I am on holiday in Somerset, England at the moment and enjoying lovely walks in nature. The other day I spotted some garlic leaves growing wild and decided to pick one and eat it.

I have not eaten garlic or onions for the last two years as I used to work in a raw restaurant/yoga studio which was sattvic, which means they don't use garlic or onion because they believe it disturbs the balance between the right and left brain hemisphere. After not using it for a while I got out of the habit of doing so and didn't go back to it.

I have been eating low fat/high fruit for the last three weeks and have felt my body and mind getting 'lighter' and 'cleaner' even after eating a totally raw diet for the last 4 1/2 years and I think I'm becoming more sensitive to what I put into my body.

Back to the garlic leaf, I started eating it and it tasted strong but not unpleasant. I intended to eat the whole leaf but after eating half I couldn't eat anymore. Within 10 mins. of eating it I started feeling really drowsy and sleepy so I decided to go back. It took me half an hour to get back to where I'm staying and by that time I felt as if my brain was frying and I couldn't think straight.

I thought this was an interesting experience and it seems to bear out what my yoga teacher was telling me about garlic disturbing brain balance.

I am quite interested in brain function at the moment anyway and am surfing the web quite a lot trying to find interesting info about this. There is a guy in England who is doing research about brain function and the effect of tropical fruits on our brain development. I think Funky Rob knows him. The guys name is Tony Wright and his website is [www.kaleidos.org.uk] if anyone is interested.

Francis

are you absolutely sure what you ate was wild garlic .. wild onion and garlic often grow right along side of Sego Lilys, Death Camas , and a few others i cant remember , all part of the lily family

The grass-like leaves of death camas can be confused with wild onions or garlic The entire plant is highly toxic and can be fatal to both humans and animals. Poisoning symptoms include profuse salivation, burning lips, mouth numbness, thirst, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, confusion, slow irregular heart beat, low blood pressure and low temperature, difficulty breathing, coma, and death.

Never ever eat anything you are not 100% sure of the ID .. expecially when your foraging in a part of the world your not familiar with

im glad yer ok though ... enough of a scare though i imagine

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

interesting link too btw thank you

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I can eat them by the bucketload (slight exaggeration) ! I have only ever had good experiences with wild foods.

"We get what we anticipate" - anon.

Hey Jodi,

Thanks for your concern
I am absolutely sure it was wild garlic. I used to pick and eat it a lot from the same place I picked this leaf from about 3 years ago.

Francis

Hey Francis

I hardly ever eat galic and onlion bulbs, but when the wild garlic comes out I eat loads of it and never notice a negative effect.

Yeah, I know Tony - he's just about to start a sleep deprivation experiment, he's atempting to break the world record for staying awake which is currently 11 days... [www.sleeplessinpenzance.co.uk]

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

Hi Rob,

I used to be able to eat loads of it as well, the only thing that has changed for me is not eating it for the past two years and eating high fruit/low fat for the last three weeks and maybe becoming more sensitive to it. Thanks for the link to the sleepless site, I think Tony's research is really interesting.

Francis