Quote from Dr. Sanjay Gupta: “The food we eat is medicine” and how does that connect to migraines?

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

I have found an amazing salad–I must admit it is extremely yummy and I had it before–on the web, posted by a person who’s name I only can see as “Ali.” The link to that page is if you click here. Then come back here and lets have a discussion why this salad may cause serious migraine for those who are sensitive to it and even potentially cause trouble who are not migraineurs.

We are having an awesome discussion on the subject already on my Facebook page, which is not necessarily available to you so I am posting here some of the comments to initiate a discussion and also another link to an article from Wikipedia about one element in this salad. But there are more than one problems in this salad.

Opinions vary on what is good or bad but chemistry is a fact and not an opinion. Thus talking about a salad and its potential harmful effects are important. I had someone ask me the other day: well green leafy vegetables are good for you. Yes, indeed. Some green leafy vegetables are good for you and others may hurt you. Quantity also matter and how much you eat of it also matters. Most importantly what you eat it with matters as well.

But back to the spinach salad. Comments were as follows:

  • Histamine – great answer–not for migraineurs but in general. This salad has a lot of ingredients in it that many people find they will have some form of allergic reaction to even if not a full blown runny nose. If I have a histamine reaction to a food I eat, I start coughing, for example. I know people who start getting an itch inside their throat or ears. Some may get stomach cramps, etc. Thus sensitivity initiated by histamines does not mean “full blown allergy of swelling lips and tongue” but general signs of discomfort. A friend who is not a migraineur always gets a mild headache from this salad but always thought it was her lack of adding protein.
  • Protein. Protein is an important and necessary element in your food since that drives a lot of the metabolic energy in our bodies. Go a day without protein and watch yourself slower walk than a snail. You may also have other side effect.
  • Another commenter said “alkaline or acidity” – Ph balance is a very important part of the digestion system especially for those who have digestive issues but it is not a migraine trigger itself. This salad is not necessarily a bad one in terms of its acid content–depending on the ripeness of the fruits.
  • One commenter noted something important: spinach. Spinach is the #1 offender in this salad for a migraineur. Upon my asking why, she gave me the word: Tyramine. Tyramine is a very interesting chemical that is contained in many foods, spinach being one of them (Gorgonzola and Blue cheese–in this salad) also contain it. This chemical has a lot of migraine causing potential that you can read on Wikipedia and also elsewhere like on WebMD (not my favorite place to head for advice by the way but this time they got it right).

But there are other issues with this salad in addition to the ones already listed. Please comment on what you think it is and why. Let’s have a discussion!

You can find the original article by clicking here.

About Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

Angela A Stanton, PhD, is a Neuroeconomist focusing on chronic pain--migraine in particular--physiology, electrolyte homeostasis, nutrition, and genetics. She lives in Southern California. Her current research is focused on migraine cause, prevention, and treatment without the use of medicine. As a forever migraineur from childhood, her discovery was helped by experimenting on herself. She found the cause of migraine to be at the ionic level, associated with disruption of the electrolyte homeostasis, resulting from genetic variations of all voltage dependent channels, gates, and pumps (chanelopathy) that modulate electrolyte mineral density and voltage in the brain. In addition, insulin and glucose transporters, and several other variants, such as MTHFR variants of B vitamin methylation process and many others are different in the case of a migraineur from the general population. Migraineurs are glucose sensitive (carbohydrate intolerant) and should avoid eating carbs as much as possible. She is working on her hypothesis that migraine is a metabolic disease. As a result of the success of the first edition of her book and her helping over 5000 migraineurs successfully prevent their migraines world wide, all ages and both genders, and all types of migraines, she published the 2nd (extended) edition of her migraine book "Fighting The Migraine Epidemic: Complete Guide: How To Treat & Prevent Migraines Without Medications". The 2nd edition is the “holy grail” of migraine cause, development, and prevention, incorporating all there is to know. It includes a long section for medical and research professionals. The book is full of academic citations (over 800) to authenticate the statements she makes to make it easy to follow up by those interested and to spark further research interest. It is a "Complete Guide", published on September 29, 2017. Dr. Stanton received her BSc at UCLA in Mathematics, MBA at UCR, MS in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University, PhD in Economics with dissertation in neuroscience (culminating in Neuroeconomics) at Claremont Graduate University, fMRI certification at Harvard University Medical School at the Martinos Center for Neuroimaging for experimenting with neurotransmitters on human volunteers, certification in LCHF/ketogenic diet from NN (Nutrition Network), certification in physiology (UPEN via Coursea), Nutrition (Harvard Shool of Public Health) and functional medicine studies. Dr. Stanton is an avid sports fan, currently power weight lifting and kickboxing. For relaxation (yeah.. about a half minute each day), she paints and photographs and loves to spend time with her family of husband of 45 years, 2 sons and their wives, and 2 granddaughters. Follow her on Twitter at: @MigraineBook, LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelaastantonphd/ and facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DrAngelaAStanton/
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28 Responses to Quote from Dr. Sanjay Gupta: “The food we eat is medicine” and how does that connect to migraines?

  1. Roald Michel says:
    May 5, 2014 at 2:33 pm

    Well there’s black in it eh, and there’s a hole too, so as the single story goes, logically it’s a black hole, whether you consider it one or not.

    Like

    Reply
  2. Roald Michel says:
    May 4, 2014 at 2:55 pm

    “………mix of French and slang English… ” Huh? It’s German, babe.

    Like

    Reply
    • cluelessdoctors says:
      May 4, 2014 at 4:02 pm

      It is? Oh well.. I don’t speak that either… Good discussion with Amor and Angela. You stepped out of it… It ended up nicely.

      Like

      Reply
      • Roald Michel says:
        May 4, 2014 at 4:57 pm

        You thought my reply of today to Amor was nice? 😉

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        • cluelessdoctors says:
          May 5, 2014 at 1:13 am

          No, Amor and I had a nice(r) conversation than before.. he/she realized that he/she (is Amor a she? The writing is more of a male style) is talking nonsense: we have a black president for crying out loud! Black people are no different from whites only they envision it so because that is easier and ore comfortable. You and I did not get to where we are–even as whites–today by complaining! We got her because we wanted to and we went after the goal and forgot to cry about the past.. spilled milk.. I hate all these complaints and cries… we all have our past, both good and bad. But if we want to do something about it, we can! And Amor and Angela are there fuming in anger but do nothing about their situation only complain. They have forgotten that to live in the US and become successful, one must become assimilated to the US culture and values and not treasure their own individual values, which lead to in-group and out-group separation. They create the separation now for themselves by themselves and there is nothing to complain about: action is needed. there… this is my take on the subject. 🙂 Off to sleep.. 1:15 am here.. an we change the 24-hour days into 36? I have way too much stuff to achieve my goals.. i have too many and not enough time. 🙂

          Like

        • Roald Michel says:
          May 5, 2014 at 9:24 am

          Huh? I stepped out of it? Even the last comment there was mine.

          Note: Amor claims to be a woman.

          Like

        • cluelessdoctors says:
          May 5, 2014 at 9:43 am

          She is.. OK… yeah. I saw your comment. I cannot tell what is first or last with that dot system… here at least I know the last comment is vertical. 🙂 …hmmmmm… a few things could improve everywhere… wouldn’t you say?

          Like

        • Roald Michel says:
          May 5, 2014 at 11:03 am

          Definitely, but the dot system is not so bad. It just takes a little logic 😉

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        • cluelessdoctors says:
          May 5, 2014 at 12:45 pm

          Logic??? Nah… it takes some Einstein to figure that out.. this getting vertical thing only makes me turn sideways defying gravity… I am Einstein! Bring on them black holes!

          Like

        • Roald Michel says:
          May 5, 2014 at 2:05 pm

          As you wish……..

          Like

        • Roald Michel says:
          May 5, 2014 at 2:05 pm

          and………your very logical moderation tool again, hehe

          Liked by 1 person

        • cluelessdoctors says:
          May 5, 2014 at 2:13 pm

          hey… I am getting tired of levitating to read vertical.. start a new comment thread.. gosh.. and that is no black hole… that is from CERN.. did you chase that atom again to death?

          Like

  3. cluelessdoctors says:
    May 4, 2014 at 9:48 am

    geez… what is this vertical comment.. lol

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    Reply
  4. Roald Michel says:
    May 2, 2014 at 1:19 pm

    Good thing I never eat crap like that. I simply keep it simple, and with a lot of variety. Well……um…..now and then I make a delicious mess out of my food as well, and eat like a pig in heat. Migraine? Never had that.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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