boutenko says to blend aloe with skin into smoothie--don't do it!

[OliveJewel]

I am suffering from straight up aloe poisoning right now.

[countryangels]

Originally Posted by OliveJewel 

I am suffering from straight up aloe poisoning right now.

I am sorry you are going through this!

I did read somewhere that by blending it all together, it helps to prevent cancer. Supposedly, people

in Brazil do this, not sure....

Could you post how you are doing now, please!

Feel better!

I have taken the gel out of it & placed it in the glass with my juice, no problem. If you blend it, the gel, it changes its chemistry, from what I understand...??

Take care,

[OliveJewel]

Thank you!  I am better!  I basically had about 18 hours of severe cramping, about 8 hours of extreme dehydration and about 18 hours of total fatigue.  I did not eat almost all day, no appetite.  The next day I felt better, but weak.  My abdomen was still very very sore.  My appetite returned slowly.  The following day I was almost back to normal and three days after I was fine.

The *only* other website I found advocating eating the entire leaf with the skin was one for people with chronic constipation!  Apparently the latex is considered a cathartic laxative and was "outlawed" by the FDA in 2002 because it was "too strong."  

I think it was a perfect storm.  For one thing, where I live, in Tucson, we had not had any rain in months so the aloe plants were kind of dessicated and probably had extra latex as a measure against the drought.  Also I used the tip of the leaf, which has a higher latex to gel ratio.  Finally, I had been suffering from a mild latex allergy in the previous month (I *think* it was due to low iron and B12--I had gotten my period back six months after giving birth and had not been taking iron even though I tend toward anemia--I read that anemia can lead to skin reactions).  So I had been having a mild latex reaction (hives where the elastic bands were touching my skin) and people with latex allergies react worse to aloe latex.  So all those things conspired to produce a bad reaction in me.

I have not met anyone yet who ate the skin of the aloe leaf!  I can't believe that Victoria Boutenko wrote that she ate the aloe with the skin daily!  She said she grows the aloe in her window, so maybe because they were grown inside they are milder?  And maybe she has a really tough colon?  :)  The poison control lady said that eating aloe latex is kind of equivalent to painting the inside of your colon with hot pepper sauce.  I can vouch for that!