Posts Tagged ‘migraine diet’

Migraine and Food Intolerance Testing

What do parties and migraine have in common? You will probably jump to one of two conclusions (alcohol or late nights) and while you could be correct there is another common link, according to food intolerance specialists YorkTest Laboratories.

Apparently as the party season approaches there is an increase in the number of patients suffering from the symptoms of food intolerance – such as arthritis, IBS and bloating. This could be because people are eating foods to which they are intolerant without knowing the ingredients, or because they are consuming larger amounts of a particular food than usual. Often it can be a previously unsuspected intolerance that is suddenly triggered.

Being aware of any susceptibility to an intolerance could prevent  much inconvenience and discomfort.  Research in conjunction with scientists at York University shows that chronic inflammatory disease is linked with food intolerance and simply becoming aware of problem foods and excluding them from the diet can bring relief.

It’s well known that there are links between migraine and food intolerances and there are many methods of testing; my preferred method is described in this article on food intolerances and migraine.

Prevention is better than cure, so if you’d like to take a low cost test to check if you have a food intolerance probably the best price is available from Amazon. Click here and go to  the bottom of the page that opens for an ordering link.

If the test identifies that you have an intolerance you can look at alternative methods of finding out the particular foods implicated and how to avoid them in future.

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Posted in Dietary Approach, Migraine | 2 Comments »

Can detox cure migraines?

Migraine and detoxRecipes for Detox and Cleansing

I recently met up with Sandy Halliday, a graduate from the same nutrition college as me. We obviously soon started discussing the different routes we’d taken since our course finished.

While I have specialized in migraine, Sandy’s research and practice has focused on detox diets.

But as we compared notes it became obvious that there was much common ground, as a detoxification diet can be a great tool in the fight against migraine. Here are a few reasons why:

  • Many complementary therapists have related migraine to sluggish liver function, and the liver is the body’s main detoxification organ, so it needs to be functioning well.
  • If your liver and other organs of elimination can’t cope with the toxins in our diet and environment, you will suffer!
  • Years of unhealthy eating can lead to indigestion and a toxic colon.
  • A toxic colon can, in turn, lead to poor absorption of nutrients such as magnesium, so often deficient in migraine sufferers.
  • A good detox diet will exclude most of the common dietary migraine triggers, but will include nutrient rich foods, many of which are rich in magnesium, and which support the liver’s detoxification processes.
  • The liver eliminates spent hormones, but if it cannot do this efficiently old hormones may build up, resulting in a hormone imbalance. Many migraines are “hormonal”.

While we may all be aware of the benefits of a detox diet, with our modern life-style and the practicalities of following a sensible detox plan, good intentions often fall by the wayside, and no migraine sufferer needs anything that will cause them extra stress.

So Sandy has designed a plan that combines being safe and nutritionally sound, with being enjoyable and one you’ll easily stick to – even with family meals to plan.  Learn more by visiting Sandy’s detox site.

Recipes for Detox and Cleansing

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Posted in Dietary Approach, Healthy Living, Other Therapies | 1 Comment »