The Histamine Survival Series – Restaurants

‘Tis the season to head to warmer climes and enjoy a little dining…but eating out is no picnic when you have histamine intolerance/histaminosis/mast cell activation/mastocytosis. And yet this has never stopped me from trying (and succeeding).

My top tip for surviving restaurants is PREPARE!

1. I have a couple of restaurants who have my allergies/preferences in the system or know me by now. That’s where I take my clients so I don’t have to get into it with them! I’ve never had anyone be rude or dismissive. Restaurants nowadays take these things very seriously because they don’t want a lawsuit on their hands. I’m also always super nice and leave a big tip so they remember me.

2. If I have no control over where I’m going, I’ll peruse the menu online and call ahead and make my order. If I can’t find anything on the menu, I’ll just explain that I have a number of allergies, that I need to come in for a business meeting, and I ask if they would be so kind as to prepare me an omelette (even if it’s not on the menu). They ALWAYS oblige.

3. ALWAYS order dressing/sauce on the side. This is where most restaurants slip up.

4. Tell them outright, you MUST have the freshest food on the menu, so ask for their help in choosing it. I’m always very tactful on this one. Restaurants never admit their food was not cooked from scratch daily and yet (having worked with a number of restaurants over the years) I know this is not the case. Very few restaurants in the world are from scratch, daily.You could copy and paste this text into a word doc, then add your foods, (don’t forget nuts!), and either laminate (my choice) or print it off and keep in your wallet. I suggest multiple copies as these will inevitably be lost along the way…

5. I have the text below printed on a two sided card to be presented upon arrival.

MY RESTAURANT CARD

Greetings,

BREAKING NEWS: chlorinated tap water ingredient responsible for rise in allergies

A study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology reports that dichlorophenol, a chemical used tap water chlorination, is associated with an increased risk of food allergies. But fear not, scientists claim that we’re much more likely to have been absorbing it from pesticides on our fruit and vegetables, or in the cosmetics we’ve

The Low Histamine Diet Foods FAQ

WHICH FOODS ARE HIGH HISTAMINE? That depends on which list you follow. Histamine in foods varies depending on: the country grown in, whether pesticides were used, climate, transportation, ripeness when picked, how long on the supermarket shelf, bacterial contamination. In particular the level varies in flesh. The reason for which is that bacteria release histamine

10 histamine (non food) triggers (and how I deal with them)

As you may know, histamine disorders (roll call: histamine intolerance, histaminosis, chronic allergies, mast cell activation and mastocytosis) have more than one trigger. And by that I’m not counting individual foods, just a whole mess of stuff that can cause histamine to be released into the blood stream. I’m successfully managing a number of them – so it’s time to share! I’ll be using The Mastocytosis Society Canada’s non-immunologial trigger list as reference (check out the full list at the end of the post). There’s a bunch of surprises on it!

2017 UPDATE: Here’s how I used diet and lifestyle changes to overcome these triggers.

HEAT

No air conditioning at the Masai Mara duty free shop in Kenya (or on our three day safari with Masai warriors!)

I’m not doing too great on this one. I travel, a lot. And for some reason I do it almost exclusively to incredibly hot climates. This last year alone I spent almost three months in Africa/North Africa. I don’t mean indoors in the AC – I’m talking old school villages with no internet connection, camping with Masai warriors and draping myself (passing out) across my man on the most beautiful islands known to man. Oh, I forgot the two hour camel rides under the scorching sun across treacherous terrain high on a mountainside in search of the ultimate beach. It was pretty funny, I spent my first hour there comparing symptoms with the bedouin woman who offered us dinner and grass (her words not mine!), in our first five minute there. Seems her entire family may suffer from a histamine disorder.

My hottest tips for dealing with the heat is to have AC or a cool body of water to immerse yourself into at the end of the day. I literally feel all my swelling and inflammation go down after 10 minutes. The key is to keep calm and also make sure you have access to a car with AC – wish I could follow my own advice on that one. I spent a month trapped in microwaves (taxis) in Morocco in July this year. Ouch. I have a histamine/inflammation detection unit in my mouth – well I had a tooth extracted when a dentist convinced me it was causing my symptoms – duh. I’ve been too freaked out to get an implant (antibiotics, injections, anesthetic, oh MY) so nowadays when my gum swells to the point that I no longer feel the gap, I know I’m in big trouble. That happened, a lot in the taxis.

PRESSURE/VIBRATION

Ayurvedic remedy helps fight flab, fix your thyroid and lower histamine levels!

I’m taking a number of steps to help my body recover from any inadvertent histamine hiccups (ahem, cupcake incidents) I may subject it to. One of them is the food-coaching course I’m taking with my nutritional hero Dr. Fuhrman, and an intensive immersion into herbalism, which I’m sure to expand upon in coming years. I’m currently devouring the modern herbalism bible I’ve seen the Whole Foods naturopathic gurus toting when in deep consult with customers. I naturally started in the immune system chapter where I came across yet another ayurvedic miracle herb.

Playing histamine detective is easy – here’s how I do it.

Update: nowadays I wish I hadn’t tried so hard to play histamine detective. In the end I believe it became counter productive, causing my amygdala to become hypersensitised and give me a fear of food. Read all about that here.

My decade (plus) as a journalist for CNN and the BBC definitely prepared me to deal with a pesky nuisance like my histamine disorder (be it histamine intolerance or whatever). When faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem – I just take a step back and figure out how the hell to make it work. There is no “can’t” in my vocabulary. Be it chartering private helicopters to airlift equipment, bribing ship captains to let us stow away, or finagleling team visas to Libya on two hours notice (in the Gaddafi years!) – I’ve done it all. So there’s no way I’m letting something like food (or illness) rule my life. I’ve outlined my approach to histamine/inflammation detoxing in my ebook the Anti-Detox – usually employing it before a big client presentation (this histamine chef thing is a side project for me) or when having to fly out to hot climates like Kenya, Morocco, and Egypt, all this last year.

Heat, as you may know, causes mast cells to degranulate, releasing their precious histamine cargo right into your bloodstream. There’s nothing like quite like turning beet red and blowing up into the Michelin man the minute you step off a plane to make you appreciate a good low histamine detox before traveling.

Now I’m going to cover what I believe to be one of the key secrets of successful low histamine living. It sounds so very basic that you may initially laugh: you need to know what food or cosmetic is causing which reaction. Simple right? But I can’t tell you how many emails I receive asking for diet analysis. I don’t mind doing it, but it must be so frustrating living a life where every little thing could be causing distress and there’s no way to figure out what’s what. I’m greatly indebted to Dr Fuhrman’s teachings on this one, as I figured out what was wrong with me initially after going on a three-day water fast. For crystal clear clarity there’s nothing quite like starting with as clean a slate as possible. Nowadays, I don’t do water fasts as any kind of stress can cause mast cells to release histamine – and I‘ve learned the hard way that kicking your body into survival mode definitely isn’t relaxing. The next best thing is the overnight semi fast (sleep!)…

The Test

Non toxic beauty: this natural hair dye prevents allergies!

UPDATE: I’m no longer reactive to shampoo or hair dye. But I’ve stopped dyeing my hair anyway. It’s just too toxic. I use 100 percent pure shampoo and conditioner. Please remember, we can be allergic to anything, even antihistamines and natural hair dye with antihistamine properties. CLICK HERE TO CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONALISED HEALING HISTAMINE

On the Go cookbook sneak peek!

I’m waiting for tax papers in the US to go through before I can sell the books on Amazon. So in the meantime I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to let folks take a peek inside the book. So here it is… And here’s the blurb to go with it! Do you

Suffering from make up allergies or reactions? Try wearing nudes…

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Tasty antihistamine hot beverages.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my top hot beverages… As you can see from my picture here, the detox is going great! Ok, busted, that’s not me in the picture! But as you can see from plenty others on the site – I’m not looking too shabby! My natural antihistamine beverages… Valerian

The Histamine Detox

THIS IS AN OLD POST, BUT RELEVANT TO PEOPLE STARTING OUT. CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW I MOVED PAST THE ELIMINATION. THE LOW HISTAMINE DETOX WEEK 1 BLOOD. I NEED BLOOD! I’ve just had my blood work done. Not only will your test results tell you it’s safe to embark on a high nutrient

Stressed out uterus?

I’m not just going for a catchy headline here – turns out that valerian root is not only a powerful anxiolytic (natural chill out pill) overall, it’s also an antihistamine which helps with menstrual cramps. I mean seriously, the study is actually called: Relaxing effects of Valeriana officinalis extracts on isolated human non-pregnant uterine muscle.