Are you overdosed on lettuce opium (Lactucarium)?
I think this topic will be very useful for many here to solve a problem they might not know they have or they don’t know what’s causing it. It took me lots of self observation and some google search to solve my problem. Only today I can confirm this experience. I hope you will appreciate that.
Mistakenly, I attributed some of the nasty effects that I experienced after becoming raw to candida. I almost quit raw food because of them. These bad experiences include posture hypotension (fainting when standing up) dizziness sedation, blurred vision, lack of digestive system movement, breathing inhibition, and dry mouth.
I heard Victoria Boutenko mentioning something about toxic opiate in lettuce and I knew that opium has this inhibitory effect so I searched about the toxicity of opium and it was exactly what I felt.
The responsible substance that is closely related to opium is lactucarium which is the white sap you usually observe at the base of lettuce leaves and hearts. Wild lettuce which is a very bitter and found in most home gardens is the highest in this substance. Some web sites even describe how to extract and smoke it to get high, as a substitute for opium. After experiencing this by only eating lettuce hearts I wonder why anyone would want to do that or try opium.
The lettuce that caused more problems for me, which I think now is due to a higher concentration of lactucarium, is organic romaine lettuce hearts produced by President Choice.
Here are my own recommendations to avoid this problem: don’t eat too much lettuce, avoid hearts and the base, and eat mature green leaves of lettuce.
I don’t have Victoria Boutenko’s book so it’s nice to hear from those who read the book. Does she has more to say about this?
Mistakenly, I attributed some of the nasty effects that I experienced after becoming raw to candida. I almost quit raw food because of them. These bad experiences include posture hypotension (fainting when standing up) dizziness sedation, blurred vision, lack of digestive system movement, breathing inhibition, and dry mouth.
I heard Victoria Boutenko mentioning something about toxic opiate in lettuce and I knew that opium has this inhibitory effect so I searched about the toxicity of opium and it was exactly what I felt.
The responsible substance that is closely related to opium is lactucarium which is the white sap you usually observe at the base of lettuce leaves and hearts. Wild lettuce which is a very bitter and found in most home gardens is the highest in this substance. Some web sites even describe how to extract and smoke it to get high, as a substitute for opium. After experiencing this by only eating lettuce hearts I wonder why anyone would want to do that or try opium.
The lettuce that caused more problems for me, which I think now is due to a higher concentration of lactucarium, is organic romaine lettuce hearts produced by President Choice.
Here are my own recommendations to avoid this problem: don’t eat too much lettuce, avoid hearts and the base, and eat mature green leaves of lettuce.
I don’t have Victoria Boutenko’s book so it’s nice to hear from those who read the book. Does she has more to say about this?
Tags: boutenko, lactucarium, lettuce, opiate, opium, romaine, toxic
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hani on -
I wouldn't describe it as high for me but some people do. Here is a site that explains how to extract lettuce opium from market lettuce.
http://www.matarese.com/matarese-files/4349/herbal-highs-guide-natu...
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Permalink Reply by Hani on
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Yah, but people perceive lettuce as a very safe thing to eat. Not for me anymore.
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Permalink Reply by Brent Hatcher on
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Orthorexia, or orthorexia nervosa is a term coined by Steven Bratman, a Colorado MD, to denote an eating disorder characterized by excessive focus on eating healthy foods. In rare cases, this focus may turn into a fixation so extreme that it can lead to severe malnutrition or even death.
Bratman coined the term in 1997 from the Greek orthos, "correct or right", and orexis for "appetite. Literally "correct appetite", the word is modeled on anorexia, "without appetite", as used in definition of the condition anorexia nervosa. Bratman describes orthorexia as an unhealthy obsession (as in obsessive-compulsive disorder) with what the sufferer considers to be healthy eating. The subject may avoid certain foods, such as those containing fats, preservatives, animal products, or other ingredients considered by the subject to be unhealthy; if the dietary restrictions are too severe or improperly managed, malnutrition can result. Bratman asserts that "emaciation is common among followers of certain health food diets, such as rawfoodism, and this can at times reach the extremes seen in anorexia nervosa." He goes on to claim that such "anorexic orthorexia" can be as dangerous as anorexia. However, he states, "the underlying motivation is quite different. While an anorexic wants to lose weight, an orthorexic wants to feel pure, healthy and natural. Eating disorder specialists may fail to understand this distinction, leading to a disconnect between orthorexic and physician. "
According to the Macmillan English Dictionary, the word is entering the English lexicon.. It is not an official medical diagnosis, and it is not listed in the DSM-IV. However, it is used as a diagnosis by some practitioners who have documented the damaging results of the condition, as they have seen in their practices.
Now I finally know what you all are talking about.
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Permalink Reply by Susan Virginia on -
We should discuss ortho here some day...
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Permalink Reply by EternalLaceLaceMaker on -
Hello, Brent , thank you for your Post .
I recognize I am in both levels : Orthorexia and Anorexia .
The last one , anyway , since ever . Once everything I eat , if it is not really perfect and healthy , I feel polluted , dirty ... not only in the body level but also on the Soul level . And I cannot really think .
Well , by Ayurveda Classification of Types : I am VATA , Air_Aether . GEIST .
I fly ... First Chackra ... The ROOT . All the difficulties with the material_pragmatic_practical things . No RED ...
I feel balanced - in terms of eating - only if I eat the perfect food , in a perfect way , in a perfect rythm , in the perfect beauty , in a perfect athmosphere ... Well, it is like this . I accept myself like this , now . No , I feel no pressure of the Society , anymore . I am OK ... Just let it be ... Why not ?
Till four years ago , I was inducing ... in pressing my tong in order to put the food outside of my body . To feel light and clean . Specially at work ... when people are agressive ... Now , it goes alone , like this . I do not need to induce .
It would be great if I could live - as I was imagining as a child - as an Astronaut : a pill , only , if necessary . So , I decided to be an Astronaut . But I am not . NASA is far away .
By the way : the DSM-IV and ICD-10 are , in many levels , absolutly annachronic ... Stupid MedDoctors ... But now they are changing . I hope for good . Let us see what the WHO will say ...
So, thank again.
Best , Teresa from Berlin
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Permalink Reply by AELF on -
To our understanding in Quantic Medicine. Greens and mostly the lettuce variety have two complementary charges, reflected in the wave particle.
Green (Electro-Kinetic) Movement or Yang energy and White (Electro-neutral) Non-Movement or relaxing and sedating energy. These can be found in most green vegetables in varying degrees. Some Greens have more Electro-Kinetic charges, like Kale and other dark leafy greens, and some have more Electro-neutral like Iceberg lettuce or white cabbage.
In Latin american folk medicine iceberg lettuce leaves can be soaked in warm water to provoke sleep in a nervous baby.
This effect is so strong that people even place these lettuce leaves under the pillow of a baby to assure proper rest.
So the opiates can be used strategically to produce sedation or treat anxiety and stress.
Good thing we Raw Foodist tend to chop off the white part of Kale during the day or we'd really be in for a downer during green consumption.
By the way Green time is precisely at 12pm (highest point of the suns rays) and White time is at 6pm directly opposite.
Taking too much green at the night could keep you up. Take too much white during the day could bring you down.. : )
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Permalink Reply by Kim Caldwell on -
AELF that is a fascinating post.
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