Nightshades?

I have decided to make some adjustments to my diet - I'm losing weight satisfactorily but wanted to see if I could speed things up (yes, I'm an impatient dieter! LOL)

To that end I'm cutting back my carbs to 15 or so a day.  I'm also committed to making some permanent lifestyle changes just for my helath.

I've been browsing bulletin boards and reading discussions by others living the Paleolithic diet lifestyle. It's been fascinating and, of course, there are many variations of Paleo: some eat dairy like I do, many cling to overly processed foods as treats, I noticed a LOT of them ate chocolate.  Some were very strict Paleo and one fellow actually attempted to lose weight by eating 4000 calories and ZERO carbs.  Not sure if he's still alive, lol.

But seriously, it has caused me to evaluate a few things.  I eat too much salt, for example, and plan to cut back.  I also discovered that plants of the Nightshade family (tobacco, nightshade, potatoes, tomatos, peppers, and aubergine) were mostly New World plants (exceptions being nightshade and aubergines [eggplant]) and subsequently not Paleo.  That is, we haven't been eating them for millions of years and so our bodies haven't had time to evolve to be used to them.

I also found several things about how those who gave up the nightshades showed marked improvement in skin conditions and arthritis.  Since I have both, I have decided to do a wee experiment and forgo tomatoes, aubergine, and peppers (don't eat potatoes any more) and see what happens.

I'll keep you updated!