Page 53 - Spring2010

by vitamin D . So if you want to avoid problems digestive enzymes and some buffered vitamin C. Normally the enzymes
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with nightshades, be sure to eat goose liver, and the buffered vitamin C don’t help me much. However, this time, when
cheese, fatty grass-fed meats and pasture-fed I had loaded up on vitamin K , I had no day-after morning stiffness and
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butter—and take your butter oil. none of my middle back pain returned. I’ve only done the experiment once
If you suffer from osteoarthritis and you feel at this point, but that’s what I found.
like you have some catching up to do in terms of Even if you are one of those lucky people who don’t seem to have
resolving calcifications, you may want to take a trouble with nightshades, in my opinion it’s a good idea not to overdo.
vitamin K supplement. I use Allergy Research Avoid having nightshades with every meal; we are far too reliant as a
Full-Spectrum Vitamin K softgels, which com- culture on potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. Vary your diet so you are not
bine vitamin K (phytonadione) and vitamin K so dependent on these foods. Sweet potatoes, yams and parsnips are good
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(as both menaquinone-4 and menaquinone-7, substitutes for potatoes. You can steam cauliflower and mash it with but-
known as MK-4 and MK-7, respectively). ter and cream. As a substitute for chili pepper, use wasabi, horseradish,
mustard powder, ginger, or freshly ground peppercorns. There’s no good
MY EXPERIMENT substitute for tomatoes, so learn to use them sparingly.
Recently after a powerlifting meet, I felt like Cooking does reduce the solanine levels in potatoes somewhat, and
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cheating on my diet. I called it an “experiment.” may even help reduce other toxins. So if you are eating nightshade foods,
My old favorite food was pizza—the nastiest be sure to cook them, and cook them in butter or poultry fat—this is a
combination of all the nastiest foods there are, synergistic combination because these fats provide vitamin K . And you’ll
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at least for me. We had it with peppers, sausage end up eating less of the nightshade foods because when you cook in good
containing paprika, tomato sauce, gluten and fats, you are more quickly satisfied and end up eating less.
dairy, all of which I’m sensitive to. I felt that this For those who are sensitive to nightshades, the best strategy is to avoid
was my chance to test my vitamin K hypothesis. them completely for a long time, until you can completely heal. That means
I took two Allergy Research Full-Spectrum no potatoes, pizza, tomato sauce or Mexican food—but to live pain-free
Vitamin K softgels with the meal, along with makes it worth the sacrifice.

TOMATOES

Tomatoes contain lycopene, which is one of the first things people mention when I suggest avoiding nightshades.
Lycopene is a carotenoid found in almost any red, orange or pink fruit or vegetable; it’s simply highest in tomatoes. As
with all of the fat-soluble carotenoids, to maximize absorption you’ll need to eat it with fat.
We hear a lot about lycopene supposedly preventing cancer. However, in a study on prostate cancer in rats, when
rats were given lycopene by itself, there was no observed decrease in cancer mortality when compared to the controls.
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However, when given tomato powder, there was a significant decrease in mortality rates from the induced prostate cancer.
So there’s something in the whole tomato that protects against cancer and it’s not lycopene by itself.
The new theory in this reductionist way of thinking is that the anti-cancer substance in tomatoes is another glycoalka-
loid called tomatine. While tomatine has been shown to inhibit and destroy cancer cells, it has also been shown to do the
same to normal cells! This is the likely reason why many people get heartburn after eating tomatoes, not only because
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they are acidic (they are), but because the cells that line the stomach and esophagus are being destroyed. Can you really
blame the stomach for sending you a signal that it isn’t very happy?
By the way, epithelial cells are what line the urethra as it passes through the prostate. Eating tomatoes in the hopes
of reducing prostate cancer is similar to friendly fire—it destroys the cancerous cells and normal cells at the same time.
Does destroying your normal and healthy cells sound like a good idea? Not to me. Actually, it sounds very similar to che-
motherapy and radiation—trying to kill cancer cells while hoping that the normal cells survive the process. While there is
a time and place for that type of approach, I don’t think I’d want to be eating such a potentially cell-destructive substance
every day in my food.
Scientists are currently studying tomatine to use as an adjuvant in vaccines, in order to make the vaccine more ef-
fective by stimulating a massive immune reaction. The immune reaction happens because the body is reacting to the cell
destruction that occurs when tomatine comes in contact with human cells.
Tomatoes also contain tomato lectin (another well-known lectin is gluten) which has been shown to agglutinate hu-
man, mouse and sheep erythrocytes—it can cause red blood cells to clump together. Combined together with tomatine,
these compounds can cause leaky gut syndrome and potentially be a major issue in autoimmune diseases of all sorts.
For those of you have gone off gluten and you’re wondering why you still have digestive problems, it may be because
of tomatoes. Potatoes can be another culprit, as many gluten-free products are filled with potato starch.

SPRING 2010 Wise Traditions 53