Steven R. Gundry > Quotes

“In the early 1900s, researhers first posited the idea that longevity is inversely related to metabolic rate. They called it the “rate of living.” In other words, if you consistently burn energy at a high rate, you will quickly burn out.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“Stomach acid is so important to protect your gut barrier that my colleagues at the Medical College of Georgia (where I went to medical school) are starting to use baking soda as a treatment for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“The following foods are off-limits: dairy, legumes, grains, fruit (except avocado), sugar, eggs, soy, nightshade vegetables. Plus, you’ll steer clear of conventionally-raised meats or their products, and avoid the following oils: corn, soy, canola, and other vegetable oils.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox Quick and Easy: The 30-Day Plan to Lose Weight, Feel Great, and Live Lectin-Free

“Fructose, the main sugar in fruit, is actually a toxin that can directly injure cells and disrupt mitochondrial function.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“Sure, you know that tea is good for you, but pu-erh tea? Go to the head of the class if you guessed what it does: it promotes the growth of Akkermansia muciniphila bacteria!30”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“During rush-hour traffic, emissions of siloxane, a microbiome-destroying ingredient in shampoos, lotions, and deodorants, are found in comparable levels to vehicle exhaust.17 Just one more reason to dread your daily commute.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“In addition to the potential to cause health problems, lectins can also stimulate weight gain. The reason that wheat became the grain of choice in northern climates is thanks to a uniquely small lectin in wheat, known as wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), which is responsible for wheat’s weight-gaining propensity. You read that correctly. Wheat helped your ancestors gain or maintain weight in ancient times when food was often scarce; back then, a “wheat belly” was a great thing to possess! And guess what? That WGA in the “ancient” forms of wheat is just as present in modern wheat—hence the weight gain.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“I will go so far as to say that if you’re overweight, there’s a good chance that it’s because you’re a believer in the myth of “whole-grain goodness.” Distressingly, the renaissance of whole-grain products has reintroduced WGA and a host of other lectins back into our diet.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“Sugar substitutes aren’t any better. Many people (including me when I was overweight) turn to artificial sugars to quell their cravings without packing on the pounds. Back then I would have happily performed heart surgery with a Diet Coke in my hand if only I could have found a way to sterilize it! But ironically, although these products are supposed to aid in weight loss, they do just the opposite. That’s because products such as sucralose, saccharin, aspartame, and other nonnutritive artificial sweeteners kill your gut buddies and allow the bad bugs to multiply. Believe it or not, a Duke University study28 showed that a single Splenda packet kills 50 percent of normal intestinal flora! It’s sad but true: if you eat too much of anything sweet, your gut buddies will starve to death, and your bad bugs will live long and prosper—and multiply. Even fructose, the sugar in fruit, has been shown to be a mitochrondrial poison! There goes the neighborhood.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“The latest studies conducted on mice prove that this inflammatory response is also a major cause of aging. In 2018, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine correlated a microbe that was present in mice with a lupuslike autoimmune condition that crossed from the gut into the mice’s organs. The result was gut wall disintegration and immune cells (which you can think of in this case as mouse cops) in the same organs as the invading bacteria. Notably, the same bad bugs were found in liver biopsies of human patients with autoimmune diseases, but not in healthy control subjects.6 In other words, a leaky gut that allows bacteria to cross the border of the gut lining causes autoimmune disease in both mice and humans.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“products, which grocery stores have recently started selling, particularly on the West Coast. Alternatively, use goat or sheep milk products to be safe.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“This means that white bread contains gluten but not WGA, while whole wheat bread contains the double whammy!”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“In 2015, the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared glyphosate to be a “probable human carcinogen.”22 As a result, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and the Feed the World Project (now the Detox Project) teamed up to offer the public the opportunity to have their urine tested for glyphosate.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“On the surface, their longevity is perplexing and just downright weird. In fact, there are lots of weird things about naked mole rats. (Even their appearance. Go ahead, google it.) They can live without oxygen for up to eighteen minutes, almost never get cancer, and on average live about ten to fifteen times as long as other rodents their size.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“The lectins in the nightshade family include solanine, a neurotoxin.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“we see that two types of stress (calorie restriction and exercise) cause you to turbocharge your cells with more mitochondria. But as they get older, most people don’t restrict calories, use intermittent fasting, or do much strength training. The result is less muscle mass and fewer mitochondria for most older people—but this is not inevitable. Slightly stressed cells and hungry muscles will lead to more mitochondria, lower insulin levels, more muscle mass, and overall better health for many years to come.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“micronutrients. Its introduction fired the first warning”
― Steven R. Gundry, Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution: Turn Off the Genes That Are Killing You and Your Waistline

“YOUR GENES ARE RUNNING THE SHOW If you’re anything like me, I know you’re champing at the bit to get going on Diet Evolution, but hold your horses. I’ve found that most of us can stick to a program only if we understand how and why we got to our present state of affairs. The next four chapters will do just that. You can thank Mom and Dad for your beautiful baby blues, as well as your hair color, height, and build. All these traits were encoded in copies of their genes—half of them her’s, the other half his—that now reside in your body. Any children you have will in turn have copies of half of your genes and half of your partner’s, and so on through generations to come. Determining”
― Steven R. Gundry, Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution: Turn Off the Genes That Are Killing You and Your Waistline

“Lectins also facilitate the attachment and binding of viruses and bacteria to their intended targets. Believe it or not, some people—those who are more sensitive to lectins—are therefore more subject to viruses and bacterial infections than others. Think about that if you seem to get sick more often than your friends do.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“Quite simply, plants don’t want to be eaten—and who can blame them? Like any living thing, their instinct is to propagate the next generation of their species.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“The next step in the process of making modern farming more efficient and profitable was genetic modification. In bioengineered plants, lectins are artificially inserted. Scientists selectively add foreign genes into a plant’s basic genome to command the plant to manufacture specific lectins that enhance the plant’s ability to resist insects and other pests. This is one form of genetically modified organisms (GMO).”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“the most dangerous trick pulled by lectins, which I now see on a daily basis in my patients, is that they bear an uncanny similarity to the proteins on many of our important organs, nerves, and joints.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“Believe it or not, a Duke study showed that a single Splenda packet kills 50 percent of normal intestinal flora!”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“SLEEP-AID ENEMIES: Ambien, Restoril, Lunesta, and Xanax. • Friendly substitutes: My favorite combination of sleep aids is in Schiff Melatonin Ultra, or buy time-release melatonin and take 3 to 6 mg before bed.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“Did you know that a plant knows when it is being eaten? Well, as recent research reveals, it does, but it doesn’t just sit there and accept its fate.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“Dr. Longo’s studies have also profiled a group of people in Ecuador called the Larons (named after the researcher that originally studied them, Zvi Laron). The Larons, who have absent growth hormone receptors, are unable to make IGF-1. These short adults are free from cancer and diabetes, similar to another group with the same syndrome in Brazil.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“The mummified remains of Queen Nefertiti suggest that she most likely had diabetes. The legendary queen was not the only one with problems related to her grain-heavy diet. In fact, oatmeal has been associated with dental problems even in modern times.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“Sure enough, a long-range study published in 2017 that looked at nearly 16,000 healthy people aged 40 and older found a significant association between cumulative PPI use and the risk of dementia.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

“nonfood products such as over-the-counter and prescribed drugs, room fresheners, hand sanitizers, and countless other disruptors are not just a problem in their own right but also compound the negative effects of eating lectins.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain

“Depletion of Vitamin D Sunscreens prevent the absorption of vitamin D. But all the compounds discussed above, whether in sunscreens or other products, also lower your liver’s ability to convert this critical vitamin to its active form. This prevents the regeneration of new cells in your protective intestinal wall barrier, allowing more lectins and LPSs through, along with other foreign bodies. Men with prostate cancer have very low levels of vitamin D. Despite the fact that my practice is in Southern California, I have found that almost 80 percent of my patients have low levels of vitamin D in their blood. In fact, anyone in my practice with leaky gut or autoimmune diseases has low levels. Lacking sufficient vitamin D, and in the face of repeated assaults on the walls of the intestine and the lack of ongoing repair to keep out lectins and LPSs, the body constantly senses that it is at war. It’s not surprising, then, that most of my overweight and obese patients are also very deficient in vitamin D.20 Such a deficiency also impedes the generation of new bone, setting the stage for the development of osteoporosis. My thin female patients with osteopenia and osteoporosis also have low levels of this critical vitamin when they first come to see me.”
― Steven R. Gundry, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain