This has been a difficult week to write anything here. It's had two physical problems. The first might be unpleasant to read; so if you prefer not getting it, come back for the next blog and enjoy the cactus blooms.
For me, my biggest problem (so far) began on Monday when I got nauseous and then threw up. Since I had felt a little under the weather in the morning, i hadn't eaten much since Easter dinner, there wasn't much involved with it beyond mucous, which there was a lot. I know, too much detail, but it matters if you stick with me. I spent it feeling lousy on all of Monday, so icky that I didn't feel like doing anything, which is rare for me.
Days later, I am still not eating normally and now very leery of what is safe, as I have tried to figure out what went wrong. Basically, I have researched it a lot, but it looks like allergy or intolerance. On Easter dinner, I ate scalloped potatoes, which I didn't think twice about doing, although I have been less enthusiastic about potatoes for a long time. I hadn't thought of them as a real problem but should have since I'd gotten sick two times in the last month eating food using a tomato sauce.
Research on the whole thing, once I felt halfway decent, has shown me my symptoms fit with nightshade intolerance or allergies. Now my question is why would that develop? If any readers here have answers, I'd love to hear it. I guess these problems are more typical as we age. Also nightshade problems tend to go with people who've had problems with gluten or dairy.
Gluten problems began in my mid-60s. I only discovered this year that it might be more glyphosate than gluten (maybe some of both depending on the food. Research led to learn that farmers have been spraying their crops with Roundup before harvest to make it faster and easier. For those who don't worry about GMO food, you might find it of interest that they didn't do it just to improve the food but more to make it possible to keep the plant alive while poisoning its leaves (that's the level of my techie expertise but if you are interested, look it up).
When I got to Tucson this time I switched to organic bread (much more costly) and found I could eat it without belly pain. Some aren't bothered by glyphosate, but it appears that wasn't true for me as it left me with that lower abdominal pain. Down here, so far so good... but now something new got added to the mix of concerns. Nightshades.
After being sick for a third time in a month, I went on a search using multiple sources. On the lists, I ticked off the symptoms and except for hives, but including eczema, which I had blamed on dairy, nightshades had them all.
So what are nightshades?People who are allergic to the alkaloids in nightshades may experience one or more of the following symptoms after eating a vegetable from the nightshade family:
- hives and skin rashes.
- itchiness.
- nausea.
- vomiting.
- excessive mucus production.
- achy muscles and joints.
- inflammation.
By the end of the week, I was eating again but cautiously as some articles said it can take several weeks to get over a bout. You can imagine what foods are off my list but what can I substitute them with? I am frustrated that I've had these food problems as an old woman that I didn't as a younger one. We did also look at those potatoes and they were not organic. So, it could have been a mix of reasons including again the glyphosate. Maybe it's none of these things and something new will show up. One thing about food allergies is they are hard even for a doctor to diagnose. It takes experimenting.
I will say it's been interesting. For instance, i learned people can have leaky guts. Who knew? Well, maybe some did but I didn't. What is a leaky gut? I don't know. I don't want to know unless I find it necessary-- and hopefully that won't happen.
Better eating is the goal but more carefully chosen foods.
On that second problem. I've gone too long here. Next time on it. It's been educational too. Not all things that are educational are fun...
10 comments:
A friend of mine says he feels better since giving up the nightshades but tomatoes used to be his very favourite food. He misses them. Another friend who gets very ill eating dairy food recently had allergy testing and was told she was fine to eat dairy, but her doctor said trust your gut more than these tests. I'm guessing that as we get older our systems weaken and we are less able to handle problematic foods. Some people have allergies as children that go away when they grow up but then return when they get much older. As a kid I was allergic to ragweed but I outgrew it, then it returned in a much milder form in recent years. Good luck!
Allergies can come and go at any age and with the use of herbicides and pesticides, even though they are being reduced, we can get allergies from those! Glad you are being a scientist about this because it can be so confusing without attention to detail, and it can be other issues. I do hope you find the sources and stay healthy. I have been getting a greater reaction to pollen each year even though it only interferes with my peaceful sleep such as I get. Luckily I can still garden with ease.
I had asthma as a kid and have none since. Some of my 'sensitivity' problems began in my 60s when I had poison oak go systemic. I didn't even know it was poison oak given how I'd gotten it-- dogs running between my legs in town. The nightshade problem though appears to be recent-- if that's what it is. It does take being a scientist and trying to figure out what changed.
I commend your ability to research the problem in the maze of the internet. Hope you can feel better soon.
On replacing tomatoes and potatoes: From having gone through an integrated medicine elimination diet, several additions to your search could be helpful. First, if you can figure it out without the integrated medicine approach I went through, go for it. The elimination diet was an ordeal because of the herbs they recommended screwing my elimination problem. Second, everyone in the integrative medicine treatments, my nutricianist says, is treated for leaky gut. Simply reduce red meats except for field raised organic beef like you raise. Organic chicken and salt water fish like salmon are good. Only use olive oil for oils, eliminate foods that are known to be allergens. Natural Food Stores can advise you without you having to see a doctor.
Leaky gut is not a big deal to fix. The expensive testing is not necessary, just assume everyone has it.
Third, focus on a list of foods you can eat and forget about replacing what you cannot with overly processed, sugar ladden, food substitutes.
Third, as we get older we produce fewer digestive enzymes. I take enzymes with every meal.
My doctor is amazed that without B vitamins and calcium supplements my blood tests are normal. Must be your good beef and lamb liver. I take D3 2000 units daily.
Since my new diet, I do not need medication for blood pressure for the time being. Wishing you health and a speedy conclusion to your car port. So you will be back in Oregon soon. Miss you.
You have my heartfelt sympathies. I can no longer eat nightshade plants either. My digestion has been good most of my life in spite of allergies but the last year it went nuts. I really miss tomatoes and potatoes have always given me contact dermatitis on my hands. The allergist I saw told me to lay off processed meats and cheeses too so ham went the way of the potatoes. The upside is when I started following the diet to tamp down inflammation my gut is much happier and the rashes went away. There's any number of those recommendations on the web as you probably know already. Sadly I think there are too many chemicals and antibiotics delivered in our food. Keep up your research.
I am sorry you are going through this. It does sound like you are doing due diligence in researching cause & effect.
I am sure trying. I am still trying to figure out though a substitute for tomatoes lol. I am also wondering if I avoid all nightshades for a period of time, can I cheat once in a while, with a pizza, as I used to do with gluten, before I found out it wasn't gluten for me but glyphosates. Potatoes are not the big deal for me. I think my system hadn't liked them so much for some time, but tomato sauces! I love so many things with a great tomato sauce or a tomato in a salad or on a hamburger. But after I am long over this, I'll see what is possible... like in months lol
Ripe papaya is soft and juicy and sweet like a tomato. It is also packed with enzymes that help with digestion. Expensive but well worth the price. I pick papaya with skin breaks and has blemishes. Usually the ripe ones are turning from green to yellow. Some of the ripe ones have round spoiled places on the surface . I cut them out. Once I purchased one that had more rot. But 99% of the time small spots of rot are fine. Usually the slightly spoiled ones take less time to ripen. The big ones from Mexico taste good this time of year. I cut them in half and store them up side down on a plate in the refrigerator. Then I cut off round slices for breakfast. I have heard of people using the seeds as pepper. I throw the seeds out.
The pulp could be cooked into a sauce. I have seen canned and dried papaya too. But never used it. Have fun experimenting.
Isn't papaya sweet? That would ruin it for a tomato sauce for me. Maybe I am wrong.
We had planned, before all the delays, to add fruit trees here. Paul cleared out cacti for one place, with more on tap, but it's too late now. We may try in the fall. We'd had on the list pomegranates, persimmon (more for the birds than us) and figs. But it turns out papaya does grow here but takes protection from the frosts. I want a garden area here eventually. We added herbs last year and they're doing well.
Post a Comment