Cruciferous Veggies?

Has anyone else heard that cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, bok choy etc..) are toxic and should never been eaten raw?

Comments

  • omshantiomshanti Raw Newbie

    this is interesting, id be interested to know as broccoli has really been horrible for me since going raw! I never had issues when i steamed it but trying to eat it raw it really upsets my stomach

  • They’re not toxic but cooking is supposed to make the vitamins more available. But that means very light steaming. Spinach actually shouldn’t be eaten cooked because of oxalates that form kidney stones. Cabbage is really good to eat if it’s been made into saurkraut. The otherthing I’ve heard is that they can be bad for people prone to hypothyroid- to eat too much of.. They have superior cancer fighting qualities though so I’d keep eating them!

  • Writeeternity, are you saying that raw spinach doesn’t have the oxalates that cause the kidney stones. Is it that cooking activates that propety or what?

    I have a friend who loves spinach and other veggies that she has been told by her doctor to avoid because of the high oxalate properties. She would love to be able to eat them raw if that is true.

  • alpdesignsalpdesigns Raw Newbie

    Cuciferous vegetables are bad for the thyroid because they contain goitrogens, a substance that blocks iodine absorption. They also don’t digest well, too much cellulose. Cooking and fermentation makes the cellulose more digestible, that’s why the many nutrients are more readily available. The enzymes are killed in cooking though. According to the rules of Natural Hygiene, cruciferous vegetables aren’t an optimal food. Spinach has an anti-nutritive quality in that the oxalates bind with calcium. It also helps aid in prostate cancer and is a natural laxative. So, all produce has some good and bad qualities. The trick is to vary the diet and eat things in moderation.

  • Hi Maggie, It sounds weird but the whole oxalate issue is a big one as so many vegetables have them. If you listened to the standard argument you wouldn’t have much left to eat. This is the deeper understanding that’s out there:

    “To delve a little deeper…’organic’ oxalic acid is one of the important elements needed to maintain the tone of, and to stimulate peristalsis (contractions of the intestines, occurring in waves, which propel the intestinal contents onward). When a food is raw, whether whole or in the form of juice, every atom in such food is vital organic and replete with enzymes. Therefore, the oxalic acid in our raw veggies and their juices is organic, and as such is not only beneficial (in normal doses) but essential for the physiological functions of the body.

    The oxalic acid in cooked and processed foods, however, is definitely dead, or inorganic, and as such is both pernicious and destructive. Oxalic acid readily combines with calcium. If these are both organic, the result is a beneficial constructive combination, as the former helps the digestive assimilation of the latter, at the same time stimulating the peristaltic functions in the body.

    When the oxalic acid has become inorganic by cooking or processing the foods that contain it, then this acid forms an interlocking compound with the calcium even combining with the calcium in other foods eaten during the same meal, destroying the nourishing value of both. This results in such a serious deficiency of calcium that it has been known to cause decomposition of the bones. This is why one should never eat cooked or canned spinach.

    As to the oxalic acid itself, when converted into an inorganic acid by cooking or processing the food, it often results in causing inorganic oxalic acid crystals to form in the kidneys.”

    information on this page was derived from ‘The Food Pharmacy” by Jean Carper and “Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs: by John Heinerman

  • Thanks for the info, writeeternity! I am going to pass it along tomy friend. Poor thing has been having a terrible time trying to figure out what she can eat since her doctor gave her a mile long list of vegies that are high or moderately high in oxalic acid. The oxalic issue is a new one to me and I had only read what my friend gave me and the whole idea of eliminating all those foods from ones diet completely just seemed crazy to me. Obviosly, from your answer, myinstincts were right.

    Thanks again

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