DO tomatoes hurt your tummy?

[poleidopy]

I made my second raw tomato-based recipe ever, and once again I got really bloaty-feeling and my stomach felt like I swallowed rocks. It hurt. DO you think this could be from the tomatoes, the olive oil, the garlic....what? I'm thinking tomatoes because I'm usually fine with garlic, but I rarely use olive oil and this recipe called for 2 TBSP of it. I LOVED the way the recipe tasted (It was just zucchini noodles with marinara) but it hurt my belly so bad. Is there anyone else who is sensitive to tomatoes? DO you eat them anyway? I can't imagine never having "spaghetti" again, but yowza...

[SevenKindsOfCookie]

Yes, it's quite common. A lot of people have problems with nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant etc) because of a substance called solanine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanine).
The levels of solanine in tomatoes decreases a lot when they are left to ripen on the vine. But most commercially sold tomatoes are picked unripe, thus contains higher levels of the toxic substance.

Symptoms of solanine poisoning includes stomach cramps. Not saying that this is the case for you, but it could be one possible reason.

If you can find vine ripened tomatoes I'd suggest giving that a try.

[poleidopy]

thanks, I didn't know that. Come to think of it though, peppers hurt my stomach too. Weird. I'm going to research solanine now, thanks for the info. :)

[Green_Woman]

I prefer organic tomatoes, and locally-grown are always best. I am not affected by tomatoes, however some peppers do cause me to bloat and have cramps. :)