A lot of people ask me how I’ve got from total histamine intolerance breakdown to where I am. While I do believe my recovery is still a work in progress, I thought I’d share how a combination of militant food planning, 30 minutes of inflammation fighting yoga and daily chanting (OM!) have allowed me to reach a far better place than I have ever been.
Thanks to my years studying nutrition (unofficially) through the teachings of Drs Fuhrman, Weil, Oz and others, I was well aware my new low histamine diet had the potential to be unhealthy and counter-productive, if applied strictly, and blindly.
To acknowledge something and to implement it are two very different things. It took me a while to get my sea legs. I floundered around for some time, terrified to add new foods or even entertain the idea of being proactive in my recovery. But I knew I had to take action when I began to approach meal time with fear and hatred, focusing on the food rather than the state of my broken body and mind. I was now eating the same five foods every single day, usually in large amounts, not understanding why I wasn’t “recovering”.
UPDATE: there is a ton of misinformation flying around on the internet. I’m constantly flummoxed by how people will attribute feeling awful to chickpeas or a banana rather than the taco bell, potato chips or chocolate they also had. I have yet to see any scientific study showing high histamine content in chickpeas. On the contrary, sprouted chickpeas are high in DAO, the histamine degrading enzyme. Even a high histamine food can lower or raise histamine, because different parts of the plant have varying properties. Raspberry fruit for example is listed as high histamine, but it also contains antihistamine quercetin. Raspberry leaves meanwhile are scientifically proven to have antihistamine properties.
I have over the last few years called a number of labs to ask how histamine testing is done, and trying to get an accurate list made. But I haven’t been able to.
You know why?
Because according to the labs I have spoken with, it is impossible to measure histamine accurately in vegetables and fruits, because the level is too LOW for the tests to pick it up correctly. Most of the lists you find on the internet were put together by polling readers on what they feel is high histamine, or just copied from other incorrect sources.
So here’s a tip, please stop worrying about whether chickpeas are high histamine, and a little more effort into avoiding processed foods full of gut damaging emulsifiers, stop roasting foods because this oxidising cooking method causes histamine release, and definitely do not go gunning after healthy foods while you’re still indulging in potato chips. Fixing a histamine problem is all about fixing the body as a whole, and eating junk food and worrying about the histamine status of vegetables, beans and pulses isn’t going to get us anywhere.
All scientific references to the statements I just made can be found in this post.
I spend a lot (a LOT) of time on the net chatting with people who are in various stages of eliminating high histamine foods. While going low histamine does mean binning a number of high histamine foods, eliminate too many and you could end up worse off in the long run. I know because I spent a number of years doing it myself. Cut cut cut was all I did, but I soon became reactive to the “safe” foods and I just wasn’t getting any better overall.
A little dabbling in supplements showed me they’re (mostly) out. I just don’t tolerate them. So I eat them instead. I’m quite convinced that their magical qualities, in balance with other nutrients, renders them effective, thought I do realise I’d have to wear a trough around my neck to ingest a therapeutic dose (100mg per kilo??) of some herbs.
Why this emphasis on nutrition rather than antihistamines? Well, antihistamines only work on one or two of the four (known) histamine receptors. Is that bad? Depends – do you enjoy eating obsessively till obesity? How about suffering from chronic infections, liver damage, heart failure or antihistamine toxicity? I personally don’t. Also, my experience on them was, ok, I can eat more – well – I don’t have a choice really – I’m desperate to fill every minute of my day stuffing my face (read is your anti-histamine making you fat). Oddly, if you eat enough, you’ll need more antihistamines! It’s a vicious cycle of filling your bucket, then instead of emptying it, fooling your body into thinking it’s ok to fill it even more.
OREGANO contains polyphenols with antihistamine properties.
CHICKPEAS…amongst their many nutritional benefits, they’re a particularly good source of plant-based diamine oxidase (DAO – this is the histamine degrading enzyme)
Recently, it has been found that DAO from pea seedlings shows higher activity compared to commercial porcine kidney diamine oxidase (PKAO). Read the full study here.
Do you spend hours roaming the supermarket in search of a quick meal? Are you bored with eating the same five foods over and over? Would you like to whip up nutritious, low histamine recipes in 20 minutes (or less)? Then make sure you’re signed up to my newsletter for an exclusive 10% discount on the 60+ page Low Histamine ‘On the Go’ Cookbook!
The Low Histamine ‘On the Go’ Cookbook takes you on a whirlwind tour of Vietnam, Lebanon, Italy and India, via the good ol’ US of A. Eating healthy’s NEVER tasted so good, or this easy.
WHO AM I?
YASMINA YKELENSTAM – THE LOW HISTAMINE CHEF
The fridge and fields are my medicine cabinet. I’ve managed to withdraw from all pharmaceuticals including: anti-histamines, anti-anxiety meds, antidepressants, migraine, nausea, and dizziness meds. I’m now the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been. I’ve learned to harness the positives that high histamine bestows (appetite suppression, higher metabolism, energy) and make them work for me!
Who the hell am I to give dietary advice? My cookbooks reflect the incredible amount of research into histamine and other biogenic amines in food that I’ve obsessively collected over the last two years since my histamine intolerance diagnosis. As a former journalist with over 10 years research and international news production experience for 60 Minutes, CNN and the BBC, I know how important the facts are. Not only do I back up each claim on my site with numerous studies, I’ve even used myself as a guinea pig, taking myself from washed up medical mystery to successful 21st century businesswoman.
I suffered daily migraines for many years. At some point I finally came to the conclusion that my headaches, which made me bang my head against the wall on occasion, had something to do with my diet. I was vindicated by the person who diagnosed me with histamine intolerance in London, and now by the growing number of studies clearly spelling out the allergy/histamine migraine link.
I cannot even begin to properly thank my lucky stars for curing me of this blight. I was about six weeks into the low histamine diet when I was able to trash the 600mg ibuprofen that I had been scarfing daily by the handful for most of my adult life. Not to mention the migraine injections. Youch! You truly haven’t experienced hell till you’ve had a constant migraine for six months.
Interestingly, in Spain (and France), it’s commonly acknowledged that migraines are caused by a lack of the histamine-lowering enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO). Seems that the US and UK are way behind the curve on this one.
But histamine can also cause migraine in “healthy” people:
Headache can be induced dose-dependently by histamine in healthy persons as well as in patients with migraine (53, 61). Histamine-induced headache is a vascular headache caused mainly by nitrate monoxide (62). Histamine releases endothelial nitrate monoxide upon stimulation of H1R, which is also expressed in the large intracranial arteries (63). In migraine patients, plasma histamine concentrations have been shown to be elevated both during headache attacks and during symptom-free periods. An increase in the number of brain mast cells is associated with pathologic conditions such as migraine, cluster headache, and multiple sclerosis (64). Many migraine patients have histamine intolerance evidenced by reduced DAO activity, triggering of headache by food rich in histamine (eg, long-ripened cheese or wine), and the alleviation of headache (ie, disappearance of symptoms) under a histamine-free diet (57, 65) and therapy with antihistamines (66). Maintz and Novak.
Meanwhile, for those of us presenting with histamine intolerance, histaminosis, mastocytosis or mast cell disorders…
This study colludes that: “Thus, the avoidance of allergic conditions in migraine patients may be a simple, helpful way for prophylaxis or their treatment.”
Although migraine affects about 15% of population and many studies have been performed to find the mechanism and a successful management, the physiopathology of migraine is still largely unknown. The possibility of an immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated allergic mechanism and the role of histamine remain controversial. The aim of the present study was to evaluate serum total IgE and histamine levels in migraine patients and the influence of allergy on them. Seventy patients (18-58 years) with migraine without aura were divided into two groups according to their history of allergy (60% with and 40% without allergy). Serum samples were collected during fasting without allowing any premedication during the two periods of attack and remission. There was a control group containing 45 healthy volunteers. Serum total IgE and histamine levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and fluorimetric methods, respectively. Mean and standard errors of serum histamine (ng/ml) and total IgE (IU/ml) levels were found in the control group to be 48.16 +/- 2.70 and 38.31 +/- 3.20, in the migraine with allergy group 159.11 +/- 4.60 and 303.30 +/- 42.50 and in the migraine without allergy group 105.01 +/- 8.50 and 79.07 +/- 2.70, respectively. Total IgE levels in migraine with allergy group were found to be significantly (P < 0.0001) above that in the control and another group, suggesting an influence of an IgE-mediated mechanism on migraine. Although the plasma histamine levels, which were significantly elevated (P < 0.0001) in patients with migraine, both during headache and symptom-free periods, when compared with the control group, indicate that there is an increased susceptibility to histamine in allergic conditions, this molecule has also an unrelated role in migraine. The relationship between allergy and migraine can be based, in part, on an IgE-mediated mechanism, and histamine release plays an important role. Thus, the avoidance of allergic conditions in migraine patients may be a simple, helpful way for prophylaxis or their treatment.
Has a low histamine or tyramine diet helped your migraines? As always, I’d love to hear from you and don’t forget to check out my diamine oxidase boosting recipes.
You’ll find a collection of all liquid high nutrient antihistamine and anti-inflammatory rich recipes for days when my histamine bucket overflowed in the new Anti-Detox book.
The Anti-cookbook, while it doesn’t treat any conditions, due to its high nutrient, antihistamine and anti-inflammatory ingredients, has been instrumental in helping me feed myself on a limited diet. It features a six page list of antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods. It 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.
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.
In last week’s post “Histamine’s upside: I lost 35kgs in 6 months” I mentioned the role of histamine in appetite suppression. I recently had a conversation with a friend whose family member suffers from anorexia nervosa. I felt compelled to share that in my teens I too was thought to be anorexic. Food was hurting me so badly that I was starving myself to make it stop. It was more than just a physical reaction, because as we know, histamine is a neurotransmitter and as such affects mood. Food made me crazy, depressed, anxious and manic but I had no clue what was causing it all, despite my raging allergy symptoms.I’ve spent the last few days doing some more research into what’s behind my suddenly stable weight these last two years:H1 receptor antagonists like loratidine (claritin) and cetirizine (zyrtec) make you fat. It’s just a fact. It’s in the medical inserts of both and my own personal hellish experience on them confirms it. At my worst, when I was taking one and a half to two pills daily, I became obsessive about food – to the point of dreaming about eating. I would get up several times a night to rummage through the fridge and spend almost the entire day absolutely ravenous. I would graze all day long. The most incredible benefit of having stopped them is the relief from my food fantasies. I can now easily go half a day without once thinking about food. Is that abnormal? Seems I have H3 receptor stimulation to thank for it. Studies show that H3 receptor agonists (the opposite of antagonists like Claritin and Zyrtec) suppress appetite.
The H3 receptor is a pre-synaptic autoreceptor that inhibits the synthesis and release of histamine, and a heteroreceptor that inhibits other neurotransmitters such as serotonin (5-HT), noradrenaline (NA) and acetylcholine (ACh), which are also implicated in the regulation of food intake. Thus, the H3 receptor is in a prime position to regulate food intake, both through its control of histamine and its influence on other feeding pathways.Study
Translated into English: as a neurotransmitter, histamine affects the brain chemicals that control hunger!
Not just that, but the studies go on to say that histamine’s H3 receptor plays a part in how our body burns fat and what temperature your body runs at. I know from experience that my body runs very very hot when I’m in histamine overload. Interestingly I did some research into a diet pill I looked into in my teens – it worked by raising your body temperature.
Nowadays I don’t take any antihistamines, choosing instead to control my histamine level through diet (check out my low fat high nutrient low histamine DAO Support Cookbook) and a great quercetin supplement called Neuroprotek.
Next step would be finding out if certain foods affect just one of the histamine receptors, H3 in particular, in order to lose weight. Don’t worry, I’m on the case. Sign up to my newsletter for more info on this subject and others.
Ok here’s one I totally relate to. Dr. Mehmet Oz, on his show, recently explained how hidden food allergies can make you gain up to 30lbs (20kg) a YEAR.
food allergies make you fat!
Here’s Dr. Oz on his show explaining how, when faced with an undiagnosed allergy whereby the good bacteria cannot process the food (I think maybe he’s referring to the histamine degrading enzymes diamine oxidase, monoamine oxdase and HNMT) the body responds with inflammation that quickly distends the bowels, stomach and surrounding areas, adding up to 30 pounds (20 kilos) of weight EVERY YEAR.
“Gulp”. Yes, I have experienced that first hand. I finally lost 35 kilos (77 lbs) over two years ago, as a result of going on a low histamine diet. I lost the equivalent of a small person!
I attribute some of the weight loss to stopping the anti-histamines which were making me eat like a football player. A football player who has been wandering the dessert without food for two weeks, with only a bag of ganja to sustain him. Yeah, I was obsessed with food, allergenic food that was causing inflammation thanks to a lack of histamine-degrading diamine oxidase, monoamine oxidase and others. But even before then, my friends were always as baffled as I by my weight gain. Was I eating in secret? Was I sleep eating? These were valid questions but I wasn’t.
I can’t say I haven’t become healthier overall since going low histamine, because I definitely have, but my calories aren’t that much lower now. I even eat more dessert now than I used to, which brings me back to how to pig out without gaining weight. Can you guess?? Yup, my first dessert book is finally out! The Low Histamine Dessert Book is gluten-free, milk-free and refined sugar free. All low histamine desserts have been tested out on my non-amine challenged friends…this is the good stuff that I break out for tea, after dinner treats and kiddie birthday parties! The moist chocolate (make it with carob or cacao, there are instructions for both) is perfect for birthdays, and no one has no come back for seconds of the delicious almond butter cupcakes. Though you can frost them with anything…
You can download the low histamine dessert book here. If you’re dealing with histamine-induced weight gain from anti-histamines, histamine intolerance, histaminosis or mastocytosis, you might want to check out my Low Histamine Diamine Oxidase Support Cookbook first!
I found this particular email very interesting given that I’ve been misdiagnosed with thyroid issues twice in my life before being finally diagnosed with a histamine related disorder (high histamine/histamine intolerance/histaminosis). I refused meds the first time but gave in on the second. What a weird, crazy ride Levothyroxine sent me on. We’re talking severe mania here. Awake for days on end, racing thoughts, very productive behaviour till the crash. And boy was it spectacular!
Medicine has sent me on so many Alice in Wonderland trips that I didn’t necessarily think there was a link when I began my investigations, but a little research turned up that not only do thyroid meds (synthetic thyroxine) raise histamine levels, they also lower diamine oxidase and monoamine oxidase, the enzymes responsible for metabolising histamine and tyramine (respectively).
Circulating levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT), histamine, monoamine oxidase (MAO), histaminase, tri-iodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) were studied in L-thyroxine and carbimazole treated rats. Increased concentrations of 5-HT, histamine, glutamate, T3 and T4 were recorded in L-thyroxine-treated rats while plasma gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), MAO and histaminase levels were significantly decreased. The findings suggest that alterations in the metabolism of thyroid hormones may have a link with the altered metabolism of biogenic amines. Read the full study here.
And another that mentions cardiac involvement:
Thyroxine-induced supersensitivity to histamine and norepinephrine activation of cardiac phosphorylasea. The results indicate that thyroid hormone can enhance both histamine and norepinephrine-induced activation of cardiac phosphorylasea. Possible mechanisms of this interaction are discussed. Read the full study here.
Thyroxin induced supersensitivity. Yes, that’s one way of referring to the hell that I went through on these meds. The next endocrinologist I consulted with called it “a sub clinical diagnosis” that should never have been tampered with. He did not in any way attribute my anxiety/mania symptoms to it. I asked. Sheesh. I’ve seen a lot of silly docs over the years. This might be something to keep in mind if you’ve been diagnosed with a histamine related disorder.
Please consult your doc before even thinking about messing with your meds!
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