Prevent a migraine headache

Food Avoidance Tips to Help You Prevent Your Next Migraine

As a migraine sufferer, you know pain, you know migraine pain, and I’m pretty sure you would try just about anything to prevent that pain from happening again, right?

Taking steps to change what we eat, control our anxiety level and our environment are the first steps to help prevent the frequency of migraines.

Migraine prevention is a full-time job that requires a conscious and focused effort to protect yourself from repeated migraines. Migraines are a formidable enemy, they seem to strike no matter what you do, but they shouldn’t deter you, some people may not be able to stop them completely, but you can certainly take steps to reduce their frequency and severity.

Remember that your well-meaning family and friends don’t always understand what you’re going through when you experience a migraine pain, so it needs to be in charge of you. You should be aware of your migraine food triggers and do your best to avoid them.

Take care of the food you eat

These foods are enemies of people with migraine headaches. Print this list out and post it in your kitchen as a constant reminder.

1 – Foods rich in tyramine (Amino acids) are migraine triggers. Tyramine is found naturally in many foods and is formed as foods age or ferment. It doesn’t affect everyone adversely, but because it creates a rush of blood by dilating the nerves in the brain, it can trigger a migraine attack.

These are the tyramine foods to avoid:

• Aged cheeses: Cheddar, Swiss, Bleu, Brie, Gouda, Gruyere, Parmesan, etc. (Safe cheeses include American cheese, cream cheese, and ricotta)

• Cured, processed, or smoked meats: hot dogs, hot dogs, salami, pepperoni, bacon, ham, cold cuts, jerky, pickled herring, and smoked fish.

• Other cured or processed foods: sauerkraut, pickles, green olives, capers, and occasionally sun-dried tomatoes

• Broad beans: broad beans, soybeans, peas, tofu, pickled beans, etc. (This includes bean products such as hummus, bean pastes, soy sauce, and miso)

• Yeast

• Beer, Ale, Wine (especially Red Wine)

• Bananas, oranges and any overripe fruit

• Eggs, spinach and tomatoes

• Coffee and possibly all caffeinated products. (Interestingly, some find small doses of caffeine beneficial, but when cutting back on caffeine, do so with caution to avoid withdrawal or rebound headaches.)

2 – Nitrates have a great impact. Used as a food preservative and ingredient in medications, nitrates are common migraine triggers.

These are nitrate foods to avoid:

• Processed meats: again hot dogs, sausages, salami, pepperoni, bacon, ham and cold cuts

• Beets, spinach, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower

3 – Other foods to avoid –

• Nuts and nut products

• Additives like MSG

• Table salt and foods high in sodium: potato chips, popcorn, salted peanuts

• Chocolate

I would suggest keeping a diary of the foods you eat when a migraine occurs so that you can identify your true food triggers. All of the items on this list are known migraine triggers, but each person reacts differently.

Personally, I found that the crab gave me an instant migraine, but I didn’t find anyone else experiencing the same and even my doctor was shocked. So find your triggers and good luck in preventing your migraines!