If you or your loved one suffer from a migraine and sometimes headache intensifies after the meal, you could possibly blame the products in your diet. Some products have been long identified as headache-intensifying or even headache-inducing if consumed in large amounts, such as, alcohol, chocolate and caffeine. Of course, each body is different and unique, and we are individual, however in order to avoid the debilitating headache it might be worthwhile trying to avoid or restrict the intake of following products in your diet:

• Mature cheese, for example, Cheddar, Emmental, Brie and Camembert (fresh cheeses (crème fraiche, cream-based cheese and similar) as well as cottage cheese can be included in diet)
• Pickled herring or kipper;
• Chocolate;
• Anything fermented, pickled or salted;
• Sour cream (limited to 125g a day)
• Nuts and peanut butter;
• Yeast bread, breads and crackers containing cheese or chocolate;
• Lima beans, fava beans and snow peas;
• Food containing monosodium glutamate, including soy sauce;
• Raisins, papaya, avocado (in limited amounts);
• Citrus fruits (in limited amounts);
• Bananas (limited to a half banana a day)
• Pizza;
• Tea, coffee, sodas (not more than 2 cups a day);
• Sausages, pepperoni, salami, hotdogs;
• Alcohol (limited to 2 glasses).

In any case, a healthy diet of someone suffering from a migraine should consist of fresh products like fruit and vegetables, wholegrains and lean protein.

Why fresh products? There is less chance that your products will have preservatives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) added. Interestingly, but preservatives that are extensively used in food industry may cause migraine or headache in some part of population. Therefore, the simplest way to avoid it is to skip products containing them.

People who suffer from migraine should try to choose products that do not contain preservatives, yeast, flavourings and other substances that can potentially trigger migraine, say, nitrites and phenylalanine.

Find recipes for migraine sufferers in Healthy Lifestyle and Diet section