Nightshades/Arthritis/Solanine...

[Mary Kay]

Last time I had a blood test, it revealed I had slight inflammation and I believe that my minor arthritis in my pinky finger is indicative of this. I've had three minor accidents that damaged my fingers slightly - twice I fell while skiing, and once I was thrown from a horse. The joints in my fingers are slightly swollen and not normallizing even after over a year.

I have temporarily eliminated eggs, wheat, dairy (most, I cheat and have a lick of butter etc when I'm making it), --for over a year, and I am 95% raw.

So recently I've cut out nuts and still no improvement.

I'm now convinced that I must eliminate the nightshades. Sigh...right at tomato season!

Have any of you made the nightshade connection to your arthritis? If so, once you eliminated them, how long did it take for your arthritis to subside? What about eliminating candida? Did this help?

And a while back I saw a vegetarian cook on PBS who was talking about solanine being cooked out of tomatoes and she also mentioned that the solainine dissipates after dehydrating!!!!? Is it the solanine that causes the joint inflammation, and do any of you know anything about this?

I've done some googling, but before I go crazy with it, want to hear what some of you more experienced with arthritis have to say about this.

BTW, I'm 56 and almost 5 ft 3 in. if these stats help....

Thanks in advance,

Mary Kay

[MysticTree]

my mother has very mild arthritis (various damage in accidents also) and she eats tomatoes all through the summer - raw and cooked. Both her parents had very gnarled hands but my mother nowhere near as much.

I can't remember if you are someone on here who eats overt fats or one of the ones that avoids them but Olive Oil is said to be an anti-inflamatory (a constituent of it acts in a similar way to Ibuprofen), broccoli, papaya, blueberries and kelp are also said to be anti-inflamatory foods. Maybe you need more of those rather than less tomatoes? Life without fresh tomatoes would be rather sad ... imo :)

[bonzer]

I agree.. life without tomatoes is sad. I have gnarly hands, toes and arthritic joints throughout the body. I find that when I eat a lot of pineapples or cherries by themselves for that meal, I feel some relief. I've researched this for 2 yrs. and a lot of alternative health experts agree that there is something in those foods that relieve inflammation. Bromelain in pineapples. Not sure about cherries.
But straight cherry juice also relieves Gout symptoms.
Hope this helps.
Peace, Bonnie

[Mary Kay]

WAAAAAAAH..You're both right. Life without tomatoes makes me sad!!! And although blueberries aren't nightshades, they also contain solanine.....Bummer....

I'm wondering though, if I do eliminate sweets/candida, if I wouldn;'t be able to eat a tomato here or there. I did a quick google search and one site said that you CANNOT cook the solanine out...Hmmmm. I thought you could - as in potatoes....