Are plants toxic?
Yes. Yes, they are.
Veggies, nuts, legumes, and grains are full of toxic compounds like lectins, alkaloids, furocoumarins, solanines and chaconine. This information is leading a whole movement of people abandoning plants all together in pursuit of a meat only diet.
I’ve been paying attention to some of thought leaders in this carnivore movement. Generally the argument is: because these toxins are present, we should give up on plants (usually except fruit) all together.
Unfortunately, something being overseen in this argument is the fact that in our modern day fast paced life, we have forgotten the art of food preparation. In pursuit of speed and convenience, we are no longer properly soaking our nuts, legumes and grains, we are not sautéing our greens with digestive spices and ghee, we are not taking the skins off our vegetables. We have forgotten the ancient art of food preparation that our great grandparents knew so well.
On top of this, we have lost the art of moderation. Most ayurvedic recipes, for example, will say eat five almonds - soaked and peeled - as a medicine to help build reproductive tissue (shukra). We westerners might read that same recipe and go eat 5 kilos of almonds. And skip on the peeling and soaking.
This being said, I do agree with a lot of the thought process behind the carnivorous movement. I agree that we really do need to lean into our animal sources of food to get a healthy amount of minerals and nutrients. Our soils have been decimated by modern industrial farming meaning that our vegetables these days only have a fraction of the nutrients that our grandparents’ veggies had. For this reason my diet involves supplementing with beef liver capsules (Etre Health is my favourite brand), adding trace minerals to my water, and a regular Uruguayan asado.
Further, with thanks to antibiotics, glyphosate and other harmful substances that our bodies have been heavily exposed to since the 1980s, our modern day digestive systems can no longer handle the anti-nutrients of plants the way that our grandparents could. This is why correct food preparation is more important than ever.
And so, please, let’s please not throw the baby out with the bath water.
Plants are not the enemy.
Our modern industrial farming methods are.
Our modern need for speed and convenience is.
Our lack of connection to local fresh sources of food is. (The vegetables in our supermarkets that come the other side of the world, picked three months ago and picked before they had properly ripened is not a wise choice of veggie.)
Ayurveda is an amazing system that can teach us the old ways. From the emphasis on eating locally and seasonally, guidance on properly preparing our meals, and eating mindfully and moderately.
Couple this with the current research unfolding on these topics, and I truly believe that we can find a way to thrive.
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Let’s rediscover the old ways together.