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Headaches and Food Related Mirgraine Triggers

I blogged about gluten free foods once a week for a year. My chronic migraine condition was getting worse and not better. I won't accost you with all of the details of my health discoveries in the last six months, because there are so many discoveries both good and bad. Bottom-line GF eating will not change the fact that I have migraine headaches.

GF eating has changed my digestive system in good ways.
  • I do not feel stomach pain after I eat anymore.
  • I am not using the restroom 5 times a day.
  • My eyes aren't watering all day everyday.
  • My lips are not getting a yeast line.
  • (I know these are gross, but those with GF sensitivities will understand what I am saying.)
I have changed my entire way of eating in the last 3 months. I am still having 15 days of headache pain a month and in the last 30 days 12 of those days have been excruciating. Most of those days were spent in bed or on the couch with the lights off and in my pajamas, or at my dotor's office.

After a year and a half of searching for an answer in food, I found that food is not that answer to removing all the mirgraines. It will help to enhance my life, but it also hinders it. Let me explain.

These are the foods that are on the NO list for migrainers.
  • Gluten
  • Chocolate
  • Cured Meats
  • Miso Soup
  • MSG
  • Soy and soy sauce
  • Milk
  • Aged Cheese (including cottage cheese and ricotta)
  • Bananas
  • Wild Rice
  • Wine, beer, alcohol
  • Any "diet" including low calorie gum.
  • Yeast extract
  • Broad beans including Italian Green Beans
  • Sauerkraut
  • Any foods that are Tryamine rich. Tryamine is an amino acid that our body process that fights dopamine. Dopamine is an amino acid that naturally forms in our body to help us sleep. People taking MAOI's must be particularly careful because "hypertensive crisis can result from ingestion of tyramine-rich foods in conjunction with monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)." *
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyramine

Now I am finding out that plums, raspberries, pineapples and possibly potatoes can be migraine triggers. Any fruit or food that could be aged or past it's prime by a day or two. You'd think I would be really thin with all of these restrictions. The foods that are on the safe list do not give me a "full" feeling nor are many of them enjoyable unless you create a recipe. I have gained 20lbs since June.

I have made some creative recipes and so has my family for me. All of the GF mixes that we have tried from stores do not taste the same as the recipes with wheat flour. I made a GF cheesecake and the crust tasted like stale oatmeal. The new non-cured meat pepperoni pizza at our grocery...I can't describe it; it has the consistency of eating hot molten plastic.

I am still on the look out for delicious foods. It is getting harder and harder to find them unless you are making your own from scratch. I will be adding more recipes soon. My hubby got me a GF cookbook for Christmas that includes homemade pancakes; a new recipe and not a mix. Yeah. It even includes onion rings. Thanks hubby.

More to come.
Have a Happy Healthy Day.

*Wikipedia

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