Can’t Sleep at Night?  Maybe it Was Something You Ate

Some time back I was listening to a talk by my favorite nutritionist (Chris McKee) and she said something that concerned me… She said that a food item that she was eating was causing poor sleep. I was having some trouble sleeping – so this caught my attention. Maybe something I was eating was keeping me awake. Can foods affect your sleep? Yes, they can!

We have all heard the warning “don’t eat spicey food before you go to bed” as that will cause indigestion. It certainly will. But maybe not because of the hot spiciness but maybe because the hot food has peppers in it. Peppers are a nightshade. So are potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant. What is so bad about nightshades?

Some folks (myself included) cannot tolerate nightshades and sleep disruption is one side effect of eating them. Another side effect that some folks report is achy swelling joints such as arthritis. Do your fingers, wrists, knees or feet get sore after eating a meal? It could be nightshades!

Nightshades have a substance called an alkaloid (solanine) in them that is inflammatory and functions as an insecticide. Where have we heard of plants that grow their own insecticides? See my post on OXALATES.

The encyclopedia Britannica says this about nightshades-

Belladonna is a famous nightshade that is known to taste sweet but is poisonous. Belladonna is listed as one of the world’s seven most deadiest plants. Witches used it in the Middle Ages in their brews and salves to cause delirium, memory disruption and extreme confusion. It is thought that Romeo and Juliet used belladonna to “end their heartbroken lives” as written by Shakespeare-

Death lies on her like an untimely frost Upon the sweetest flower of all the field. Romeo and Juliet, Act IV, Scene v

And yet nightshades such as potatoes and tomatoes are a large part of the foods we eat in the United States. According to the South Florida Reporter, the average American eats close to 30 pounds of potatoes (in the form of French fries) per year!

According to numerous websites, parts of a potato (the green “eyes” and maybe even the skin) are toxic.

WebMD reports “Some preliminary research shows these vegetables (nightshades) may not be the best for people with certain inflammatory and auto-immune conditions like arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease.”

I don’t have arthritis and I don’t have inflammatory bowel disease, but I do have an auto-immune condition called Celiac Disease. Maybe that predisposes me to a sensitivity to nightshades. Just one bite of a potato and my sleep is totally disrupted that night. Even one potato chip is enough to keep me up for hours.

Did you know that sweet potatoes and yams are NOT nightshades? That is good to know. However, sweet potatoes, yams are very high in oxalates. Use caution eating large amounts of these foods if oxalates are a problem for you.

Histamines

Other foods that might disrupt your sleep are those that are high in histamines. These foods raise your body’s level of histamine, which is like an alarm system.

Histamine foods include fermented and aged items such as hard cheeses, yogurts, kefir, wines, left over meats and many others (see list in blue box). If you eat them, you might get a runny nose or start coughing or sneezing, break out in a rash or get a headache. (Similar to what might happen if you have an allergy to pollen or mold). But histamine intolerance is not an allergy. Do you know folks that cannot eat wine and cheese because it causes a headache? It might be histamines.

For most people, histamines are not a problem. Most folks can eat foods on the above list with no issue. But about 1% of the population (such as myself) will get a histamine reaction as described above. If I eat too many high histamine foods over several days I will get an itchy rash on my upper body. Sometimes the histamine reaction is also called “mast cell activation syndrome.” The biology of this is complicated so I will leave that for another blog post. If you want to learn more, this is a good website, and there is a food list on this website.

So, if sleeping has been an issue for you, you might look at some of the foods in your diet. Consider nightshades and histamine foods as suspect until proven innocent.

I’ll end with a great “night shade” poem by Ravina Jain (themindsjournal.com).

“Night Shades”

Night never needs a shade

but it requires to fade,

into the grin of twinkling stars

where light is just a glint of scars!

Always talk to your health professional before starting anything new.  This information is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any condition and is intended only for entertainment. Put a Comment at the bottom of this post to share your experience!