Rhubarb: How I became a Fear Monger

I wrote about rhubarb and its high oxalic acid content last week. Even though I tried to keep to my views on balance and moderation, something felt off for me after writing that post. It came to me loud and clear today with the realization:

I have developed a slight fear of rhubarb.

My week's grocery money was getting pretty low and again I remembered the backyard supply of rhubarb just waiting to be my breakfast addition. But a pang of concern halted my free-rhubarb elation:

Oxalic acid.

I had no idea that the startling tang of rhubarb came from these compounds prior to that post. In fact, before coming to Bastyr University I had no idea what oxalic acid was.

Until last week, my connection with rhubarb was via my mom's amazing strawberry rhubarb flan with the light, crisp hazelnut crust (the hazelnuts from our back yard tree cracked during my many hours of TV watching). The strawberries were left fresh and layered over the golden baked, sweetened rhubarb filled crust; then glazed with molten sunshine (or melted apricot jelly). You can't ask for a more perfect balance of tart, sweet, soft and crisp.

The thought of fresh rhubarb with its cheek sucking tartness has always made my saliva glands hurt in a good way. Taste, not health consequences, have guided my rhubarb eating decisions.

But now I was deciding based on fear, and in my experience, fear is not a good place to make decisions from.

Would I be less healthy if I didn't know what oxalic acid was? Would I eat mountains of rhubarb, make chutneys from it to slather on all my meals, pickle it as a side dish, add it to my pilafs and down sweetened bowls of it for dessert? Would I bind every molecule of calcium I consumed and end up with rhubarb-induced osteoporosis? I highly doubt it.

I guess there may be some importance in knowing that rhubarb has that mineral binding potential... but really I think it would give me, or anyone else, a wicked stomach ache long before it was a problem, and more so who wouldn't very quickly grow sick of eating rhubarb after more than a serving or two...? It's not exactly Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge Coconut Bliss...

I think that what's more important than knowing about the exact content of each food product we eat, is learning how to select and prepare a wide variety of whole foods. Again it's the "little bit of this, little bit of that" approach.

A little more learning might go into exploring how you feel when you eat those foods and maybe what you're body is asking for now, today.

I have written about the known benefits of certain foods every now and then in this blog - in my attempt to create some interest in eating whole foods. But, really the foods speak for themselves, and pleasure and enjoyment are a more sustainable approach in my opinion than a fear-based attempt to gain control over health - so... I'll consider this a nudge to myself to include more recipes and tips on how to enjoy whole foods!

And the email is already out to my mom for her Strawberry Rhubarb Flan recipe - it just so happens to be strawberry, (and rhubarb) season.