Looking for a Migraine Diet? Here are the BASIC priorities that we give all of our clients:
Top YES Foods
- Organic veggies and herbs
- Pasture raised eggs and animal protein
- Wild fish, especially small fish like mackerel and sardines.
- Bone broth
- Organic fruit and nuts in moderation
Top NO Foods
- Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
- Artificial food dyes, colors, flavors and preservatives
- Artificial sweeteners and “diet” anything.
- Gluten (and technically dairy *see below*)
- Vegetable, canola, soybean and other low quality cooking oils
*Dairy needs to come out for at LEAST 6-12 months as well and generally be limited as it thickens the lymph and contributes to inflammation.
What about the conventional migraine elimination diet?
You’ve likely read that you need to avoid citrus, bananas, avocados and slew of other specific foods if you have migraines?
Well, the only way to know for sure is to test them out, because not everyone with migraines is triggered by these otherwise healthy foods.
How? Do an elimination diet of all the standard migraine no-no’s and then slowly reintroduce them one-by-one while taking detailed notes about how you feel.
Already done that and not figured out many trigger foods? Not surprising.
While for some people it can be a revelation to remove eggs, nuts or some other singular food – for many this leads to years of guessing and frustration. After an initial trial, we haven’t found that guessing game to be helpful, nor needlessly avoiding otherwise healthy and nutritious foods.
Of course foods that are not value-add to begin with, like processed meats, alcohol, and diet-sodas need to be removed as part of a healing diet, whether you are trying to say goodbye to migraines or any other ailment. We’ve found it is more effective to eat whole, fresh foods and follow a generally anti-inflammatory diet than chase individual migraine triggers. That way you are building resilience and won’t be as sensitive…perhaps even being able to indulge in some dark chocolate once in a while .
Did you know most of the items on the conventional migraine elimination diet are there for no scientific reason other than they’ve been commonly reported to be problematic for other migraine sufferers in the past few decades that this has been tracked?!? If you’ve ever tried figuring out your food triggers you would know how unreliable that information is to begin with.
Next steps on a Migraine Diet for lasting Migraine Relief
If you are onboard with our recommendations (proven to not just help people reduce inflammation, but also lose weight, clear up skin issues, gas and bloating and have more energy), then here are some resources to help you implement them. For support or to share your journey, we’d love to hear from you in the Migraine Recovery Journey Facebook Group.
Migraine Diet Meal Planning
I officially retired from writing custom meal plans for clients when I discovered Real Plans. This affordable subscription has the total package from customizing the list of foods you can and like to eat to being able to pull up a shopping list on your phone while you are at the store! This is a game changer. If you need help setting it up and customizing it for you, we can help you get started in a 45-min coaching session. For more info visit our page about Real Plans.
Migraine Diet Bookshelf – Paleo, Ancestral, Keto
Whole foods recipes and understanding ingredients
Standard Migraine Elimination Diet Cookbooks
(not all recipes gluten and dairy free, which is what we recommend, but you can still find some good things in here).
How about what to drink?
- Lots and lots of filtered water, ideally structured water and/or replenished with trace minerals.
- Water with fresh citrus or cucumber slices if you get bored with water.
- Water with Celtic sea salt if you crave salt, have symptoms of adrenal fatigue or are recovering from vomiting.
- Water with lemon and olive oil if you lean towards constipation.
- Bone broth to support gut health.
- ORGANIC teas, ideally herbal (conventional teas are sprayed with pesticides as they dry in the fields and are naturally high in arsenic)
- Limit coffee to 1 mug per day and drink it black or Bulletproof. (Overdoing the caffeine is taxing on the adrenals and no one needs all the sugar and other junk that goes into “coffee drinks”. Have you read the ingredients on a carton of nutmilk lately? We only use it occasionally.)