hi all
i keep getting told different stuff about dairy
Should this be avoided?
are you allowed milk, butter and eggs?
what cheeses are you allowed
my specialist in the uk said i should avoid all this but according to david buchholz migraine diet some of this is ok
I’m confused :roll:
Diet can be a trigger for some. Some doctors recommend following a diet and seeing how far you can improve your symptoms just by avoiding common known food triggers in migraineurs. Some people find they can control their symptoms with diet alone.
Dr S in the UK recommends avoiding all dairy. I thought this sounded like a fate worse than death to start with, but you get used to it. All dairy is included so yes, that means no milk (you can have soya instead), no butter (there are loads of dairy free spreads on the market and in my opinion they taste no different to normal margarine), and no cheese (you can get dairy free cheese which I reckon tastes alright melted, but it’s not the best on it’s own.) However, I have read other diets which say that soft cheeses such as mozarella or cottage cheese are less likely to be a trigger, and many more people find that the stronger say cheddars etc tend to cause the symptoms. It all depends on the person.
No egg can be difficult as you find it in loads of things but if you bake, you can get egg replacement from health food shops.
The important thing I think, if you’re going to give any diet- Dr S, Buchholz or any other, a fair go, is to remember that the idea behind it is that you want to eliminate all possible food triggers listed for a number of months, to see how much control you can gain over symptoms. After that, slowly reintroduce a food, one at a time, to see what your body’s response is. If you eat a lump of cheese and start spinning- hey, you know that cheese is a trigger for you. However, you also have to remember that some triggers can take a number of days to actually show.
Hope that helps in some way.
MMx
Buchholz has a little different take: “Milk, cream, butter and ice cream are usually not a problem.” And as for soy products, “you may be relatively safe with the more natural, straightforward items such as soy milk…”
We’re all different, though, so like missmoss says, it helps to eliminate a lot of things for a few months (difficult, yes, but worth a try) to see if you feel better.
I read somewhere that diet is only a trigger in about 25% of people. Now in those 25% it is probably a BIG trigger.
Thanks for the advice missmoss83
Which spread do you use as the ones i came accross have added preservatives
Are msg, chocolate and caffeine the worst triggers?
— Begin quote from “hillsta”
Thanks for the advice missmoss83
Which spread do you use as the ones i came accross have added preservatives
Are msg, chocolate and caffeine the worst triggers?
— End quote
I use the ‘Pure’ range as it’s the one I find most often in supermarkets. Actually, I never checked for preservatives etc though… Please don’t tell me now I shouldn’t be eating it! lol… In the beginning I could often be found having a hissy fit in Waitrose, screaming “THIS SAYS ON THE PACKET THAT ITS ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENT FREE, WHY THE F*** HAS IT GOT YEAST EXTRACT IN IT THEN?!”
Just checked- it’s fine. ocado.com/webshop/product/Pu … d/16379011
I don’t think anyone can say what the ‘worst’ triggers are. It is entirely dependent on the person. But chocolate, caffeine and red wine tend to be the ‘classic’ and ‘common’ migraine triggers in quite a few people. Doesn’t mean they will be your triggers. Also don’t forget, they can work in pairs or combinations. You might be fine eating chocolate, and fine drinking red wine, but consume both at the same time, and all hell could break loose!
Keeping a diary on what you eat and how you feel every day is good when you venture in this so you can look back and track what you’ve eaten and how you’ve felt and try to see if anythings going on.
Lastly, caffeine is a bit of a devil in disguise whether you get migraines or not, in my opinion. A bit like pain killers. We have a coffee or pop another nurofen thinking they are making us feel a bit better- and yeah, they might do- but in the long term, if you keep on drinking the coffee and popping ibuprofen all the time, you can easily end up with rebound headache and it’s better to eliminate both if you can or at least keep to a minimum… You will probably feel really bloody horrendous when you first give up the caffeine- expect headaches galore sad to say- but stick with it, you’ve gotta do a cold turkey on it!
I’m not going to lie, starting the diet and working out what I could and couldn’t eat was tough to start with, but once you find things you know are ok for you and get used to the slightly different tastes of certain things, it does become much easier, I promise.
I also advise choosing a boyfriend/girlfriend who is amazing at cooking and who creates you your own migraine free recipies 
(I am v lucky) Actually, I keep meaning to upload these to here some time.
Sorry for wittering on.
I’ve tried going off dairy and gluten for several weeks and seen no change.
I’ve followed the Buccholz diet scrupulously and seen great benefit.
I do eat fresh mozzarella;
fresh goat cheese;
American cheesoid (I don’t want to dignify the stuff by calling it cheese);
Cottage cheese;
Ricotta;
Queso fresco;
Ice cream;
a limited amount of yoghurt.
I drink/cook with gallons of milk: more than a gallon a week.
Most of this is in the lowest-butterfat version I can find.