What Are Nightshade Plants?

There are over 2800 species of nightshade plants all of which fall into the classification categories of Polemoniales or Solanaceae. These nightshades come in many forms and can be foods, herbs, shrubs, or trees. Some of these being so common that we might never have considered them to be a member of this distinct family.

Some of the most common nightshade plants are the white potato, tomato, eggplant, green, yellow or red bell pepper, hot peppers, and the tobacco plant.

Other less common nightshade plants include the mandrake, belladonna, tomatillos, tamarios, pepinos, pimentos, ground cherries (Physalis), garden huckleberry (Solanum melanocerasum), and Morning Glory.

Common seasonings or spices that are derived from nightshade plants are Tabasco sauce, Paprika, and Cayenne pepper.

It is important to know which plants fall under the category of a nightshade plant because a large number of people suffer from ill health reactions when they come in contact with these plants. Many people with existing health problems have no idea that their current illness may be caused by an allergy to nightshade plants.

Approximately seventy five percent of all people have an allergy, sensitivity or intolerance to one or more foods that they consume. Symptoms of an intolerance to a specific food might include difficulty breathing or cough, fatigue, headache or migraine, flushing, rashes, swelling, gastrointestinal difficulties such as gas, diarrhea, bloating, nausea or abdominal pain. Food sensitivities can display themselves as a simple mild case of gastrointestinal discomfort, or they may be severe enough to cause the development of an immune system response resulting in the formation of a chronic illness, or in the most severest of cases they can even result in the death of the individual. Food sensitivities should always be taken very seriously. They are a warning from your body that it is not able to tolerate what you are feeding it.

What a lot of people may not realize is that food allergies, and intolerances, are often triggered by the very foods that you are raised on and consider to be safe for consumption. Foods so common that you would never suspect them of being harmful to your health, unfortunately often are, and nightshade plants are one of these food groups. Nightshade plants are common place in our lives, so you may not suspect that these vegetables are the reason for your ill health, that is until an allergy test comes back proving that they are indeed the culprit.

Most of us know that the tobacco plant is not good for us because it contains a little chemical that we all know by the name of "nicotine". However, what most people do not know is that other nightshade plants such as eggplant, and tomato also contain nicotine. The nightshade family of plants has a distinct protective defense mechanism to keep insects from consuming them, they produce alkaloids, a nitrogen containing structure designed to poison the offending insect.

There are four types of alkaloids distinct to the nightshade family of plants, steroid alkaloids, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, indole alkaloids, and tropane alkaloids. Health effects from the consumption of these can result in joint or nervous system disorders, digestive problems, loss of calcium in bone or increase of calcium in soft tissue, as well as other health related problems.

The people who ingest members of the nightshade family, also eat the very alkaloids that the plant produces to ward off offending insects, the very poisons that nightshade plants produce to keep itself from being consumed.

Nightshade plants that are known to cause intolerances within people are generally the white potato, tomato, eggplant, green, yellow or red bell pepper, hot pepper, tobacco, mandrake, belladonna and morning glory. It is important to note that nightshade food products are sometimes hidden within other foods or fall under the guise of a seasoning or spice. This includes such foods as Pimentos, Paprika, Cayenne pepper, and Tabasco sauce.

It is recommended that individuals who suffer from Rheumatoid arthritis, Gout, Osteoarthritis, or other forms of Arthritis should not consume nightshade plants.

Never consume raw nightshade vegetables. Cooking these foods can reduce the strength of the alkaloids within them by a large degree. So much so, that cooking these foods can in fact reduce the amount of these potentially hazardous chemicals by as much as forty or fifty percent.

Do not store potatoes in a lighted area as this will increase their alkaloid content.

Do not consume green or sprouted potatoes as they contain higher amounts of alkaloids.

Safeguard your health!

If you suspect your health problems are a direct result of a food intolerance please talk to your doctor as soon as possible.

You may also wish to participate in an elimination diet plan to discover whether or not nightshade plants are the cause of your ill health symptoms or current diagnosed illness.

To test for a nightshade intolerance simply eliminate all nightshade plants from your diet plan for about four weeks. If they are the cause of your ill health than you should begin to notice some improvements to your health within three to four weeks .........Read Full Article On Elimination Diets.

Remission! I suddenly felt like superwoman, even steroids had not been able to give me the strength that being "normal" now gave me. The unbearable pain that I had suffered for the previous 6 years was gone, my mind was brilliantly clear and I could think again. I could run again, bend again, I had stamina again and I could play again. Best of all I looked like me again.

I was me again and I was terrified ........Read Full Article.

Foods With Zero Calories? Foods With A Negative Calorie Count?
Although all foods contain calories. Some foods take so much energy to digest that your body actually burns up the calories from them in the process of consuming them. These are called Zero Calorie Foods. Still other amazing foods take so much energy to digest that you actually lose weight by eating them! These are known as Negative Calorie Foods ......Read Full Article.

Every now and then it is nice to get mom a gift that absolutely no one else on God's Green Earth would consider giving her. A gift so out of the ordinary that it boggles the very thought patterns of all those who try to determine exactly why you would consider such an item as an appropriate gift item for dear old mom.

You might even call these weirdly wonderful gifts, the strangest Mothers Day gifts imaginable, and that would indeed be an almost ideal description of them. After all you have been looking for a gift for mom that is unique, and one that no one else would give her anyways, so hey why not?

Go for the gusto! Break the mold!

Get mom one of the strangest Mothers Day gifts that you can think of this year, or at the very least, one of the weirdest mothers Day gifts ......Read Full Article

http://nutrition.about.com/od/dietsformedicaldisorders/a/antiinflamfood.htm

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=62

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanaceae

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