Grains and Nightshades

[Catrin]

I was posting the following under another thread, but it seemed better to just post a new thread. I've noted some things since my "primal" experiment started in July that might be helpful to others. This is not about any specific diet, just observations I've noted.

Studies are apparently showing that more people are sensitive to grains who do not have Celiac's disease (here, here, and here). The last link is more of a summary, provides links to recent studies, and explains the difference between Celiac's and non-Celiac's gluten sensitivity. For whatever reason, as soon as I dropped grain in any form out of my diet my health improved immediately - including my arthritis, digestive system problems, etc. Energy levels shot through the roof, I sleep much better and my moods are much more stable. I don't really care why this worked, I just focus on the end results.

My rosacea has also greatly decreased - it is still there - but far less pronounced. I don't ascribe that to dropping grains however, I've read that foods on the nightshade family can make rosacea and related conditions worse so I experimented with dropping those as well (nightshade family = Potatoes (white), tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, tamarios, pepinos, pimentos, paprika, and cayenne pepper). Thankfully sweet potatoes aren't in the nightshade family. Unsure if the change in the rosacea is grain or nightshade related, but all I know is every other attempt over the decades to treat or at least lessen the rosacea had NO affect and would sometimes even increase it. That included a wide range of medical treatments/prescriptions. Change of diet did, though it took a couple of months and was so gradual that I didn't notice it until one recent morning when I had an 'aha' moment looking in the mirror one morning Here is a link to a page that discusses nutrition for skin conditions and how to conduct an elimination diet to determine if there is a sensitivity issue.

I didn't start the nightshade elimination experiment until October, and I saw immediate results when I dropped grains in July so it was easy to see different benefits after each experiment. The rosacea improvement became noticeable about 3 weeks ago. Arthritis problems are also attributed to nightshades, interesting discussion here. I've not totally eliminated all nightshades, every few weeks I will still add a little paprika to my eggs or add some tomatoes when I braise short ribs or beef shanks. It isn't weekly however. I have totally eliminated all forms of grain and will not return to them - the positive outcome was so large, immediate, and noticeable that it would be silly to return. Why would I willingly return to feeling like cr*p? My only grain "cheat" is 1 beer a week...

The take home from all of this is our diet plays a very large role in our health and well-being that goes far beyond weight control. That statement may appear very obvious, but I think that the collective "we" have kind of forgotten in our societal search for easy weight loss.

[Melalvai]

Sounds like you are pretty well convinced but if you ever find yourself needing a little more convincing, try putting that food back in your diet. If your symptoms return, and then go away when you take the food out again, that's pretty solid evidence that you don't want that food around.

For me it was sugar. When I eliminated sugar from my diet, several symptoms (hormone related) got better and after 3 months were nearly eradicated. When I went back on sugar, after a couple months they were back in full force. Eliminate sugar again, the symptoms go away.

My problem is I can't seem to stay away from sugar. I just don't have the will power.

[Catrin]

It can be hard, especially with sugar. A couple of years before my experiment with grains I had cut out all processed foods and added sugar - so my diet was quite clean outside of grains...

I thought about adding them back in to see what happens, but frankly, I like how I feel too much to take that risk. I am far from deprived and really have no desire to even make the attempt.

[Crankin]

Although I have only had sporadic periods of up to a month with no grains at all, I just can't do it. I do feel deprived. And, I didn't really notice it helping anything in the way I feel, either, although, that may not have been long enough. My main goal was weight loss. However, I have found a happy medium, which is eating almost no grains during the week, using Ezekial bread when I get the urge, and saving up for a few cheat days where I might have a whole wheat bagel or tortilla. Very occasionally, I eat something with white flour (I started eliminating that a long time ago). Today was one of those days; I had 2 slices of sour dough French toast. Probably the first time in 3-4 months I've had that.
I don't eat any junk food, so I pat myself on the back for that, but that's as far as I can go.

[OakLeaf]

I would have a hard time living without hot pepper, that's for sure! Though I've seen some recipes for pre-Columbian Indian food, that derive a good bit of heat from black pepper.

I have a garden variety allergy to most grains, but I can do hypoallergenic grains like rice and millet without any apparent symptoms (and I'm pretty aware of symptoms at this point). I seem to be okay with teff as well, though I wouldn't swear to that one. Sounds like you're happy the way things are, but if you ever get a craving you could always use one of the broadleaf plant seeds that people often substitute for grains ... buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa for a few.

[Catrin]

I would have a hard time living without hot pepper, that's for sure! Though I've seen some recipes for pre-Columbian Indian food, that derive a good bit of heat from black pepper.

I have a garden variety allergy to most grains, but I can do hypoallergenic grains like rice and millet without any apparent symptoms (and I'm pretty aware of symptoms at this point). I seem to be okay with teff as well, though I wouldn't swear to that one. Sounds like you're happy the way things are, but if you ever get a craving you could always use one of the broadleaf plant seeds that people often substitute for grains ... buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa for a few.

Oak, if you could direct me to some of those pre-Columbian Indian food recipes it would be appreciated I love spicy things, but I also love not having a face that shines in the dark... I do still use a bit of paprika occasionally as it doesn't seem to hurt. Tomatoes do seem to be a bit more problematical but I don't cheat with those very often. This is really the only thing I've cut out that I really miss. I use a much wider variety of spices than I once did, that is for sure!

[OakLeaf]

Eh, it's been years and now that I search I can't find any. I gave up Indian cooking because it was just too complicated and time-consuming, and I never felt like I was starting to understand how to build a masala at all, rather than just measuring stuff out of a recipe.

Sorry.



ETA - it took a lot of searching to come up with not much, but this thread on Chowhound is relevant and kind of interesting.

[Catrin]

Interesting Oak, thanks!