As you might know I eat according to AIP. It has worked really well for me, getting rid of a lot of joint issues, removal of inflammations and helping me to get a better gut health. I do get symptoms now and then, rashes, getting really tired after eating etc. After taking a lot of tests by a functional medicine therapist (I promise will describe all testings done in future blog posts) I have started to reflect more about when I get rashes, when I get tired after eating etc, keeping a sort of food diary again. I have also tried to reintroduce eggs and nuts and seeds with not so good results. It was when I got really exhausted after eating smoked salmon with spinach I just started to reflect about that I have not really tested if I could avoid rashes and tiredness if I eat histamine low diet. AIP is naturally low in histamine but I will need to avoid some more food in order to eat low histamine.
Why eat low histamine food?
Some people has problem to break down histamine and this leads to a lot of problems. Histamine intolerance is a symptom, there always are an underlying cause.. the problem is to find out what.
The reason could be having too low amounts of DAO which is an enzyme that breaks down histamine in our body. Leaky gut, SIBO or a mast cell disease might cause histamine intolerance but finding the cause is not easy it seems. There is much information about this on the internet and I found a good summary of links here;
Information about mast cell diseases can be found here ; https://www.mastocytosis.ca/en/
What is a low histamine diet?
I will continue to eat AIP but I will also avoid foods that are high in histamine or food that block an enzyme which breaks down histamine in our body. If you want to read more about what food to eat or not on a low histamine diet I found this SIGH list https://www.mastzellaktivierung.info/downloads/foodlist/21_FoodList_EN_alphabetic_withCateg.pdf
My first low histamine food plate
The foods that I will avoid for one month, that I eat quite much of today and that are AIP but not low histamine are;
Smoked salmon, Bacon, seafood, avocado, leek, garlic, onions, olives, green tea, spinach, banana, citrus fruits, mango, watermelon, pineapple, raspberry, strawberries, Folic acid and vitamin B5 and salt with iodine and a few more but see the SIGH list above if you want more details.
I will try low histamine AIP diet for one month and then see if I feel any difference.
