, the dietary recommendations are for optimal gut health, just one of the "holes" he talks about in his book, correct?

And on another topic, how does one go about getting all of the suggested tests in the book? Will your internist agree? Do you search for a doctor affiliated with Dr. Gundry?
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SusanJ
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Re: New, just read Gundry's book, questions

Post by SusanJ »

Welcome, jan18. If you go to viewtopic.php?f=4&t=570&start=510#p34959 and scroll down to the matrix diet link, you'll find a copy of his recommendations. I believe for E4's his list is more restrictive, like no red meat. Theresa or Tincup can add more.

The best way to figure out food reactions is to work with a doctor or nutritionist to do an elimination diet. It's controlled, and you add foods back in one at a time to see if you react. It's slow, it's tedious, but really the only way to know if they will cause problems by eliminating confounding foods. I did this many years ago and found gluten and legumes were problematic for me (I was already off dairy at the time). Nuts and nightshades had no bad reactions for me. IMHO, food allergy testing is only good for verifying IgE reactions, that is, potentially anaphylactic reactions. Some doctors do the IgG testing, especially with "leaky gut", but I have yet to see studies that support that the results are meaningful. (We all react with IgG to food we eat, and higher reactive foods might just suggest we eat a lot of it, and nothing more.)

Labs, well, many of us order our own. Walkin Labs is a good place to start. Order, get your blood drawn at one of the participating labs and you'll get results.

Hopefully others will chime in.
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Re: New, just read Gundry's book, questions

Post by buck3Maureen »

Hi Jan18,

I am new to the information in Dr. Gundry's book, so take my advice with a grain of salt. After reading his book I stopped eating soy and soy milk. I seemed to be having a lot of mucous whenever I ate it and this got better when I quit. Even though he says chia seeds , pumpkin and sunflower seeds are no no's, I kept eating them. I read somewhere else on "the oracle" ie. Google, that chia seeds were a food low in leptins and I also got the impression that a lot of Dr. Gundry's recommendations are based on what he has observed in his clinical practice -- I don't mean in any way to discount that but until there is more concrete evidence that these seeds are not good for me I didn't think I could afford to take them out of my diet.

Hope this helps,
Maureen
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Re: New, just read Gundry's book, questions

Post by TheresaB »

Jan18 wrote:Is there an actual list of specific foods to eat and not to eat?
Starting on page 201 of the hardcopy version, or page 204, location 2881 of the Kindle version, is the “Yes Please” list of acceptable foods, followed by a Just Say “No” list of lectin containing foods. I've also attached a list to this post.

Before his latest book was published, he produced yes/no food lists which he called his Matrix diet. There’s no substantial difference between the Matrix Diet and what he now calls his Plant Paradox diet. He has added/subtracted foods over the years as he’s gained more experiences with them. But this list is the latest and greatest.
Jan18 wrote:I did read that some people do eat some of the "not recommended" foods, but in moderation
Yes, some can get away with the “not recommended” foods. Some foods on the not recommended list can be pressure cooked to destroy the lectins. And when I’m going to a situation where I can’t control the menu and don’t want to fast, I take a couple of Dr Gundry’s Lectin Shield pills before the meal and then go back on the diet the next day.

Dr Gundry has indicated that everyone is sensitive to lectins to some degree. Some are more sensitive than others, the sensitivity seems to be related to the health of the gut. There's a do loop here, if you can tolerate lectins you can eat them, but the lectins can degrade your gut, thus increasing sensitivity. So even if you can tolerate lectins, it’s probably best to keep the intake down.
Jan18 wrote:others suggest finding out by your own gut reactions which foods you can tolerate and which you cannot.
I wouldn’t recommend that. In our first consultation, Dr Gundry said get your numbers in line and see what you can get away with. Numbers meaning the results from blood tests, an objective measurement. I felt fine, but my first tests revealed lectin sensitivity and an elevated inflammation marker of TNF-alpha. So I removed all major sources of lectins, and I still felt fine, but my biomarkers are now much better.

I do miss some foods sometimes. I used to grow tomatoes every summer! But in the grand scheme of things, I’ve gotten used to eating this way, don’t feel deprived and I have blood tests that show I’m doing the right thing, so I’m fine with it.
Jan18 wrote:How exactly do you know what foods cause you problems when issues can arise any time of the day? It's not like you eat a food, along with nothing else in the meal, and as soon as you eat it, you experience upset or bloating or diarrhea or other symptoms. How do you isolate which food might have caused those symptoms?
Inflammation is silent, you don’t always know what foods cause problems even after problems have surfaced.
Jan18 wrote:Would you recommend food allergy testing?
I don’t have food allergies, but per testing by Dr Gundry, I do have food sensitivities. I've never been tested for food allergies.
Jan18 wrote:Or is it mainly grains and dairy that are the culprits, along with perhaps, beans?
Grains and dairy are bad news, if having difficulties weaning away from lectins, I’d start with those. And beans, even pressure cooked to remove the lectins are very carby, so I stay away from them to keep blood sugar down.
Jan18 wrote:My mom and aunt died of Alzheimer's and I am ApoE 3/4.
Dr Gundry has been testing for ApoE4 for 17 years now, so he has a great deal of experience but doesn’t address it specifically in his book. He has given advice for ApoE4s. For a summation of his advice, you should visit the ApoE4.info Wiki on Dr Gundry https://www.apoe4.info/wiki/Dr_Gundry%27s_Protocol
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Jan18
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Re: New, just read Gundry's book, questions

Post by Jan18 »

buck3Maureen wrote:Hi Jan18,

I am new to the information in Dr. Gundry's book, so take my advice with a grain of salt. After reading his book I stopped eating soy and soy milk. I seemed to be having a lot of mucous whenever I ate it and this got better when I quit. Even though he says chia seeds , pumpkin and sunflower seeds are no no's, I kept eating them. I read somewhere else on "the oracle" ie. Google, that chia seeds were a food low in leptins and I also got the impression that a lot of Dr. Gundry's recommendations are based on what he has observed in his clinical practice -- I don't mean in any way to discount that but until there is more concrete evidence that these seeds are not good for me I didn't think I could afford to take them out of my diet.

Hope this helps,
Maureen
Thank you for the details of your experience, Maureen. I appreciate you taking time to help answer my questions. :)
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Jan18
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Re: New, just read Gundry's book, questions

Post by Jan18 »

Theresa, Many thanks for your detailed and informative answers. I should have been more specific. I meant the new book out, The End of Alzheimer's. No wonder I was confused about exact foods! He mentions foods in general in that book, and some specifically, but I wanted a list of all specific foods. Since this is an ApoE 4 forum, I erroneously assumed everyone would know I meant that book.

Now I see how confused I was...It was Dr. Bredesen that authored The End of Alzheimer's. I ordered The Plant Paradox by Dr. Gundry just now from Amazon. This mix-up makes me feel like I'm already suffering from Alzheimer's! :( :oops:

Thank you so much for posting the list from that book! :D
Last edited by Jan18 on Sat Sep 02, 2017 10:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New, just read Gundry's book, questions

Post by Jan18 »

SusanJ wrote:Welcome, jan18. If you go to viewtopic.php?f=4&t=570&start=510#p34959 and scroll down to the matrix diet link, you'll find a copy of his recommendations. I believe for E4's his list is more restrictive, like no red meat. Theresa or Tincup can add more.

The best way to figure out food reactions is to work with a doctor or nutritionist to do an elimination diet. It's controlled, and you add foods back in one at a time to see if you react. It's slow, it's tedious, but really the only way to know if they will cause problems by eliminating confounding foods. I did this many years ago and found gluten and legumes were problematic for me (I was already off dairy at the time). Nuts and nightshades had no bad reactions for me. IMHO, food allergy testing is only good for verifying IgE reactions, that is, potentially anaphylactic reactions. Some doctors do the IgG testing, especially with "leaky gut", but I have yet to see studies that support that the results are meaningful. (We all react with IgG to food we eat, and higher reactive foods might just suggest we eat a lot of it, and nothing more.)

Labs, well, many of us order our own. Walkin Labs is a good place to start. Order, get your blood drawn at one of the participating labs and you'll get results.

Hopefully others will chime in.
Thank you so much for the recommendations, Susan. Your answers and everyone else's are a big help to me. I'm thankful I found this forum! :D
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Re: New, just read Gundry's book, questions

Post by Stavia »

hi Jan :)
Gundry = Plant Paradox
Bredesen =End of Alzheimer's
both recently published hence the confusion.
Not the same person but there are many overlaps.

Are you asking what diet Bredesen recommends? I think there is a section on that in the book. I havent read his book yet - because I am very familliar with his work already. But I will in due course.
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Re: New, just read Gundry's book, questions

Post by Jan18 »

Stavia wrote:hi Jan :)
Gundry = Plant Paradox
Bredesen =End of Alzheimer's
both recently published hence the confusion.
Not the same person but there are many overlaps.

Are you asking what diet Bredesen recommends? I think there is a section on that in the book. I havent read his book yet - because I am very familliar with his work already. But I will in due course.
Hi Stavia,
First, yes, I was mixed up after reading Bredesen's book in one sitting last night and then spending all day watching Gundry YouTubes! :?

I don't recall seeing a complete list of specific foods in Bredesen's book. He gives guidelines with some examples of specific foods in several spots (like the pages I referenced) but just general guidelines other places.

Thank you!
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Re: New, just read Gundry's book, questions

Post by Stavia »

you cant go wrong by following Gundry's list if you want exact guidelines.
Bredesen isnt quite as strict. He gives general guidelines. If you want an explicit list he doesn't do that.
Many of us do different things but all of us tailor our diet to reduce insulin. Some of us eat dairy. Some of us eat saturated fat. Some of us eat lectins. Some of us even eat grains (not many). We analyse how we feel and if our biomarkers change with dietary changes
If you want a black and white list of food, you'd best use Gundry's list.
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