Red wine. Aged cheese. Citrus fruits. Sauerkraut. Bacon. These foods are frequently consumed by those on a healthy whole foods diet, and are often found in a variety of Paleo-friendly recipes and meal plans. Even conventional doctors frequently recommend including many of these seemingly unrelated foods daily as part of a healthy diet. After all, even a raw vegan probably wouldn’t argue against eating foods like oranges, spinach, or cinnamon.
It may surprise you to learn that these and other popular foods are capable of causing numerous symptoms in certain people, including migraines, hives, anxiety, heartburn and GERD, and nasal congestion, just to name a few. If you’re experiencing strange reactions to certain foods that most would consider healthy, you may be suffering from a little known but not uncommon cause of food intolerance and disease: histamine intolerance.
Still having strange symptoms on a real food diet? You could be suffering from histamine intolerance.
Never heard of histamine intolerance? You’re not alone. This food intolerance is difficult to diagnose, has a multifaceted symptom profile, and is often confused with a variety of other conditions. Many doctors and nutritionists have never even heard of histamine intolerance, and often treat the symptoms without ever addressing the underlying cause. In my practice, I see it especially with headaches and migraines, skin problems and mental health issues. It’s a fairly common, yet poorly understood, food sensitivity.
Histamine Intolerance: Not Your Typical Food Allergy!
Deficiency in the DAO enzyme system, found in the intestinal mucosa, has been suggested as the most probable cause of histamine intolerance. (2) There are likely genetic variations in individual enzyme function, but when activity of either of these enzymes is insufficient, the resulting excess of histamine may cause numerous symptoms resembling an allergic reaction. Common symptoms of histamine intolerance include: (3)
- Pruritus (itching especially of the skin, eyes, ears, and nose)
- Urticaria (hives) (sometimes diagnosed as “idiopathic urticaria”)
- Tissue swelling (angioedema) especially of facial and oral tissues and sometimes the throat, the latter causing the feeling of “throat tightening”
- Hypotension (drop in blood pressure)
- Tachycardia (increased pulse rate, “heart racing”)
- Symptoms resembling an anxiety or panic attack
- Chest pain
- Nasal congestion, runny nose, seasonal allergies
- Conjunctivitis (irritated, watery, reddened eyes)
- Some types of headaches that differ from those of migraine
- Fatigue, confusion, irritability
- Very occasionally loss of consciousness usually lasting for only one or two seconds
- Digestive upset, especially heartburn, “indigestion”, and reflux
Histamine intolerance is unlike other food allergies or sensitivities in that the response is cumulative, not immediate. Imagine it like a cup of water. When the cup is very full (high amounts of histamine in the diet), even a drop of additional water will cause the cup to overflow (symptoms activated). But when the cup is less full, it would take more water (histamine) to cause a response. This makes histamine intolerance tricky to recognize.
In addition, histamine intolerance is closely related to SIBO and dysbiosis, which suggests that curing the latter may alleviate the former. Many integrative practitioners, including myself, believe that a primary cause of histamine intolerance is an overgrowth of certain types of bacteria that make histamine from undigested food, leading to a buildup of histamine in the gut and overwhelming the body’s ability to catabolize the excess histamine. This causes a heightened sensitivity to histamine-containing foods and an increase in symptoms that are commonly associated with allergies.
For more detailed information on histamine intolerance, including causes, symptoms, and treatment, check out this article by Dr. Janice Joneja, a Ph.D. in medical microbiology and immunology and former head of the Allergy Nutrition Program at the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre.
What to Do If You Have Histamine Intolerance
Histamine intolerance can be a challenging diagnosis to manage, since many foods contain histamine and for some patients, their gut bacteria is producing the excess histamine that is causing the symptoms. Fermented foods are some of the biggest culprits, since even beneficial bacteria produce histamine during fermentation. In fact, reacting to fermented foods is a classic sign of histamine intolerance, especially if probiotic supplements are well-tolerated. Other foods that are high in histamine include:
- Seafood: shellfish or fin fish, fresh, frozen, smoked or canned
- Eggs
- Processed, cured, smoked and fermented meats such as lunch meat, bacon, sausage, salami, pepperoni
- Leftover meat (After meat is cooked, the histamine levels increase due to microbial action as the meat sits)
- All fermented milk products, including most cheeses
- Yogurt, buttermilk, kefir
- Citrus fruits – eg. oranges, grapefruit, lemons, lime
- Most berries
- Dried fruit
- Fermented foods: sauerkraut, kombucha, pickles, relishes, fermented soy products, etc.
- Spinach
- Tomatoes- including ketchup, tomato sauces
- Artificial food colors and preservatives
- Spices: cinnamon, chili powder, cloves, anise, nutmeg, curry powder, cayenne
- Beverages: Tea (herbal or regular), alcohol
- Chocolate, cocoa
- Vinegar and foods containing vinegar such as pickles, relishes, ketchup, and prepared mustard
Individual sensitivity varies tremendously. I have one or two patients that cannot tolerate any amount of histamine in food, and others that are only sensitive to the foods highest in histamine.
In order to improve your tolerance to histamine-containing foods, it is crucial to heal the gut and address any dysbiosis or SIBO issues that may exist. I recommend working with a qualified practitioner who can help you address any bacterial imbalance and create a treatment plan that is tailored to your needs.
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What Can You Eat on a Low-Histamine Paleo Diet?
You may be feeling overwhelmed by the list of foods to avoid – I don’t blame you! It can be especially challenging to eat low-histamine foods on a Paleo diet. There aren’t many resources available for this condition, and everyone reacts in their own unique way to excess histamine and certain high histamine foods. For example, a person may do fine eating berries and citrus fruits, but they may have horrible reactions to wine or sauerkraut. If you’re dealing with histamine intolerance, you will need to determine your own trigger foods, and reduce or eliminate them accordingly.
For help figuring out what to eat, those with histamine intolerance may want to check out my Paleo Recipe Generator. It contains over 600 Paleo-approved recipes, and allows you to exclude many high histamine foods from your meal plan, including fermented dairy, eggs, tomatoes, eggplant, fruit, certain spices, vinegar, alcohol, and seafood.
Of course, you’ll have to pay attention to whether or not the recipe contains cured meats like bacon or sausage, other spices like cinnamon or cloves, and certain fruits and vegetables like citrus and spinach. Some of these issues can be addressed by excluding fruit and pork from the meal plan, which isn’t necessary but can help make your low-histamine recipe search a little easier. You’ll still need to double check the ingredients of each individual meal, but this search function makes it much easier!
Once you’ve made your selections for foods to exclude, you can plan meals for a full day, a week, or simply find a recipe for a single meal. Even with a histamine intolerance, you can still enjoy many delicious Paleo recipes: Lamb Roast with Fennel and Root Vegetables, Beef Brisket with Mushrooms, Sourdough Buckwheat Pancakes, and even Chicken Pot Pie, just to name a few.
There are few other online resources for low-histamine meal plans, and most are not Paleo compliant. The Low Histamine Chef has a “Low Histamine Diamine Oxidase Boosting Recipe Book” which some people may find helpful, though many of the recipes contain less-than-desirable ingredients such as grains, legumes, and sugar. It’s important to focus on healing the gut and identifying your specific trigger foods in order to reduce symptoms without indefinitely following a strict low histamine diet. Just remember, individual results will vary!
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Hi Chris,
After a long time I found out it was tomatoes & strawberries causing my giant hives. Then cranberries. Red things and acidy things. Coincidence?? Back again…is it from a little bit of red wine or is it possible the Emergen-C I’ve been pounding for a cold. The Red or the acid (ascorbic)? I know my stomach does not like acidic foods, but I’m curious as to whether they cause or exacerbate the hives, or do they just contribute to gut disbiosis that then makes me more sensitive to my “red” histamines? Hmmm..
Hi Chris,
I have a dilemma with Histamine. The current dilemma as near as I can tell seems mainly to do with a reaction to histamine (a histamine intolerance) and it has come to affect both myself and my 5 year old daughter. We both have hyperpermeable intestinal membranes with 25 +/- food allergies/sensitivities each and autoimmune reactions as a result. She has had temporal seizures and developmental delays, especially with language, and depending on what she eats on any given day she can range in behavior and cognitive function from near normal to ADD, ADHD to borderline PDD. She used to be more solidly PDD, but has made great strides fortunately and is much more healthy now.
Basically we have both been helped by a Paleo/SCD/GAPS diet for about four years and for the last year have begun to augment our diet with fermented cabbage, pickles, melon and other creative fermentations. Like the diet, these fermented foods also vastly improved our well-being. When I ate them I was much more mentally sharp, had more facile access to long term memory and was amazingly more fluid in conversation than I had ever been in my life, really dramatically so. I’m guessing an important mechanism was not only the probiotics but also the effect of histamine on neurotransmitters, I’m not sure but whatever it was it was very powerful. My daughter’s behavior, social skills, attention and language complexity dramatically improved too. It was really fascinating and we were incredibly hopeful for the future.
However nine months ago I started to notice urticaria and became very itchy, and then after a few months I began to have strong headaches, intense neck and upper back stiffness, swollen lymph nodes in the back and neck and intense dull pain in my sternum — all the while still experiencing the great neurological benefits that so changed my work and life. All of these effects would increase with the more fermented cabbage I ingested, and likewise would be directly lessened with less.
My daughter too, after initially doing quite well and really making strides, seemed to acquire a cough and congestion and was more prone to sickness when eating cabbage or anything fermented, and I suspect it also had a hand in triggering her latest temporal seizure, it seemed more than just coincidence?
When we began she actually became sick with common colds less often and the cabbage seemed to be a protector of sorts…this association was also noticed for me and everyone in my family too, but that somehow changed and took on a new aspect. It no longer seems to prevent these colds, something has developed that is limiting this benefit. She has also developed a severe speech disfluency, a severe stutter that is directly linked to her consumption of fermented cabbage, or more precisely from what seems to be a reaction to the histamine in these foods. I’ve not heard or read anything about this connection with stuttering, which makes me question my observations but after several elimination tests it is absolutely directly related in some way. Her stuttering becomes less when she eats less of these foods and comes back in corresponding intensity to the amount of fermented food eaten — surprisingly we’re really only talking about a max. of an 1/8 cup per day, but it has this big effect.
The dilemma is if she is not getting these foods then she is also not realizing the other wonderful cognitive benefits from them, so it is a real and important quandary for us. In my situtation it is almost a matter of me being or not being able to do my work at a high level in order to support my family, it’s really this powerful of a situation!
Because she is following the Paleo/SCD/GAPS diet much of her food is high in histamine which is contributing to the overall load. This is probably why Paleo blogs seem to know more about histamine intolerance and seem to have a higher prevalence of it than others. We are trying to limit some of these high histamine foods but her food is already very limited due to her sensitivities and diet.
We’ve already gained so much that we believe in some ways “the sky is the limit”, we’ve come to expect a solution, a huge shift from our mainstream experience of masking or no solution. It’s been a very powerful ride and a wonderful awakening the last four years, I for one have lost a debilitating Ankylosing Spondylitis diagnosis, and my daughter a PDD diagnosis….and we know there are still more wonderful doors for us to open.
Because I and my daughter are similarly afflicted It seems like there is a strong genetic component to the sensitivities and intolerances, I can read her like a book…and it also seems like a solution to this histamine intolerance in particular could simply come down to being able to fully heal the gut or at least greatly reduce the hyperpermeability if possible – something that even with the strictest adherence to the Paleo diet for four years has heretofore seemed unable to heal by itself. I’m keen to hear any thoughts with regards to healing a leaky gut, as well as any other ideas you may have…be they centered on methylation, mitochondria, autoimmunity, epigenetics, or anything else.
I apologize for the long-winded nature of this, hopefully it will be of some interest to you and please don’t feel that any response has to match it in length. I know you are a very busy individual, any insight of any brevity you can provide from your own experience, research or practice would be greatly appreciated and highly regarded.
Thanks again for your generous attention, and for providing this wonderful blog!
Hi Dr. Kessler,
I ALWAYS get a bad rash on my stomach which con’t to spread down my body when I take probiotics or eat even 1/8 t. cabbage juice w/ a meal. You mentioned in the article that people with histamine issues could take probiotics but not tolerate the fermented foods. Would this still apply to me since I cannot tolerate either?
I could never understand why I can’t take probiotics if they are produced naturally by the body.
G.J.
Hello,
I usually get headaches at the beginning of spring while the temperatures are still low and the headaches are unlike the normal headaches or migraines.
There is a lot of pressure on one side of the head including the eyeballs.
I don’t know if it is related to my diet but Anti-histamine tablets have helped me although nowadays it does not work as well as it used to.
What do you advise ?
Hi Chris,
Ever since going strict paleo 2 mo ago Ive slowly incorporated new things into my diet. I was on a strict anti-histamine food diet previously. I felt so good and my skin looked great from eliminating processed food (that I wasnt eating alot of to begin with so it wasnt a difficult transition) that I started slowly adding more and more after the first month lemons, limes, sauerkraut, bacon, onions, ginger, garlic powder, brussels sprouts, sausage..things I havent eating in a about two years. In addition, to adding all of these foods I began not only cooking with coconut oil but slowly increasing my intake to 2/3 spoonfuls a day bc I felt like I wasnt getting enough calories from cutting grains and I was losing crucial body fat (despite eating redic portions of meat and veggies that Im not used to) from all of the new muscle from protein intake and working out (not overtraining) 2 days a week. My period became lighter in the last 2 cycles (down to one day a week) I assume from the drop in estrogen from even lower body fat than I had to begin with. That was the first scare, but I thought it might balance out. Two weeks ago I developed an awful outbreak on my neck (only) and is WORSENING daily, I thought it was due to a new hormonal imbalance. I have recently re-introduced more sweet potatoes and squash and root veggies (in the last week) and have avoided coconut oil like the plague in last few days to try to increase body fat and calm skin down. I have also stopped working out which I am upset about bc I was in a good routine again finally and have felt stronger than I have in years. But, now thinking about all of the drastic changes I made to my diet maybe its a histamine reaction or detox reaction and not just a hormonal imbalance acne breakout. It resembles acne and a rash in different parts on both sides under my jaw and down neck. Also, I have been on bcp from 18-32 and never had an issue w my hormones before despite always having very low body fat. Other things, Ive had difficulty sleeping waking up sweating around 2/3am. I truly believe that way of eating has wrecked havoc on me and I want to start eating grains again to fix the imbalance but Im scared of the side effects (the rest of my face is still very clear) of that bc Ive cut them out for 2 mo. Ive never had a gluten intollerance and Im terrified that Ive started something I cant stop. Please Chris, if you read this — I need serious help and dont know where to start.
Hi Alison,
Sounds like you are having a histamine response. I have the same problem with histamines and still eat a Paleo diet. I just avoid all the histamine food triggers and other triggers as stress, heat and cold and etc.
I also use a product “Histame” before I eat a meal that helps me not get reactive. But if I do go over my histamine load for the day, Benadryl helps take away the symptoms. Going back to eating grains is not the answer. But we all have to find out what histamine foods and triggers we react to. I belong to a couple of Histamine Intolerance groups on Facebook. The people have been very helpful with questions. We are all learning form each other from all over the world. I hope this helps you! 🙂
Listen up guys, I’m keeping this short. Im 16 and was diagnosed with ‘solar urticaria’ that’s right, I’m allergic to the sun. I looked for various treatments, cures and diets to cure it and doctors explained how there was no cure. WRONG!! I you have any sort of urticaria it is because of the unbalanced ph level in your body. Look at a programme called BUTEYKO, it is a proved asthma cure but also cures allergies. I carried out this programme along with a strict diet for 4 months and believe it or not it worked. To celebrate I went to Spain with my school in June and enjoyed the good weather and when I returned I went to a dermatology department in the Dundee hospital and they were amazed at my tan but refused to believe it was due to my efforts and more to do with the mysteries of the human body. I’m not a diet extremist, I still eat all the crap in the world but I’d never be able to do that without doing this programme. I urge anyone who reads this to please please look into BUTEYKO breathing. If you have any questions, Direct message me on twitter at (HutchieJunior) or Facebook mail me at (Kieran Hutchison). Never settle for what a doctor or specialist tells you all the time, they’re only human like you and they can be wrong too.
What was your practice regimen? how high did you get your CP
Thank you
I had a sun problem when I was on Tegretol & Neurontin. I guess since I grew up on meds due to seizures, I never asked any questions when I started seeing MDs on my own. I was clueless about side-effects of meds. I am med-free now and am getting healthier as I age, but the biggest changes have come from cutting out high-histamine foods. I no longer faint, I can lift my arm above my shoulder again, no more anxiety attacks, I’m not freezing all the time and I have actually slept through the night a few times. No meds, treatments or recommended surgeries fixed these problems. Low histamine diet did.
thanks will definitely have a look at this http://www.buteykoworks.com/buteyko-panic-attacks
what did your ‘strict diet’ eliminate ? was it based on histamine producing foods or no wheat/dairy ….?
I seem to have the opposite, where certain raw foods, like carrots give me a slight tissue swelling and itchiness in the throat. If everything is cooked, I’m fine.
This might be the answer to years of frustrating symptoms and no answers! Do you recommend the histamine intolerance blood test?
tea? most of them suggests tea to take as anti-histamine. is there a particular kind of tea that shouldn’t and should be taken? I’m trying ginger everyday. I hope I’ll get some result after a week. Right now I’ve been suffering and it’s one of the longest months I’m having hives. Have this since before college and I’m 36 now, mostly attacks during summer, hot.
Did you know that being DEHYDRATED and provoke a histamine release?
I was getting so focused on foods that I wasn’t paying proper attention to dehydration.
Google it.
Here’s one link:
http://www.naturalnews.com/032624_allergies_hydration.html
Do you know if pure lard is good on a histamine free diet?
Thank you so much for this article! I have been experiencing histamine intolerance myself, with my symptoms getting crazy this spring! They have been mild for the past few years, but I can tell that the addition of pollens in the air is pushing my body over the edge. I’ve been cutting out histamine rich foods and seem to be getting better. I am so grateful to have found this site to realize I’m not alone. 🙂
Thanks for the great article. (also LOVED learning from you about sleep and light during the healthy living summit! Shared your presentation with everyone I could find and they loved it too! Excellent. Thank you, thank you)
It seems there could be more said about hydration regarding these types of problems: not only is water necessary to good digestion (less transit time in the gut, etc), but a body that is required to constantly ration its “clean” water supply is more likely to overreact to anything. One of the primary functions of histamine is water regulation. When water supply is low, “the troops” are stationed at every corner, so to speak, ALL ready to respond at the slightest signal. Furthermore, interference in communication lines is more likely due to cloudy, poorly transmitting fluids and overworked filtration systems.
Antihistamine regulation is great in its place; watching what you eat and avoiding (hopefully only for a time if it’s a healthy food) things that are triggers so the body can heal is important; recognizing and addressing thirst is inexpensive, do-able for everyone, but so easy to overlook.
I know several people who have dramatically decreased seasonal allergy discomfort just by drinking more water. I was never a soda drinker and neither were these friends, but I would think cutting syrupy carbonated drinks and replacing them with plain water would show even greater improvement… actually, being diuretics, colas would be among the biggest culprits in causing an overactive histamine environment, wouldn’t they?
In my own case, drinking water cleared up several years of constant severe heartburn and (pleasant surprise!) back pain. So… whatever else you do, drink up!
What about coffee and green tea? I thought they actually block histamine receptors?
Hi Caroline,
I’ve been doing lots of research and everyone seems in agreement that black, green and mate tea block DAO production – the enzyme that breaks down histamine.
Some people say coffee is a problem, others say only caffeinated coffee is a problem. I’d stay off all these things for 4-6 weeks and then test them to see.
Hope this helps,
Julia
Chris- any thoughts on taking quercetin for histamine intolerance issues if you don’t know if you have a TH1 or TH2 dominant autoimmune disorder? I have read that quercetin can impact the immune system and this could potentially negatively or positively impact an autoimmune disorder – that is, depending on which type is dominant. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
I schooled up on what to eat and not to eat and wow, no brain severe brain fog for almost a week now.
I still have slight neck hives and rash. I think if I took the meat out it might fade, but no thanks. I would fade away before the rash did.
Stopped the manuka, seems like alot of sugar. 5 days in and 250 grams of honey later I am waking up at 4:00AM when I should be up at 8. Now foods quercetin with bromelain and HealthForce Nutritionals, Truly Natural Vitamin C are saving mer right now, but what the heck do you do to get out of this?
It seems I am developing worse pain in the feet, ankles, and hips and loosing sleep from it
I am wondering if it is gout? What the heck am I doing to cause this? All I can think is flush, flush, flush. 2 gallons of water a day and epsom salt bath at night. If I miss doing this right now then I will be in pain all night, tossing and turning.
I am trying black cherry, but has anyone looked at the sugar content? Also it is a no no food for HIT, so I am really confused. Cider vinegar does not slow it either. Not eating and drinking about a lake of water seems to be all that works.
Could not even eat beef or anything with too much animal fat. I would feel great from escaping calorie and nutrient deficit but then I would pee foam and swell. I ate bone broth and felt like I had been poisoned.
What seems to sustain me (barley) diet wise is to under eat protein (2 8oz. servings of chicken breast). and then very lightly eat 3 servings of salad (red lettuce, radish, carrot, cucumber, green onion, light olive oil), and 1 or 2 yams a day. I am about 15 to 20 pounds, with no body fat change, under the weight I seem to normally hold.
Anyone know any health practitioners in Seattle experienced with successful treatment of HIT without drugs?
The more I read about peoples’ experiences with the low histamine diet and results the more I think about the ketogenic diet, used for people who have seizures. Maybe they’re seizing due to DAO or HNMT enzyme deficiencies and histamine intolerance.
Thanks so much for this article, Chris. It put me on the road to solving nasty chronic eczema which I’ve had for months. I’ve had a couple of setbacks on this diet though, and I’m sure others may have experienced similar. Overripe fruit, for instance, set me back by a week and since excluding all fruit (just to be sure), my eczema has receded again.
I still seem to get some anxiety but assume this is all part of clearing the histamine overload.
Would some gut issues (bloating, cramping and general discomfort) be part of the process? Have you had any patients who have experienced some fluctuation of symptoms when starting a low-histamine approach?
Hi
Just bought the Paleo Meal Planning tool as it was positioned in the histamine intolerance article as a great tool to use to design a low-histamine diet. When I entered all the parameters (incl no fruit), I still get things like bacon and lemon in every other recipe. Disappointed as this does not delivered what was promised. Magdalena.
Interesting link Rob, it’s good to read that Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli are “particularly resistant to manuka”. It’s also interesting to read that manuka is not ‘rapidly bactericidal’.
I tend to take a large teaspoon on an empty stomach last thing at night. When I first started taking it, I got similar symptoms to you, which I put down to die off and which subsided after 4-5 days.
I am finding at the moment that I am often waking up hot at around 3am and taking around 2 hours to get back to sleep – I am not sure what this is but I am testing increasing the manuka by taking it in the morning as well to see if that helps.
One experience I had that may be informative is that when I stopped treating H Pylori last time, I had a horrible 4-5 days of serious headaches and fatigue. I assumed this was HP bounceback at the time, but now I am more of the opinion that it is likely to be histamine-producing bacteria bounceback.
At the time, I had been able to go back to eating a fairly high histamine diet including bone broths and stews. It’s my guess that this, combined with bounceback of the problematic bacteria, was what caused the problems.
So it seems to me that for myself anyway I may need to continue with at least a maintenance dose of manuka indefinitely until I can do something else to alter the bacterial balance (I’d like to hear more about Chris’s comment on soil-based bacteria probiotics that he mentioned in a recent podcast).
And regarding the concentrations of manuka, perhaps it would be worth testing a fairly high dose for a few days (say 3-4 teaspoons before bed) to see if that makes a larger impact, returning to maintenance dose thereafter.
On your other questions – I would guess that it is impossible / potentially undesirable to eradicate the problematic bacteria, and that the aim is more to get other bacterial populations increased to keep them in line. My experience above might give some indication on whether it is OK to cease treatment – in other words, you might get a nasty response to tell you otherwise.
In line with the info this thread, I’m also taking quercetin, magnesium and vitamin B6 to hopefully enhance the operation of DAO and generally improve my histamine handling. Oh, and a herb call Holy Basil. Interesting discussion – let’s keep it going.
Here is a research thesis on “The Effect of Manuka Honey on Enterobacteria”
by Lin, Shih-Min (Sam) PhD at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.
http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/3972
My uneducated assumption is that consistent dosages would have to be taken continuously over a set interval of time and limit recovery of the bacteria. The question being how often and how long before it is completely eradicated, if at all that was even possible? What indications would you have, if any, to subside the approach? Also since bile and pancreatin reduce the effect so significantly (50%) I wonder how a diet would may be optimally programmed around this? Fasted? And what to eat if or when not fasting?
I started a regimine of Manuka Health +15 this morning 1/2 tsp mixed in warm water every hour since waking at 5:00AM after no food for 12 hours. New reactions occurred following taking the Minuka that were not like I would feel just because I have not eaten. It started with a bad headache in the front of the head then moved into brain fog this was constant until 1:00 PM when I broke out of the approach with a salad (Red Lettuce, Cucumber, 2 apples, Olive Oil, Sea Salt) and Whey Protein shake. I felt slightly better, but still foggy. A die off effect of bacteria (good or bad?), or a toxin of the honey impacting my system in another way?