Too Much of a Good Thing

Can you eat too many vegetables?

Apparently so.

I've written about orthorexia nervosa – a condition where a person sets severe rules about food and restricts his or her eating to the point of becoming sick.

Eating too much of one food may also be problematic.

Recently, an elderly American woman was diagnosed with a serious thyroid condition. She was nearly comatose and barely able to breathe when admitted to the hospital. The cause? Huge amounts of raw bok choy – a variety of leafy green cabbage that she ate in the hopes of controlling her diabetes.

How much is too much? In this case, it was 2 to 3 pounds (1 – 1 ½ kilo) of raw cabbage every day. Compare that to one serving size of raw cabbage, which is 1 cup or 2 ½ ounces (70 grams).

Personally, I don't know how anyone could eat that much cabbage in one day. Or any other single food, for that matter. (No, I can't even imagine eating that much chocolate daily!) But obviously, it happened. And she's not the only person who thinks that eating a certain food will prevent or cure an illness.

Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable. And, along with broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale and other types of cabbage, it's certainly high in fiber, vitamins and disease fighting phytochemicals. But, like any other food, more is not necessarily better. Five to ten servings a day of vegetables and fruits means choosing a variety, not just one.

We've learned a lot about nutrition lately. But I'm still giving people the same advice now as I did 30 years ago:

Eat a well-balanced diet. Eat foods from all of the food groups. And eat a moderate amount.

This common-sense approach still goes a long way on the road to good health.