Lettuce Beats The Rap
LETTUCE BEATS THE RAP
Apparently, there’s a whole world surrounding lettuce I had no idea about. And I don’t just mean its sordid past as an opiate.
It has some surprising benefits that span a number of different aspects of health—from insomnia to diabetes and just about everything in between.
It’s a tossed salad full of benefits. Lettuce is a better sleep inducer than any of the "sleeping pills": in the drug store. Lactucarium is an ingredient in lettuce that gives it its sedative and hypnotic properties. Back in the 19th century, opium addicts drank a concoction containing it when they couldn’t get the drug itself. Now, I wouldn’t recommend trying to get the same effect with lettuce, but I’ll tell you about the solution later. If you’re having trouble sleeping, it could do the trick.
Lettuce appears to have a diuretic effect, which can help lower blood sugar. It also has a carminative effect; i.e., it relieves flatulence and that full feeling you get when you have made a pig of yourself. According to some of the information I read, lettuce has an anaphrodisiac action. That is it appeases the sexual appetite. I’m sure you have noticed that you don’t see many promos for products that weaken the sexual appetite, so I’m not sure how much use this aspect will be for you. And for those special days, according to herbal literature, lettuce decoctions are also effective in relieving menstrual cramps.
I can’t vouch for any of these claims, since I haven’t actually tried lettuce for any of the above purposes. But Plinius ("Pliny"), one of the greatest naturalists of all time, recommended lettuce. Pliny was, literally, an expert on everything. He was very knowledgeable in medicine but had very little respect for the doctors of the times. So if it’s good enough for one of the greatest naturalists who ever lived, it’s good enough for me.
To make your own lettuce tonic, try cooking a head of iceberg lettuce in a crockpot on low for 24 hours. Take out the wilted leaves and toss them in the garbage and save the liquid in a bottle or jar. I recommend taking small amounts to start—a 4 oz. glassful seems reasonable. If it doesn’t knock you out for 12 hours, you can increase it to 8 oz. Anyway, whether or not they’re losing sleep over it, I don’t think the Feds will outlaw lettuce any time soon, which is more than I can say for lots of other natural remedies. File this in a safe place—you may need it sooner than you think.
Reference:"Lactuca Sativa L: Lettuce, "Botanical (www.botanical-online.com)
Apparently, there’s a whole world surrounding lettuce I had no idea about. And I don’t just mean its sordid past as an opiate.
It has some surprising benefits that span a number of different aspects of health—from insomnia to diabetes and just about everything in between.
It’s a tossed salad full of benefits. Lettuce is a better sleep inducer than any of the "sleeping pills": in the drug store. Lactucarium is an ingredient in lettuce that gives it its sedative and hypnotic properties. Back in the 19th century, opium addicts drank a concoction containing it when they couldn’t get the drug itself. Now, I wouldn’t recommend trying to get the same effect with lettuce, but I’ll tell you about the solution later. If you’re having trouble sleeping, it could do the trick.
Lettuce appears to have a diuretic effect, which can help lower blood sugar. It also has a carminative effect; i.e., it relieves flatulence and that full feeling you get when you have made a pig of yourself. According to some of the information I read, lettuce has an anaphrodisiac action. That is it appeases the sexual appetite. I’m sure you have noticed that you don’t see many promos for products that weaken the sexual appetite, so I’m not sure how much use this aspect will be for you. And for those special days, according to herbal literature, lettuce decoctions are also effective in relieving menstrual cramps.
I can’t vouch for any of these claims, since I haven’t actually tried lettuce for any of the above purposes. But Plinius ("Pliny"), one of the greatest naturalists of all time, recommended lettuce. Pliny was, literally, an expert on everything. He was very knowledgeable in medicine but had very little respect for the doctors of the times. So if it’s good enough for one of the greatest naturalists who ever lived, it’s good enough for me.
To make your own lettuce tonic, try cooking a head of iceberg lettuce in a crockpot on low for 24 hours. Take out the wilted leaves and toss them in the garbage and save the liquid in a bottle or jar. I recommend taking small amounts to start—a 4 oz. glassful seems reasonable. If it doesn’t knock you out for 12 hours, you can increase it to 8 oz. Anyway, whether or not they’re losing sleep over it, I don’t think the Feds will outlaw lettuce any time soon, which is more than I can say for lots of other natural remedies. File this in a safe place—you may need it sooner than you think.
Reference:"Lactuca Sativa L: Lettuce, "Botanical (www.botanical-online.com)
posted by Stan Kent at
11:00 AM
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