The Nightshades
I went to Wikipedia and read about the nightshade family today. In particular, I read about solanine which is an active poison found in the entire Solanaeae family, but is at it's highest concentration in potatoes. It varies in amount, but potatoes are the first culprit, followed by eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers - but I can't figure out in what order.
I found this bit particularly interesting:
Solanine poisoning is primarily displayed by gastrointestinal and neurological disorders. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps, burning of the throat, heart arrhythmia, headache and dizziness.
When I got sick a few weeks ago, I had:
nausea
diarrhea
vomiting
stomach cramps
headahe
dizziness
When I went to the cardiologist a few months ago - remember it was for the pounding of my heart.
And in the last few years I've developed migraines for the first time in my life.
Yeah. Wow. OK.
Potatoes are the worst of the lot - which may be why it seems OK for me to use things like hot peppers in my food (cooked). I think the caspicum far outweighs the solanine in the concentrations I use it at (1 small pepper for 4-6 servings of food). I'm probably going to cut down on my use at home (as I have been doing) and generally continuing to avoid hot peppers - but I'm not going to go into a panic over them, like I seem to need to with potatoes, eggpland and the rest. Who knows, it may be that once a year I can have a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.
I *am* sad about the potatoes. For most of my life, my favorite comfort foods have been mashed potatoes or a nice baked potato. I love little roasted potatoes with olive oils and big salt crystals, and I adore french fries. And while I have never liked raw tomatoes - I adore them roasted. This past summer it was one of my staples (when my IBS got so bad - ding ding ding!) and I adored eating them. I hate giving away my homemade and canned tomato saue. I have never been a huge eggplant or bell pepper fan, so that's less of a problem for me.
The day I decided to give up eggs was when I had eggs and homefries at a diner thinking they were "safe" even though they totally weren't. It might not have been the eggs turns out... Hope springs eternal! Eating eggs again would make me very happy.
So.... next up: eggs on the list of Do Not Haves. Either that, or lactose free milk. Honestly though, with the dairy, it might be lactose, or it might be casein in which case Lactaid is of no use to me.
I like trying to understand what exactly is the issue. Just saying "nightshades" doesn't necessarily help. Being able to say, "Solanine", makes me feel like I have a bit more of a handle on what's happening.
N.
I found this bit particularly interesting:
Solanine poisoning is primarily displayed by gastrointestinal and neurological disorders. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps, burning of the throat, heart arrhythmia, headache and dizziness.
When I got sick a few weeks ago, I had:
nausea
diarrhea
vomiting
stomach cramps
headahe
dizziness
When I went to the cardiologist a few months ago - remember it was for the pounding of my heart.
And in the last few years I've developed migraines for the first time in my life.
Yeah. Wow. OK.
Potatoes are the worst of the lot - which may be why it seems OK for me to use things like hot peppers in my food (cooked). I think the caspicum far outweighs the solanine in the concentrations I use it at (1 small pepper for 4-6 servings of food). I'm probably going to cut down on my use at home (as I have been doing) and generally continuing to avoid hot peppers - but I'm not going to go into a panic over them, like I seem to need to with potatoes, eggpland and the rest. Who knows, it may be that once a year I can have a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.
I *am* sad about the potatoes. For most of my life, my favorite comfort foods have been mashed potatoes or a nice baked potato. I love little roasted potatoes with olive oils and big salt crystals, and I adore french fries. And while I have never liked raw tomatoes - I adore them roasted. This past summer it was one of my staples (when my IBS got so bad - ding ding ding!) and I adored eating them. I hate giving away my homemade and canned tomato saue. I have never been a huge eggplant or bell pepper fan, so that's less of a problem for me.
The day I decided to give up eggs was when I had eggs and homefries at a diner thinking they were "safe" even though they totally weren't. It might not have been the eggs turns out... Hope springs eternal! Eating eggs again would make me very happy.
So.... next up: eggs on the list of Do Not Haves. Either that, or lactose free milk. Honestly though, with the dairy, it might be lactose, or it might be casein in which case Lactaid is of no use to me.
I like trying to understand what exactly is the issue. Just saying "nightshades" doesn't necessarily help. Being able to say, "Solanine", makes me feel like I have a bit more of a handle on what's happening.
N.