Nightshade Vegetables

Did you know that some of us are very sensitive to a few of the main vegetables we eat? These vegetables are known as Nightshade vegetables. They can cause diarrhea, gas, bloating, nausea, painful joints, headaches and depression. Even though it hasn’t been clinically proven, there may even be a connection between acne and nightshade vegetables.

Here is a list of nightshades that we tend to consume regularly.

1. Potatoes (excluding sweet potatoes)
2. Tomatoes
3. Peppers
4. Eggplant
5. Goji berries (and other berries we don’t commonly eat.

From that list, how many of those foods do you eat on a daily basis?

If you are a person who eats nightshade vegetables regularly, and have no symptoms to nightshade sensitivity, then you are in the clear. Eat away!

My Experiment with Nightshade Vegetable

For some of you that know me, you know that I have suffered with acne for almost 20 years. Throughout those years I have tried everything under the sun to see some improvement with my acne. I even started eating clean, which I don’t feel I need to explain since that is the new fad. I have read in many articles that if you eat clean, that would dramatically help acne. So I jumped on the eating clean train years ago. Yes, of course, I saw some results. It took away some of my big boulder zits. The results took place more so in the waistline than in my acne. I couldn’t figure it out. I refused to go on the antibiotics that were constantly prescribed to me.

At this point I was discouraged, but didn’t change my clean eating habits. I actually enjoyed what I was eating, and it became a lifestyle that felt so good. The main vegetables I used in cooking that added a lot of great flavor were tomatoes and peppers. In my cooking I also used a lot of potatoes, so my family and I always felt satisfied and full.

I didn’t understand why my face was always so red with discoloration, and bumpy with a few big boulder zits at all times.

It wasn’t until this one day that my mom called, that everything made sense.

She had watched a show on tv that was health related. The topic on the show was nightshade vegetables. I immediately started intently researching nightshades. I had learned that there is a link between acne and nightshade vegetables. They say they can cause inflammation but has yet to be clinically proven to be the cause of acne in some people.

I thought, what the heck! What do I have to loose? I tried my own experiment. My findings are actually quite interesting!

I immediately took action, and eliminated these foods from my diet/lifestyle of clean eating.

Every morning I woke up and looked in the mirror, I was seeing dramatic results. Less and less redness and discoloration. Less inflammation in the bumpiness on my skin, which over a two week period was gone!

Now, In all the articles I have read they say that it has never been clinically proven that nightshades and acne are linked. But I am sure glad that in those articles, they did mention that it may be possible. Throughout my experiment and personal experience I am a firm believer in Nightshade vegetables and acne being linked.

If you suffer from any of the nightshade symptoms I listed in the beginning of this article, I challenge you to cut out nightshades, and share your findings. You never know, you may end up with amazing results like I did! Don’t be discouraged if cutting nightshades out doesn’t work for you. You should actually be happy you still get to continue eating these wonderful foods. Even though they may have a negative effect on a small number of people, they still have amazing properties.