More Information on Tyramine Free Diet

We are doing pretty good, though we aren't following it exactly as I have a problem with the fact that I am suppose to feed him processed cheeses, that have additives and chemicals in it. That just doesn't work for me. Instead he is getting a very limited amount of cheese a few days a week and that seems to be working okay. He has only had two headaches since we started the new diet, so I am thinking we will keep with it, eliminate everything then after two weeks start adding things back in, one a time, a bit like feeding a baby new foods. One at a time, if that item causes a headache then they are out and if not then they can stay.

I have had a few people ask for more information on the diet, so here is a better breakdown. You can also find information on http://www.headaches.org/.

The first phase of the diet was to do just a few things to see if they would help before moving on to the whole tyramine free part.

1. Don't skip meals, this can cause hypoglycemia and trigger a headache
2. Avoid caffeine. All of it.
3. Avoid alcohol.
4. Avoid foods that contain nitrates, nitrites, and mono sodium glutamate (MSG), this is when label reading comes in very handy. Foods that contain this are processed meats like lunch meat, hot dogs, sausages, pepperoni, canned hams, etc. They will not be present in fresh meat. MSG is also found in many other packaged foods like chips, cookies, and canned soups. It is also found in large amounts in Chinese food.
5. Avoid chocolate, all of it.
6. Artificial sweeteners.

Give it a try for two to three weeks and see how it goes, track your headaches on the calendar and see if they improve. If not you can try the full diet.

Beverages:
Allowed- decaffeinated coffee, fruit juice, club soda, non-cola soda, limit caffeine to 2 cups a day.
Avoid- chocolate, cocoa, and alcohol

Meat, Fish and Poultry:
Allowed- fresh or frozen turkey, chicken, fish, beef, lamb, pork and veal. Limit to 3 eggs per week. Tuna or tuna salad
Avoid- aged, cured, or processed meats, including ham, pickled herring, dried fish, chick livers, bologna, sausage, any food prepared with meat tenderizer, soy sauce, brewers yeast

Dairy Products:
Allowed- Milk, cheese-American, cottage, farmer, ricotta, cream. Limit yogurt to 1/2 cup per day.
Avoid- cultured dairy- buttermilk, sour cream, chocolate milk. Cheese- cheddar, brie, bleu, Camembert,
Gouda, Stilton, Swiss, mozzarella, Roquefort, Parmesan, provolone, Romano.

Breads and Cereals:
Allowed- commercial bread, English muffins, Melba toast, bagels, hot and dry cereals.
Avoid- hot, fresh homemade yeast bread, bread or crackers containing cheese, yeast coffee cake, doughnuts, sourdough bread. Any product containing chocolate or nuts.

Potato and Pasta:
Allowed- All
Avoid- containing cheeses, nuts or chocolate

Vegetables:
Allowed- any except those on the avoid list
Avoid- Beans ex: pole, broad, lima, fava, naby, pinto etc... snow peas, pea pods, sauerkraut, onions (except as flavoring) olives, pickles

Fruits:
Allowed- all expect those on the avoid list, limit citrus to 1/2 cup per day, 1/2 banana per day.
Avoid- avocados, figs, raisins, papaya, passion fruit, and red plums

Soups:
Allowed- cream soups made from foods allowed in diet, homemade broths
Avoid- canned soup, soup or bouillon cubes, soup base

Desserts:
Allowed- fruit allowed in diet, any cake, pudding, cookies, ice cream without chocolate or nuts, no yeast
Avoid- chocolate ice cream, pudding, cakes, cookies, pies, mincemeat pie

Sweets:
Allowed- sugar, jelly, jam, honey, hard candy
Avoid- chocolate candy, syrup or carob

Miscellaneous:
Allowed- salt in moderation, lemon juice, butter, margarine, cooking oil, whipping cream, white vinegar, commercial salad dressing
Avoid- Pizza, cheese sauce, MSG, yeast, yeast extract, meat tenderizer, seasoned salt. Mixed dishes- macaroni and cheese, beef stroganoff, cheese blintzes, lasagna, frozen TV dinners)

As you can see there are lots of things on the allowed list, and with a bit of thinking and planning it is simple enough to avoid the other foods. We have cut out everything on the avoid list with the exception of a little bit of cheese from time to time. We have two more weeks then we will start adding in foods a little at a time.

Good luck to those who suffer from migraines. I know your pain. I hope this may help you.

Tyramine-Free Diet

I am a headache and migraine sufferer. I have had them my whole life and luckily for me I have had periods in my life that they have disappeared. Well they have returned, and unfortunately for me I passed my headaches and migraines to K. We have been treating them for the last two months and right now he is on a preventative medication which we are still waiting to see if it will work as it takes about a month to kick in, so on top of that we are changing our diet too.

There were two phases to the new diet and the first we have been trying for the last three weeks, and while it seems to have helped some, it doesn't seem to be enough, so we are now trying this diet.  It is recommended by K's neurologist, so in order to say we have done everything that we can, we need to try this too.

Really it just consists of foods that contain tyramine which occurs in aged and processed foods. Well we already eat very few processed foods, so that part won't be so bad, but now we have to eliminate several other things that I am not looking forward to.

The list of No's isn't to long, so that is nice, but the things that are on it I will miss. Chocolate, all freshly made yeast breads (sandwich bread is okay), sourdough, most cheese, caffeine, processed meats, nuts, beans, olives, pickles, peas (okay with me), avocados, figs, raisins, passion fruit, plums, canned soups, cheese crackers, chocolate, chocolate, and chocolate, oops did I write that a few times, they put it on the no list after every food group. They also gave me a list of foods that should be avoided examples include macaroni and cheese, pizza (might die), and lasagna.

We are going to try it for three weeks and see how it goes. I am sure he won't like it much, I know I don't, but I would rather he and I both be headache free, and since he has to do it the rest of us are going to try it too.