Food and Migraine Webinar II

For the month of September, we decided to get both of our usual webinar presenters to co-host this session of Food and Migraine Webinar II! ?

If you’re new to our webinar series, make sure you check out the past webinars in this playlist here!

 

 

Of course, we always start the session off with a clear and concise explanation by Christophe on migraine risk and threshold. This is a general concept that applies to both food-related triggers and weather triggers!

To recap:

• Sensitive brain receptors trigger migraine symptoms when they get upset. They get upset when they are exposed to too much migraine risk. The risk level that brain receptors can withstand is called the migraine threshold. 

• We are exposed to multiple risk factors at once everyday. When the overall risk reaches the threshold, symptoms appear.

• There are three levels of risk factor sensitivity: high sensitivity, medium sensitivity, and low sensitivity

In the second half of the session, Isabelle then presents to us the most common risk factors reported in Migraine Buddy as well as an important list of 21 chemicals in food that are migraine risk factors! We explained further in another blog article from the previous webinar here.  

 

Quick Quinoa Meatballs Recipe

This time round, Isabelle also shared a migraine-friendly recipe to make some Quick Quinoa Meatballs! It sounds delicious already! ?

Some important points to take note about this recipe:

1. Make sure that you are using fresh meat, the fresher the better!

   • If possible, get the meat from the butcher directly and make sure that they grind it in front of you.

   • Otherwise, you could also use frozen ground meat BUT you have to cook it as soon as it is defrosted.

   • This is because histamine can develop when a meat protein is left exposed to air. Ground meat is especially prone to developing histamine quickly due to the large amount of surface area exposed!    

2. Shallots have replaced onions because there are onion allergens which is a known risk factor for migraine!

3. Fresh herbs are used instead of dried herbs since dried herbs can contain sulfites—another known chemical that raises the migraine risk level! 

 

Questions & Answers Segment

What’s a webinar without a Q&A segment? Here are some questions that were contributed by the audience and the respective answers: 

“What does repeated exposure mean to determine medium sensitivity? Multiple glasses of wine at once? A glass of wine per day over a few days?”

Let’s take testing for tannins as an example. You can start by consuming food containing tannins several times a day for several days:

1. Coffee in the morning

2. Tea in the afternoon

3. Wine at night

4. Berries as snacks

If you experience symptoms almost immediately after consuming – high sensitivity

If you experience symptoms after 3-4 days of repeated consumption – medium sensitivity

If you don’t experience symptoms at all (great news!) – low sensitivity

———

“I also have BMS so am extremely sensitive to many things. In my case would it be advisable to keep diet bland for several days then add each food daily or every other day?”

First of all, you should avoid all chemicals that are risk factors first before doing any testing

You can decide on a chemical to test first, then introduce it in one of your meals – assess if there is any strong reaction (migraine symptoms). If there are no strong reactions, you can add it to two meals a day.

Once you have identified the level of sensitivity for one chemical, you can then repeat for other suspected chemicals!

———

“What would be an immediate reaction vs medium time-wise? Is it 2 hours vs 24 hrs vs a couple of days?”

It can take up to 5 days depending on your sensitivity and how much of the food chemical you consumed!

Start with a large amount of the chemical first to immediately test if there is any high sensitivity. You will reach threshold in a matter of hours if you are highly sensitive. 

If it takes a few days to reach migraine threshold on this same amount of chemical, then your sensitivity level is medium.

———

“What would be considered a good base diet before you start adding possible trigger foods?”

In our DIY Guide for the Good Days Program, we have included a shopping list of food to buy, meal plans, a list of foods that do not contain chemicals. This helps you to determine a base diet that you can customize based on your food preferences! Read till the end to find out how you can obtain this guide!

———

“What are some commonly known safe foods that are not normally triggers?”

1. Carrots

2. Cauliflower

3. Leeks

4. Turnips

5. Meat, as long as it is fresh

6. Legumes

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We hope you gained some new insights on this topic through the webinar! To get a copy of the recipe that Isabelle shared, you can just fill in your feedback for the webinar below:

 

 

Additionally, we’ll also share with you a special discount code to get $20 off our MBplus annual plan! ?

BONUS: You will also receive a Do-It-Yourself Guide (worth $50) when you subscribe via the MBplus website with our code!

 

 

This DIY guide is a great starter kit if you want to learn how to eliminate your food and lifestyle risk factors. It includes: 

• Comprehensive explanations of migraine risks

• A shopping list for migraine-safe food

• An extensive list of food to avoid or eat based on their chemicals

• And more! 

Don’t wait too long to get your hands on this guide and together, we can strive for more Good Days ahead! ?