Doctors have identified many headache triggers, which include stress, pollution, and changes in weather. Your diet is one trigger you might not have considered. Every person is different. There may be one food trigger for some people, while others may have multiple food triggers. For example, a cup of coffee in morning and a cola with a snack at noon could trigger a headache.
Food Diary
A food diary is a great way to determine what triggers your headaches. It will include what you eat and notes about any extenuating circumstances. These could include notes about stressful sales meetings or the day it rained for the entire day.
Caffeine is most commonly a headache trigger. It can cause headaches from too much or too little caffeine. It is a good idea to reduce the amount of caffeine that you are consuming until you are able to stop completely. This will prevent what is known as a ‘bounce back’ headache. It has been shown that headaches can be reduced by reducing the intake of high-fat foods. Keep fat intake to 20% or less of total calories.
Take Note
This natural by-product of Tyrosine is found in foods that have been aged or fermented. This list includes red wine, aged cheeses and processed deli-style meats. It also includes bananas that have been over-ripened. Light cheese like mozzarella, cottage and ricotta are a better choice. White wine and beer are less tyramine so they are a better choice. However, any alcoholic beverage can trigger headaches.
To help me lose weight and increase my fiber intake, I started eating high-fiber cereals for breakfast. I also began writing and spent many hours at the computer. Every day, around lunchtime, I would experience a pounding headache. Since I was working 10 hours a days, I just put it down to stress and muscle tension. I just tried to get pain relief and struggled every day to finish my work.
Aspartame
I checked the label and it said “Contains Aspartame”. It was not there and I didn’t even know it existed. I threw the bowl of cereal out and instead ate a fiber bar with some milk. I got a headache later on in the day after having eaten about half of the bowl. This was five weeks ago. Since then, I have not had a headache.
