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