“Histawhat?” I asked my bright-eyed beautiful daughter on a visit to North Carolina.
“Histaminosis,” she replied matter-of-factly. “It’s a genetic condition and I think you have it too. My son also has it. It is when your body does not deal with histamine very well and you have too much of it. It causes inflammation and many other things. I'd like you to go on this diet with us."
She explained the basics of the diet and it sounded reasonable so I agreed. I had just stayed at my brother's house where he restores old books and his book working room is very close to the room that I sleep in. After one night I had bronchitis symptoms, a never-ending stream of mucous, sore throat, coughing, body aches and pains that made me feel like I had a flu but I was reasonably certain I did not (no fever). I had called my daughter to ask if the room she had was available and she said yes come ahead. In three days all of the symptoms were gone and I was feeling better than ever.
“I told you I thought you were allergic to his house,” she explained and I realized there were probably many allergens associated to his book restoration business: mold, mildew, dust, etc. I had been sick every time I stayed at his house.
After one week on this diet, I felt good. Bronchitis-like symptoms, mucous factory, cough, sore throat, body aches and pains had all disappeared. I was more flexible and yoga showed that. Within three weeks I could pinch 2 1/2 to 3 inches (doubled) extra cloth on blouses that had been tight when I first arrived. I had lost more than 5” off my belly in three weeks!!! My pants were getting longer and fitting loosely. I had been struggling with weight issues for many years with little success. Now my daughter was shrinking down to a size M and giving me her size L’s and they fit!!! I had been in size 1 and sometimes 2X!!
I moved to Mount Shasta, CA, two years ago and my food allergies greatly increased. Sometimes I could tell if I was allergic to something because my tongue swelled and when it swelled significantly it felt like someone had taken a razor to it. Increasingly, there were more and more foods that I could not eat and I couldn't make sense out of it because some things I could eat one day and not another. I had been gluten free, I did the Seven Day Diet (which did help me lose weight but once I was off of it all the weight came back on and then some), I avoided dairy and ate mostly organic. I can’t tell you how many intestinal cleanse programs I’ve tried and supplements I’ve taken. I was tired and skeptical of diets. I generally ate healthfully – mostly organic –and still was not able to lose weight or allergy like symptoms. The week before I left Mount Shasta for the NC visit, a healer friend suggested that I use an essential oil of pine. I took one sniff and my tongue swelled up. It didn't go down for three days. I returned the oil saying I was highly allergic. If you've ever been to Mount Shasta, you know that it is all pine and cedar trees. I started to wonder if I would have to move. Turns out pine oil is a histamine simulator.
There are foods that stimulate histamine and they are to be avoided. There are foods that are neutral and they work. There are some foods that are anti histamine (teas see below). If in doubt say, “ Siri (or Goggle) is ‘name the food’ a low histamine food?” and you will get a report that is very helpful.
I had two setbacks during my three weeks in North Carolina. One was when I decided one morning that I could have a scrambled egg. I paid for that for about 2 1/2 days with body aches, mucous and difficulties breathing. Egg whites are the highest in histamine which surprised me but after that go around I decided not to even try egg yolks. The second setback came two days after I ate out. I had only food that was on my diet but the chicken probably was not organic and had non-recommended spices. It took a few days to cleanse that out of my body. I am so grateful to my daughter for teaching me about this histamine issue. The medical statistics say that only 1% of the population is affected. I suspect it is a much higher. My daughter had been to many doctors and none of them helped her diagnose this condition. She had a Black Forest hair analysis done and it showed a long list of foods allergens. She was seeking commonalities between the foods on the list and a friend suggested that three of them were all high histamine foods. That led to a flurry of Internet searches which resulted in a great deal of information and a diet that allows her and her son to be healthy and vibrant.
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Many other symptoms disappeared or lessened: overall body aches and pains, swelling of my ankles, occasional blurry vision, bloating, flatulence, stomach acid distress, flexibility increased and size decreased. What’s not to like?
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There are a few things that can help you get a jump start on this kind of diet if you feel this could be your issue as well. At least in the beginning, you need to be quite strict with yourself to let your body heal. Later, you can introduce other foods one at a time spaced out by at least three days.
First, buy only organic and stop eating out. Non-organic foods have chemicals that can stimulate histamines. The only oil which works on this diet seems to be Organic Virgin Olive Oil. Very few restaurants use this oil. Give away the foods that are the most offending.
There are two teas that have antihistamine effects: one is Tulsi Rose https://a.co/d/bucn9ht and the Tulsi Rose that has loose tea rather than tea bags is best as tea bags can have micro particles that can cause a histamine response https://a.co/d/1S7DT6G. Tulsi is Holy Basil, a leaf grown mostly in India. the Second is Moringa (https://a.co/d/djoLGcY). Moringa is the more wakeful of the two. I use it in the morning with honey and sometimes a bit of coconut milk (some can and some can’t tolerate coconut). Tulsi Rose is restful and has an amazing aroma, so a tea to be had in the evening or whenever you need to chill out.
Foods to avoid:
Sugar,
wheat (all flour except rice and quinoa),
tomatoes,
egg plant,
legumes (even green peas),
peppers (all of them, White pepper is better than black for flavoring foods if you can tolerate it),
green, black and Yerba Matte teas,
fatty foods especially meats,
dairy,
gluten,
alcohol,
canned foods,
processed foods,
dried fruits,
fermented foods and drinks,
nuts,
shell fish,
smoked meats,
spinach (oxilate),
avocados,
bananas,
citrus (add citric acid powder to your smoothies),
kiwi,
papaya.
It’s a surprising list but it is working for me. After you’ve been on the diet a time (it varies for everyone how long is enough), you can introduce one food per three days and see if it has a negative effect. The longer I’m on the diet the more sensitive I have become. I can tell some things by one little touch to my tongue – I used to love basil, but one leaf touched to my tongue swelled my tongue for 3 days!
Foods to include (AL:L ORGANIC):
Chicken (white meat preferred),
Organic or grass-fed clean lean meats,
apples and apple juice (fresh fruits are best, dried can have sulfates which can stimulate histamine production),
potatoes,
sweet potatoes,
broccoli,
zucchini & other squashes,
beets,
carrots,
mixed greens (other than spinach),
kale,
okra,
pine nuts,
organic rice cakes https://a.co/d/4jtK3yY (plain, lightly salted, rice, brown rice and wild rice),
organic whole grain rice,
quinoa,
garlic, thyme, salt and white pepper for spices.
All this works for me, but everyone is different. All of these are listed as low histamine foods. I seem to be able to tolerate a small amount of organic coconut milk unsweetened, my daughter cannot and my grandson absolutely cannot. I love quinoa and it works for me. I make my own quinoa flour and plan to try recipes that fit this diet. I read today that Chia seeds are OK on a low histamine diet and they can replace eggs in recipes. I’ll let you know as I go with this part. For a treat I cooked down blueberries with some apple juice and a little honey to make a spread for the rice cakes. Hot it penetrated the rice cakes nicely and cold, it stays on top. Either way it’s a delicious treat. My grandson puts honey and fresh blueberries on a rice cake. He proudly made one for each of us.
It is recommended that you eat smaller meals and eat more often, like every two hours. An apple is an easy thing to throw in your bag when going out just in case you need to eat again. Another option is Vermont Meat Sticks https://a.co/d/eZDEAnV which are handy and filling. The meat sticks need to be as natural as possible and as plain as possible to avoid reactions to spices.
Well, this should get you started and I will be writing future blogs with more information, links to articles and more details. This post is just to get you started if you suspect you have some sort of histamine dysfunction. In future blog entries I’ll talk about the two types of histamine dysfunction, why this, what we can do. Happy eating. Happy getting well.
To be continued…
