There has been a fair bit in the media recently about people becoming ill (or worse) due to natural or herbal products. My general attitude is that just because something is natural doesn't mean it isn't harmful and we really should remember that almost anything in excess can harm or kill you. You can overdose on water for instance, yet we can't survive without it. Plus let's all remember that some of the most toxic substances on Earth are natural.
Most people who know me know I am a balance kind of person. I try to eat mostly pretty well and use supplements where there is benefit. A lot of my attitude to food and eating has to do with the fact I once suffered from an eating disorder and since I recovered I am very wary of diets or restrictive eating in any form. But a lot of it too, I like to think, is common sense and not wanting to believe fads without at least looking into it first. Of course the fact that I'm not giving up chocolate, twisties, pasta or certain other yummy foods any time soon has a lot to do with the whole 'balance' thing!
So here we have a cautionary tale coming from me, someone who should have known better. I have been suffering digestive upsets recently, often quite severe. Some might assume I must be eating really badly or else they 'helpfully' recommend I cut out gluten, milk or any other such thing that is considered the latest big bad wolf of food. I may even get dirty looks for not having drunk a green smoothie this past week .... or you know .... Ever!
So it was with some surprise that I have discovered that my problem substance is in a fact something that has been touted as being good for me, labelled as a super food ( I hate that term!) and isn't involved in the production of twisties or freddo frogs or any such things. It is in fact Maca.
Yes that incredible substance everyone is telling you to eat! Proponents claim that Maca balances your hormones, gives you energy, increases your sex drive, supplies high doses of certain vitamins and more. Well it possibly can if you look at what it is and how it actually works. So in other words, if you step back from our crazy western obsession with foods of the moment, our habit of 'discovering' staples from subsistence farmers, and our pretentious assumption that we must know better, there may be something there ... but look with caution.
Because those subsistence farming people do know their stuff, a lot better than us as it turns out. A Peruvian might indeed prefer their Maca to be organic and labeled vegan, who knows? But they would never eat it raw, as is the form it often comes to our health food shops in. For thousands of years the Peruvians have respected the Maca plant, used it in moderation and cooked it! Because raw it causes severe digestive problems, such as I have been experiencing. I do wonder if they are all laughing at us? Raw Maca? Seriously? Crazy, stupid sanctimonious western morons!
Yep pretty much sums us up huh? The realisation that perhaps it could be causing my problems started to solidify very quickly when I took to google. If you search 'does Maca cause digestive problems?' you will find some very valuable and thought provoking reading. As much as I have suffered, I have found tales of people with severe digestive discomfort weeks or even months after they last ingested the stuff. They too googled their query too late.
So sometimes something touted as healthy can cause more harm than good if you don't understand what the product is and how it works. Maca is a plant and cooking it doesn't strip away the vitamins or any other such rubbish you might have heard about cooking, it actually takes away all the stuff that is indigestible. Additionally raw Maca can harbour dangerous bacteria which if ingested can cause severe problems of their own. None of which is stated on the packet of the stuff you are intended to throw in your smoothies, or even on the bottle of the capsules.
If you want to use Maca as a supplement, show caution. It may be there are a lot of benefits if you eat it cooked as part of a balanced diet, in small amounts, a few times a week like the Peruvians do. But even if you get the gelatinised versions ( cooked so therefore digestible) who knows what large amounts of the stuff shoved into a daily smoothie might be doing? Maybe it is in fact making us stronger, wiser, more effervescent and overall more healthy ... Or maybe not.
So my cautionary tale is this .... natural doesn't mean it can't harm you, raw isn't always best and you shouldn't ingest anything new without first researching it. Because chances are anything negative isn't making it onto the packaging, especially if the words 'super food' are involved.
