migraine

The Migraine Headache Diet – Its Safe And It Works

28 million Americans suffer from migraines, according to the National Headache Foundation. This costs the economy about & 50 billion a year from loss of work. And the World Health Organization says that migraines are the 19th most common cause of general disability worldwide. With figures like this, its obvious that migraines are an immense problem. With no permanent cure in sight, prevention and reduction in severity of the attacks is the only option. While medication does help, there are other options that are better for the health in general and chief among them is the migraine headache diet.

It has long been known that certain foods act a migraine triggers and avoiding these is part of the migraine headache diet. The second part of he migraine headache diet is the foods that should be eaten to prevent or at least reduce the severity of the migraines.

Foods To Avoid

Among the things that a good migraine headache diet recommends avoiding are:
All foods that contain Tyramine, a chemical that constricts blood vessels in the brain. This is found in preserved and aged foods like cheese, sauerkraut, pickles, onions, smoked meats, alcohol and Chinese and Japanese sauces
Foods and drinks that contain caffeine
Chocolates
Foods with Monosodium Glutamate

These are just a few of the items that should be kept out of the migraine headache diet. There are many more. These will vary from person to person and will depend of allergies, metabolisms and various health factors. Developing the right migraine headache diet will take time. You will have to keep a record of everything you eat and drink and over time you will be able to find foods that are linked to your migraines. These should be removed from your migraine headache diet. Once you have a good migraine headache diet in place, you can experiment with some of the foods that are generally supposed to cause migraines. They may not affect you and you are free to eat them.

Foods To Eat

Once again, this is not an exhaustive list of things to include in your migraine headache diet. These are foods that are supposed to help you fight migraines, but in a few cases allergies to specific foods etc. can cause problems. Use the following items as a general guide to creating your migraine headache diet and make changes to suit yourself.
Spices such as peppermint, mint, cayenne pepper, ginger and garlic
Fish
Spinach, broccoli and other calcium rich vegetables
Oatmeal
Magnesium rich foods like spinach, whole grains and beans 

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Does A Migraine Diet Really Work?

We are all so used to popping pills at the slightest sign of a headache that the idea of something like a migraine diet at first seems to be absurd. Dietary control is not a treatment for migraines. But recent research provides strong evidence that controlling the diet can help in reducing both the number of migraine attacks a person suffers as well as the severity of these attacks. For those who suffer from regular migraines, following a migraine diet can provide a large amount of relief from the pain they would otherwise have to suffer.

What Exactly Is A Migraine Diet?

There are certain foods that tend to provoke a migraine or at least increase the severity of the headache. While the foods that can bring on the onset of a migraine vary from person to person, there are some food items that have been identified as being common culprits and should be removed from all migraine diets. These include alcoholic drinks, foods containing caffeine, ice creams, cheeses, chocolate, citrus fruits, MSG (found in most Chinese food) hot dogs and artificial sweeteners like aspartame. Avoiding all of these foods may be difficult, unless you wish to live like a monk. But with a little care you should be able to set yourself a migraine diet that controls the quantities of these foods you consume on a regular basis.

The best way to do this is to keep a migraine diet diary. Note down all the food you eat every day and over a period of time you will note that there are certain foods that seem to be associated with a migraine. They need not be just the foods listed above. Depending on a person’s metabolism and a range of other health factors, it could be anything. Your migraine headache diet diary will, over a period of some months, help you to know what thee things are. You can then remove them from your migraine diet and you will normally find that the frequency and severity of your migraines is reduced.

Your weight plays a significant role in your migraine attacks. Overweight people tend to be more prone to the hormonal imbalances that trigger migraines. A migraine diet should therefore also be one where your calorie consumption is monitored. It is important to note that a migraine diet is not a weight loss diet. If you diet to lose weight, make sure that your weight loss plan does not cause more migraines. And once you achieve your right weight, you need to stick to your migraine diet to help you to cope with the problem.

Ideally a migraine diet should be coupled to a planned exercise regimen so that your overall physical condition is better equipped to deal with the migraines. An important part of the migraine diet is the regularity with which you eat. Long gaps between meals and missing meals are not part of the migraine diet. 

Tags: migraine diet, migraine headache diet, migraine