As it turns out, the dubious claims about the effects of eliminating stone fruits from your child’s diet (or maybe adding more of them to their diet. whatever) seem to have their roots in a respectable – or at least, not totally insane – diet known as the Feingold Program.*

I haven’t done a lot of research into the claims of the Feingold Program and I have no opinion on it, although many of it’s suppositions seem completely reasonable, at least in theory. I tried to speak to a yoga instructor I know who has extensive experience with the program, but she immediately went off on a tangent about how autoimmune diseases such as MS, lupus, and osteoarthritis can be cured by eliminating nightshades – potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants – from one’s diet. Osteoarthritis is not an autoimmune disease, by the by. I no longer bother to discuss this nightshade thing with people, it’s simply not worth it. I just smile politely and make secret plans to harvest their organs.

I’m tired, I need to consider getting ready to head over to a fundraiser for fotoweekdc at Local 16, and instead I’ve gotten sucked into reading about Static Guard in the toxnet database maintained by the National Library of Medicine. You want something that’ll keep you up at night? Spend some time at toxnet.

*Updated after being inundated with stories from trusted friends who have tried Feingold and were shamed for “causing” their child’s autism by vaccinating them or feeding them the wrong foods. Maybe it’s insane, but I don’t know for sure.