I decided to go gluten-free a few weeks to about a month ago.  I started feeling great – well, better – about a week or so after.  Now, I’ve been getting headaches almost everyday.  Apparently, it might be because I’ve increased my potato consumption too much.  Many gluten-free food items use potato flour or starch as a substitute for wheat, and since I haven’t been eating wheat, I’ve increased my intake of whole potatoes as well.  Potatoes are a nightshade food along with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.  Supposedly, these foods can increase inflammation and release toxins into the body.  Since I have increased inflammation due to my autoimmune conditions, it seems like an increase in these foods could be harmful for me, but my rheumatologist has claimed that it wouldn’t affect me that much.

It is hard to know what to eat anymore – what is especially good and what may be potentially harmful.  It seems that everyone has a different opinion.  Am I supposed to be gluten-, soy-, nightshade-, dairy-free?  It is a struggle to control one’s own body in light of autoimmune conditions in the first place.  Is a stricter control of diet too stressful?  I’m not one to be pro-pills for bodily/mental control, but this is getting quite difficult.

To read up on nightshades and their affects, click here.