Do you suffer from severe PMS or even PMDD symptoms? If so, a low histamine diet could help to alleviate them naturally.
Histamine is a common cause of hormone-related mood issues including anxiety, depression, insomnia and even addictive tendencies. But by following a low histamine diet, particularly during your luteal phase, you may be able to get these symptoms under control again.
What is histamine, and why does it affect my hormones?
Histamine is a neurotransmitter or brain chemical. However, it plays different roles throughout the body such as:
- Meditation of allergic reactions
- The secretion of gastric acid
- Inflammation and healing
- Brain function and memory support
We also know that histamine has a direct link with both progesterone and oestrogen. I go into this relationship in more detail here. But put simply, histamine could be the reason why you’re suffering from:
- Brain fog
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Low blood pressure
- Weight gain
- Hives
- Redness and flushing
- Reacting to foods and other substances
- Constipation or diarrhoea
- Heavy painful periods
- Severe PMS and even PMDD
For many, histamine is the missing factor. And the solution is to try a low histamine diet to see if it relieves their symptoms.
How to implement a low histamine diet approach
The problem with reducing your histamine intake is that it’s not particularly enjoyable. It can feel like a challenge to transition to a low histamine intake and the food looks rather bland.
Many of the foods we consider to be healthy and nourishing are naturally higher in histamine. Bone broth, green smoothies, tomato-based sauces, fermented foods like sauerkraut… all of these can trigger issues if you are intolerant to histamine.
But if histamine is the missing link for your symptoms, you will notice a huge difference once you reduce your intake. Here is how I recommend implementing a low histamine diet.
Start tracking for 6 weeks
To get clear on whether reducing histamine helps, you need to do a full 6 weeks of tracking – your symptoms, your cycle and your diet. Make sure you highlight the 3 biggest symptoms (physical or emotional) and assess them on a scale of 1-10.
Once you’ve got a baseline starting from today, you can reduce your histamine intake and track the difference it makes over a full menstrual cycle.
Crowd out the high histamine foods
What high histamine foods are you having daily? These are the ones that need to be crowded out first, as they will be giving you the most grief. Have a look through your daily diet for:
- Alcohol
- Pickled and fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kefir and kombucha
- Matured cheese such as parmesan
- Smoked meat products such as salami and ham
- Shellfish
- Beans and pulses such as chickpeas, soybeans and peanuts
- Nuts such as walnuts and cashew nuts
- Chocolates and other cocoa-based products
- Most citric fruits
- Wheat-based products
- Vinegar
- Ready meals
- Salty snacks
- Sweets with preservatives and artificial colourings
The daily foods can make your mood swings a lot worse, so we want them to be the first to go!
Once you’ve ditched the daily intake, what do you have from the above list on occasion? Can you avoid them during your luteal phase to relieve your hormone-related symptoms?
Include more low-histamine foods
Now it’s time to buckle down and follow a low histamine diet plan. This approach includes foods such as:
- Squash
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Garlic
- Onion
- Zucchini
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Fresh meat (not smoked/canned)
- Asparagus
- Leek
- Capsicum
- Watermelon
- Olive oil (this also increases the DOA enzyme to break down histamine)
- Coconut oil
- Coconut milk
- Sweet potato
- Turnip
- Pear
- Mango
- Apple
- Rice
Get strict around your luteal phase
I know this is the toughest time, as it’s when your body is craving coffee, alcohol and more indulgent foods. But you want to be strict with it if you want to see the symptom relief.
A low histamine diet is bland, which our brain chemicals dislike – they want us to have salty, fatty, rich flavours and new tastes. But it’s better to stick to blander foods that don’t cause a rollercoaster effect, as it stabilises the balance of neurotransmitters.
If you can stick to this approach for 6 weeks and track your symptoms, you’ll notice a massive difference if histamine is your issue.
