Tomatoes and the nightshade debate

I never really ate tomatoes until I started on my weight loss journey. Since then I incorporate them a lot more (usually along with avocado). I had one tonight. I find them to be enjoyable, filling, and a good way to help volume eat as they have minimal calories. Also, anecdotally, I tend to feel better when I have them vs. when I don't. No idea if that is just in my mind or not, but I certainly don't feel worse.

I tend to agree with @NovusDies that nowadays everything is considered "bad" for you. If you were to believe every article out there about why not to eat something, there would be almost nothing left to eat. Conversely, most things that are bad also tend to be considered a "superfood", which just makes it more confusing. Google "tomatoes superfood" and you'll find lots of articles extolling all the amazing miracle health benefits of the tomato. I tend to think both sides are mostly noise, and I try to cut it all out and just focus on eating things I enjoy within a calorie deficit while trying to balance macro and micro nutrients. Tomatoes can help with that, so they are a pro in my opinion.

It is impossible to address complex dietary issues in a series of short posts. I would respond more scientifically to direct questions.

May be if I refer anyone interested in looking into natural chemicals which can cause digestive issues to the e-book, Food can make you ill, by Sharla Race as a very good starting point.

Much of my information comes from the functional perspective, concepts rejected by general medicine so how can we expect the members of our society who have not had cause to experience Health issues related to the foods we eat. Functional Medicine, uses the same blood tests and other test general medicine does but delves deeper into why a body is doing what it does and set to rectify the dietary/nutritional deficiencies issues before turning to the plasters of medication.

There is a saying, WE ARE WHAT WE EAT. If we do not absorb the right nutrition for ourselves we are not going to thrive.

Thank you, so very much, Paperpudding.

We are both in agreement, the idea of a liver cleanse in 5, 10 or 15. Is out and out rubbish. Anyone who has liver difficulties needs more than a trivial cleanse. Using NHS permitted testing all was good for me, though I did not get the numbers, giggle. I've learned, its easier to understand things with numbers. Private liver function testing showed up issues in me which were addressed functionally with herbs in products which got the active ingredient past my salicylate intolerance. I don't bother with Hyman either.

I read Dr Josh Axe, Dr Dave Jockers and Dr Chris Kresser, Qualified in Western and Oriental Medicine including acupuncture. He was taken ill on a gap year and lost his health and was failed by the regular system so he did his own research and training. What I like about those people is they explain things, Axe and Jockers use some good explanatory graphics. There are one or two British doctors, one, a lady who works in the Welsh Marches but I forget her name. There are Histamine Intolerance experts, Allison Vickery and Janice Joneila (?sp) There are many others. There are People who know about Salicylate too.

I have worked with a BANT registered Nutritionist (UK only) because I wanted my life back and using the NHS I was shut out what they offered only added to my issues. My only available expectation back then was to remain house bound by reactions to the external environment, dietary issues and arthritis. I was unable to go into public places, reacting to peoples perfumes and laundry residues and the dreadful air fresheners in public conveniences, giggle. Sometimes I would cough uncontrollably, or gag, and at one orchestral concert, I had to hold my nose and shallow breath through almost closed lips covered by a large cotton hanky. Life was unliveable. I needed better for my family and myself. I wanted to be out there with them enjoying what they enjoy.

I am not the first nor the last to have followed the repair oneself by using, appropriate to me, functional methods with enzymes and digestive microbes and supplements, others will have their appropriate combinations. Allergy and intolerances are very personal in both the way you arrive at them and the way they take you. I was hearing about the Nightshade debate over this weekend. A recent research project was unable to substantiate the oft vaunted concept that "nightshade aggravates arthritis" and other pain issues. I believe it is because of the variety of reasons which can under health problems like arthritis that the project failed to find anything. The methodology could also be at fault!

When you don't have a life worth living you either accept it or try to do something about it. I discovered salicylate intolerance before I found the Professor in immunology, who I consider gave me the key facts of my condition. I had laid out before him, the very same information of how my body reacted as I had to the person from that department who ran the clinic at the local hospital who missed all I had told him, I got to the Reginal Department almost by deception I had talked to Allergy Charities and support numbers who advised I try again. I discovered the salicylate intolerance because having been advised to use pain relief before exercise to kill the pain, I had not been diligent in taking the stuff and felt no pain so I experimented several times, without it, lovely, with it, doubled up. I discovered maize starch was the filler in the paracetamol I was using, its not salicylate. I was that reactive to the Maize starch is high in salicylate!

I find it intolerable that when there is well regulated research available from eminent institutions the NHS is refused permission by NICE, the board charged with cost-effectiveness etc, to do their own research. NICE, is blinkered and these blinkers are passed down to all NHS employed Doctors who have to toe the line. Our media, science based programs provides us with more relevant, referenced information for those who need to help themselves because they can't achieve support elsewhere.

Patients have reversed diabeties, resolved gaulstones and other chronic conditions by takeing the apropriate functional aproach. Me, having to give up work because of so many reactions am out and about even minding a 22 month old three days a week. I'm productive. So if someone reads what i have said, does their own research, thinks about how their body works and does what they feel is right for them, the choice being theirs, I am more than content.

I would not wish anyone to go through all the issues I've endured because of closed minds.

Paperpudding, you are one of the very last people, I would consider as having a closed mind.

I had not intended to give offence. I am guilty of miss typing. What i typed came out wrong, reading as a back handed swipe, which was not my intention at all. I know from other threads, with comments of yours you do take a real interest in health and your mind is far from closed. which is how i intended it to read. I deeply apologise.

I do not find that tomatoes or any nightshade affect my inflammation. i have found it affects my acid reflux. paste or sauce is tolerable. whole/sliced not good
bell peppers are even worse for me.

i hate eggplant. so i wouldn't know about that

Gosh we will do mods out of a job disagreeing in such friendly lovey dovey style

I've never bought into the whole nightshade thing,I have a friend who's big on all the hype that goes around and she avoids gluten,sugar, dairy,nightshades etc she's constantly lecturing me about my frat boy style of eating but honestly I have no problem with any of the foods I like to eat,I honestly don't think she'd have much problem eating whatever either she just likes following fad's and the above mentioned "Dr.'s"

Should've searched before posting a new post. Yes, nightshade sensitivity is a thing. I have child who loves spaghetti and meatballs, anything with a red sauce, but over the past six months, she's developed an almost allergic reaction...violent vomiting the morning after. She's been to the ER three times because the vomiting is so extreme.

I had bloodwork done years ago because I had a lot of inflammation and autoimmune disorders. For many years, I just did not eat any of the extraordinary numbers of foods that I was sensitive or allergic to, including tomatoes. However, when I went vegan (and did not eat any animal products), I had to eat all of my allergens because it was all I could eat (vegetables). I have not had any problems with inflammation since I went vegan. When I began veganism, I ate some meat about 6 months into it becauase I was unsure if I wanted to keep it up. I swelled up like a balloon! It was crazy. Meat!? I had no allergens to meat. But...your guess is as good as mine.

Tomatoes can cause reactions for many people. Sometimes, though, it isn't just the tomato...apparently.

ladyzherra wrote: »

I had bloodwork done years ago because I had a lot of inflammation and autoimmune disorders. For many years, I just did not eat any of the extraordinary numbers of foods that I was sensitive or allergic to, including tomatoes. However, when I went vegan (and did not eat any animal products), I had to eat all of my allergens because it was all I could eat (vegetables). I have not had any problems with inflammation since I went vegan. When I began veganism, I ate some meat about 6 months into it becauase I was unsure if I wanted to keep it up. I swelled up like a balloon! It was crazy. Meat!? I had no allergens to meat. But...your guess is as good as mine.

Tomatoes can cause reactions for many people. Sometimes, though, it isn't just the tomato...apparently.

Some amount of bad reaction is pretty normal, if eating meat after a long-ish period of no-exception strict plant-based eating, or potentially even after less restrictive forms of vegetarianism. It's about adaptation in things like gut microbiome, I suspect. There's been only pretty preliminary research, but I saw a small crossover study that suggests (1) there's quite a difference** between gut microbiome amongst long-term plant-only vs. meaty omnivore eaters, and (2) the crossover (veg eaters started eating meat, meat eaters stopped) found that adaptation happens as fast as a couple of weeks, IIRC, and definitely faster than researchers anticipated.

Symptoms of eating meat after a long interval (or dramatically and suddenly increasing plants, for that matter) would probably differ by person, but things like excessive gas, nausea, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, etc. might be good guesses as possibilities, and the severity probably dose-dependent.

You may have developed new allergies, of course, I'm not suggesting otherwise. But adaptation alone can provoke some symptoms.

** Read that carefully, please :flowerforyou: . I didn't say that plant-based eaters have a better microbiome. There's very limited sound science on the subject so far, mostly amounting to it looking as if more diverse microbiome correlates with improved outcomes vs. less diversity, but not about which bugs are good, or why/how. And I'm not saying plant-eaters have more diverse microbiome than omnivores, either. Just different.

whitpauly wrote: »

I've never bought into the whole nightshade thing,I have a friend who's big on all the hype that goes around and she avoids gluten,sugar, dairy,nightshades etc she's constantly lecturing me about my frat boy style of eating but honestly I have no problem with any of the foods I like to eat,I honestly don't think she'd have much problem eating whatever either she just likes following fad's and the above mentioned "Dr.'s"

I don't know what you mean by the bolded - are you saying that no one is sensitive to nightshades or, like gluten, more people avoid them than need to?