How Lectins Affect Nutrient Absorption
When people first encounter the idea of lectins, the reaction is often confusion. These compounds are found in many foods that have been eaten for centuries.
When people first encounter the idea of lectins, the reaction is often confusion. These compounds are found in many foods that have been eaten for centuries.
One of the most persistent myths in nutrition is the idea that food safety, digestibility, and tolerance are mostly a function of how long something is cooked.
When people first encounter the topic of lectins, they are often told a simplified version of the story: lectins “stick to cells,” disrupt digestion, or irritate the gut lining.
One of the quiet assumptions most people make about food is that once it is cooked, it is “done.” The cooking step is treated as a finish line.
One of the most confusing moments for people exploring a low-lectin lifestyle comes when they do “everything right” and still feel wrong. The ingredients check out. The food is technically low-lectin.
For decades, raw food has carried an almost untouchable reputation. Raw means natural. Raw means pure. Raw means healthy.
Most people think of digestion as something that happens only when food enters the body. Eat a meal, feel full, absorb nutrients, move on. But digestion is not a simple on-off process.
Creaminess has a reputation problem. For decades, we’ve been trained to associate rich, smooth textures with dairy products, thickeners, and stabilizers. Cream comes from cream.
One of the simplest instructions you will see repeated in traditional cooking, ancestral food preparation, and modern low-lectin guidance is this: boil the food and discard the water.
The word antinutrient has become a catch-all term in modern nutrition discussions. It appears in podcasts, blog posts, comment sections, and food debates, often framed as something to fear, eliminate, or ignore entirely.