Special Nutrients

Migraine headaches

Migraine headaches cause a variety of symptoms including severe throbbing, often on only one side of the head. They may affect 1 in 10 people and appear to run in families. Migraines occur when blood vessels in the head and neck spasm or constrict, resulting in decreased blood flow to the brain. Minutes to hours later, the blood vessels expand and a severe headache follows. Migraine headaches may be influenced by vascular tone, food hypersensitivity or other inflammatory causes.

Common migraine may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting or extreme sensitivity to light or noises. Classical migraine is preceded by an aura, typically involving visual disturbances such as shimmering lights or blind spots.

Lifestyle and managing migraine headaches

• Adopt a diet that is comprised largely of whole unprocessed foods, including raw and fresh fruit and vegetables of all varieties, cooked vegetables, cold-pressed seed and vegetable oils (especially olive oil or canola oil), seafood, unprocessed grain foods and cereals, legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils), chicken and lean fresh meat (if desired).
• Ascertain and remove any allergic food from your diet (as a guide, anything you like and eat a lot of, you may be allergic to).
• Minimise non-preferred fats in the diet. Preferred fats include fish and seafood oils, evening primrose oil, flaxseed oil, olive oil, eggs, small amounts of butter. Non-preferred fats include homogenised milk fats, processed oils (including safflower oil which becomes unstable in heat), margarine and excess animal fat.
• Drinking at least 1.5 to 2 litres of water per day is recommended.
• Moderate exercise for 30 to 60 minutes per day is also recommended.
• In terms of stress Management, performing a relaxation exercise (deep breathing, meditation, visualization etc) for 10-15 minutes each day is also recommended.