A list of migraine triggering foods is long, incomplete and not the same for you as it is for me. Triggers can vary from person to person. However, there are a few hard-hitting triggers such as:
- caffeine
- msg
- red wine (which I haven't had a glass of since I was about 20 years old. I know better)
Caffeine is something I find quite tricky, since it is a main ingredient in some medicines that are used to treat headaches(such as Excedrin Migraine and Cafergot). Personally, I feel like I have an internal dial set to a specific amount of caffeine. Too much too soon and I'm in a world of hurt. Too little too late? Again, I'm in a world of hurt. I am starting to cut back on my caffeine intake. Slowly, ever so slowly. I fear the headaches brought on by caffeine withdrawal(which can last up to 2 weeks).
MSG. I am making a conscious effort to remove this from my diet whenever/wherever possible. Saying this breaks my heart a little bit, because it means no more cheap chinese take out. You must understand that I loooove my chinese food.
the creepy thing about MSG is that it isn't always listed as MSG. It is monosodium glutamate. It may be also called: autolyzed yeaste, sodium/calcium caseinate, glutamic acid, gelatin.
At present there is an FDA requirement to include the protein source when listing hydrolyzed protein products on labels of processed foods. Examples are hydrolyzed soy protein, hydrolyzed wheat protein, hydrolyzed pea protein, hydrolyzed whey protein, hydrolyzed corn protein. If a tomato, for example, were whole, it would be identified as a tomato. Calling an ingredient tomato protein indicates that the tomato has been hydrolyzed, at least in part, and that processed free glutamic acid (MSG) is present.
This is the first and most important step in changing my diet thus far: READ LABELS. Read the label of everything you ingest. If you don't have a label for what you are eating and it's possible, then ask about the ingredients. Right now I'm doing my best to NOT eat foods label-less(this also helps me to abstain from eating out a lot and pushes me to cook mroe at home). I think people, in general, would eat very differently if they had to read the labels/ingredients for everything ingested. Most of it is impossible for the common human to interpret let alone pronounce.
Today I read the ingredients on my baby carrots. It looked like this:
INGREDIENTS: Carrots
There is a lot of information packed onto labels so do yourself a favor and learn how to read them. There are lots of resources on the web to help. Such as this one:
Also, when reading ingredients, pay special attention to the first three or four ingredients listed. Ingredients are listed from most to last. If you see high fructose corn syrup listed second, then yeah. It's got some crap in it. Probably unhealthy.
Again, this is a long process for me. Next week I start replacing one meal a week with a smoothie packed with spinach(magnesium), orange juice(vitamin c), flax seed and other nontrigger fruits.
Here is a list of things that I have cut from my diet so far, as they are potential migraine triggers for me. I will update this list as my diet evolves. Right now, it's quite short:
- avocados (this makes me sad)
- balsamic vinegar
- veggie burgers
- potato chips
- kimchi (sigh. I will miss you so)
More soon because this lady is just getting started. So far it's been rather easy, but I know it's only going to get more challenging. Will I ever give up my comfort in soda? Will I give up my precious french fries? I shudder to think. Buuuuut if it means less migraines then it's worth it.
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