The Anti-Migraine Diet

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2000
The Anti-Migraine Diet
4
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 10:15am
Okay, so I've subscribed to Prevention for a year. I've read the mag before, and while I'm cautious of any fads they might be hooked into, I like the "tip" format and the little ideas that could add vitality and health to your life. In my first issue there was a bonus guide, "The Anti-Migraine Diet". I get hormonal headaches rather than migraines, but I read the guide anyway to see if there was something I could take with me. In short, while scientists don't know exactly what causes migraines, they know that people who get them have blood vessels that overreact to various triggers, and the resulting constriction/dialation of the arteries results in the pain. The triggers are often foods, so the article goes, and they provide a list of common foods that trigger migraines in some people:

Additivies/Spices: aspartame, meat tenderizer MSG, seasoned salt, soy sauce

Beverages: any alcoholic beverages, chocolate, cocoa, caffeine (which can also help relieve headache pain - go figure)

Breads: any bread or pastry made with yeast, breads or crackers containing cheese, products with chocolate or nuts

Dairy: buttermilk, chocolate milk, sour cream, cheeses and dishes made with cheese (like Italian dishes)

Desserts: any with chocolate, nuts, yeast or cheese

Fruts: figs, avocados, overripe bananas, papayas, raisins red plums

Meats, Fish, Poultry: any aged, canned, cured or processed product containing nitrates, nitrites, and/or tyramine - like anchovies, bologna, caviar, chicken livers, game, ham, hot dogs, lalami, sardines, sausage, pickled herring, salted dried fish

Veggies: Beans such as cannellini, chickpeas, fava, green, lima, navy, pinto and pole; olives, onions, pickles, raw garlic, sauerkraut, snow peas

...Yanno, this looks like the list that the medical world told us caused acne when we were all teenagers. It also includes plenty of things that give you extra protein, calcium and anti-oxidants. So long to whole grain breads - they have yeast. Scratch the avocadoes as a good source of the good fats. Better go back to using mayo in recipes rather than sour cream. Chocolate - here it is a bad guy again! I like reading stuff on health and nutrition, but it's easy to see that so much of it is theories and ideas, and why so much of it contradicts one another.

Anyway, thought I'd share. The article did provide a link on other triggers (stress, changes in sleep patterns) at the National Headache Foundation web site, at http://www.headaches.org . Might be worth checking out.












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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-03-2001
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 2:28pm
I saw this too. The only definite food trigger for me is apartame.I was just reading an article that said food triggers can be hard to track because they may only actually cause a migraine 2 out of 10 times you eat them.There was an interesting article out on chocolate as a headache trigger a couple years back.Because of seretonin flucuations before a migraine it's not unusual for a person to crave something like chocolate before a migraine.Some drs feel it is less of a trigger and just more of a craving that happens to come before a migraine.I cut chocolate out to see if it would help but it didn't.On a positive note though the longer I stayed away from it the less I craved it even during my pms periods.

Miss P




 

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2004
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 4:52pm
Thanks for the info, I always read anything on migranes. I'm a long time sufferer of migranes. It wasn't till a doctor's visit last October when I was experiencing a migrane did I finally get a prescription and some professional nutirion advice. Thanks again! AMC
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-03-2001
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 5:50pm
Amboot, I get migraines too and have for almost 20 yrs.Do you know what causes yours?Was the nutritional advice you got helpful?Like you I read anything I can on migraines.

Miss P




 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 08-11-2004 - 11:54pm

I started getting migraines when I was 9, so I've had them for long time. Thankfully, I haven't had a full blown one in many years and get only the ocular ones, which are more of an inconvenience than a terrible pain like the full ones.


The biggest triggers for me are hormone changes, flashes of light, sometimes weather changes, and in the last five years or so any antibiotics in the tetracycline family.


Thanks for the info.

Rhonda


Time invested in improving ourselves cuts down on time disapproving of others.

       ~~Rhonda~~


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