Many doctors have recognized that there are certain foods that trigger migraine headaches or exacerbate the pain felt during a migraine's attack stage.
These types of migraines are also known as food migraines because of their association with food.
In many cases, a migraine follows on the same day that the food was ingested, but in some cases, it can follow a day or two afterward.
Because there is a possible lag in the onset of the migraine, patients can become confused about which food is really causing their headaches.
Though many migraine patients choose to take pharmaceuticals to address their migraine pain, a good number of patients are seeking more holistic and natural approaches when it comes to coping.
Those who suffer from food migraine often choose to try keeping a food diary while going through an elimination diet, or a diet in which food is eliminated for some time and then slowly added back into the diet.
This helps patients pinpoint food triggers.
How to Keep a Food Diary Keeping a food diary is actually very simple.
You just need a notebook and a pen.
On the top of each page, write the date.
Below the date, list all the food you had that day, sectioning them off into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
Be sure to include the ingredients that go into each dish.
For example, if you had spaghetti for lunch, after you write "spaghetti", write "noodles, tomato sauce, mushroom, salt, oregano, etc.
" in a parenthesis next to it.
Apart from specifying what went into each of the dishes, be sure to include the time you ate each of the meals.
This will help you time how long it took for a food to trigger your headache.
If you have a migraine, make a note at the bottom of the page.
Be sure you add the time you had the migraine and how long it lasted.
How to Do an Elimination Diet Once you are used to keeping a food diary, you can begin your elimination diet.
To do this, you simply make a list of foods that have been linked to migraines.
Since it is a very long list, you will have to do it in batches, beginning with the most common triggers.
Once you've divided them into batches, you can begin.
Eliminate an entire batch of food from your diet.
After two weeks (which is a good amount of time for your body to adjust to the diet), begin tracking your migraines, listing how often they happen, when they happen, and how long they last.
As mentioned earlier, the data on your migraines should be listed at the bottom section of the page in your food diary.
After four weeks of not having eaten any of this food, you can slowly add one item from the list back into your diet, again giving yourself about two weeks to adjust.
Make note of whether or not your migraines have gotten worse since re-introducing this food.
If they have, it is likely that this food is a migraine trigger.
If your headaches haven't changed, then it is unlikely that this food is a trigger and you no longer need to stay away from it.
As you chart all the food you eat, you will begin to notice a trend in your migraines.
You will be able to identify which foods make your headaches worse and which ones don't make a difference.
It will take you a while to go through all the batches, but when you do, you'll have a complete list of foods that you know you should stay away from.
Keep in mind that an elimination diet is not considered a treatment method for food migraine, and should be done with the consent of your doctor.
Many doctors do believe that avoiding certain foods will definitely help, and very few of them will object to trying this method.
However, it is still important to let them know what you are doing and how you are choosing to do it.