If your headaches follow a pattern (occur regularly), keep a headache log. Write down what you ate, what you did, where you went for the day; any medicines or supplements you took and other notable events where you ingested something or were exposed to a possible noxious source (usually industrial in nature). Identify those days where you had a headache and note any common factors on those days.
If you suspect your headaches may be caused by a certain food you eat, consider getting a Home Food Allergy Test Kit (see end of this report). This kit detects immune response to certain foods. Besides sinus reactions, allergic reactions to food can also come in the form of headaches, fatigue, joint pain, bloating, skin rashes and other abnormal symptoms.
Using the process of elimination, remove one thing at a time (for at least a week) in your daily routine to isolate the offending headache trigger. Once identified, avoid that trigger to reduce your headaches. The trigger could be a certain food, a preservative in food, salt, processed sugar, perfume, certain cosmetics or personal care items, printer toner cartridge—the list is endless. Just take good care to observe the foods and chemicals you are exposing your body to each day and update your log.
I should also mention the importance of a healthy gut microbiome. Did you know that there are more microorganisms inside your body than there are cells? The colonies of bacteria in your gut (intestines), called your microbiome play a very important role in your immune system. Besides helping you digest your food, they play a role in determining your body’s immune response to environmental antigens. Allergic reactions, which involve inflammation are basically an abnormally active response by your immunes system to an invader. Studies show that those with seasonal allergies often have deficiencies in their gut microbiome profile (there are hundreds of strains of bacteria; some considered “good” while others “bad”). If you have chronic headaches, it could mean an underlying, low grade inflammatory process is occurring in your body and headaches is just a sign of it.
If you’ve ever taken antibiotics for a week and have a diet deficient in vegetables and high in junk food, you likely have an unbalanced gut microbiome. To maintain healthy gut flora levels, it is important to eat lots of organic vegetables and to make at least half of your consumption raw/ uncooked. Eating fermented vegetables and taking probiotics can help maintain your gut flora as well.
Other symptoms of an unbalanced gut flora include gas and bloating; tiredness, and constipation. You can test your microbiome at home with microbiome test kits available on Amazon.
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