The Histamine Merry-Go-Round (Dr Fuhrman weighs in)

Horses on a Carousal

Your diet is going great right? The brain fog is lifting. The migraines have let up. Your skin is looking pretty darned good. It’s time to celebrate!

I’m sorry; you’re going to eat WHAT now? Are you kidding me? Put your hands in the air and back away from the fluorescent pink cupcake.

No.

No!

You may not have “just a lick of the frosting”. I know that’s code for “scarf it faster than a newborn spits up on silk blouse”.

I mean really, who do you think you’re talking to? I’ve BEEN where you’re coming from.

Yes, I know you’ll get right back on wagon.

Yes, I understand that you’re desperate to eat something out of a can. Something normal, like everyone else. They can, so why can’t you? It’s just not fair, you too want something whose artificially enhanced assets promote cancer, endocrine disruption and obesity.

Right?

Yes, I know, you’ve been good. So good that just a few bites, or just a “sliver” of that bake sale goody bag you’ve spent the last four hours slaving over won’t kill you.

Right?

Well, first off – wrong. Anaphylaxis can strike after just a bite. But leaving the morbid aside, why would you choose to pollute your body with a non-food, whose lack of nutrients not only renders it useless to your body in its struggle to fight excess histamine, but also mires it down in organ destroying, brain rotting inflammation. You are aware that Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are caused by neuro-inflammation? Yes, histamine and other mast cell released pro-inflammatory molecules can do this and other similarly nasty things to your body.

A world-renowned mast cell disorder expert recently told a patient (friend of mine) that even once histamine levels return to within normal range, it can take a year for the body to quell the inflammation.

So what effect would you think that constantly adding more histamine and inflammation to your bucket does to your body’s ability to heal? Inflammation, as Dr Oz points out, can become chronic. I’d definitely say that’s what happened to me.

You get better; inflammation dies down.

Start the clock on a year to kill the inflammation…

A month later, you fall off the wagon; inflammation rears its ugly head.

Re-set the clock and start your year over again.

How many times are you willing to do it? Yes, granted, you’re unlikely to be starting out from where you were when you began, 10 years ago, but why do it to yourself?

I was lucky enough to score a quote from my nutritional role model Dr Fuhrman regarding the importance of parting ways with our toxic mindset and looking beyond obsessing over salicylate/fructose/histamine:

“You can’t put this problem in a vacuum. Such as avoiding histamine containing foods, on a standard deficient and toxic diet. The body works in conjunction with thousands of complicated chemical reactions, and only with superior nutrition can the histamine sensitivity be better controlled. So exposure to thousands of phytochemicals and even to a low dose of histamine in their diet is good, not bad and can offer hope of getting better over the years to come.”

So true. I spent far too many years stressing the histamine status of a banana, almond, grapefruit when the “occasional” cookies I was eating were far more likely to send me running for the loo, while giving my body no beneficial nutrients.

I’m so very thankful for finding Dr Fuhrman’s ‘Eat to Live’ when I did, but even then it took some effort to get off the merry-go-round. I hope you jump off too. Believe me there’s a lot more to life than food and living every day to the fullest in great health is far more vibrant, exciting, and you’ll want it to last a whole lot longer than the best tasting cupcake on earth.

 

10 responses to “The Histamine Merry-Go-Round (Dr Fuhrman weighs in)”

  1. Габриэла Дзэн Avatar

    And the question is… how to get off the merry go round. I try not to have word “can’t” in my dictionary… but in this case, I can’t do it all alone. :/

  2. Габриэла Дзэн Avatar

    And the question is… how to get off the merry go round. I try not to have word “can’t” in my dictionary… but in this case, I can’t do it all alone. :/

  3. thelowhistaminechef Avatar

    In my case the first step was suffering. I got rid of the bandaids – antihistamines and anxiety medications that covered up the symptoms. Once I had to suffer the full effects of what food did to me, I understood that I could no longer punish my body like that. And so I began dedicating myself toDr Fuhrman’s diet, asking myself what nutrition each bite provides, before putting anything in my body.

    The other is to meditate on what we need to do to get better.

    I’m trying to find the time to put together a complete book on how I approached all this, but I need to do my real job during the day, then the chef stuff at night, plus find time to work on recipes 🙂 You can email me anytime you need help.

  4. thelowhistaminechef Avatar

    In my case the first step was suffering. I got rid of the bandaids – antihistamines and anxiety medications that covered up the symptoms. Once I had to suffer the full effects of what food did to me, I understood that I could no longer punish my body like that. And so I began dedicating myself toDr Fuhrman’s diet, asking myself what nutrition each bite provides, before putting anything in my body.

    The other is to meditate on what we need to do to get better.

    I’m trying to find the time to put together a complete book on how I approached all this, but I need to do my real job during the day, then the chef stuff at night, plus find time to work on recipes 🙂 You can email me anytime you need help.

  5. annmdk1016 Avatar
    annmdk1016

    I have been on Dr. Furhman’s Eat to Live diet since January. I think this put me over the edge. I was eating shakes for breakfast-strawberry, banana, raspberry etc….lunch was a salad with vinegar and oil, dinner, tomato based soup…ah, yes…all fall into the histamine problem foods. Are you saying that you take Dr. Furhman’s healthy eating then take off all the histmaine causing foods….then you follow this…thanks so much…I totally believe in what Dr. Furhman is saying ….thanks

  6. thelowhistaminechef Avatar

    Hi there, indeed, same mistake on my end. I eat a high nutrient mostly plant based diet, all antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods. Yes my approach is very similar to Fuhrman – but rather than just adding anti-inflammatory foods, I also added antihistamine foods.

  7. Judith Avatar
    Judith

    Thanks for the article. Right now it still feels like all my time is about eating and what not to eat (anymore). I feel like always standing out. Working in the restaurant business (and loving it) doesnt makes it easier. And I´ve always hoped that I´ll be off histamine one day again and will be able to eat rasperries, spinach and raw cacao again. But I´ll guess that will not be the case. I´ve got Eat To Live in my bookshelf, I´ll read it again, thanks. Also great thanks for all the information here! 🙂

  8. thelowhistaminechef Avatar

    I hear ya. I know quite a few people now in the food business who are dealing with this too. I wouldn’t despair – I couldn’t eat cacao, drink any alcohol or tolerate pineapple, or any nuts at one time! I can now do them all, once in a while. Moderation is key and being miserable doesn’t help. If it makes you happy and it’s high nutrient (and doesn’t cause anaphylaxis!) I’ll still go for it.

  9. Malin Avatar
    Malin

    I totally agree.

  10. ann Avatar
    ann

    I want a glass of Cabernet!

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Welcome!

Yasmina was an award-winning broadcast journalist with a decade of experience covering war zones for CNN and the BBC. She devoted her journalism skills to researching and writing about histamine. Click here to learn about her. Each post is carefully and fully referenced with the latest scientific research. Not sure where to start? Here’s a four week meal plan and overall Histamine Reset.


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