Physic acid is in many healthy foods, like green veggies and nuts. What this does mean is that if you were figuring that you were going to absorb a lot of nutrients from beans, which are sometimes purported to be a super food, you may not be absorbing as much as you thought you would be because of the physic acid content.

The nutrient dense than the Nutrition Facts panel would have you believe. Lections are a type of protein that can bind to cell membranes. They are vilified in the Pale community because a few studies have shown that lections can impair growth, linked to autoimmune disorders, damage the lining of the small intestine causing leaky gut, destroy skeletal muscle, and interfere and the function of the pancreas. Sounds serious, right? Let’s examine this common Pale myth. There are several reasons that these results cannot be extrapolated to humans. First, the animals consumed vast amounts of lections—much more than a human would consume from eating a pile of legumes at lunch. And sure enough, these animals get extremely sick and leaky gut, inflammation, and a whole bunch of other problems, including cancer. Second, the elections were from raw legumes. Hello. Humans eat cooked legumes, and cooking neutralizes the lections found in most legumes. In fact, cooking legumes for as little as 15 minutes or pressure-cooking them for 7.5 minutes almost completely inactivates the lections they contain, leaving no residual lection activity in properly cooked legumes. (16) Finally, if you want to avoid lections you’d have to remove a lot more than legumes from your diet to avoid them. Lections are found in at least 53 fruits, vegetables, spices, including carrots, zucchini, melon, grapes, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, garlic and mushrooms. 

Lections are found in high concentrations in GMO food, since lections are often spliced Soma Biotics into modified varieties in order to enhance “natural” pest and fungal resistance. (13) Translation: Avoid GMO’s. This is not an invitation to stop eating legumes and other foods! It’s just an illustration that almost every plant we eat contains small amounts of toxins as this is how plants defend themselves. These low levels of toxins don’t harm the vast majority, and in fact, may even provide health benefits. According to Dr. Stephan Guyenne, many of the compounds we call “antioxidants”—like polyphones found in blueberries, dark chocolate, etc. actually cause mild oxidative stress that up regulate our body’s natural defense systems. (20) One reason some people may need to avoid legumes is that they contain, which are carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed by some people. The acronym stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, and Monosaccharide’s And Polios. These short-chain carbohydrates are incompletely absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and can be easily fermented by gut bacteria. These sugars increase fluid movement into the large bowel. The fermentation and osmosis caused by these undigested sugars are a cause of major symptoms such as gas, pain, diarrhea and other digestive symptoms. And beans are full of. But not everyone is sensitive to, so this isn’t a reason to avoid legumes across the board. Again, it’s all about individualizing your diet. If you have GI issues it may be a good idea to avoid legumes until you fix the gut issue before reintroducing legumes. Vegetarians or anyone who eats a lot of beans (or nuts for that matter) have a toxic guarantee in their diet – copper toxicity. 

It’s not so much from just beans per se, but if you eat beans, which contain a lot of copper, andout a lot of zinc in your diet, you can develop copper toxicity. This can be a problem for anyone that does not eat red meat or take... Copper is an essential mineral needed in our bodies, but today copper toxicity is ubiquitous. Copper toxicity reveals itself in headaches, emotional instability, fatigue, insomnia, depression, skin rashes, spiciness or detachment, learning disorders and premenstrual syndrome. Ah, the joys of copper toxicity. I experienced many of these symptoms first hand when I was vegetarian and eating beans and nuts daily for protein. It has taken me two years to deter much of the copper I accumulated as a vegetarian and I still have a long way to go. But you don’t have to be a vegetarian to become copper toxic! If you feast often on nuts, beans and other copper-rich foods, beware. Copper accumulates in the liver first, then the brain and the reproductive organs. Copper may affect any organ or system of the body. However, it usually affects the nervous system, the female and male reproductive system, connective tissues such as hair, skin and nails and organs like the liver. Excess copper interferes and zinc, a mineral needed to make digestive enzymes. If severe enough, a person will become an obligatory vegetarian or reduce their consumption of meat or simply avoid red meat. This means they are no longer able to digest meat very well and may mistakenly assume that meat or red meat does not work for them. Conversely, if one becomes a vegetarian for other reasons, one’s copper level will increase. Some people and high copper dislike all protein. Protein feels heavy or causes uncomfortable symptoms. 

Eating protein stimulates adrenal and thyroid glandular activity. This releases stored copper, which causes the unpleasant copper toxicity symptoms mentioned above. Why would you want to eat meat when it causes an unpleasant copper release? The person avoiding meat is unaware that meat is not the culprit. Not to fear, the taste for meat often returns when copper is brought into better balance. (15) A Special Legume: Peanuts Many think peanuts are nuts, but they are in fact legumes. They are in a toxic class by themselves. Like other legumes, peanuts are problematic because they contain lections and physic acid, but peanuts also bring a new guest to the party: aflatoxins. Aflatoxins aren’t actually part of the peanut itself; they’re produced by a mold that tends to grow on peanuts. This mold thrives on crops stored in warm, humid places, so be wary of peanuts grown in the tropics. Aflatoxin is so difficult to eliminate that the FDA has declared it an “unavoidable contaminant.” (12) Anyone and mold sensitivity should avoid peanuts. Organic or all-natural brands of peanuts and peanut butter aren’t any better since the peanuts still have to be stored and transported. Unless you’re picking your peanuts farm fresh, you’re probably ingesting some aflatoxin. Some research has linked long term consumption to aflatoxins and risk for diseases like liver cancer and hepatitis B. (2) this is not surprising since aflatoxin in one of the most carcinogenic substances known to man. Adult humans have a high tolerance for aflatoxin exposure and rarely succumb to acute aflatoxicosis. 

This being said, why ingest a toxin that your body needs to process? And which long term consumption can cause problems? You won’t know it’s you until you’re in your doctor’s office getting the news that you have liver cancer. Children, however, are particularly affected by aflatoxin exposure, which can lead to stunted growth and delayed development. (1) The one lection we may want to avoid is peanut lection, since both raw peanuts and peanut oil have relatively high lection content. Peanut lections are very heat resistant, so roasting or cooking the nuts doesn’t make them safe to eat. Some data in animals suggest that peanut lection may contribute to atherosclerosis by stimulating the growth of smooth muscle and pulmonary arterial cells. (17) Peanuts should be completely avoided. Sorry, no more Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for you. The Nastiest Legume: Soy Dr. Joseph Hebbel at the National Institutes of Health estimates that soybeans, usually in the form of oil, account for an astonishing 10 percent of our total calories in the United States. (8) Its hidden everywhere – processed foods, fast food and restaurants. It’s cheap and tasteless – a perfect killer filler. In addition to the elections and physic acid found in other legumes, soy has one particular nasty downside: phytoestrogens. Like environmental estrogens, these chemicals mimic the action of estrogen in the body. However, these ‘estrogens’ don’t actually perform any of the vital functions of real estrogen. In men, this hormonal imbalance can cause reduced libido, the development of “feminine” traits like breasts and hips, not to mention cancer. In women, it can impair fertility and lead to all kinds of menstrual and other reproductive problems like endometriosis and precocious (early) puberty. 

Most alarmingly, phytoestrogens have been linked to breast cancer and disruption of normal thyroid function. (7) Anyone who is overweight likely has a thyroid issue and should avoid soy like the plague. Soy is the enemy of the thyroid, which is the gland that sets your metabolism. As well as hormones, soy also contains try sin inhibitors, which interfere and protein digestion, and alpha-amylase inhibitors, which interfere and starch digestion. This nastiest increase the body’s need for several nutrients, including Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D. Soy is very thorough in its destruction of your health. Soy protein isolate powder is the worst: this is a completely processed, edible food product that shouldn’t be part of anybody’s diet. I remember when I used to read this ingredient on a label and think it was healthy. Food marketers, employed by the billion dollar soy industry, have done their job well. How is soy protein isolate made? After removing the fiber, the beans are put in an aluminum pot and an acid wash. They absorb the aluminum (linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s) and then are treated and many chemicals including nitrates (linked to cancer). Some amino acids (proteins) are destroyed; others are rendered toxic and carcinogenic. Free glutei acid, or MSG, is produced during the processing of soy protein isolate, while more is usually added to many soy products. The soy protein isolate is then mixed and various binders, gums, fats, flavors, and sweeteners. 

Hungry for that protein shake now? Soy protein fibers are difficult to digest, have a scouring effect on the GI tract and cause a marked amount of flatulence as you may have noticed. Then there is soy milk. Soy milk is a highly processed food and should never be consumed. It is not easy turning soybeans into milk. High heat and processing deform the soy proteins, making them very difficult to digest and unrecognizable by the body. Soy’s polyunsaturated fats become rancid during all the heat processing. Soy milk’s undesirable sour, bitter, and astringent characteristics come from oxidized phospholipids (rancid lecithin), oxidized fatty acids (rancid soy oil), and the soy estrogens known as is flavones. The last are so bitter, sweeteners and flavorings have to be added. The only way to make soy milk palatable is to remove the very toxins, the is flavones, that the food industry has promoted as beneficial for preventing cancer and lowering cholesterol.