Migraine Foods To Avoid

Like all experienced migraine will tell you, they can list the migraine food triggers that send them into a puzzle.

For me, alcohol is the winner. And I mean almost all forms, including most wines, beers and mixed drinks. (Hey, the good news is .. I will never be an alcoholic. The pain is simply not worth it!) Curiously, when I was younger, I thought a headache horrible fight with nausea and vomiting just after a few drinks, was normal! Hmm .. With alcohol, the most common cause is the red wine. Generally, the dryer and red wine, the risk of migraine attack. This is due to the amount of tannins in red wine.

Another major trigger is MSG or monosodium glutamate. This chemical is not a food additive which is a flavor enhancer. Unfortunately for some people, even a small amount can trigger a severe migraine. Historically, it has been used in cooking in Chinese restaurants here in the U.S., and while many restaurants claim to be MSG free, I can assure you that some are not! Sometimes, it is still used in salad bars as an enhancer and preservative.

What about caffeine? Well, caffeine by itself does not cause a migraine, but if you have chronic severe migraines, caffeine makes it worse. It irritates the nervous tissue (which would be your brain!) And most laps of time to headache. Many people are unaware of how much they drink caffeine on a daily basis. The average cup (not mug!) From coffee has 107 mg of caffeine. Red Bulls come to 80 mg per can, Mountain Dew is 55 mg. What is the favorite national Starbucks? Well hang on: a short coffee 180mg, 260mg is a great and Grande is a huge 360 mg of caffeine. Oh yes ... decaffeinated coffee at Starbucks has about 60 mg of caffeine.

Let THE MYTH OF CHOCOLATE causing headaches. Not really true. Nope. Nada. Zip. A recent study suggests that chocolate contains copper, it can increase the concentrations of copper and trigger a migraine. However, you must eat a lot of it not just a few pieces to cause a headache. So why you get a headache after eating chocolate? Migraines phase pro-dromal where you "feel" something is coming one. Meanwhile some parts of the brain are firing off and one of them can stimulate food cravings, especially sugar or candy. Well we all loovve chocolate, right? Then after eating, headache always follows. Hence the assumption, causes headaches chocolate. So next time, acknowledge it may be the beginning of a phase of migraine. But do not you give me permission to eat or a pound of the stuff, but you get the idea.

Migraine Food Triggers Additional:

Nuts, aged cheeses, foods containing nitrates (bacon and lunch meats), smoked or pickled foods. Some patients tell me that onions are a trigger, such as foods are packed with many chemicals.

Some recent studies are now looking at the effects of gluten or wheat products in the diet and migraine. Aspartame (artificial sweetener) is also known to trigger migraines.

Try to identify foods that are a trigger by keeping a diary for at least 90 days to find your triggers .. so avoid them. Sort of under the old adage: if it hurts when you do that .. do not do that. As you settle down and headaches become less frequent, eventually you will be able to tolerate small amounts of food trigger migraine previously identified.