sugar

28 November 2019

How To Quit Sugar (2)

Preparation is key.

Last time we talked about our overall plan for quitting sugar – which actually includes quitting sweeteners as well. I didn’t go deeply into the science of all this – you can find that in other posts and other places on the web. Our purpose in these articles is to talk about strategy.

Candy or almonds? — Candy or almonds or neither? Time to get specific…

We have talked a little about preparing to quit sugar and sweeteners, and preparation is very important if you want to succeed. And you can’t just think about “cutting” things – you have to think about the big picture of what you’ll eat.

This is where things get tricky, because a lot of the advice you’ll see online is based on goals that are entirely different than ours. What is our purpose? To fight migraine, of course.

So when you’re looking at various food lifestyles online (forget about diets – we want to change the way we eat), you’ll see a lot of great ideas for “losing weight” (often very temporary solutions, as statistics show). You might want to lose weight, but that’s not our goal.

Or, and this is a classic, people buy into a different type of “diet” and then try to find ways of eating exactly what they did before. That’s why, when you look up recipes for a popular diet, you instantly find brownies, cheesecake, banana bread and chocolate chip cookies. (I still get a chuckle at the number of gluten free cookbooks that feature things like brownies on the cover! — gluten free? Yes. A healthier food lifestyle? Maybe not!)

So our purpose is to fight migraine, and we know that messing with sugars and sweeteners is a huge factor for many people. And that includes refined flours.

This post will get too complicated if I tell you exactly what to eat. You already have your ideas about what is healthy and what is not, and the research is continually changing our ideas about what we should be eating. But you do want to avoid the classic mistake – cutting out sugar, and then filling up on sweeteners and smoothies and juices and “sugar free” breads. FAIL.

So do your research, make a plan for your new migraine-fighting food lifestyle, and download a few recipes. For me personally, not having to think too much about breakfast is important, so one of my first priorities is to know exactly what I’m going to eat/drink during those first hours of the morning.

Collect some recipes ahead of time. Consider how you will “switch out” those quick convenient meals/snacks for something that fits your new healthier way of eating.

I will make one recommendation. A lot of migraine patients are using The Migraine Miracle by Dr. Josh Turknett and Jenny Turknett. This book is written by a neurologist and migraineur (who has found tremendous relief), as as the longer title shows, it fits perfectly with our strategy – “A Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free, Ancestral Diet to Reduce Inflammation and Relieve Your Headaches for Good”

This particular food lifestyle is a kind of paleo diet, but it’s specifically designed for migraine patients, with an acute awareness of triggers and what current research is telling us about migraine. It also explains some of the reasons why we’ll want to quite sweeteners as well as sugars, at least for a few months (as we discussed in the first article).

The book does have recipes, and they’re excellent, though some are quite time consuming. If you like what you’re seeing in the book, you can certainly go out and find your own recipes for free that follow the philosophy of the book. Also, Dr. Turknett has a subscription based service which will provide you with an avalanche of excellent recipes – both easy and complex, dairy free or not, snacks and main courses – worth looking into if you would like to take this path. (And the recipes come from Jenny, who obviously knows exactly what she’s doing!)

(The subscription also takes you through a lot more of the philosophy behind this type of migraine-fighting eating, which will be tremendously helpful if you want to be successful long term.)

So today’s goal – continue to prepare, by thinking specifically about what style of eating is best for you, and what exactly you’re going to eat. Many migraine patients are finding major success by getting serious about what they eat. But if you start without being ready, you’ll only be planning to fail.

If you’ve found success with a particular sugar-free style of eating, let me know! I would love to hear your story.

14 November 2019

How To Quit Sugar (1)

James Tips 0

Quite often I find myself disagreeing with the prevailing views and popular articles when it comes to “quitting sugar”. I think part of the reason is because our motives tend to be quite different from the motives of other people.

Sure, lots of people want to lose weight – maybe you do, too. Or be healthier in general. Or attain to some kind of athletic achievement. But for someone with chronic headaches, the motivation is something called “PAIN”. We would like to get rid of it, along with the other horrible symptoms that tend to come with it.

So keeping in mind that – sure, we would like to be a healthy weight. We want to be healthy in general. But we really do have a more immediate goal. And that often changes the way in which we do things.

So for those who want to cut down on their migraine/headache attacks, I would like to share a few thoughts about quitting sugar, just for you.

Where are we going?

What exactly is our goal here? To never let another sugar granule enter our bodies forever? Well, not necessarily. But let’s face it, there is an increasing amount of evidence that…

Most people are simply eating way too much sugar.
Refined sugar is not doing you much good, but it is doing a lot of bad.
Artificial sweeteners by and large are also often unhealthy, they also go hand in hand with sugar as migraine triggers.

So I suggest that our goal should be this – cut out virtually all sugar and sweeteners for a significant amount of time (several months). Beyond this time of experimentation (what’s happening to my symptoms?) and adjustment (it will take your body time to adjust – this is a significant change), you may want to introduce very small amounts of sweeteners (including sugar) into your life on rare occasions.

Some people will tell you it’s just impossible or unreasonable to completely cut sugar and sweeteners. It’s not. It’s a challenge that you need to prepare for, yes. But it can be done, and for many it may completely transform your life.

“Cutting down” is one of the great banes of diets. “I don’t each much of that…” “But today is a cheat day…” And the truth is, you are either trying to measure everything (frustrating!) or you really have no idea how much “bad food” you’re eating. Because you think you’re “cutting down” you feel a little better about yourself (until you cheat), but you really don’t get any results.

So, commit yourself to a drastic change. This is not a diet. You’re going to change how you eat. But this is not necessarily a forever commitment. How about 6 months? Then you can evaluate how you’re doing and how things have changed.

Prepare…

It does help to prepare before you jump in. Here are a few tips.

Cut out the sugary drinks. This is a simply step you can take ahead of time to help your body start to adjust before you go all in. You know your doctor will agree that sugary drinks are the easiest and fastest way to get a whole lot of unhealthy sugar into your body. And guess what? This is not just soda pop – this is juice too. Try the wonderful invention of water. Or get some fancy teas or coffees. Just get rid of the drinks with sugar.
Make it fun. You’re going to do some cooking, let’s face it. How can you make it easier, or more fun? How about a new kitchen appliance, like an Instant Pot? Or a good meat thermometer? A spiralizer (seriously, everyone needs a spirilizer to make healthy food fun!)? Treat yourself as you start on this new adventure!
Find a buddy. It will help a lot if you have a friend or family member who will do this with you. Even if their motivations are different, they still might be excited to join you!
Observe, and start to think about what you will eat. Actually, we’ll talk more about this next time. But it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to eat in the future. First, observe – you’ll start reading labels, or noticing how often you add sugar to food, or how often you eat sauces with lots of sugar in them (one is commonly called “ketchup”). Then you’ll start thinking – if I don’t eat that sugary cereal for breakfast, what will I eat? What, no double mocha coffee espresso late? What about that snack I always get at 2pm? at 10pm?

Many people are getting angry enough with migraine to turn away from drugs, and instead start making serious changes. And as I’ve said for many years, diet is one of the most powerful tools you have.

We’ll look more at this topic soon as we seriously investigate the option of quitting sugar.

11 November 2019

Caffeine Pills for Headache?

James Information, Tips 0

Many people have noticed that a quick shot of caffeine – be it in a cup of coffee or tea, or a cola, or even in a painkiller – may keep a headache at bay. But some people also specifically use caffeine pills to fight headache. But is it a good idea?

Caffeinated drink - a good option to fight migraine?

Migraine experts have traditionally had a love-hate relationship with caffeine. For those that have few attacks and find that it helps, many doctors do suggest some strong coffee or a Coke to stop a headache. And some patients recognize that there are some benefits to taking a pill instead. For example,

It’s convenient. You can keep a pill or two on you at all times, and take it when needed.
Don’t like coffee? No problem – take a pill.
Pills are less likely to cause heartburn (although they still might).
You get a predictable, exact amount of caffeine.
Although you may lose some benefits of tea or coffee, you also cut out some bad ingredients – and added ingredients, such as sugar or artificial sweeteners.

(Here’s an overview of caffeine pills, discussing some of the general pros and cons, from MedicalNewsToday: What to know about caffeine pills.)

Although coffee and tea have benefits, I think that the best advice has always been to keep your caffeine intake low and consistent, and avoid the sweeteners. Drinking coffee every day at the office and then skipping it (or drinking it later) on weekends has always been a prime suspect when it comes to weekend headache.

Now few people would want to take a caffeine pill a day – if you don’t, your caffeine is not consistent. If you feel you do, for headaches, you have a significant problem.

The typical advice you’ll hear is that if you’re taking a pill with caffeine (even a combination drug, such as aspirin+caffeine), you shouldn’t take it more than twice a week. If you do, you’re running into a serious risk of “rebound headache” – in other words, headache symptoms increase and become more frequent not in spite of but because of the caffeine pills.

However, others argue that rebound headache is more of a continuum. In other words, every time you take a pill with caffeine for a headache, you’re increasing your chances of a future headache to some degree. And don’t just count your “migraine attacks” in this – if you have a constant low-level headache, or frequent “tension headaches”, these may also become worse or more frequent.

(This article from the American Headache Foundation uses the “two days a week” line, but also points to some fascinating studies and statistics about caffeine, that should at least make you think twice before considering this to be a good solution to your headache issues. See Caffeine and Migraine.)

So look at it this way. If a couple times a year a strong coffee or a caffeine pill stops a headache, you probably have nothing to worry about. Especially if you rarely have headaches or migraine attacks. But let’s face it, most people like that aren’t reading this article.

If you do feel you need the pills with you, or you’re often reaching for a pill or an energy drink or a coffee to stop a headache – even if it’s a fairly “mild” headache – you can probably find better solutions. First consider gradually lowering your caffeine intake. Next, if your headaches are a regular issue, be sure you’ve talked to a doctor, and if possible a headache specialist. You can find better solutions, and probably avoid worse symptoms in the future.

To give you a little more motivation – in one of our online polls, about 1 in 10 people had tried cutting caffeine out of their diet, and found that it helped with their migraine or headache. So it’s worth trying – but remember, you’re best to lower amounts slowly, and keep them as consistent as possible.

16 July 2019

Early Puberty, Sugar, and Migraine

James Discoveries & Stats 0

Could sugar be triggering a chain-reaction that leads to early puberty – and migraine – in some girls?

Could sugary drinks be more dangerous than we once thought?

A recent study took a look at various stages of puberty in girls and its relationship to migraine. The bottom line is that girls who enter puberty early may have a higher risk of migraine.

Puberty is a complex change, and it happens in stages. In girls, the change includes breast development, the menstrual cycle, and changes in hair growth, for example. Each change is related to different chemical messages that are sent throughout the body.

The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine hosted this particular study, which was presented last week at the American Headache Society 61st Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia. Generally speaking, breast development and menstrual periods began earlier in girls who developed migraine.

Although we often think about the menstrual cycle and its relationship to migraine (and the connection is very clear in some women), there may be other changes that trigger migraine in the first place. As the doctor who presented the finding explained (note – pubarche refers to first growth of pubic hair, thelarche to first breast growth, and menarche to periods):

At each of these stages, different hormones are starting to appear in girls. During pubarche, testosterone and androgens are present, and during thelarche, there is the very first exposure to estrogen. Menarche is when a more mature hormonal pattern emerges. Our study implies that the very first exposure to estrogen could be the starting point for migraine in some adolescent girls.
Dr. Vincent Martin [source]

Early breast development may happen even at the age of 6 or 7, and is not necessarily a sign of early puberty. Variations are normal, and not necessarily a sign of a problem. However, the study results have led doctors to ask the question – if certain stages of early puberty increase the risk of migraine (as seems to be the case), is early puberty itself the cause somehow? Or is something causing both?

Interestingly enough, there has been a lot of interest in the connection between early puberty, obesity, and sugar. There does seem to be a connection between early puberty and obesity (as the researchers in the above study also mentioned). But even without the obesity, too much sugar may also cause early puberty.

This combined with the current interest in the sugar-migraine connection does raise some suspicious questions. Might refined sugar not only increase your changes of migraine attacks – might it also cause migraine to start at an earlier age?

Take for example this study on girls and sugary drinks. Even if obesity was taken out of the equation, the sugary drinks were still linked to early onset of puberty.

Then again, although obesity seems to be the clearest possible link, many other things have been blamed, from plastics to shampoos to processed foods.

Again, early signs of puberty are no reason to panic. However, these studies are causing us to think again about why and when migraine begins in some girls, and how “normal” refined sugar should be in our diets.

28 June 2019

Men, Migraine, and Hormones

James Discoveries & Stats, Tips 0

You don’t hear about it too often – but yes, men have issues with migraine and hormones too.

Of course many women have a very clear, definite connection between their migraine attacks and their menstrual cycles. Although it’s not quite the same for men, there is growing evidence that there is an important hormonal connection.

First, some basic information. In popular culture, we often talk about “male” and “female” hormones. Estrogen, for example, is associated with women. But although estrogen levels tend to be higher in women, men have estrogen too – and it’s an important part of their biology as men.

Studies have been done on levels of “female” hormones in men, and even how this may relate to migraine. For example, a study in the journal Neurology investigated the estrogen (estradiol) / androgen (e.g. testosterone) ratio in men with migraine, finding that androgen levels were low compared to estrogen in men with migraine (see Female sex hormones in men with migraine).

A new study, published in Neurology International, focused on testosterone levels in men with migraine compared to the general population. Generally speaking, men with migraine did indeed have significantly lower testosterone levels. A large number of these had levels lower than the normal laboratory range.

Immediate questions arise – does migraine lead to low testosterone levels, or do low levels lead to migraine? Either way, there is growing interest in testosterone supplementation for men with migraine.

What are common symptoms of low testosterone? Well, erectile dysfunction is an obvious one – a condition that has links to migraine, especially for men in their 30s.

Other symptoms include:

Lower sex drive
Depression (strongly linked to migraine)
Hair loss
Trouble sleeping
Low energy
Increased body fat
Poor concentration

There are good ways to increase testosterone naturally, which may help fight migraine – or the effects of migraine! Here are some quick suggestions, with links at the bottom of this article to read with more information.

Be more active. This is not necessarily 6 days a week at the gym. Just start moving more. There are plenty of great tips out there – for migraine patients, I do recommend increasing your activity gradually, but steadily. Weight training is especially helpful.
Watch out for processed foods, especially refined sugars and flours. There are various reasons why these foods can cause testosterone problems.
Prioritize sleep. It may seem like a catch-22, if low testosterone makes it harder for you to sleep. Don’t be stressed if you can’t get to sleep when you want to – but do make sleep a priority in your life. Again, there are lots of great tips out there.
Eat healthy fats and proteins. You will do this differently depending on your lifestyle, but think avocados, fish, butter, eggs, chia seeds, steaks, coconut oil, and nuts.
Get outside in the sun. You need that vitamin D. If you’re outside for 30 minutes every day but still have low levels, consider a supplement.

Researchers aren’t sure what the connection is between migraine and testosterone in men. In this recent study, evidence was collected which suggests that testosterone, as a “neuroprotective agent”, may help fight migraine and related symptoms – which means that raising your levels may indeed decrease your migraine attacks.

And one more surprise – this may even be true for women. Granted, most women aren’t looking for huge testosterone increases. But a small therapeutic increase may help women fight migraine as well, as the researchers note.

For more, see Testosterone levels in men with chronic migraine (pdf).

More fun reads on naturally increasing your testosterone (for men):