The best way to identify foods that may be triggering your migraine is to keep a daily food journal. A journal allows you to look back and identify specific foods that may be contributing. Not all triggers affect everybody, but here’s a list of commonly reported triggers:
- Chocolate and cocoa (Chocolate: milk, ice cream, pudding, cookies, cake, or pie).
- Alcoholic beverages (especially red wine, beer, and sherry)
- Caffeine
- Nuts & nut butters
- Pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds.
- Fruits such as: Figs, raisins, papayas, avocados (especially if overripe), red plums, overripe bananas
- Beans such as: broad, fava, garbanzo, Italian, lima, navy, pinto, pole & string beans.
- Other vegetables such as: snow peas and onions (except for flavoring).
- Raw garlic
- Anything fermented, pickled or marinated (sauerkraut, olives, pickles).
- Freshly baked yeast bread or coffee cake, doughnuts, sourdough bread.
- Cultured dairy products (buttermilk, sour cream).
- Cheese: blue, brick (natural), Gouda, Gruyere, mozzarella, Parmesan, provolone, romano, Roquefort, cheddar, Swiss (emmentaler), Stilton, Brie types and Camembert types.
- Aged, canned, cured or processed meat, including ham or game, pickled herring, salted dried fish, sardines, anchovies, chicken livers, sausage, bologna, pepperoni, salami, summer sausage, hot dogs, pâté, caviar, mincemeat pie.
- Other high sodium products: Meat tenderizer, soy sauce, monosodium glutamate (MSG), seasoned salt, (Accent), canned soup, soup or bouillon cubes,
- Nutrasweet
- Excessive Vitamin A (over 25,000 I.U. daily).
