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Migraine Elimination Diet: Foods to Eat, Foods to Avoid

The easiest way to follow this diet is to keep meals very simple. You’ll trade a few months of dietary boredom for lots of information about your own migraine triggers.

How can you use this list for a migraine elimination diet?

Three important things to note:

  1. The list is not only foods to avoid! It lists both foods to eat and foods to avoid.
  2. This list is not intended as a permanent dietary change. It's to help you figure out what your triggers may be, which you do by stripping down your diet first, then adding foods back in to test them.
  3. Food chemicals are listed in parentheses. You can choose to eliminate any number of food chemicals. Histamine and tyramine should be eliminated together (that's what I recommend starting with).

Click here to download a printable pdf of the table below

Vegetables

Try these:

  • Acorn Squash
  • Artichoke
  • Arugula
  • Asparagus
  • Bamboo Shoots
  • Bell Peppers
  • Bok Choi
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Butternut Squash
  • Cabbage
  • Canary Melon
  • Cantaloupe
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflower
  • Celery
  • Collard greens
  • Corn
  • Cucumber
  • Endive
  • Escarole
  • Fennel
  • Garlic
  • Honeydew
  • Kabocha Squash
  • Kale
  • Kelp
  • Leeks
  • Lettuces
  • Mustard Greens
  • Parsnips
  • Radishes
  • Rutabaga
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Swiss chard
  • Taro root
  • Water Chestnuts
  • Watercress
  • Watermelon
  • Zucchini

Avoid these:

  • Avocado (tyramine)
  • Beets, red (nitrates)
  • Eggplant (histamine, tyramine, nitrites)
  • Fava or broad beans (tyramine)
  • Green peas (tyramine)
  • Olives (histamine, tyramine)
  • Onion (unsure, listed on traditional migraine diets)
  • Potato (tyramine)
  • Pumpkin (histamine)
  • Snow peas (tyramine)
  • Spinach (histamine, nitrites)
  • Sweet potato (tyramine)
  • Tomato and all tomato products (histamine, tyramine, sulfites, nitrites)

Many additional vegetables contain nitrates/nitrites, but excluding them is not necessary to start. See note 1 at the end of this article for details.

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Fruits

Try these:

  • Apples
  • Coconut
  • Figs
  • Guava
  • Kiwi
  • Longans
  • Lychees
  • Mango
  • Passion Fruit
  • Pears
  • Persimmons
  • Pomegranate
  • Rhubarb
  • Star fruit

Avoid these:

  • Apricot (histamine)
  • Bananas (tyramine)
  • Cherry (histamine)
  • Citrus—oranges, limes, lemons, grapefruit (histamine)
  • Cranberry (histamine)
  • Currant (histamine)
  • Date (histamine)
  • Grapes (sulfites)
  • Loganberry (histamine)
  • Mulberry (histamine)
  • Nectarine (histamine)
  • Papaya (histamine)
  • Peaches (histamine)
  • Pineapple (histamine)
  • Plums (histamine, tyramine)
  • Prunes (histamine, tyramine)
  • Raisins (histamine)
  • Raisins (histamine, sulfites)
  • Raspberries (histamine, tyramine)
  • Strawberries (histamine)
  • Any overripe fruit (tyramine)
  • Any dried fruit that doesn’t say sulfite-free (sulfites)

Meat, fish, and eggs

Try these:

  • Beef (not aged)
  • Pork
  • Chicken
  • Turkey (white meat may be better than dark)
  • Lamb
  • Goat
  • Eggs, only with fully cooked egg white

All meat should be cooked or frozen within a day of purchase; cooked leftovers can be frozen. Only use ground meat if you grind it yourself or have a butcher do it right before you buy it. Slow-cooking methods, like in a Crockpot or oven-roasted, should be avoided. If grilling, try to minimize char marks. Fish that is gutted and cooked within 30 minutes of being caught is fine, but not many of us have access to that! Frozen fish may be OK; it depends on how long it sat before it was gutted and frozen.

Avoid these:

  • Cured, smoked, aged, processed, canned, or tenderized meats—like bacon, hot dogs, prosciutto, pepperoni, lunch meat, etc. (histamine, tyramine, nitrates)
  • Pre-ground meat (if you grind it yourself or have a butcher grind it right before you buy it, ground meat should be OK) (histamine)
  • Old or leftover meat — meat should be cooked or frozen within a day of purchasing; cooked leftovers should be frozen immediately (histamine, tyramine)
  • Liver from any animal (histamine, tyramine)
  • Any game meat (histamine, tyramine)
  • All fish and shellfish (histamine)
  • Raw egg white (histamine)

Dairy

Try these:

  • Plain milk (cow, goat, or sheep)
  • Cream
  • Butter
  • Some preparations of ricotta, cream cheese, mascarpone, farmer’s cheese, paneer, or quark—as long as they have no microbial enzymes, gums, thickeners, or other restricted ingredients.
  • Ice cream with no restricted ingredients

Avoid these

  • Any fermented dairy products, like cheese, sour cream, processed cheese, buttermilk, yogurt, kefir (histamine, MSG, tyramine)

Histamine and tyramine form in dairy products as they age. See note 2 below for details. Some people report that avoiding all dairy has reduced their migraine frequency. See note 3 below.

Legumes

Try these:

  • Chickpeas
  • Black Beans
  • Navy Beans
  • Pinto Beans
  • Lentils (not red)
  • Black-eyed peas
  • Split peas
  • Peanuts
  • Pure peanut butter

Avoid these:

  • Soybeans and all soy products (histamine, sulfites)
  • Red beans (histamine)
  • Fava or broad beans (tyramine)

Traditional migraine diets say to avoid all legumes, but my dietician told me they were OK. If you decide to avoid all legumes, don’t forget that peanut butter is a legume.

Nuts and Seeds

Avoid all nuts and seeds. (Walnuts and pecans definitely contain tyramine. The tyramine content of the others is debated, but traditional migraine diets recommend avoiding them. Coconut (a nut) and quinoa and amaranth (seeds) are borderline foods—some are fine with them, others are not.)

Grains, cereals, bread, and baked goods

Try these:

  • Any pure, unbleached flour or grain, including wheat, buckwheat, millet, teff, amaranth, rye, kasha, Kamut, wheatberries, sorghum, tapioca, spelt, bulgur, barley
  • Rice, wild rice
  • Corn, popcorn
  • Oatmeal, oats (unflavored)
  • Pasta from approved ingredients (basic semolina pasta is fine as long as it doesn’t have additives)
  • Breakfast cereals with allowed ingredients, including all plain grains, oatmeal, corn flakes, shredded wheat, puffed rice, puffed wheat, puffed Kamut, cream of rice, cream of wheat
  • Baked goods leavened with baking soda, like biscuits, quick bread, muffins, scones, soda bread, scones
  • Crackers with allowed ingredients (Triscuit-type crackers, water crackers, and some saltines are usually a good bet)
  • Small servings of yeast-risen bread products are OK for some people in moderation; should not be freshly baked

Avoid these:

  • Bleached flour (histamine)
  • Modified flour (sulfites)
  • Modified gluten (sulfites)
  • Barley malt (sulfites)
  • Any containing restricted ingredients

Some people report avoiding gluten has reduced their migraine frequency. See note 4 below.

Fats, oils, and sauces

Try these:

  • Canola
  • Corn
  • Safflower
  • Sunflower
  • Olive (olives are out, but many people do fine with small amounts of olive oil)
  • Homemade condiments and relishes using allowed ingredients

Avoid these:

  • Vinegar
  • Any fats or oils that contain color and/or preservatives (histamine)
  • Soybean oil
  • Margarine
  • Prepared salad dressings with restricted ingredients (which are most of them)
  • Prepared gravies
  • Prepared condiments and relishes, including ketchup, mustard and sauerkraut (histamine, sulfites, MSG)
  • Soy sauce (histamine, tyramine, MSG)
  • Teryiaki sauce (tyramine)
  • Most commercial salad dressing (histamine)
  • Fish sauce (tyramine, MSG)

Herbs, spices, and seasonings

Try these:

  • Basil
  • Bay leaf
  • Black pepper
  • Caraway
  • Cardamom
  • Celery seeds
  • Chives
  • Coriander
  • Cumin
  • Dill
  • Ginger
  • Mint
  • Oregano
  • Parsley
  • Poppy seed
  • Rosemary
  • Sage
  • Savory
  • Thyme
  • Turmeric

Avoid these:

  • Anise (histamine)
  • Cinnamon (histamine)
  • Cloves (histamine)
  • Curry powder (histamine)
  • Hot paprika (histamine)
  • Nutmeg (histamine)
  • Prepared foods labeled “with spices” (histamine, MSG)

Sweets

Try these:

  • Honey
  • Sugar
  • Stevia (with no additives, the only one I’ve found is Whole Foods brand)
  • Molasses
  • Maple syrup (real)
  • Molasses
  • Corn syrup
  • Pure jams, jellies, marmalades, conserves made with allowed ingredients
  • Homemade sweets and baked goods with allowed ingredients

Avoid these:

  • All chocolate and cocoa (histamine)
  • Flavored gelatin (histamine)
  • Artificial sweeteners (histamine)
  • Flavored syrups (histamine)
  • Prepared desert fillings (histamine)
  • Prepared icings, frostings (histamine)
  • Spreads with restricted ingredients (histamine)
  • Cake decorations (histamine)
  • Commercial candies (histamine)

Drinks

Try these:

  • Water
  • Mineral water
  • Juice from allowed fruits, vegetables
  • Homemade ginger ale
  • Coffee (limit to one cup a day if caffeinated; if decaf, make sure it is decaffeinated using a water process rather than chemicals—chemical decaffeination is the norm, The Coffee Bean is the only large chain I know of that uses a water process for decaffeination)
  • Herbal tea made from allowed herbs and spices (ginger and peppermint are the most common, holy basil is another option, chamomile should be fine)
  • Plain vodka, gin, or white rum are the least problematic adult beverages, but any alcohol can be a trigger; it’s best to avoid all alcohol for your elimination diet to be most informative

Avoid these:

  • Flavored milks (histamine, MSG)
  • Fruit juices and cocktails made with restricted ingredients (histamine)
  • Carbonated beverages other than mineral water (histamine)
  • Soda (caffeine, sulfites, histamine)
  • Tea—black, green, or white, even decaffeinated (histamine, caffeine)
  • Coffee (caffeine)—decaf OK only if decaffeinated without chemicals, which could include histamine and MSG
  • All drinks with “flavor” or “spices” (histamine, MSG)
  • Fermented beverages (histamine, tyramine)
  • All adult beverages (histamine, tyramine, sulfites)
  • Vermouth (tyramine)

Miscellaneous

Try these:

  • Baking powder
  • Baking soda
  • Cream of tartar
  • Plain gelatin
  • Homemade relishes and sauces with allowed ingredients

Avoid these:

  • Mincemeat (histamine)
  • Miso (histamine, tyramine)
  • Pickles (histamine, tyramine, sulfites, nitrites, MSG)
  • Anything fermented (histamine, tyramine)
  • Coleslaw (nitrates, sulfites)
  • Sauerkraut (histamine, tyramine)

Additives

Avoid these:

  • Artificial colors (histamine, MSG)
  • Artificial flavors (histamine, MSG)
  • Preservatives (histamine, MSG)
  • Benzoyl peroxide (used to bleach wheat) (histamine)
  • Calcium sulfite (sulfite)
  • Calcium hydrogen sulfite (sulfite)
  • Hydrolyzed lecithin (histamine)
  • BHA (histamine)
  • BHT (histamine)
  • Guar gum (MSG)
  • Microbial cultures (histamine)
  • Microbial enzymes (histamine)
  • Potassium meatbisulfite (sulfite)
  • Potassium sulfite (sulfite)
  • Potassium hydrogen sulfite (sulfite)
  • Sulfite ammonia caramel (sulfite)
  • Sulfur dioxide (sulfite)
  • Sodium bisulfite (sulfite)
  • Sodium hydrogen sulfite (sulfite)
  • Sodium meatbisulfite (sulfite)
  • Sodium sulfite (sulfite)
  • Yeast, yeast extract, brewer’s yeast, nutritional yeast (tyramine, MSG)
  • MSG: MSG hides under more than 40 different names! Truth in labeling has a list of them.

Avoid prepared foods with any of these ingredients (you may find it easiest to avoid prepared foods altogether).

Should nitrates or nitrites be eliminated?

There is debate about whether excluding vegetables that are high in nitrates or nitrites from one’s diet is necessary, partly because the nitrate/nitrite content can vary widely depending on varietal and growing and soil conditions. Even reliable sources have dramatic differences in their lists of foods high in nitrates/nitrites, resulting in an overwhelming list. I have included the vegetables with the highest levels in the list above. Other possible high nitrate/nitrite vegetables include: arugula, bok choi, chervil, celery, celeriac (celery root), cress, cucumber, endive, fennel, green beans, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, lima beans, melon, parsley. To keep a nutritionally balanced diet, I do not recommend attempting to restrict these vegetables in your first elimination diet. If you decide to restrict them in the future, please work with a dietician to make sure you do not become malnourished.

Should dairy products be cut?

Like with meat, histamine and tyramine can form in dairy the longer it sits. I buy milk and dairy that’s as fresh as possible and try to use it within a few days of opening it.

Dairy doesn’t appear on the traditional migraine diet lists, nor does it contain any of the food chemicals to avoid, but some people still finding reducing dairy has been effective in reducing their migraine frequency. Since the list is restrictive enough, I recommend trying the diet with dairy first. Another option would be to eliminate dairy and gluten first before instituting the rest of the diet.

Should gluten be avoided?

Avoiding gluten is trendy right now, and many people report that their migraines have lessened by going off gluten. As with dairy, I recommend either trying the diet with gluten products first or cutting out gluten and dairy before trying the rest of the diet.

Click here to download a printable pdf of the table above

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