When I wrote last issue's article on nutrition being an active way to wellness, I had no idea it was going to make the perfect introduction for this issue's topic; food allergies.
I've been teaching people for over a decade they are what they eat and how improving their diet will not only help them lose weight but can reverse everything from heart disease to depression.
Well, I found out a couple of weeks ago, those vegetables I have been pushing can also be a source of dis-ease.
In March I was bitten by a brown recluse spider and developed a necrotic wound and a systemic invasion of the little bugger's venom. The toxin would move through my nervous system causing dizziness, numbness, tingling sensations, chest pains, dry mouth, and palpitations. After several weeks I was able to heal the wound completely but occasionally would go into one of those scary few minutes. I learned doing a difficult yoga pose would slowly, with deep breathing, bring me out of it.
My youngest son, the scientist at Cornell, recommended I get a complete physical, one with blood tests and an EKG to find out if perhaps there was something else malfunctioning in my body. I reluctantly agreed.
The week I had the tests was a particularly bad week. The dizzy spells were happening daily along with nausea and a fog-like feeling I can only compare with being miserably drunk. That is one addiction I have conquered but remember it's unpleasant effects all too well.
I was sitting in a restaurant trying to maintain my composure when my nurse-friend reached over and felt my pulse. She said, “Diane, your pulse is low, take a deep breath and hold it for a couple of seconds and let it out. That will change the rhythm of your heart.”
I did as she instructed and felt better. Then she looked at my plate and told me, “You just ate two nightshade vegetables. I wonder if you are allergic to them.”
I'd heard of nightshade vegetables but never considered they would have such an adverse effect on the human body. I got on line at home said and read story after story on site after site about nightshade vegetables. Laudanum, a popular opiate derivative in the 17 and 1800's was used by many for the hig it produced. Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, and even Doc on Gunsmoke prescribed it.
I realized I had eaten some form of nightshade every day for the past week, green and red peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and white potatoes.
I kept my appointment with the cardiologist specialist in Gainesville, just to make sure, but after 5 days of staying away from the nightshades, I was feeling fine. I spoke to the young and very open minded doctor at length about my healthy heart, what to do for my low blood pressure and he commended me for realizing the connection with the foods.
The moral of this story; if you are experiencing unexplained symptoms keep a food journal. Our bodies change over time and you may have developed an allergy to dairy, wheat, or those veggies from the dark side of the night.