Food for Migraines: What to Eat for Headaches

Do you suffer from frequent headaches and migraines? Relief can be hard to come by, but even better than finding relief is preventing them in the first place.

One of the best places to start is to focus on changing your food and drinks. Not only does a healthy diet help increase your energy during the day and improve your health, but it also may mean a reduction of headaches over time.

Read on to learn our top tips on food for migraines!

What Triggers Migraines?

As we try to find solutions for headaches and migraines, it’s important to know some of the factors that can trigger them. This can help you focus on changing other parts of your lifestyle for a more pain-free life.

• Stress
• Dehydration
• Changes in weather
• Changes in sleeping habits
• Certain medications

Try and identify your own triggers–this will put you on the path to improved wellness.

Food for Migraines

When you’re deciding what to eat for your migraines, we recommend starting with creating a “safe list” of foods you can eat. You could also simplify this and simply create a list of foods to avoid. Here are some foods to avoid:

• High sodium foods
• Dairy products
• Wheat
• Citrus
• Caffeine
• Red wine
• Aspartame
• Aged cheeses
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Eggs

There are also some fruits and vegetables that can help you prevent headaches. Here are just a few:

Russet Potatoes

Potassium can help prevent headaches, and a russet potato has three times the amount of potassium compared to a banana! Potatoes are hydrating and full of electrolytes as well. They can be eaten alone or as a delicious side.

Cucumbers

Since dehydration is a major cause of headaches and migraines, it’s important to stay hydrated throughout the day. If you’re not good at keeping up with your water intake, focus on creating delicious salads with cucumbers included.

Oatmeal and Rice

If you notice that your headaches happen when you don’t eat or if you’ve started a low-carb diet, your body could be struggling with dipping blood sugar levels. A great way to combat this is by eating oatmeal or rice during the day. These are both delicious and filling that can help keep your blood sugar level.

Coffee or Tea

Caffeine can cause headaches through withdrawals. Instead of cutting out caffeine cold turkey, we recommend giving your body a break and making yourself a small cup of either coffee or tea. Focus on drinking a smaller amount than normal so that you can slowly taper your body off of it.

Finding Relief from Migraines

It can be a struggle to find relief from headaches and migraines. However, by focusing on lifestyle changes such as food for migraines, you’re well on your way to preventing them altogether. What’s important is to pay attention to your body and write notes about what you notice when it comes to triggers.

For instance, if you notice that you’re getting headaches around the same time of day, this could be from your blood sugar levels. Try eating earlier in the day or eating more carbs to help increase your blood sugar levels.

Ready for more health tips? Keep reading our blog for more informative articles!