Does Migraine Change the way You Eat?

Does migraine change your diet?

Now wait a minute. I don’t just mean that you don’t drink wine because you’re afraid that it might trigger an attack. I mean, does migraine itself somehow change your food choices – maybe unconsciously? In other words – maybe migraine itself changes your diet, not just that you change your diet because of migraine.

Yes, there’s a lot more to this than what we normally discuss. And a review published in the journal Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment has raised a lot of interesting questions, even though we don’t have a lot of answers yet.

Of course we know that many people avoid certain foods because they might trigger attacks. But then there are more curious food studies. Take, for example, chocolate.

Chocolate was once a well-known “trigger”. But after various studies, it seems that it may actually trigger attacks only in rare cases. How can that be? So many people complain of headaches after eating chocolate! Well, the answer seems to be that an oncoming migraine attack sometimes comes along with a craving for chocolate. So, someone without a headache eats chocolate, and then gets a headache – but the headache was the cause of the chocolate, not the other way around!

Or, maybe there are food choices related to migraine. Such as, you may be taking a medication that causes weight gain, and so you start choosing food that you think will not cause more weight gain.

Maybe your body knows it needs salt – so you choose more salty foods. Or there is some kind of deficiency that your body is somehow trying to fix, and it’s related to or caused by migraine itself.

Besides specific food choices, there may also be changes in your decision about food portions. Or, as you probably know, many migraine patients are much more careful about their eating schedules – eating at the same time every day.

Maybe you feel a migraine coming on, and you commonly reach for this food. Why? Is it a craving? Or a decision based on evidence? (Either one could be good or bad – depending on the reason for the craving, the validity of the evidence, and what you reach for!)

This is a fascinating paper that you can delve into for yourself if you would like – A Bidirectional View of Migraine and Diet Relationship. But I would like you to start thinking about what the relationship may be between your migraine and your food choices. And, better yet, I would like you to comment!

Of course we’re not aware of unconscious choices, unless we or someone else notices a pattern over time. But what have you noticed? Has your diet changed because of migraine? Why? For example:

• I heard that this diet has helped many people with migraine.
• I avoid x because it seems to trigger migraine attacks.
• I can’t eat x because of the medication I take.
• I have a comorbid condition that affects my diet choices.
• I’m simply more aware of my diet because of migraine, and so I eat healthier, or cook for myself more.
• I’m exhausted because of migraine, so I choose simpler and easier meals.
• I find I often crave x.
• I have less of an appetite because of migraine.
• Other.

Let’s compare notes!