Healthy But Hurtful Veggies
These everyday foods could be causing your tummy troubles
In our dark times of being bloated and belchy every day, my sensitive foodie bestie and I share an abiding love for cucumbers. Their simple, fresh and crisp taste comforted us when little else did and we felt that even though our bodies were clearly not happy, we were doing what we should to keep them healthy.
Little did we know that cucumbers, along with several other salad basics, were basically causing all the trouble! Many people with food intolerances were shocked to hear that these healthy staples were actually potential troublemakers. We were no different. Even though I’m studying nutrition science and bestie is a medical doctor, it took us doing a food elimination diet to really accept that sometimes what feels so right, health and taste-wise, could be so wrong for us personally.
Food elimination finding 1: Cucumbers first in, first out
When we embarked on our journey to understand our food sensitivities (aka our food elimination diet, but we didn’t like calling it something so negative sounding), we confidently assumed we’d feel great, albeit hungry, on our first weekend with only Plain Jane cucumbers and rice. We didn’t.
As plain as they seem, cucumbers are actually quite well-known to cause gas. It’s a substance called cucurbitacin found in cucumber skin that causes the problem. For some people skinning them works but cucurbitacin can leach into the flesh too so it doesn’t work for everyone and sadly not for us. Apparently some stores stock “burpless” cucumbers, which have been specifically cultivated to have very little cucurbitacin, but we haven’t found these yet.
In the end, we had to make the tough choice to let them go. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t straightforward. Cucumbers suddenly seemed to be in everything we ate: salads, wraps, sushi, sandwiches, the little cocktail rolls at events. But, while our hearts hurt, our bellies thanked us. It’s incredible how immediate the improvement was once we’d unlearned the habit of eating them. Bestie coped by developing a potentially unhealthy obsession with lettuce. I got creative with my salads.
Food elimination finding 2: Acidic foods don’t sit well with me
Citrus has never been a big deal to me personally. It was only after a particularly painful mimosa-fuelled brunch that it dawned on me how integral orange juice was to my best life, and that it might be hurting me. So, I was wary of it by the time we tested it.
But I never suspected tomatoes. They are not high in FODMAPs (the substances in foods that often cause reactions) and I love them, which perhaps made me blind to them also being acidic. What was quite interesting was that I reacted to both citrus and tomatoes, whereas bestie only reacted to tomatoes.
Food elimination finding 3: Nightshades can be naughty
It turns out that acidity is not the only possible issue. Tomatoes are part of the nightshade family of plants, which includes potatoes, eggplants, and peppers. Although these are also not high in FODMAPs, some people with irritable bowel syndrome (or undiagnosed digestive sensitivity symptoms) can react to them. The most likely culprits are glycoalkaloids, which are naturally occurring substances that protect these plants from pests.
In some plants, such as potatoes, these substances are concentrated in the skin, so peeling makes them safe to eat. In the others, it may be in the flesh too. Cooking doesn’t usually make a difference but, as a rule of thumb, the riper the food, the lower the concentration of glycoalkaloids is likely to be.
The only way to figure out if you’re intolerant or not is to test yourself. We found that both of us react to tomatoes and peppers, but we can tolerate peeled potatoes and eggplant well.
Tips, tricks and cookarounds to try
While I was carefully avoiding everything that hurt, unbeknown to me bestie was adding some lemon to the green smoothies she made us every day because the vitamin C in citrus fruit helps with iron absorption. She is chronically iron deficient and felt the need to make sure my iron stores were topped up effectively too, as I discovered one day spying the little yellow blobs in the cup just before blasting. She confessed that she’d been popping in some antioxidant-rich but acidic blueberries too.
Aside from losing out on nutritional benefits, I also found it quite hard to cook some of my favourite meals without using tomatoes, peppers or cucumbers. Luckily, we’ve found ways to get around our sensitivities.
1. Portion size matters
I hadn’t noticed any tummy ache, burping or heartburn with the green smoothies. So I re-tested my citrus sensitivity, this time with smaller portions and combined with other foods. I discovered that:
- I’m fine with a few wedges, especially when combined with the more alkaline spinach and lettuce in green smoothies or salads.
- Mimosas are a hard no. Even with just a small amount of orange juice, they have a triple-whammy effect as prosecco is also acidic and is literally gassy. Bottomless brunch will never be the same.
- I can have citrus with kefir which is actually mildly acidic too, but helps populate your digestive system with healthy bacteria and reduces heartburn (find out more in my article on gut health). I have to be careful to keep my portions of both small.
2. Processing changes things
Portion size and food combinations didn’t help with fresh tomatoes and peppers. Neither does cooking, which doesn’t change glycoalkaloid content and actually increases acidity.
We found that we tolerate concentrates like tomato paste, purée or passata in stews. The processing in combination with the very small amount needed is likely what makes them easier on the digestive system. On the other hand, tomato sauce, though processed, is still a no-no, even in small amounts.
We also found that sun-dried tomatoes are a good option as they have lower glycoalkaloids than artificially dried and can be used in smaller quantities, but they do change the taste though.
3. When in doubt, swap out
Although we’ve come to terms with cucumber- and pepper-free salads, some dishes are just not the same without them. I found these cookarounds worked well:
- Celery for peppers: Nachos aren’t the same without salsa and salsa without either tomatoes or peppers is not salsa. Or is it? I made a sensitive foodie version using red cabbage for colour and celery instead of peppers for crunch and flavour.
- Kelp noodles for cucumber: Dishes like poke bowls need crunchy vegetables like cucumber or carrots. I initially tried these hoping for a low calorie alternative to pasta but they are nothing like real noodles. Instead, I found them similar to cucumbers in texture and their near-neutral taste.
Being sensitive to such a wide range of foods is tough. After navigating the disappointment and frustration of reacting and the confusion of figuring out why, the real work of trying to avoid them begins. The important thing is to see it as a personal journey and to realise it’s not futile. One size does not fit all, but whatever your sensitivities are, there are many fun and tasty ways to workaround them and love your food and how you feel eating it.
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