Potato Skins

I never wanted to eat my potato skins. Oh, I don’t mean the ones you get at restaurants, double-baked and loaded with sour cream and grated cheese. Those I have no problem with. No, I mean the ones that come on baked or roasted potatoes, the ones my mom always said were good for me.

And I told my kids the same vague thing. Eat the skins; they’re good for you. Turns out that might not always be true.

I have a dear friend who’s husband was recently diagnosed with a rather severe nightshade sensitivity. I invited them out to dinner the other day, and she said no, thank you, but they had gone out to dinner the night before and he had eaten something he shouldn’t have, and was feeling rather terrible.

That’s been percolating in my brain for a couple days, and this morning I decided to look it up. I was somewhat amazed at what I found. These are the nightshade foods:

eggplant, tomato, potato, red pepper, sweet red pepper
Some of the foods in the nightshade family
  • Tomatoes, especially the green ones.
  • Tomatillos.
  • Eggplant.
  • Potatoes, especially the skins.
  • Goji Berries.
  • Tobacco
  • Peppers (bell peppers, chili peppers, paprika, tamales, tomatillos, pimentos, cayenne, etc) but not black pepper, that’s a different plant altogether.
  • And belladonna, though we all know better than to eat that!

I’ll let you do your own research in the actual chemicals and their actions if you’re interested (THIS is a pretty good article and an interesting place to start) and let it suffice to say that when I didn’t want to eat my potato skins I may have just been listening to my body’s complaints. Some people have real sensitivities, and these foods might be especially bad for people with certain health concerns, such as chronic joint pain, which is an issue for me. So, now when I don’t want my potato skins, I’m just going to eat the middle (which has all the same vitamins), and stop feeling mildly guilty for disobeying my mom.

Hmmm, maybe I should apologize for pushing those potato skins on my kids, too.

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