The research is clear, food intolerance, allergies, and hypersensitivities are key triggers of headaches and migraines. Although each migraine sufferer may react to a different food or group of foods, there are a few which seem to pop up as frequent offenders: dairy (including milk, cheeses, and yogurt), wheat, eggs, soy, corn, citrus, chocolate, coffee, beef, yeast, red wine, and processed foods with additives and preservatives.
In the pursuit to identify these top offenders, scientists and physicians have enlisted the oligoantigenic diet. This is a hypoallergenic “elimination” diet, consisting of a selection of foods that are presumably well tolerated. During their studies, patients are told to eat only the “safe” foods outlined on their version of the oligonantigenic diet in an effort to eliminate any symptoms. Once the symptoms have gone into remission, the “high risk” foods are re-introduced into the diet one at a time to assess their potential trigger effect on symptoms. This type of diet should be undertaken with the assistance of a physician, in order to ensure adequate nutritional intake. In each of the 3 case studies listed below, some form of an oligoantigenic diet was used:
60 migraine patients followed an elimination diet after a 5-day withdrawal from their normal diet. Upon reintroduction, specific foods elicited migraine reactions in a significant percentage of patients: wheat (78%), oranges (65%), eggs (45%), tea and coffee (40% each), chocolate and milk (37% each), beef (35%), and corn, cane sugar, and yeast (33% each). When an average of ten common trigger foods were avoided, there was a dramatic decline in the number of headaches per month and 85% of patients actually became headache-free! As science would have it, an added benefit was welcomed by the 25% of these patients who also had hypertension – their blood pressure returned to normal levels.
In a clinical trial 93% of 88 children who suffered frequent and severe migraines recovered on oligoantigentic diets. Most of the patients responded to several foods, which suggested the probability of an allergic rather than a metabolic cause. An added bonus… abdominal pain, behavior disorder, fits, asthma, and eczema also improved in several of these patients.
A research study trialed an oligoantigenic diet on 63 children with epilepsy, 45 of which also suffered from migraines, hyperkinetic behavior, or both. The 18 children who had epilepsy alone saw no improvement on the oligoantigenic diet. However, of the 45 children with additional symptoms, 25 ceased to have seizures and 11 had fewer seizures while on this diet. Migraines, abdominal pain, and hyperkinetic behavior halted in the 25 children who stopped having seizures, and also in some of those who did not stop having seizures. Reintroduction of foods one by one confirmed that the seizures, migraines, hyperkinetic activity, and abdominal pain these children were experiencing related to 42 different “trigger” foods.
So why do so many people suffer from migraines and other headaches when they consume these foods? The medical community is getting closer to an answer. Researchers in Germany have discovered a genetic mutation responsible for the “faulty wiring” and the subsequent pain. Although clinical scientists have known for a while that migraines are hereditary, the exact “defect” being passed on was previously unknown.
GoDairyFree.org was written and published by Superstar Life, Inc., a company centered on life management, growth, and enhancement. If you have any questions, or would like to submit a testimonial, recipes, or useful information, please email info@godairyfree.org
Why
Your Diet May Not Be Working!
by: Nishanth Reddy
Jennifer, a middle-aged single mother with one
six-year-old daughter, has been skipping sweets for a few weeks now. She’s
also become a stickler for portion control. She feels as if she’s eating
less than ever, and she’s been diligently exercising for an hour at a time
at least four days a week. Yet, she hasn’t lost a single pound. The
question is, “Why?”
This is a dilemma which affects dieters the world over.
They think they are taking the steps necessary to lose weight, but nothing
seems to be happening. In essence, they are trapped in a dieting rut and
they don’t know how to free themselves. As a result, they become
frustrated and depressed and may then engage in binge eating.
One of the problems with diets is that they are often
standardized. As a result, they don’t take into consideration your
individual physiology and metabolism. They provide a cookie-cutter
approach to weight loss—an approach which may not work in your individual
case. As a result, an increasing number of people are turning to
dieticians to formulate a person weight loss strategy for them. This
process has been made easier through the Internet, where you can
correspond with a dietician any time of the day or night via e-mail. The
dietician can also act as your personal coach, helping you through your
dieting dilemmas.
Another reason that you may be failing at your diet is
because of a lack of support. You may have family members who can eat
whatever they want and seemingly not gain a pound. As a result, they may
fill your refrigerator with junk food, leading you into temptation. Also,
you may feel as if you have no one to turn to in order to discuss your
weight problems. In order to solve this problem, many individuals look to
psychotherapists to help them with their food-related issues. This can be
particularly important if an individual has turned to purging in an effort
to combat their weight problems. Bulimia is a serious disease which must
be treated in order to ensure the good health of the patient. Thankfully,
there are a number of treatment programs throughout the U.S. specifically
focusing on bulimia.
Yet another reason for diet failure is hidden calories.
You may literally be consuming calories and not even realize it. For
instance, the frappucinos that are so popular today are loaded with
calories—as many as 600 in a single serving! You may also be indulging in
sugary sodas—another source of extra calories. By taking a few simple
steps, such as eliminating the exotic coffee drinks from your diet and
substituting skim milk for whole milk, you may be able to eliminate the
hidden calories that are denying you dieting success.
Lack of consistency can also be a diet-killer. You might
go on a diet for a while, then quit before you’ve made any measurable
progress. It’s only natural to want to see quick results. The problem is
that healthy weight loss involves losing only a couple of pounds a week.
That means you’ll have to stay on your diet for months before you see
appreciable weight loss. Discouraging? It can be, but if you keep a
positive attitude you can achieve your ideal weight.
You may also be more successful in your dieting if you
consider it to be a lifestyle change. Therefore, your diet becomes a meal
plan for life. This means that you must change the way you look at food.
It is designed to be fuel for your body, and nothing more. As a result,
you should not turn to food to make you feel better or to provide you with
a sense of comfort. A lifestyle change implies commitment; it means that
you are prepared to follow the plan for the long haul. If you feel as if
you cannot be on your diet for any appreciable length of time, perhaps
it’s time to consider a different diet. Your aim ultimately should be not
simply to lose weight, but to become healthier. A fad diet will not allow
you to reach that milestone. Therefore, you must choose your diet
carefully.
Afrikaans 
Albanian 
Amharic 
Arabic 
Armenian 
Azerbaijani 
Basque 
Belarusian 
Bengali 
Bosnian 
Bulgarian 
Catalan 
Cebuano 
Chichewa 
Chinese (Simplified) 
Chinese (Traditional) 
Corsican 
Croatian 
Czech 
Danish 
Dutch 
English 
Esperanto 
Estonian 
Filipino 
Finnish 
French 
Frisian 
Galician 
Georgian 
German 
Greek 
Gujarati 
Haitian Creole 
Hausa 
Hawaiian 
Hebrew 
Hindi 
Hmong 
Hungarian 
Icelandic 
Igbo 
Indonesian 
Irish 
Italian 
Japanese 
Javanese 
Kannada 
Kazakh 
Khmer 
Korean 
Kurdish (Kurmanji) 
Kyrgyz 
Lao 
Latin 
Latvian 
Lithuanian 
Luxembourgish 
Macedonian 
Malagasy 
Malay 
Malayalam 
Maltese 
Maori 
Marathi 
Mongolian 
Myanmar (Burmese) 
Nepali 
Norwegian 
Pashto 
Persian 
Polish 
Portuguese 
Punjabi 
Romanian 
Russian 
Samoan 
Scottish Gaelic 
Serbian 
Sesotho 
Shona 
Sindhi 
Sinhala 
Slovak 
Slovenian 
Somali 
Spanish 
Sundanese 
Swahili 
Swedish 
Tajik 
Tamil 
Telugu 
Thai 
Turkish 
Ukrainian 
Urdu 
Uzbek 
Vietnamese 
Welsh 
Xhosa 
Yiddish 
Yoruba 
Zulu
