Best Greens

Hey all! What are the best greens to eat? I'm trying to make up for not getting enough calcium in the past, and so I've been doing kale, spinach, and parsley, but I've heard some people say on here that kale and spinach actually aren't good for you, and that LETTUCE is the best green - but isn't lettuce rather low in nutrients?

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Permalink Reply by Ra Zitrone on August 13, 2012 at 6:00pm

just look up what greens wild elephants eat, if it works for a massive animal like that, it should work for a small mammal like a human right? I think they eat a lot of grass, so perhaps juicing some wheat grass would be a good idea if that's allowed on 80-10-10.

anyways, that's just a theory of mine, maybe it's completely different for humans

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Permalink Reply by PK on August 13, 2012 at 6:18pm

@Sarah,

When eating, we have to look at the complete picture of human health.

Kale and spinach are high oxalate which may do more harm than good when consumed. Sure, the spinach may look high in calcium, but most of that calcium binds with the oxalate and is escorted out of the intestine thus useless for human bone development. Oxalate is a poison to humans and can cause the following side effects:

Side Effects of Consumption
Eating foods high in oxalate may cause the following symptoms: breathing difficulty, burning in the mouth, burning in the throat, coma, diarrhea, eye pain, kidney stones, nausea, red-colored urine, seizures, stomach pain, vomiting, and weakness, esophagitis, slurred or unintelligible speech, laryngeal edema, pain and edema in the tongue.
Oxalic acid poisoning may involve the following symptoms: abdominal pain, burns and blisters if acid contact is made, collapse, convulsions, kidney problems, low blood pressure, mouth pain, shock, throat pain, tremors, vomiting, and weak pulse.
If extremely high doses of oxalate are consumed, death can result.