Migraine; five tips to prevent it

What are five helpful tips to prevent migraines? Nutrition and exercise play an important role in ensuring that your migraine symptoms are reduced. Do you want to walk around without that annoying headache? Check out the five tips to get started.

Tip #1. Eat more unsaturated fats!

When you get a migraine attack, the blood vessels around the brain become very constricted. This causes the intense pain around your brain. When there is a buildup of fat on the inside of the blood vessels, the chances of having a migraine attack increase. You need to make sure that the blood flow in the blood vessels is constant. You do this by eating less bad fats, which remain stuck.

Eating unsaturated fats (high HDL content) ensures that accumulated fat is removed from the blood vessels. Saturated fats, on the other hand, cause the fats to accumulate. So you should always eat more unsaturated fats.

Products rich in unsaturated fats are fish, nuts, avocado and olive oil. The wrong fats to watch out for are mainly in animal products like cheese, meat, snacks and biscuits. Try to avoid these as much as possible.

Tip #2. Get more moving!

Did you know that many people with migraines are not comfortable in their own skin? That makes sense because your body often experiences, in addition to severe headaches, unpleasant physical reactions such as;

• stiff muscles,
• signs of paralysis or
• palpitations.

By exercising a lot, all kinds of substances are produced in our body that give the nerves and muscles a rest. You will soon feel better when you exercise for half an hour every day. If you are not very active yet, half an hour of walking every day is a good start! The first week will be tough but the second week you will have more energy!

Also ensures that sufficient exercise strengthens your muscles, nerves and blood vessels. This is very important in preventing, but also in recovering from migraine! Some people need a few hours to recover from a migraine attack and others several days. A strong body helps you to recover quickly, so you can do fun things again!

Tip #3. Eat more organic products!

Organic products contain fewer additives and other ingredients. Additives are extra additions to improve the taste, smell, color or shelf life. These additives and other wrong ingredients can be triggers for migraine. Links between certain e-numbers and other additives are increasingly being made.

Ingredients best avoided are flavor enhancers (e600 to e699), preservatives, synthetic flavors and artificial sweeteners. These are ingredients that affect nerves, blood sugar levels and your blood pressure. When you buy fresh produce or produce from the butcher, there are far fewer additives in it! An extra helpful tip, look carefully for products with not too many ingredients on the label!

Tip #4. Don't eat too much histamine!

What many people overlook is that you can have an intolerance to histamine. Migraines can occur when there is too much histamine in the blood. Histamine is a substance that, among other things, is responsible for the transmission of nerve signals (neurotransmitter). Besides migraines, other symptoms associated with too high an intake of histamine are:

• palpitations,
• itching,
• diarrhea and
• insomnia.

Histamine-rich meat products are; fish, pork and lamb. Vegetables rich in histamine include tomatoes, spinach, peppers and mushrooms. When you notice one of the symptoms above, you can temporarily start eating less of these products to see if this reduces your symptoms. The easiest way is of course with a blood testThat way you can find out right away if you have a histamine intolerance.

Tip 5. Stop with quick sugars!

You have two different types of sugars. You have slow sugars which cause the energy to be absorbed and released slowly. You also have the fast sugars and they cause it to be taken in and consumed immediately.

But why should you eat the slow sugar? When you eat products with sugar, it immediately affects your blood sugar level. When you eat slow sugars your blood sugar stays at a constant level (less fluctuations). When you eat fast sugars your blood sugar level will spike causing you to become tired and lightheaded. An unsettled blood sugar level is a culprit for migraine!

Good products with slow sugar are wholemeal bread, spelt, nuts, legumes and beans.

Products with fast sugar are white bread, white rice, pasta and potatoes. In addition, soft drinks and other products contain all kinds of sugars under different names.

Read the label on ready meals, sauces, pizzas, snacks and desserts, for example, and pay attention to the following designations:

• Molasses
• Invert sugar syrup
• Glucose syrup
• Maltodextrin

By avoiding these additives, your blood sugar remains in better balance. In addition, it also ensures that you get less hungry and it is therefore very good for the line!

This blog was written by migraine coach Karl van Karnenbeek, where you can go on-line for personalized migraine advice.

Would you like to map out all your personal trigger foods? Then take a look at our food intolerance tests.

Histamine intolerance is measured by the DAO test in blood.

Histamine in stool is measured with this test