Migraines are fortunately becoming a less frequent occurrence in my life due to purposeful changes to my diet. It has taken almost 10 years of suffering with migraines to identify foods my trigger foods. I developed this list after journaling what I ate while on a diet and noticed a relationship between days or weeks when I would consume processed soy foods at each meal and the frequency of my migraines.  The trend that appeared from my journaling was consistent enough for me to modify my diet.

I try to limit my consumption of most of the following foods to a 1 to 2 times per week:

Soy beans - I was a vegetarian for 6 years and used to love processed soy products like soy chicken nuggets, deli style tofurkey and most of all seasoned soy ground beef for tacos and enchiladas. Processed soy foods used to make up at least 50% of my diet and during this time, I suffered from debilitating migraines about 3 times per month.

Red Wine – After two glasses of red wine within a few hours I would feel pain begin to pulse through my forehead. If I was unable to get to my Imitrex within a half hour, I was ruined for the night (NOT a good idea to take an Imitrex after drinking). Limiting my consumption of red wine to once every week or two was difficult for me because I love a glass of wine with dinner.* It’s important to note here that I never have a problem when having a dirty martini (my favorite), white wine or beer.

Excessive amounts of bread (read: bread with more than one meal)

Dark chocolate

Cheese

MSG – If I even smell Chinese food I run.

Processed foods in general

Now, I have one migraine every three months or so and take Excedrin Migraine which is able to stop the pain if taken within a few hours. There have been a few months in between when I was particularly busy and didn't watch my intake of these foods and noticed I had migraines twice that month! I don’t take Imitrex anymore and am still trying to figure out what’s causing that one migraine every three months but since making these modifications I've noticed a real change!