Just Ask Terry

Terry is happy to provide his opinion on diet and nutrition, supplements and lifestyle choices. This information is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to replace the advice of your physician and is not to be considered medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Should you have any concerns please contact your physician directly.

Q. Dear Terry, “My wife has been picking dandelion greens and putting them in our salads. Do you think they have any value and are they safe to eat?” —Dan B., Sheboygan, WI A. Dear Dan, Dandelion greens are wonderful to eat and they have great value. They’re a little bit on the bitter side which, based on some folk lore, indicates they are especially beneficial for proper liver function. The only thing that I would recommend is that you look for the greens early in the year and pick them from an area where you are sure they are not sprayed or the surrounding area is not fertilized with chemicals. Not only are the leaves of great benefit, but the roots are excellent as well. You can actually roast the root, grind it up, and brew it like coffee or tea. According to James Duke, PhD, author of The Green Pharmacy, dandelion root heads the list of excellent foods for the liver. The leaves are a diuretic, which means they help flush excess water from the body, and the roots have been used for centuries to treat jaundice, the yellowing of the skin that occurs as a result of a seriously malfunctioning liver. James Duke highly recommends both the leaves and flowers. He says the dandelion flowers have an exceptionally high level of lecithin, a nutrient that has been proven useful in various liver ailments. Dr. Duke suggests, since dandelion is a plant food, to steam the leaves and flowers like spinach, and eat a lot of this delicious vegetable. If you are only enjoying the leaves and flowers as a vegetable, you may enjoy the somewhat bitter taste. You can also toss the leaves and flowers in with the rest of your green salad. However, if you don’t care for the bitter taste, health food stores sell capsules, tablets and tinctures of dandelion root. If you are interested in more wild edible foods, an excellent resource is http://foragersharvest.com. This is the website of Sam Thayer, a respected naturalist and expert on wild edible foods. He has written many books on this topic, and has been a life-long advocate of harvesting wild foods. Healthy regards! Terry . . . Naturally