Category: Tips & Tricks

  • Histamine Survival – Travel

    Histamine Survival – Travel

    masai warriors

    2017 UPDATE:

    This is one of my older posts. I no longer travel with any foods, except for the plane (there’s just no way I’m touching that mess!) and I don’t need to do most of the stuff on my checklist, but it’s useful for people just starting out.

    2015 UPDATE:

    I no longer really travel with my own food, unless I’m going for more than a few weeks. The list of stuff I take with me has changed, in keeping with my new thinking on eating a high nutrient antihistamine and anti-inflammatory diet. You’ll find tons of info on that in my newer posts. 

    The most important update I have is on how to prepare for potential medical emergencies…read all the way down for more.

    Hey Mtv generation – remember how NASA (used to) count off the shuttle blast? My trip to Kenya is T minus seven DAYS and counting. Those crazy science type geeks had the luxury of only needing to count to 10 before catapulting their tin cans into orbit, whereas I’m dealing with, like, a histamine type thingy.

    Ok, I said what now??

    It’s at this point in the pre-departure frenzy that I realise it’s time for a little perspective.

    When I subtract the numerical value of possibly getting sick abroad/potential stress/intense preparation from the BENEFITS of travel (lovey time with significant other, kodak moments indelibly inked into psyche, client payout, adventure!), the pros still far outweigh the cons.

    Good thing too otherwise the ants in my pants would hang up their spurs in disgust.

    Since that’s not going to happen any time soon, I thought I’d share my obsessive ex-CNN/BBC international news producer inspired travel tips with you.

    ACCOMMODATION

    Cooking low histamine meals for myself takes most of the stress out of travel, so I always try to book an apartment rather than a hotel. Airbnb.com has hooked me up with beautiful, cost effective, apartments or rooms in houses (when on business trips). I always check to make sure the kitchen is available for my histamine food needs, and has the bare minimum equipment-wise.

    LOCAL TRANSPORT

    What’s the likelihood I’m going to jack up my histamine level rushing around town in microwaves (taxis) in the middle of summer? Yeah, high. Most of the not so developed world lacks AC in taxis. But one day I just said, enough! Given that I do a lot of travel to countries where the exchange rate is very much in my favour, I try to score the number of a good driver with a decent car. You’d be surprised at how little it costs to rent a nice sedan with driver in places like Egypt. Well, not that you’d want to go there right now (someday soon I hope), but you catch my drift. If the no AC situation is completely unavoidable, I try to plan long trips at night, I bring one of those little battery operated fans that squirt water in your face, load up a camelbak with ice cold water, and do a little meditation (and swearing) when we hit traffic.

    T MINUS 14 DAYS (and counting…)

    I usually keep a small notebook on hand with all my info. Into this goes my…

    RESEARCH

    Which foods are available at my destination?

    Are there organic supermarkets? If so, find their location.

    What’s the local transport situation like? Do I need a driver?

    What’s the local word for organic supermarket? I use google translate or buy a phrase book.

    Which herbs are available in the country?

    Where are the best hospitals in the areas I’m traveling to? It’s easy to dig up this info by hitting the ex-pat online forums. People are usually more than happy to advise you and there’s often lists with ratings.

    EATING OUT PREP

    I usually eat (at least) a little at home. I’m so over “having” to sample the menu everywhere we go and then spending the rest of the evening driving myself crazy playing an ineffective round of histamine detective. Why is it a waste of time? Kitchens are often not as clean as needed for those of us with histamine intolerance/allergies/mastocytosis etc. Bacteria = histamine. ‘Nuff said.

    What are the local words for: MSG, chemicals, food flavours, freshest, just steamed please? You’d think it wasn’t an issue, but asking something as simple as “is this food free from chemicals” or “was this cooked today” can turn into a complete nightmare/screaming match where MSG (and others) are an integral part of food culture, and insinuating that food isn’t fresh is as safe as ripping off a lady’s hijab in a crowded mosque durning Friday prayers, in downtown Kabul.

    You know that little card I take to restaurants? I get that printed in the local lingo. You need to be 100% sure of the translation – I usually cross reference with google translate or another native speaker.

    Very important, because the idea of food allergies is not taken seriously in most countries outside the west (or even in Europe!): I usually add – “I will die if you feed me these”. You really need to give them worst case scenario. If they kick up a fuss just smile, apologise that your partner desperately wants to eat there (citing whichever guidebook) and promise to leave a huge tip. A little charm goes a really long way.

    T MINUS 1 WEEK (and counting…)

    THE SURVIVAL’LIST

    EQUIPMENT

    Magic Bullet blender

    Nut milk bag

    Vacuum packed herbs (if not found locally)

    Zucchini corer (I love me some stuffed zukes!)

    FOODS

    Olive oil Japanese rice crackers

    Dried mango/banana/apples

    Coconut oil

    Light organic olive oil for frying (if not found locally)

    Thai rice noodles

    Sweet potato flour (if not found fresh)

    Chickpea flour

    Brown rice flour

    Rice pasta

    Quick cook gluten free oats (if staying in hotel), pin head oats otherwise

    Fresh fruits (if not much found locally)

    Raw blue agave syrup (‘cause I’m a realist. I will break down and want something sweet at some point!)

    Now this is a lot of grains for me. I usually take a ton just in case, and then end up giving them away to locals when I leave. They’re really just an emergency back up.

    BATH AND BEAUTY

    Yoga mat (for yoga and for folding up and standing on in the shower to prevent drain backwash)

    Waterproof shoes, with a heel of some sort to wear in the shower

    Africa and the Middle East aren’t known for great drains. The chemical laden backwash alone, not to mention your partner’s shower offerings (Get your mind out of the gutter! I mean shampoo) can turn a trip miserable faster than the repressed masses can overthrow a government (covered a few of those in my time…).

    BOOKS/AUDIO

    Meditation, chanting, healing visualisations.

    I’ll post part two as my departure date approaches. T-Minus 6 days, and counting…don’t forget to check out my post on mast cell degranulation/histamine release triggers.

    VACCINATIONS

    It is of course super duper important to follow all medical advice regarding vaccinations. Should you have any concerns, I would change travel plans to a country not requiring the vaccines. You may also want to check out my post on vaccinations here.

     PREPARING FOR MEDICAL CARE OR EMERGENCIES

    This is the advice I give people about to travel, in addition to following all your doctor’s and embassy’s:

    Identify the nearest local hospital of decent size, have a driver you have hired who you can get to come find you on a moment’s notice. This is dicey in many second or third world countries where people don’t prioritise answering their phone or understand what constitutes an emergency. My personal choice would be to rent a car and then make sure to drive to the hospital a few times to know where it is (do not bother calling an ambulance in most Arab or African countries – mostly due to traffic). Go in to the hospital, ask to speak to a department head and see if your meds are available there. Then I would find a local fluent English speaking doctor somewhere in town near you. Get your doctor back home to call him with your specific protocol should something happen – I would especially be sure to give him the safe anaesthesia list you can find on most mastocytosis society websites, or that your doctor has. Pay this local doctor a sum to be on call for you – get his mobile number, make sure he answers 24/7 and call him a few times at weird hours to make sure. Then, if you need to be admitted somewhere, call him immediately, then your doctor in your country. Have the local guy meet you at the hospital, while on phone with your guy. Local doc will then pass on information.

    It’s complicated but effective and it’s better to be safe than sorry.

    Happy travels!

    It’s finally here! Man Food – a high nutrient antihistamine and anti-inflammatory ingredient filled book geared towards guys, women who love to work out, yoga like they mean it, or just load up on healing nutrients. Features my personal shopping list of antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods. 

    The Anti-cookbook and all liquid Anti-Detox Book, don’t treat any conditions, but feature a plethora of 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.

    Take a peek at my other low histamine and antihistamine cookbooks for more high nutrient recipes and sign up to my mailing list for freebies. 

  • Why your allergies are worse around “that” time of the month

    Why your allergies are worse around “that” time of the month

    Ever wonder why your allergies, histamine intolerance or mast cell condition are worse around the beginning of your cycle? Most of us put down the uptick in our symptoms to plain old PMS (or at least are told that’s what it is). I definitely noticed it. And I was right – it seems we have another important mast cell degranulation/histamine release trigger to add to the list…

    According to this study: “Mast cells commonly degranulate around the onset of menstruation, releasing tryptase, chymase and several other molecules.”

    For those of you not yet familiar with why I keep talking about mast cell degranulation – there’s already plenty of histamine in our bodies naturally. Histamine is released through mast cell degranulation (and sometimes basophils). So without even adding the histamine that we eat or drink, there’s plenty to go around. That’s because histamine is needed to run most of our bodily functions.

    So why the incessant focus on potential histamine triggers?

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  • The Histamine Survival Series – Restaurants

    ‘Tis the season to head to warmer climes and enjoy a little dining…but eating out is no picnic when you have histamine intolerance/histaminosis/mast cell activation/mastocytosis. And yet this has never stopped me from trying (and succeeding).

     My top tip for surviving restaurants is PREPARE!

    1. I have a couple of restaurants who have my allergies/preferences in the system or know me by now. That’s where I take my clients so I don’t have to get into it with them! I’ve never had anyone be rude or dismissive. Restaurants nowadays take these things very seriously because they don’t want a lawsuit on their hands. I’m also always super nice and leave a big tip so they remember me.

    2. If I have no control over where I’m going, I’ll peruse the menu online and call ahead and make my order. If I can’t find anything on the menu, I’ll just explain that I have a number of allergies, that I need to come in for a business meeting, and I ask if they would be so kind as to prepare me an omelette (even if it’s not on the menu). They ALWAYS oblige.

    3. ALWAYS order dressing/sauce on the side. This is where most restaurants slip up.

    4. Tell them outright, you MUST have the freshest food on the menu, so ask for their help in choosing it. I’m always very tactful on this one. Restaurants never admit their food was not cooked from scratch daily and yet (having worked with a number of restaurants over the years) I know this is not the case. Very few restaurants in the world are from scratch, daily.You could copy and paste this text into a word doc, then add your foods, (don’t forget nuts!), and either laminate (my choice) or print it off and keep in your wallet. I suggest multiple copies as these will inevitably be lost along the way…

    5. I have the text below printed on a two sided card to be presented upon arrival.

    MY RESTAURANT CARD

    Greetings,

    (more…)

  • The Low Histamine Diet Foods FAQ

    WHICH FOODS ARE HIGH HISTAMINE?

    That depends on which list you follow. Histamine in foods varies depending on: the country grown in, whether pesticides were used, climate, transportation, ripeness when picked, how long on the supermarket shelf, bacterial contamination. In particular the level varies in flesh. The reason for which is that bacteria release histamine (and other amines) as the flesh decomposes. The freezing and thawing and re-freezing in particular that occurs in the typical farm to supermarket cycle leads to high histamine levels in food. For fish: how long since it was fished, how it was handled, if it was frozen and then thawed at any point, if it’s contaminated etc. Beef is generally hung for at least two weeks to tenderize the meat. This accounts for the high levels of histamine in the flesh. Some methods of slaughter, including halal (Muslim), do not involve long hanging times, and as such may be fresher.

    The Spanish DAO Society has this list.

    I have a list I was given by my practitioner (now retired). For legal reasons I am not allowed to share it, but all my recipe books are based on this list.

    And finally – your reaction to a food may vary from day to day depending on how high your histamine is that day. Some days just adding a smidge of histamine into an almost overflowing bucket can tip you over the edge.

    BAKING POWDER/SODA

  • 10 histamine (non food) triggers (and how I deal with them)

    10 histamine (non food) triggers (and how I deal with them)

    As you may know, histamine disorders (roll call: histamine intolerance, histaminosis, chronic allergies, mast cell activation and mastocytosis) have more than one trigger. And by that I’m not counting individual foods, just a whole mess of stuff that can cause histamine to be released into the blood stream. I’m successfully managing a number of them – so it’s time to share! I’ll be using The Mastocytosis Society Canada’s non-immunologial trigger list as reference (check out the full list at the end of the post). There’s a bunch of surprises on it!

    2017 UPDATE: Here’s how I used diet and lifestyle changes to overcome these triggers.

    HEAT

    No air conditioning at the Masai Mara duty free shop in Kenya (or on our three day safari with Masai warriors!)

    I’m not doing too great on this one. I travel, a lot. And for some reason I do it almost exclusively to incredibly hot climates. This last year alone I spent almost three months in Africa/North Africa. I don’t mean indoors in the AC – I’m talking old school villages with no internet connection, camping with Masai warriors and draping myself (passing out) across my man on the most beautiful islands known to man. Oh, I forgot the two hour camel rides under the scorching sun across treacherous terrain high on a mountainside in search of the ultimate beach. It was pretty funny, I spent my first hour there comparing symptoms with the bedouin woman who offered us dinner and grass (her words not mine!), in our first five minute there. Seems her entire family may suffer from a histamine disorder.

    My hottest tips for dealing with the heat is to have AC or a cool body of water to immerse yourself into at the end of the day. I literally feel all my swelling and inflammation go down after 10 minutes. The key is to keep calm and also make sure you have access to a car with AC – wish I could follow my own advice on that one. I spent a month trapped in microwaves (taxis) in Morocco in July this year. Ouch. I have a histamine/inflammation detection unit in my mouth – well I had a tooth extracted when a dentist convinced me it was causing my symptoms – duh.  I’ve been too freaked out to get an implant (antibiotics, injections, anesthetic, oh MY) so nowadays when my gum swells to the point that I no longer feel the gap, I know I’m in big trouble. That happened, a lot in the taxis.

    PRESSURE/VIBRATION

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  • Playing histamine detective is easy – here’s how I do it.

    Playing histamine detective is easy – here’s how I do it.

    Update: nowadays I wish I hadn’t tried so hard to play histamine detective. In the end I believe it became counter productive, causing my amygdala to become hypersensitised and give me a fear of food. Read all about that here.

    My decade (plus) as a journalist for CNN and the BBC definitely prepared me to deal with a pesky nuisance like my histamine disorder (be it histamine intolerance or whatever). When faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem – I just take a step back and figure out how the hell to make it work. There is no “can’t” in my vocabulary. Be it chartering private helicopters to airlift equipment, bribing ship captains to let us stow away, or finagleling team visas to Libya on two hours notice (in the Gaddafi years!) – I’ve done it all. So there’s no way I’m letting something like food (or illness) rule my life. I’ve outlined my approach to  histamine/inflammation detoxing in my ebook the Anti-Detox – usually employing it before a big client presentation (this histamine chef thing is a side project for me) or when having to fly out to hot climates like Kenya, Morocco, and Egypt, all this last year.

    Heat, as you may know, causes mast cells to degranulate, releasing their precious histamine cargo right into your bloodstream. There’s nothing like quite like turning beet red and blowing up into the Michelin man the minute you step off a plane to make you appreciate a good low histamine detox before traveling.

    Now I’m going to cover what I believe to be one of the key secrets of successful low histamine living. It sounds so very basic that you may initially laugh: you need to know what food or cosmetic is causing which reaction. Simple right? But I can’t tell you how many emails I receive asking for diet analysis. I don’t mind doing it, but it must be so frustrating living a life where every little thing could be causing distress and there’s no way to figure out what’s what. I’m greatly indebted to Dr Fuhrman’s teachings on this one, as I figured out what was wrong with me initially after going on a three-day water fast. For crystal clear clarity there’s nothing quite like starting with as clean a slate as possible. Nowadays, I don’t do water fasts as any kind of stress can cause mast cells to release histamine – and I‘ve learned the hard way that kicking your body into survival mode definitely isn’t relaxing.  The next best thing is the overnight semi fast (sleep!)…

    The Test

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  • Exercise is good for you, so why does it make you sick?

    Exercise is good for you, so why does it make you sick?

    New studies show that aerobic exercise raises histamine levels. This isn’t news to me. When playing squash I have to take time outs to scratch myself silly and wait for the room to stop spinning. My man, now used to such bizarre-isms, plays against the wall for a while till it calms down again. I looked a lot crazier, to a much larger crowd, during our recent trapezing class! I’m sure I can thank adrenaline for that…What really interested me in this particular study is that they determined resistance training (weights/yoga) doesn’t raise histamine levels. They highlight how histamine released by aerobic exercise causes significant vasodilation (the widening of blood vessels in the body).This study ties in nicely with last week’s post about histamine being a vasoactive amine that can increase or decrease heart rate and induce anxiety-mimicking symptoms.

     

    *Resistance training is any exercise that causes the muscles to contract against an external resistance with the expectation of increases in strength, tone, mass, and/or endurance. The external resistance can be dumbbells, rubber exercise tubing, your own body weight, bricks, bottles of water, or any other object that causes the muscles to contract. http://www.emedicinehealth.com/strength_training/article_em.htm

    Interestingly, I meeting quite a few people who are being prescribed anti-histamines by their docs to deal with asthma/wheezing, abnormally high heart rate and passing out while exercising. Wouldn’t it be simpler to go on a low histamine diet? Probably not, but it would yield better (healthier) results!

    What does this mean for your work out routine? 

    Aerobic exercise, like my current favorites kickboxing and squash, can significantly raise histamine levels in the body. The upside (because in my world there always is one) is that people pay good money for pharmaceutical vasodilators to lower their blood pressure. The downside (other than the spike in histamine for those of us with histaminosis/histamine intolerance), is the migraines that accompany vasodilation. I often get migraine like headaches if it’s too hot in yoga class.

    Does this mean I shouldn’t exercise?

    I’m asked this a lot, usually by life long couch potatoes!

    What I take from this study is that it might be a good idea, if you’re suffering from histaminosis/histamine intolerance, to explore “non dynamic” exercise like weight training, or my perennial favourite, yoga. Speaking of which, did you know that one of the many studies on yoga showed that females who practiced yoga regularly had 41% lower stress markers than non-yogis? And significantly lower inflammation! Given that inflammation (caused by high histamine) is a huge concern to those of us with histaminosis/histamine intolerance, it’s food for thought the next time you’re crashed out on the sofa telling yourself that exercise is bad (while contemplating another root around the fridge).

    So what’s a histamine-challenged gal to do?

    We’ve all been there, but there’s really no time like the present for a full body/mind make over. Try waking up tomorrow and investing in a yoga mat and a $15 subscription to Yogaglo online classes. I promise you won’t regret it.

    Don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter for free recipes and a 10% discount on ebooks…and why not check out how I keep my histamine level in check and stay anti-histamine free with my low histamine DAO Support Recipe Book and The Low Histamine Desserts Book?

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