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Dr. Ann Wigmore gave this name to the young plants of buckwheat, which together with young sunflower greens formed her original "indoor greens", so called because you grow them all the year round on a window sill for the freshest, most nutritious, chlorophyll rich salads you could get anywhere. (In fact you can't actually get that quality anywhere except grown at home). Nowadays people experiment with all sorts of "minigreens" and why not? Current favourite newcomers here are trays of young snow peas, which are equally versatile chopped in a salad, juiced, or blended in an "energy soup". We've had some correspondence from one or two
people who were
worried about a negative writeup for baby
buckwheat plants. I'll
summarise; "the young green shoots contain
quantities of fagopyrin,
which WHEN INGESTED IN SUFFICIENT QUANTITIES, (my
emphasis) can cause the skin to become
sensitive to sunlight. The
effect usually subsides in a few hours,
although the exposed areas can
in some cases remain sensitive to cold or hot
water or friction for several days"
Yes I'm sure that is true. Fagopyrum is a
well documented
homoeopathic remedy, and the indicated
symptoms include the skin
sensations described here.
I'll tell you a story:
Many years ago, before the hole in the ozone
layer appeared over
Australia and New Zealand, I used to eat
every meal I possibly could,
out of doors, spring summer and autumn, and
one particularly sunny
spell I ate a lot more buckwheat lettuce than
usual, because it
happened to be there. I noticed a transient
tingling after a cold
shower that day, and discussed it with my
wise professor, who
basically said, "what have I taught you about
moderation?, and what
on earth are you thinking of sitting in the
midday sun"?
I think that is the problem, that people are
exposed to very harmful
sunlight nowadays, and need to cover up when
out of doors for most
of the day, especially if you are in a very
sunny place (I don't think
Brits are as much at risk as people visiting
the institutes in Mexico,
Puerto Rico Australia or San Diego) It's also
a good idea not to eat
too much of anything for days at a time. The
basic principles of
balance and moderation come to mind, not
least when spending time
in the sun. Nowadays even in the UK you
really need long sleeves and
a hat between about 11.00am and 4.00pm, and
deliberately
sunbathing is such a risky habit that I hope
none of you do it. If you
want a gentle tan, get outdoors outside the
burning hours, and
protect the kids with loose clothes rather
than relying on sun creams.
I still eat outdoors as often as possible;
still eat my share of
buckwheat lettuce, probably about half the
amount of sunflower
greens I normally have, and I never let my
skin get in the burning
sun. I still have cold showers, and have
never experienced the tingling
sensations again since that time about twenty
five years ago. So I
don't think you need worry. There's always
going to be a scare story
about something or other.
Do you remember when "they" said that
allantoin, the active healing
principle of comfrey, was toxic? Well it may
well be if you extract it
from the plant, make it into a strong
tincture, and then give it in
ridiculously unlikely quantities to
laboratory mice. Not surprisingly
the poor little things got sick. Sufficient
"scientific" evidence to get
comfrey ointment banned. It was made from the
WHOLE plant,
diluted in the carrier ointment, and was the
most wonderful healing
salve for wounds. So now you have to make
your own, or pick a few
whole leaves from the garden to make a
poultice. At least they haven't
started policing our kitchen gardens
yet. Or use a
homoeopathic version: that's another story of
persistent sniping, but
they haven't managed to ban that yet.
Many thanks to Kelly Brooke for raising this
issue.
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Coincidentally,we made a seasonal fruit cake
bearing
in mind the old tradition of making Simnel
Cake for Mothers Day It even has a centre of
"marzipan" (almonds and honey in this case)
in the middle. Click here for recipe for this
cake and for dehydrated buckwheat trail mix.
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Abby was here for a summer course, and being
already established
on a high raw, balanced way of eating,
exercising and living, went
away with a few more techniques to use.
Already growing her own
vegetables and salads in Scotland, teaching
yoga and running
mountaineering holidays and expeditions with
her partner, she is
living proof of what you can do on a balanced
raw, minimal fruit,
maximum green diet. She sailed through her
first pregnancy, while
teaching yoga courses, and here she is taking
Surya hill walking!
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Midsummer Course
June 14th to 20th Book now for last few places A good time to start on Living Foods or take it to a higher level Next Practitioner Training starts August 16th Book now Click here for details and to apply.  |
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If you have enjoyed reading our newsletter why not send it on? Click here to forward it to a friend Thank you
 Elaine and the Team
The UK Centre for Living Foods
email:
elaine@livingfoods.co.uk
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