Nightshade Free Spices And Condiments

[HavaneseMom]

Hi All,

 

I am pretty sure that I am having a reaction to Nightshades since I feel really ill after eating tomato or white potato, and have been having all of the other typical symptoms. I am starting a 30 day elimination today to see if my symptoms improve.

I am wondering if any of the Nightshade free people out there could suggest some spices or condiments that they know are safe to use?

I was just looking through my pantry and noticed most of the labels just say "spices" in the ingredients list. I am assuming those are not safe to use since there could be any combinations of spices in there, including Nightshades.

This is going to be a tough elimination, but I have a good feeling that this is my lingering problem. After reading up on it, it seems like these Nightshades can be a problem for any person with auto-immune issues.

If there are any other Nightshade free favorites out there, please let me know.

 

Thank so much!

[w8in4dave]

Instead of using a mix of spices get the 1 ingredient spices thru McCormics. I am sure someone here said theirs are Gluten and Corn Free. It's just plain spices. It's when you start mixing the spices thats where the trouble is.  You can find recipes to mix your own spices once you get the plain spices. 

[GottaSki]

Anything processed can pose problems on an elimination diet.  Using your own plain/single spices while cooking is the best route and takes the guess work out of it.

[HavaneseMom]

I will pick up some single spices then. I will have to look for some Nightshade free recipes to mix single spices, since I no zero about spices - well except salt and pepper .

 

It sounds like this will be a lot of very plain eating. No more barbeque sauce, ketchup, dairy free ranch dressing etc...

[bartfull]

Garlic, onion, basil and oregano are good in Italian dishes. And no, you don't have to have tomato sauce to have Italian. You can make meatballs with these spices and have them on a sandwich or with rice.

 

Sage is good with chicken or pork.

 

Rosemary makes plain white rice tasty. It's one of those spices that come like little twigs which I don't care to chew, so I put them in a tea ball and drop it into the pot while the rice is cooking.

 

I bet you can find recipes for ketchup and bbq sauce online. You'll just have to substitute the tomato with something else. I'm NOT a cook, but maybe if you run some baked sweet potato (sweet potato is not a nightshade) through a food processor with the appropriate spices you'll get close to the flavor. Maybe a different texture, but we're all used to different textures on our substitutes.

 

And the dairy free ranch dressing? Have you checked the label? I don't thing regular ranch dressing has any nightshades. (Remember, black pepper isn't a nightshade. I have trouble with nightshades too and I eat black pepper all the time.)

[HavaneseMom]

Thanks so much for the ideas Bartfull! The italian spice mix and the others sound yummy.

 

I just went and rechecked the dressing labels and the Organicville Dairy Free Ranch is nightshade free! I will try not to use it for a while though since it's processed.

It was my husbands Marzetti Simply Dressed Ranch that had "spices" listed, and not the individual spices named. Quite a few of the bottles I just checked only said "spices". I'm kind of surprised that they don't have to be more detailed about which "spices" are in their products. I'm guessing it varies by manufacturer how specific they get when labeling the spices used in their products.

[GottaSki]

  On 3/12/2014 at 8:24 PM, HavaneseMom said:

Thanks so much for the ideas Bartfull! The italian spice mix and the others sound yummy.

 

I just went and rechecked the dressing labels and the Organicville Dairy Free Ranch is nightshade free! I will try not to use it for a while though since it's processed.

It was my husbands Marzetti Simply Dressed Ranch that had "spices" listed, and not the individual spices named. Quite a few of the bottles I just checked only said "spices". I'm kind of surprised that they don't have to be more detailed about which "spices" are in their products. I'm guessing it varies by manufacturer how specific they get when labeling the spices used in their products.

 

 

Yes, it can be tough to remove nightshades or any other group for that matter...but Barty is correct -- you can replace potatoes with sweet potatoes, yams and purple sweet potato as they are not nightshades

[bartfull]

Nightshades are potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. I don't think you have to worry about anything that says spices. SEASONINGS are a different story. Seasonings may have just about anything in them - including gluten.

[GottaSki]

  On 3/12/2014 at 8:36 PM, bartfull said:

Nightshades are potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. I don't think you have to worry about anything that says spices. SEASONINGS are a different story. Seasonings may have just about anything in them - including gluten.

 

The peppers in nightshades is the toughest to eliminate with processed items (other than tomato of course)...often "spices" does include red pepper and other nightshades...for the initial period I would leave all pepper except black pepper out of your diet -- if you improve than you can test if you tolerate a small amount of nightshade spice.

[bartfull]

Yeah, I didn't think of red pepper. Thanks, Lisa!

[HavaneseMom]

I found this list online of Nightshades that I referring to and was going to use for the elimination. Is this incorrect?

Do you think I could just start with eliminating the main four (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and peppers), or would I need to do a strict elimination of all the items to see the full effect?

 

Here is the list of Nightshades I found:

Tomatoes

Potatoes

Eggplants

Peppers(bell peppers, banana peppers, chili peppers, etc.)

Red Pepper

Seasoning (paprika, chili powder, cayenne, curry, etc.)

Tomatillos

Pimentos

Pepinos

Tamarillos

Goji Berries

Ground Cherries

Ashwagandha (an ayervedic herb)

Tobacco

Read Labels: terms like "spices" and "natural flavors" often contain the above seasonings

"Starch" often comes from potatoes

[GottaSki]

I would use that list....most extensive one I've seen -- I didn't know a few of the ones towards the end..but they aren't common foods so doubt it will be hard to avoid -- at least for the initial trial -- otherwise you may eliminate all of the major items and question whether you eliminated enough.

 

Now that being said...you could be intolerant of only tomato, so be sure to trial other nightshades once the 30 days are up -- wait three days between trialing each food in the group as some reactions are not immediate.

[HavaneseMom]

Sounds good Gottaski. Reading your profile, you must have done so many eliminations!

I'm pretty sure white potato is an issue for me. I have horrible stomach aches and swelling after I eat them.

I agree, some of the foods toward the bottom of that list I have never come across, so no problems eliminating them

[GottaSki]

Ya...I spent two years trying to eliminate food groups or single foods with no clear answers...finally had to bite the bullet and do a full elimination of dairy, grains, legumes, nightshades, nuts and seeds -- turns out I was intolerant of many items within each catagory which is why I failed all the previous eliminations.  Bummer, yes -- but  I can tell you it is worth finding foods that you can eat without issue.

 

I hope you are able to find what is bothering you with this elimination of nightshades -- Good Luck