When we come back in the New Year, I have some very very exciting news to share…let’s just say a picture’s worth a thousand words….
It’s not so much a story about a woman eating a strawberry for the first time in six years, not the story of how it landed her in the hospital, but rather how she is suddenly able to eat the strawberry, along with a growing list of high nutrient but high histamine foods.
Like all good stories….
there’s a cliffhanger.
See you in the New Year!!
Don’t forget to…
Join my mailing list for more recipes and to be the first to know when registration for my low histamine webinar opens!
If you’ve found this information useful I’d appreciate your support (at no extra cost to you!) – please check out my online store for your health foods, supplements, kitchen items and beauty product purchases. Affiliate sales through my online store go towards maintaining the website, funding travel to interviews and purchasing all the lovely foods for my free online recipes. You’ll find these items in the “Shop with us” drop down menu on my homepage.
Please don’t forget antihistamine, pain killing foods can still hurt us, so please always check with your doctor before adding new foods to your diet.
For your New Year’s Eve pleasure I have put together a mini book of cocktails (virgin or not) & canapés, a free gift with the purchase of any of my books. Right now the Christmas book Happy Holidays is also being given out with any purchase, so you’re getting three books (two of them mini) all in one purchase!
Cocktails and Canapés:
5 delicious cocktails, great with or without any alcohol.
5 perfect canapés/appetisers for any soiree, or even just to serve up as a light snack if you’re not entertaining this year.
Don’t forget to…
Join my mailing list for more recipes and to be the first to know when registration for my low histamine webinar opens!
If you’ve found this information useful I’d appreciate your support (at no extra cost to you!) – please check out my online store for your health foods, supplements, kitchen items and beauty product purchases. Affiliate sales through my online store go towards maintaining the website, funding travel to interviews and purchasing all the lovely foods for my free online recipes. You’ll find these items in the “Shop with us” drop down menu on my homepage.
Please don’t forget antihistamine, pain killing foods can still hurt us, so please always check with your doctor before adding new foods to your diet.
The following piece draws on the collective experiences of the women I have the pleasure of calling my hista-sistas in arms. As bold as we may be on the battlefield of health, matters of the heart are still the frontline.
It’s hard to accurately share the hell we endure with those who have never experienced it. At best we sound wildly melodramatic. At worst we sound terribly needy, attention hungry and truly sick in the head.
Or so we’re often told.
By those who claim to love us.
It’s hard not to see where they’re coming from.
Mast cells are found in every major organ system, and yet, often because of the dozens of symptoms that plague us, we’re accused of embracing the role of hapless victim a little too readily.
I wonder why it’s so hard for family members and lovers to understand that as mast cells proliferate, they dump their toxic cargo into our bloodstream, inducing anaphylaxis, messing with hormones and neurotransmitters, as well as causing maddening itching that at its worst made me want to rip my skin off?
I’m shocked that more of us don’t go completely off the rails, because honestly, I’ve felt I was going completely mad at times.
The persistent memory loss, frequent symptom flares and pathological anger is easy neither for those we love, nor for ourselves to comprehend, let alone deal with. As tired as we are of living this way, those we dump our toxic waste onto must feel a burden greater than ours, because they cannot take charge and treat it themselves, as they see fit.
The only thing worse than being a patient, is being the powerless patient’s powerless partner.
And impotence isn’t a good colour on a man. Our symptomology is an easy target for patience worn partners seeking to score a quick point, or simply shut us down so they can get some peace and quiet.
We’re accused of either forgetting things out of spite, or to control our environment, while our rage is blamed on the tides of our cycles rather than organic brain syndrome, as documented by the most respected researchers in the mast cell field [1].
We’re told to man up, stop bitching and get on with things. Our inability to engage with life, to pick up a sick child from their bed without needing to be propped up ourselves, becomes oppressive to say the least.
So what happens when those who committed to be the ones to lift us up to meet these seemingly herculean challenges are not who we thought them to be?
My psychotherapists and psychiatrists over the years struggled to come up with the answer to why I put myself, time and again, in the hands of those who appeared to derive a great deal of their strength from sucking mine dry.
While no one would call my childhood a happy one, I managed to scrape by without the abuse, violence, sexual assault or life altering trauma a great number of my mast cell tribe have suffered. Sure, by the age of 20 I had lost an alarming number of friends to cancer, drug abuse and car accidents, but still, nothing on which the shrinks could pin my unbelievable lack of self-esteem and PTSD-like fear of the world around me.Just the other night, as I lay in bed, tossing and turning, a light bulb finally switched on. Lifelong illness is my psychic scar. Carried since childhood, the indelible memory of laying my head on my father’s bedside as he lay dying of cancer at 42, has haunted me, lending a megaphone to every ailment, every twinge in my body.
For 30 years I remained convinced of my impending diagnosis with an incurable disease. Honestly though, I needn’t have fretted – how many illnesses are truly curable? We’re all dying in some way, and that’s ok with me now (read more here – I choose life).
My perceived, and then confirmed illness became my safety blanket. More a jealous lover than simply the product of defective genes, my svengali-like condition dictated the terms of my movements, thoughts and development as a human being. I was a prisoner of my own mind.
No wonder then I was primed for those who sought to further unravel the loose ends of my self-esteem. I was easy pickin’s for troubled, seemingly loving mates, friends and mentors who sought nothing less than my complete submission to their terms. At the time they did not yet know that I was already a slave to a far more fearsome taskmaster, but they soon learned, and discord reigned free and hard in our reality.
I now believe that in the same way that psychopaths have been shown to be able to identify victims of crime or previous violence [2], my unconscious behaviours sent off easy prey signals to the vultures circling my airspace.
I imagine it would be hard for most men to pass up the opportunity not to dominate us. This illness tends to bring out either the victim or the tiger in many of us. Or both, as events, some beyond our control, and others seemingly so, threaten to overcome common sense and the will to thrive.
Sadly we’re fooling ourselves if we don’t understand that these toxic relationships are causing illness, and further instability of our body’s systems, in addition to causing stress hormone induced epigenetic changes that leave us open to more serious illnesses than what we’re dealing with now (hard to believe right?). For more please read Lisa Rankin’s Mind Over Medicine.
I also recently spoke about the role of stress as a mast cell trigger with mast cell specialist Dr Castells and have often referenced NIH funded Dr Theoharides’ research on stress as a mast cell trigger [3].
Luckily, women have an inbuilt psychopath detector [4] – you know that feeling you get, a chill runs down your spine, or that sudden psychological punch to the stomach, or just the terrifying feeling you’re in the presence of darkness? It may be a curl of the lip as he denies your feelings, a smirk as he assigns all blame on you, or a flash of anger behind a cunning smile. If you’re open to the experience, it can be set off by a lot less than a psychopath, maybe your run of the mill verbal abuser or mental controller (see Patricia Evans’ books for more).
Sickness is frightening, and it may be tempting to stay in a psychologically damaging relationship because the alternative is just too horrific to bear.
But heed my words – pay attention to that feeling. Run like the wind and don’t ever look back. Don’t let anyone logic or guilt you out of it, especially you.
Dig deep to find your strength. Remember who you were before the darkness. Believe me, the fire is always burning within.
No one, no matter how hard they try, can take it away from you.
Be free.
Please don’t forget antihistamine, pain killing foods can still hurt us, so please always check with your doctor before adding new foods to your diet.
This article began as a simple one: to report a few studies I found which posit that allowing the measles to run its course, rather than vaccinating against it, has been found to prevent allergy development in later life [1].
Please understand – I am not suggesting intentionally exposing children to the virus, nor skipping vaccination against it, in order to safeguard them against allergies. The measles are not to be trifled with.
The study will likely make sense to you if you’re already a fan of the hygiene hypothesis that states that “a lack of early childhood exposure to infectious agents, symbiotic microorganisms (e.g., gut flora or probiotics), and parasites increases susceptibility to allergic diseases by suppressing the natural development of the immune system.” [2]
As I delved a little more deeply into the topic I realised I had to write something a little more substantial on it.
The issue of vaccination is a thorny one; it’s my intention to approach it simply from the mast cell/histamine/allergy/inflammation angle, so that so that at least we’re going into this with eyes open and armed with some information to help us better understand what to watch out for post-vaccination.
It’s not my intention to cast my vote in either direction, because thankfully, as of yet, I don’t have any kids to worry about. Please don’t ask me what I’m planning to do, because I still haven’t the foggiest. It’s going to be a toughie for sure, given the number of parents I correspond with who are convinced that vaccines contributed to, or caused, their child’s mast cell/histamine issues, or autism.
To begin with, here are a few of the commonly used mast cell degranulation triggering/histamine releasing inactive ingredients found in vaccines we and our children are getting:
Aluminium: specifically enhances inflammation and decreases mucosal healing of the stomach [3].
Egg albumin: mast cell trigger, used to test anti-inflammatory drugs [6].
Formaldehyde: mast cell trigger [7], carcinogenic, messes with our DNA [8].
Mercury: used by researchers to induce inflammation with which to test their anti-inflammatory drugs [9].
Causes mast cell degranulation [10]
Causes histamine release [11]
MSG: potential mast cell trigger [12].
Soy: mast cell/histamine trigger [13].
Yeast: mast cell/histamine trigger [14].
Also: multiple dyes and preservatives known to cause mast cell degranulation and histamine release.
Add these to the fact that vaccines in general cause inflammation – yes, oddly enough, injecting a virus into our body causes the immune system (mast cells, histamine, other inflammatory agents) to go completely berserk protecting us from it.
No wonder some truly funky stuff happened just before I shipped out to Baghdad as a journalist. I had six vaccines in total, all at once.
As I said before, it’s not my position to take a position on either side of the debate – but I was truly horrified by most of the other inactive ingredients and to find out how the viruses are incubated (monkey kidney, bovine marrow anyone?). I would have a hard time justifying allowing anyone to inject those into my body. I’m not suggesting that people should not vaccinate themselves or their children. I’m just saying it’s good to be aware of what’s going into our bodies and that we should be aware there’s a possible fallout for those of us with mast cell issues. I know many of my tribe medicate with antihistamines before and after, so it’s worth letting the vaccinator know that you may need special attention, or they may need to keep an eye on your child. I suggest googling Dr. Theoharides for his advice on spacing out vaccines for children with mast cell disorders.
The Anti-cookbookand all liquid Anti-Detox Book, don’t treat any conditions, but are high in the high nutrient antihistamine and anti-inflammatory ingredients that have been instrumental in helping me feed myself on a limited diet. The Anti-cookbook features a six page list of antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods and comes in regular and Paleo.
The Low Oxalate Cookbook features antihistamine and anti-inflammatory rich recipes.
Don’t miss the Low Histamine Beauty Survival Guide for non-toxic beauty tips, the skinny on histamine releasing (mast cell degranulating) beauty ingredients, antihistamine and anti-inflammatory beauty alternatives and the top brands natural brands I’ve found.
Life can be a little overwhelming when dealing with a chronic inflammatory condition. Events that were once pleasurable are now fraught with fear of a loss of control of our environment, or ruined by a never-ending histamine hangover.
But this Christmas I’d like to share with you some strategies, tips and positivity on how to to take stress out of the holiday equation.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year, where friends, family and food unite to create lasting memories.
Sadly though in the last few years this and other celebratory feasts have left me feeling less than stellar afterwards, thanks to my lovely histamine intolerance/mast cell activation. It would usually take about two days to hit me, unless I was already quite unwell to start with. I’d wake up on the Friday feeling slightly hung over, but by Saturday, feeling like a sixteen wheeler had its way with me.
I’d mope around the house, beating myself up for going off-diet (off the low histamine diet that is). Sacred to put anything into my body – because no matter what I put in (so it seemed at the time) it was sure to come back up again, or threaten to anyways.
I’d feel pretty miserable, asking myself why it had seemed worth it to eat pie, ice cream, or/and drink those glasses of wine, knowing that I’d spend the next week/s paying for it. Your psyche (and stress levels) really take a beating when you’re convinced that you’ve flushed days/weeks/months of progress down the toilet, for a bit of pleasure that lasts of so fleetingly.
As I discovered though, cheating on the low histamine diet was a huge part of my recovery. Not only did the stress of avoiding so many foods end up making me sicker than just going ahead and indulging responsibly once in a while, cutting nutrients out of my diet ended up making me look, and feel like, I was knocking on death’s door. I’m working on a book that’ll detail how I’m healing myself, but you’ll find a ton of that info on the blog. It just takes persistence to navigate through it all!
But first, lets deal with how to get through Christmas without having to just grit our teeth and bear it. Here’s an idea – how about we enjoy it – knowing that no matter what we do, we’re giving it our best, and that’s all we need to have a great time.
Decide what’s most important to you
Is it eating a heavy meal till you’re fit to burst and too exhausted to make conversation?
Is it being vital enough to jump out of bed with a bounce the moment the minute you hear the kids going to town on the wrapping paper?
How about feeling happy and healthy and ready to show your entire family how your dietary choices have changed your life?
I’m not trying to guilt you here. It’s just about identifying what will make you happy, so that you can make sure to get it! Even more importantly, it helps quell the negativity bias inherent in human beings. I’ll all too guilty of having been a member of that group…many a times have I uttered phrases like: “but I was sick the whole time” “I haven’t accomplished anything today” “I’m not getting anywhere” “I didn’t have any fun because…” Identify what’ll make you happy, and then acknowledge it when it happens. That’s the key to re-wiring your brain for positivity. Please check out these great books (not mine) for more on generating happiness.
The Low Histamine Christmas Book, free with any purchase
Ask yourself: is it worth it? How much downtime can I afford? And then make your peace with it.
Resolve to enjoy yourself and make a conscious effort not to then spend the next week obsessing about the way you feel and beating yourself up about it. Life is far too short to engage in this mental flagellation and stressing over what you’re going to eat or have eaten could conceivably cause more illness than just having the damn pie!
Find out:
Where you’re eating.
What’s being served.
If you can bring a dish.
What your cover story is (because you don’t really want to spend the holidays talking about histamine do you? I don’t!
If you’ve found this information useful I’d appreciate your support (at no extra cost to you!) – please check out my online store for your health foods, supplements, kitchen items and beauty product purchases. Affiliate sales through my online store go towards maintaining the website, funding travel to interviews and purchasing all the lovely foods for my free online recipes. You’ll find these items in the “FABULOUS THINGS” drop down menu on my homepage – there’s now a UK and US store.
Yay! I’m finally done with the most fun menu I’ve put together. All recipes are highly adaptable and offer many, many substitution possibilities.
These low histamine recipes are low oxalate, mostly paleo (or can be easily adapted), dairy free, gluten free and of course, there’s no processed sugars.
Main
Roast duck w/rosemary and garlic
Sides
Stuffed zucchini (courgettes)
Stuffing
Sweet potato fritters
Dessert
Mango crumble/crisp
Pecan pie
Cookies
Gingerbread
Because it’s the season of giving, I’m giving away a copy of this book with the purchase of any of my books, from now till December 31st.
Enjoy!
These recipes, especially with a few minor tweaks, are suitable for histamine intolerance, mast cell activation disorder, mastocytosis and other chronic inflammatory conditions.
[trx_video url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm6CvLpsZdM” show_image=”yes” autoplay=”yes”] Yasmina’s gift to you, with the purchase of any of her books. Features tips on how to take the stress out of Christmas and a full high nutrient dinner menu with sides, eggnog, cookies and two desserts. If you have already purchased all of her books (including the dessert book), please contact us at [email protected]. Dairy-free, gluten-free, low oxalate, and paleo options. All low or antihistamine and anti-inflammatory recipes for health.
Are you getting a little down about your Christmas options?
Don’t fall into the traps I did years ago…
It really doesn’t have to be feast or famine (so to speak). It’s totally realistic to plan out a survival strategy for the holidays: pre-festivities detox, munching plan for the main events and a recovery plan so there’s still room in your (histamine) bucket for New Year’s eve!
Soooooo…here’s a little something I whipped up that I’ll definitely be serving up for my low histamine Christmas.
Crumbles/crisps have never really been my thang. They’re too sickly sweet, usually topped with even more sugar (ice cream), and I invariably walked away from the dinner table with a treacly rock in my stomach, slowly working its indigestive charms till I managed to score some tums.
Oh what fun!
But this year I plan neither to spend the festivities nursing a warm cup of ginger infused water while half heartedly trying to assure friends that the drool on my chin is just a part of the healing process, nor will I spend the 26th-2nd riding the porcelain express.
And so my lovely little low histamine dessert with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory ingredients (as always!) is just what I need to keep me from lashing out, tourrettes-like into something that’s going to mess with my zen vibe.
Here’s the benefits breakdown:
Some mangoes possess antihistaminic properties (depending on variety) but all are anti-inflammatory [1].
Ginger is as potent an H2 receptor blocker as Zantac (prescribed for stomach acid) and is also an H1 blocker (like Claritin for example) [2].
Some varieties of sorghum flour are anti-inflammatory [3].
Almonds are highly anti-inflammatory [4] and high in beneficial nutrients like vitamin E.
Coconut is anti-inflammatory and also a pain killer [5].
Dates are anti-inflammatory, but listed as high histamine on some lists. I eat them.
You’ll find more antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods as well as a thorough nutrient breakdown in all recipes in the Anti-Cookbooks (regular and paleo).
1 mango, sliced 1/2 tbsp grated ginger 2 tbsp lime/lemon/lemon basil 1 cup sorghum flour 1/2 cup almond/oat flour (coconut for low oxalate*) 1/2 cup coconut oil (or your choice of oil) 1/4 cup dates or 1/2 cup coconut sugar raw vanilla pinch salt
Optional Coconut cream
Directions:
Pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F.
Place your sliced mango in a small to medium pot. Splash with some water, then add the ginger, lime/lemon and a pinch of salt.
Cover and cook on low heat till tender (about 10 minutes).
Meanwhile, in a food processor combine the sorghum with the almond/oat flour. If you want to go lower oxalate, coconut flour is a great alternative – but you’ll need something to give a bit of texture and binding. A few sunflower seeds, an egg/s or some apple puree.
Then toss in the dates/coconut sugar, oil, raw vanilla and a pinch of salt. To use less oil – sub 1/4 cup pureed apple for the coconut.
Into a small baking dish (or oven proof glasses) spoon the mango and then top with the flour.
Bake at 180C/350F for 20-30 minutes, until the crumbly layer is nice and golden.
Serve with coconut cream (optional).
Please don’t forget antihistamine, pain killing foods can still hurt us, so please always check with your doctor before adding new foods to your diet.
Join my mailing listfor more recipes and to be the first to know when registration for my low histamine webinar opens.
If you’ve found this information useful I’d appreciate your support (at no extra cost to you!) – please check out my online store for your health foods, supplements, kitchen items and beauty product purchases. Affiliate sales through my online store go towards maintaining the website, funding travel to interviews and purchasing all the lovely foods for my free online recipes. You’ll find these items in the “Shop with us” drop down menu on my homepage.
Lovely farmer’s market green tomato tree is still around, despite being out of season! But I was there on another mission…
Friends and family remain shocked by my (seemingly) encyclopedic knowledge of the healing powers of foods. Valuable space I might add, once allotted to remembering heads of state (in my former career as a journalist) and movie titles (in my former life as teen film freak/imdb worshipper).
Rather than getting midnight texts asking me to settle a score on who won the best director academy award in 1978 (Woody Allen – but I had to look that up!), I now get calls asking me how to settle an upset tummy, deal with a fever or an allergic reaction.
Now here’s where common sense comes in – my friends know not to take anything they may react to, or they check with their doctor first. I advise you to do the same! Please remember a number of these studies are conducted on animals and that anything, antihistamine or not, can either hurt or help us.
A particularly inspiring wander around the farmer’s market here in Brighton yielded a number of love fridge-as-medicine cabinet ideas…
Pomegranate
Owes its anti-allergic properties to its effect as a mast cell stabiliser [1]. It’s also highly anti-inflammatory [2] and can help treat/prevent ulcerative colitis [3]. It’s also estrogenic [4], which may be a good or a bad thing, depending on your circumstances. Guys, don’t worry – you won’t need a training bra if you indulge responsibly 😉
You’ll find a lovely pomegranate glazed salmon recipe in the Anti-Cookbooks. If you’re worried about the histamine status of fish/salmon, please check out my interview with immunologist Dr Janice Joneja – she shares that fish/salmon is fine as long as it’s fresh. She even says canned tuna is ok…I wouldn’t personally eat it but there you go.
Custard apple
This lovely fruit, which to me tastes of strawberry infused cream, has been shown to inhibit prostaglandin induced inflammation and is a natural painkiller [5]. For those of us dealing with inflammatory conditions like histamine intolerance, mast cell activation, mastocytosis, or (to a certain extent) allergies, this is a very good thing. I often warn against the idea of focusing only on histamine – it’s about lowering the inflammation level overall. That’s how I’ve done it anyways, and I’m apparently winning the battle! For more on that please check out my posts “turning health around in a year” and “the antihistamine and anti-inflammatory diet is winning the battle against mast cell activation.“
As a bonus – prostaglandins cause hair loss. That’s why I take mangosteen supplements, but I really prefer to eat my meds! You’ll find something on the supps I take here.
In my mother’s native country of Lebanon, custard apple is used to make delicious desserts. Yes, it’s on the cards here too…we’re talking pancakes, custard, ice cream! It’s also super delish just as it is.
Quince
This odd looking fruit has been shown to have mast cell stabilising properties, thereby preventing histamine release/allergies [6]. It has also shown some promise in leukemia treatment/prevention (in animal studies) [7]. Interestingly I found a study talking about lemon and quince being a super combo allergy-wise [8]. Many histamine peeps react to lemon – I never have.
This lovely fruit perplexed me for a while. Till I realized – jam! Yes yes yes, it’s jam time. Quince is full of pectin, which is what helps jams jell. I’ve never had an issue making it without – I usually just add some apple to help. You’ll find multitudes of healthy quince jam recipes online.
Spaghetti squash
What an incredible family of squash! The curcubita pepo family have wonderful anti-inflammatory and antihistaminic properties [9]. You’ll find a number of recipes in my cookbooks using them.
Can’t do gluten? This is the BEST natural spaghetti alternative…just bake, and use a fork to scrape the tasty insides into strands. Fry up a little onion, garlic etc, as if making a pasta. Delish!
Don’t forget…
Join my mailing list for more recipes and to be the first to know when registration for my low histamine webinar opens!
If you’ve found this information useful I’d appreciate your support (at no extra cost to you!) – please check out my online store for your health foods, supplements, kitchen items and beauty product purchases. Affiliate sales through my online store go towards maintaining the website, funding travel to interviews and purchasing all the lovely foods for my free online recipes. You’ll find these items in the “Shop with us” drop down menu on my homepage.
Please don’t forget antihistamine, pain killing foods can still hurt us, so please always check with your doctor before adding new foods to your diet.
