Nightshades and Mental Health
Nightshades and Mental Health: What Are Nightshade Foods? What Nightshade Causes
Nightshades
Nightshades and Mental Health
Updated 4/21/2025, 5/2025 to add nightshade alternatives and additional resources
Hello and welcome to my readers! Today, we’re diving into a topic that may surprise you—nightshades and their impact on your health. You might already know that these foods can affect your body, but did you know they can also play a role in your mental health? In this post, we’ll explore nightshade sensitivity, how it connects to your overall well-being, and what to do if these foods are causing you more harm than good.
What Are Nightshades?
Nightshades are often thought of as vegetables, but they are actually fruits! The nightshade family, or Solanaceae family, includes common foods such as:
tomatoes,
eggplants,
peppers,
potatoes,
and tobacco
While these foods are staples in many kitchens, they can have different effects on your health depending on your body’s sensitivities. In this article, we’ll explore the types of nightshades, how they affect your health, and who might want to avoid them.
Who Shouldn’t Eat Nightshades?
Before we even start talking about nightshade sensitivity, there are a few groups of people who should stay away from nightshades due to the risks they could have to their health.
● If you are diabetic, nightshades may not be a good option for you as they are high in carbs and can raise your blood sugar to unhealthy levels.
● If you have chronic pain, nightshades could increase the pain you experience.
● If you have a known autoimmune disease like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn’s disease, or colitis, nightshades might worsen your symptoms.
Your Physical Health Can Impact Your Mental Health
If you're managing a chronic condition, you already know the emotional toll it can take—whether it's frustration with food restrictions or the stress of ongoing pain. Let’s Talk: Work with me 1:1 in therapy to explore how physical health and emotional health are connected, and get the tools you need to cope holistically.
“When people experience nightshade sensitivity, they are actually sensitive to the high amount of alkaloids in the food.”
Nightshade Sensitivity and Nightshade Intolerance
When people experience nightshade sensitivity, they are actually sensitive to the high amount of alkaloids in the food. Alkaloids are primarily found in the stems or leaves of a plant, though there are some alkaloids in the part of the plant that we eat. They often have a bitter flavor and function as a natural insect repellant. This is why some nightshades, such as eggplant, has a bitter taste. If you don’t like the bitterness, you’ll have to prepare these foods properly, such as slicing slits in them and adding salt to soften them.
If you experience any of the following symptoms, you could be sensitive to nightshades:
diarrhea,
digestive issues,
physical pain,
heartburn,
nausea,
acid reflux,
or other gastrointestinal issues,
You may have a sensitivity to nightshades. The best way to figure this out is through the elimination process. Stop eating nightshades (including foods that are made with nightshades, like tomato sauce) for several weeks and take note of how you feel. As you gradually add these foods back into your diet, and keep noting how you feel. It’s important to listen to your body and notice any patterns of discomfort after consuming tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, or peppers. If your symptoms stopped when you cut those foods out of your diet and reappeared when you added them back in, you likely have a sensitivity to nightshades.
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Pin this Mood-Boosting Foods eCookbook and return anytime for nourishing, feel-good recipes!
Dealing With Acid Reflux
If you experience nightshade acid reflux while eating nightshades but aren’t ready to cut them out of your diet entirely, try this handy trick: take an ice pack and put it on your sternum, above your heart. 20 minutes before you eat. Let that sit for 15 minutes. That should relax the little flap in your esophagus.
If that does not work, try to drink some juices that are not acidic, like celery juice. If this juice was to come up, it would not be as painful.
“As you gradually add these foods back into your diet, and keep noting how you feel. ”
Sensitivity to nightshades And Intolerance
Sensitivity to nightshades may indicate a larger issue, such as the presence of IBD, Crohn’s disease, or colitis. With these conditions, the protective lining in the bowel is actually broken, which can cause something called a leaky gut. When you’re eating nightshades, the alkaloids can be so toxic to the body that they leak out. In addition, if you’re experiencing more severe symptoms, such as hives, skin rashes, itchiness, nausea, vomiting, excessive mucus production in the throat and nose, achy muscles and joints, or general inflammation, you could have an allergy to nightshades. In this case, you should take an allergy test so you know if you need to avoid nightshades permanently.
Nightshade Toxicity
While nightshades can be delicious, they are also toxic to other plants and animals. Potato plants are especially poisonous to animals, so make sure your pets stay away from your plants or your compost bin.
Nightshades can also be toxic to other plants. Just the other day, my mint plant fell over and hit a potato plant I have growing in my yard. When I lifted it, part of the mint plant was wilting, drying up, and turning brown. Ensure that you are thinking of yourself as well as other living things in your home.
Nightshades and Mental Health
Many mental health symptoms, particularly depression, can be connected to inflammation of our organs, muscles, or brain. This is why it is so important for us and our therapists to be aware of how nightshade foods are impacting you. Make sure to always be taking care of your physical health, and remember that some physical ailments might appear to be mental ailments.
Managing Nightshade Sensitivity with Support
If you’ve discovered that nightshades are affecting your health, managing your diet and lifestyle can be key to finding relief. But if making these changes feels overwhelming, or if the stress of managing health challenges is impacting your emotional well-being, therapy may be a helpful next step.
Healing and Support:
Join My Therapy Sessions: Working together in therapy can help you manage the emotional and mental challenges of adjusting to a new diet, managing chronic pain, or healing from trauma. Book an intake session today.
Explore Resources: Discover how reducing processed foods can boost your overall health and learn more about Gut:Brain:Heart Axis
Boost Your Mood with Food: Looking for ways to improve your emotional well-being through nutrition? Check out my Mood-Boosting Foods eCookbook! Packed with recipes designed to nourish both your body and mind, this resource can help you maintain balanced energy levels and a positive outlook. Get your copy here!
Summary
What we eat has a profound impact on how we feel and function throughout the day. Certain foods, especially nightshades, can trigger inflammation by affecting our gut-brain-heart axis, leading to issues such as difficulty concentrating, fluctuating energy levels, and worsened symptoms of chronic health conditions.
If you're looking to incorporate more natural, whole foods into your diet beyond nightshades, the Mood-Boosting Foods eCookbook is the perfect starting point! It's packed with delicious, nourishing recipes that will help improve your mood and support your overall well-being.
Need extra guidance? If you're struggling to figure out which foods work best for your body or need help sticking to healthy lifestyle changes, my therapy services integrate mental health and nutrition support. Together, we can build a more balanced life—emotionally and physically. Learn more about working with me here.
Have you experienced any issues with nightshades in your diet? I’d love to hear about it in the comments, or feel free to reach out for personalized advice on making dietary changes.
Edited by Ashley McCrae
If you're in need of working through stress, anxiety or trauma and feel you would benefit from a holistic therapeutic approach, Contact me today for a session.
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