I was just wondering if anyone else has heard about the negative media on eating Kale?, I was surprised when a co-worker told me he has stopped eating Kale because of the bad press. I have done some reading and it seems the story is based on an 80 year old woman who ate a lot of Kale and developed thyroid problems, and typically, the media has run with the story.
Hi Ian, I've seen the stories ... there does seem to be some rational information out there however, such as this: "Raw kale in particular "can be hard on the digestive system" — meaning it can cause bloating, gas and other abdominal issues — "and also contains a compound that can suppress thyroid function in certain people," she adds. That's why she doesn't recommend eating the vegetable uncooked or juicing it more than once or twice a week, though she says you can eat as much of the cooked veggie as you like." From this article: https://health.heraldtribune.com/2012/09/25/kale-good-nutrition-for-you-just-dont-overdo/
I dont mind a bit of kale in a salad but I prefer it steamed with lashings of butter or cheese sauce.
The problems with any highly touted product usually arises because people forget that there can be too much of a good thing and, encouraged by marketing, indulge in excess. Excess food in general is bad for you. Excess water has killed people, so has excess oxygen. Uncooked cashews, kidney beans and rhubarb are all probably more dangerous than kale. Rhubarb is also an old slang term for nonsense which can be as poisonous as the plant. Bouncing from fad to fad sells magazines, books and specialized equipment so it is in the interest of marketing organizations to keep people off balance. Nutrition and health magazines and websites aren't immune when the size of their readership determines advertising revenue. False news didn't leap into existence with the last US presidential election, it's been used for centuries to gain advantage. You'd probably have more sense than to pick just one element to fertilize your plants because you might rightly suspect an overdose of that element or a shortage of other elements may kill them. The same goes for your body. Excesses of many foods are damaging to your health - as are deficiencies if some foods are avoided. Lost in the cacophony of media generated bovine excrement is the quiet undertone of moderation generally recommended by those with a true interest in your health.
I find that Kale and NZ spinach are much nicer than silverbeet, maybe more user friendly even, cos they seem to fit into alot more different cuisines than silverbeet. When my kids were growing up, I had to have at least a dozen if not more plants of silverbeet just to keep up with their appetite for it an it Had to be steamed with just a touch of salt and pepper then loads of butter melted over it just before it hit their plate. Nothing else would do except when I hid it in soups and stews. Maybe I still suffer from over use syndrome.
Interesting how things can get blown out of proportion so quickly when the "media" get involved. We have one rule that if you follow it, rarely do issues arise, that rule is "All things in moderation". Balance is what our bodies want, not the cone head theory of "Consume Mass Quantities", that leads to imbalance and is never a good thing as far as I have been able to observe. These same rules apply to our soil, the planet systems that sustain our lives and just about everything else, if there is anything else. Redhawk
As self being a Low Thyroid person I read a Thyroid book about it. All kinds of soy products, too much kale (more then twice a week), too much hard broccoli stems makes your Thyroid go slower. But there are also foots which makes your Thyroid go faster.