Antihistamine dessert bake with quercetin rich apples, blueberries and ginger. You may use any fruit you tolerate.
Today was odd. I found myself doing something I hadn’t in a long time: having a nervous breakdown in the supermarket.
Only this time it wasn’t over my dietary predicament, but that of my readers. What to share with you this week? Will the paleo folk be disappointed with this, will lectins upset and just how low oxalate does a recipe have to be??
After picking up and putting back a dozen items I finally brainstormed something that made me a very happy bunny indeed…a dessert that reminded me the tastiest treats are ones that improve our health.
So what makes this antihistamine? It’s the quercetin. Much of my dietary philosophy revolves around the concept of eating antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods. You’re thinking: but you’re the low histamine chef. Well yes. The foods are all low histamine too!
Why anti-inflammatory? When my hardcore research into histamine began three years ago the phrase “histamine induced inflammation” kept coming up over and over. And so I thought, well why am I just eating low histamine rather than anti-inflammatory? See because here’s what few naturopath’s tell you: in addition to faulty diamine oxidase or HNMT production, genetic pathway yadda yadda (undermethylation etc), mast cell dysfunction is behind much of the histamine release in the body.
Thing is that mast cells, in addition to housing histamine, also shelter a number of other inflammatory molecules that in small amounts help us heal, but when flooded into the body in excess, can cause unbridled inflammation [1].
Once I understood this I couldn’t go on putting anything in my body that wasn’t going to help deal with that histamine induced inflammation. I simply analysed the commonly sold natural antihistamine supplements on the market – finding that quercetin, rutin and luteolin appeared time and again.
Why? Because they are very powerful mast cell stabilsers, as strong as the most commonly prescribed pharmaceutical (Nalcrom) – meaning that they prevent mast cells from freaking out and releasing histamine into the body to cause inflammation [2]. Sadly my (frequent) conversations with practitioners in the field reveals that the majority absolutely do not believe that diet plays any role in mast cell activation and mastocytosis (they definitely don’t believe that histamine intolerance even exists). It’s so bizarre given that we know inflammation plays a role in so many other illnesses like cancer [3], heart disease [4], Parkinson’s [5]. And we know an anti-inflammatory diet helps in those cases. So why not with histamine intolerance/mast cell activation and mastocytosis? It’s my personal belief that much of what goes on with us is caused by a crappy diet. I know, sacrilegious right? And yet we’re fobbed off with handfuls of antihistamines, mast cell stabilsers and told that we can carry on eating pizza and pasta.
I KNOW that an antihistamine diet rich in bioflavonoids like quercetin, rutin and luteolin has given me my life back and it is also the experience of dozens of people who write to me, many thanking me for putting this idea out there (tho I’m not the first!) and others telling me they’ve been onto it for years. They’ve all improved, lessened or reversed symptoms we were told we need meds for.
While I do understand that we’d have to eat quite a bit of antihistamine foods to have an effect and there’s the blood/brain barrier and all that, what about this revolutionary concept: eat only anthistamine and anti-inflammatory foods; that way nothing you put into your body is going to exacerbate the existing condition by causing more inflammation or histamine to rise (even a little bit)?
Hmmmm? What do you think of that? If you’re on board (but even if you’re not), check out the tasty antihistamine & anti-inflammatory dessert recipe below.
Here’s the nutritional breakdown I know you love as much as I do!
Benefits:
Blueberries and apples are an excellent source of histamine lowering quercetin [6].
Ginger is as potent an H2 receptor antagonist as Zantac/ranitidine (commonly prescribed for heartburn too) [7].
Coconut possesses strong anti-inflamatory and analgesic properties [8].
For more recipes and a six page list of antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods please check out the Anti-cookbook: High Nutrient Antihistamine & Anti-inflammatory Recipes for Health – now also in a paleo version.
Antihistamine Dessert Bake
Prep Time: 10 | Cook Time: 20 | Servings: 2 | Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
3 apples, cut into eighths
1.5 cups blueberries
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
squidge of fresh lemon (or rind – omit it sensitive)
pinch of salt
Optional
2 tbsp coconut nectar or powdered coconut sugar/your choice of sweetener
Directions:
Pre-heat oven at 200C/390F.
Toss the apples in the coconut nectar (if using) and add a pinch of salt (to bring out the sweetness).
Place on a non-stick or lightly oiled baking tray and place in the oven.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, turning once half way through.
Meanwhile add the blueberries, ginger, the squidge of lemon and a splash of water to a small pot. Simmer till the blueberries break down, about 3-5 minutes.
Place the apples in a serving bowl and add a few dollops of the blueberry compote. You might also want to try drizzling with a little coconut cream.
Enjoy your health!
Please don’t forget antihistamine, pain killing foods can still hurt us, so please always check with your doctor before adding new foods to your diet
The Anti-cookbook and all liquid Anti-Detox Book, don’t treat any conditions, but are high in the high nutrient antihistamine and anti-inflammatory ingredients that have been instrumental in helping me feed myself on a limited diet. The Anti-cookbook features a six page list of antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods and comes in regular and Paleo.
The Low Oxalate Cookbook features antihistamine and anti-inflammatory rich recipes.
Don’t miss the Low Histamine Beauty Survival Guide for non-toxic beauty tips, the skinny on histamine releasing (mast cell degranulating) beauty ingredients, antihistamine and anti-inflammatory beauty alternatives and the top brands natural brands I’ve found.
Take a peek at my other low histamine and antihistamine cookbooks for more high nutrient recipes and sign up to my mailing list for freebies.
——— REFERENCES ——-
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mast_cell
[2] http://www.mastcellmaster.com/research.php
[3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1994795/
[4] http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265378.php
[5] http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/99/2/237.short
[6] http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/quercetin
[7] http://journals.tums.ac.ir/upload_files/pdf/_/2382.pdf
[8] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19429325
