Not all veg is ideal!

[AllyHayHay]

There's such a force to get us all eating more and more veg, and whilst this great, since a lot of people dismiss them, it isn't all rainbows and sunshine either.
I love the stuff, but was surprised by some of the finer details - so perhaps best to be aware?

For instance, spinach. I ate it almost every day for a long period of time. It goes with most everything and I love it. However, it is high in oxalate, which can reduce the absorption of calcium, and in excess can cause kidney stones.

Not worth throwing it aside, but still a good thing to keep in mind.

Green beans, a great source of non heme iron, A and K vits, etc. But also contain phytic acid, which can bond with minerals to inhibit them being absorbed by the body.

So all things in moderation then.
But health advice never mentions these things and veg are touted as 100% problem free and that we should stuff them down without question.

OP. Why were you eating spinach daily and was it raw or cooked? Most people don't eat the same food every, single day like that!

Anaemia can present with unusual food cravings. I used to love fresh cherries and to crunch on ice! I would eat them daily till I realised I was severely deficient.

As others have said it’s all about variety! I’m vegan and my husband is vegetarian, we eat a lot of veg and I buy a huge amount of different things and plan meals accordingly. Kale is also high in oxalates and I love cavolo nero so much I’d eat it every day but I don’t. I will admit I only know about oxalates as I have had rabbits for years and you need to be careful on the amount and type of veg they have every day which sent me down a rabbit hole of research so to speak 😁

but that's why you should eat a variety and not just one kind of veg in big quantities

I know lots of people who are really ill / have died from being fat, smoking or drinking....
I do not know one person who is at deaths door from ODing on broccoli.

I don't eat veg, so am I safe?

Read yesterday someone was eating two mangos a day and they were causing him liver and other issues. Reduced and he was fine. Something to do with all the sugar in fruit. Whilst we are encouraged to eat fruit, again too much leads to too much sugar.

Moderation in everything I guess (albeit I eat party packs of crisps in one go, so clearly the moderation rule only applies to others and not me).

The idea that we need to consume as much as our guts will allow is slightly misleading.

I've never heard of this advice. A portion of veg is generally 80g, although it does vary a bit between different types.

It's like bananas! Too many could kill you, it's the potassium, but no one can agree how many is too many because excess potassium usually makes you nauseous so you stop eating.
Sensible eating of fruit and veg is always the way to go.

If you eat too much of anything, you can get sick! Even too much water can cause issues! To many foods high in beta-carotene, you can get carotenosis, an oranging of the skin!

BUT....you'd need to eat 120 to 300 carrots per day for several weeks — without dipping into any other food groups — to discover an autumnal apricot aspect to your skin tone.

Unless people have SEN/ARFID, its uncommon to limit oneself to such a limited diet.

There are probably a whole list of different veg that individual people can't eat due to food intolerances / allergies etc and as others have said you are meant to eat a variety.

Mind you - I hadn't seen the advice on the 30 different plant foods until a thread on here quite recently . I try to eat the rainbow but within that I was eating blueberries (purple) and broccoli (green) most days rather than choosing sprouts, cabbage, spinach etc. Trying to mix it up a bit more now.

Yes, variety is the key.

That's interesting, about the spinach, OP. I didn't know that.

My father has a friend who loves radishes. The friend got the opportunity to buy a really big box of radishes, he was so happy, and then he ate and ate and ate.
After some days he experienced pretty bad pain in his lower back, and had to go to the doctor. Apparently the overconsumption of radishes had had some ill effect on one of the inner organs. He felt better when he stopped eating so many radishes.

Yes I read that about Spinach a few years ago so although I love it I eat it sparingly as I am worried about my kidneys (Diabetes T2). However the idea is to have different veg not just one the whole time.

I once met someone who was yellow from only eating carrots. His kitchen contained sacks of carrots and that was all.
He was quite clearly mentally ill as well as physically. Nobody else needs to be warned to eat more than one food.

So the whole thing about spinach and Popeye and making you strong was just an evil marketing gimmick?
There's no way that eating a wide variety of vegetables could be considered unhealthy. If you eat only carrots you go orange but I think if you are doing that you need an ED clinic and a dietician. Nobody eats absolutely tons of only one vegetable unless they've got an issue, surely?

I did have to google if you could overdose on kale once I discovered it done in the oven with some peri peri salt on....

@angelspike ahhh, that is lush isn't it. Or the fake seaweed from the Chinese, or the other illuminous green seaweed 'salad' from the Japanese? Both so moreish they can't be healthy.

But it's green veg right? 🤣

For me, I can’t eat Nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, aubergine) because they seep into my blood. Gut permeation I think it’s called. I made a right mess of my body trying to be vegan years ago!

No-one is going to eat that much veg for it to be a problem, unless there are allergies. Even Peter Rabbit got better with camomile tea and a good night's sleep.

🤣 we better stop eating all together!
Because you know, it's harmful...imagine what all that fibre in the vegetables do to your 💩 &🌪 on top of all the other nasties it contains.

Well yes, but you can kill yourself with anything. There was a case where someone died from beta carotene poisoning. They juiced hundreds of carrots a day, drank themselves to bursting and had only that for a prolonged period. You can actually die from water intoxication if you drink too much, but that’s really hard to do.

This doesn’t mean there should be a warning put out for carrots or water. And ditto for spinach and beans.

You are railing against advice that has simply never been given.
How bizarre.

It tastes like crispy seaweed and is very addictive! I had to rein myself in after eating a bag a day

I feel like people are being unduly harsh on the OP.

I have had kidney stones and have only just learnt about oxalate. I have been told to avoid consuming food stuff with too much oxalate in it and many of the items are healthy on the list - spinach, nuts, rhubarb.

It would never have occurred to me before not to make my way through a bag of raw spinach in a week but now I’ll make sure these items are eaten more moderately as the pain of kidney stones was on par with labour. And people have at least a 50 per cent chance of stones reoccurring once they’ve had them once.

I’d heed the OP’s advice around oxalate

Unlimited amounts of anything are not good for you. This is just common sense. A balanced and varied diet as you said is the way forward. Eating spinach every day isn’t varied though is it?

@Fantina · Today 16:55

I feel like people are being unduly harsh on the OP

OP could have made a sensible, non histrionic post highlighting specific health factors relating to over consumption of named vegetables.

Instead she wrote things like The idea that we need to consume as much as our guts will allow is slightly misleading.
That's not what's ever been advocated.

She seems strangely angry about what she sees as some sort of vegetable propaganda campaign