Can you OD on superfoods?

[cathyinontario]

I was wondering...I know if you take too much of certain vitamins you can overdose and cause your body harm. Because superfoods such as acai, goji, mushroom powders, raw cacao, etc are so loaded in vitamins and minerals is it possible to overdose with them?
I generally drink at least 2 smoothies a day and I tend to load them up with superfoods, fruits and greens. I guess my question is...how much is too much?

[Mikey_H]

I noticed a lot of people here use superfoods in their diet...
I don't really use much acai, spirulina, and other foods that are concentrated in nutrients, aside from large amounts of regular fruits and veggies.
I have used phytoplankton and take wheatgrass regularly though. One of these days I'll get a hold of some wholesale goji berries...

but anyway, I'm sure it depends on who you are and what you eat that determines if you are getting "too much" of something.
Everytime I make raw chocolate or something with cacao in it I end up getting a HORRIBLE intestinal pain for hours... so I don't eat it anymore. But I can't see any "superfood" being intoxicating if you are being moderate and balancing them out with eachother.

[Veronica01]

You would just have to experiment and see how you felt. If you're concerned you could try just doing one at a time and do tests, once a day, twice a day, for a whole week and see if you feel better or worse and then you might know how you feel on them, or off them. I've only sporatically used them and never felt any difference so that's why I don't worry about eating superfoods frequesntly.

For me, I stay away from Cacao, once i'm off it im fine and calm and never think about it or want it. After eating some i just want more and more, can't sleep, feel a little funny etc.

[juliebove]

I don't know about super foods but it's certainly possible to OD on foods. I read about carrots on another board. This guy mistakenly thought they would clear his acne so was juicing several pounds a day as well as eating tons of raw ones. He turned orange.

[cathyinontario]

LOL I know about overdoing beta carotene. My sister did that to her baby. He only wanted to eat carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, etc. all of the veggies loaded with beta carotene. He looked jaundiced. When she took him to the doctors he told her to lay off the carrots and feed the boy some greens!

[Cerellia]

I'd say as long as your nutriens come in their natural complex and not in chemical pills ect, your body should be able to handle them and eliminate the surplus as long as you don't overeat too much and too often.
I think our fruits and vegetables contain far less nutriens than they should because the soils have become poor due to monocultures and because we eat a lot of fruits that have been picked unriped and artificially afterripened (at least where I live you can hardly avoid this), so it does not harm to suppliment this with nutrient dense food such like goji berries and alge. I would be careful, though, with raw chocolate which does contain a lot of good stuff but is also addictive.

[cathyinontario]

yes, I think I will limit the raw cacao to once or twice a week. I am still new and experimenting. Trying to listen to my body. The trouble is that my body is telling me something and it is like it is speaking a foreign language LOL I don't know yet what it is trying to say. All last evening I was feeling like I was missing something. I was hungry and not hungry at the same time (not sure if that makes any sense)