11.23.2009

Broccoli Overdose

I was home alone on Friday night - Dave and Stanley were both off in the woods for the the opening weekend of deer hunting (look for lots of venison posts coming soon!). I didn't know it was possible to overdose on broccoli, but I guess I was wrong.

The local brasicas and other cold weather veggies have been just gorgeous this November. It's been really mild with just enough frost to make the broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, Brussels sprouts, and spinach nice and sweet, but not too cold to kill them. The farmer's market has moved indoors for the winter, but you'd never know it was winter by the look of the produce. Everything is just vibrant.

I've been feeling like I can't get enough of these deep green vegetables, so I decided to take advantage of being home alone by gorging myself on broccoli. I steamed it with a little local spinach, then then tossed it with local sunflower oil and hickory nuts, and topped it with grated 2 year aged cheddar. Totally locavore - totally delicious!

It's hard to see how big this bowl is, but it's pretty big. It was just so good, I ate all of it. I can't say enough about the sunflower oil. Its got a really nice nutty flavor - "the olive oil of the Midwest" they call it, and I can't argue. The hickory nuts are delicious too, and the cheese gave it all a really nice tang.

A few hours later, my stomach started hurting. At first I thought I had some sort of food poisoning, but after doing a bit of Internet research I decided that what I was experiencing was in fact heart burn: a really intense pain starting in my stomach and branching up into my chest. I'd never had heart burn before this, but now I have a much greater sympathy for people who suffer from in on a regular basis - it was terrible! I tried to go to bed early, but it just made the pain worse to lay down. I finally fell asleep sitting up in bed. A few hours later, I was fine.

The funny thing is that the only reference I could find online about heartburn and broccoli is that broccoli is one of those foods that won't cause heartburn, or even that it can help cure it. Broccoli can cause gas, but that wasn't my problem. I guess eating too much of anything is a bad thing. I should have known that, but really? broccoli??
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7 comments:

  1. You CAN overdose on broccoli! I steamed a handful of florets and ate them. About 3a.m., I woke with heartburn and HORRIBLE breath. I couldn't believe it. It was as if there was a stovepipe to my mouth from my stomach, filled with toxic gas. A glass of milk seemed to help, but I couldn't get to sleep for quite awhile.

    Mary K.

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  2. Totally......today I can vouch that all of the above is true. Had a horrible night after a dinner consisting of a big bowl of steamed and sauted brocolli and raw carrots. Felt all of the above for a good zero sleep period of 9 - 10 hours with 3 intermittent bursts of puke..the kind that makes you absolutely spill your guts...I am totally confident it wasn't anything else...carrots which I have regularly have never made me do this and I was having brocolli after a long time..I googled brocolli overdose and this was the best piece of info I could come across. Assured me I could see this through and its now 3 hours after the ordeal I can give my thanks to this piece...

    Brocolli I so hate you...someday I will have my revenge (may be come across a mascot dressed as brocolli)...

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  3. Same as above with broccoli now correctly spelt…had to repost to add to the knowledge we have about this evil veg and save fellow sufferers and googlers…

    Totally......today I can vouch that all of the above is true. Had a horrible night after a dinner consisting of a big bowl of steamed and sauted broccoli and raw carrots. Felt all of the above for a good zero sleep period of 9 - 10 hours with 3 intermittent bursts of puke..the kind that makes you absolutely spill your guts...I am totally confident it wasn't anything else...carrots which I have regularly have never made me do this and I was having broccoli after a long time..I googled broccoli overdose and this was the best piece of info I could come across. Assured me I could see this through and its now 3 hours after the ordeal I can give my thanks to this piece...

    Broccoli I so hate you...someday I will have my revenge (may be come across a mascot dressed as broccoli)...

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  4. complete nonsense. there is nothing but beneficial effects from broccoli. perhaps the way you prepared it made you sick, but one can not ''overdose'' on broccoli as much as you would like to argue about it.

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  5. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

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  6. yea this IS hilarious, i actually laughed reading the comments, I know guys and fitness professionals who eat massive bowls over broccoli on low carb diets and never had any problems. Speaking of which im eating like over a pound of cooked broccoli right now ;) with steak.

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  7. If your digestive system is not accustomed to a high fiber diet, eating large amounts of any of it can cause gastric issues. Ease into any kind of high fiber diet. : )

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