by Laurent Glatz – for Athletic Carnivore
For millennia, humanity viewed plants with suspicion. Today, we regard them with devotion: salads, smoothies, superfoods, detox infusions, miracle polyphenols.
But a plant is not designed to feed an animal. It is designed to survive animals.
The Plant’s Chemical Arsenal
Unlike animal prey, a plant cannot flee or fight back. Its only defense is chemical: alkaloids, lectins, oxalates, saponins, tannins, phytates, cyanogenic glycosides.
Their primary function is not nutritional. It is defensive. These molecules serve to deter herbivores, disrupt their digestion, irritate their tissues, or alter their nervous system.
Plants Were First Remedies
Throughout nearly all of medical history, plants were used as remedies: Chinese pharmacopoeia, Ayurveda, European herbalism, shamanic traditions. They could stimulate, purge, sedate, relieve pain, alter mood, or affect digestion.
In other words, plants were used as natural pharmacology—not as a daily nutritional foundation.
Lectins, Phytates, and Oxalates
Lectins can bind to carbohydrates on cell membranes and interact with the intestinal lining. Phytates, found in seeds and grains, can reduce the bioavailability of minerals like zinc, iron, and calcium. Oxalates can form crystals with calcium and contribute to kidney stones in some individuals.
None of this is mysterious. These are normal biochemical interactions.
Medicine or Food?
A medicine is a substance that modifies a physiological function. From this perspective, much of modern pharmacology originates from plants: morphine, aspirin, quinine, digitalis.
The question is not whether plants have effects—they do. The question is whether these effects make them an ideal nutritional base.
Nourishing Human Tissues
Animal-derived foods generally offer high nutrient density and bioavailability: complete proteins, heme iron, retinol, vitamins D, K2, B12, zinc.
Plants can be useful, but they were never optimized to nourish humans. They were optimized to survive.
When a substance acts on your body like a medicine, is it truly meant to be consumed as food every day, all year round?
Discussion around this article
Ask a question or add your feedback directly below the article. The comment appears on the page and can be removed from the admin area if needed.
No comment published yet. Start the discussion.