Physical Wellbeing - What is histamine intolerance and what damage can it do?
Physical Wellbeing - What is histamine intolerance and what damage can it do?
I’d never even heard of this until I saw a herbalist for my terrible bladder and discovered that this life long sufferance was down to histamine intolerance. Who knew?! So, I am writing this blog so you can learn all about it and how histamine intolerance can seriously impact your physical wellbeing.
Invisible disability
I’ve got Hypermobility Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, known as hEDS to those in the know. This is an invisible disability that weaks all levels of torment on my physical wellbeing. Simple things like standing up or sitting down for any length of time are impossibly painful.
Gastric crisis
To add insult to injury, as is my body's want! I frequently suffer from gastric crises, which leaves me exhausted and feeling rough as fuck internally from the pain. I have to manage my diet really carefully if I want to feel well physically, mentally and spiritually, yeah it’s all connected and it’s a giant ball-ache.
Interstitial cystitis
Not only is my digestive system a crock of shit, I developed interstitial cystitis along the way. This basically means my bladder is scarred, generally hurts and gets covered in painful ulcers if I don’t watch what I eat. And this means not eating dairy, gluten and histamines.
What is histamine intolerance
Histamines exist in all foods, increasing the longer the food is around, though some foods start off with really high levels in the first place. The key clue I know I have this intolerance is because every time I eat anything high in histamines my bladder goes nuts.
Misleading intolerance
It shouldn’t really be called an intolerance because what it actually means is that my body is just crap at breaking down histamines so they build up to intolerable levels.
Radical diet change
Giving up these extra foods is a different shade of hell, given the realities of my life style and already heavily restricted diet.
I'm no cordon bleu Claire in the kitchen, more of a 'oh fuck it supper time, what can I throw together that's nutritional?'
Rome wasn’t built in a day
So, I sorted half pulled it off and the results have been diabolical! I couldn’t afford to throw everything away that I could eat, which is more than half my food cupboard, so I worked with what I had and suggest you do the same if you are similarly afflicted.
Powerful mind
I'm not sure if it's the knowledge of what I'm eating that's damaging or just a massive detox going on, that's causing all this pain. Knowledge is pain when you're as sensitive as me, once you know better there really is no going back.
Living with histamine intolerance
I didn't expect to be only able to eat fluff from now until death, this just makes me depressed, eating pleasure is all I had left! Actually, to be fair it's not fluff, I am not allowed fluff it's not fresh enough! So, I do cheat every now and then and boy do I pay for falling off my cheesy wagon - yes cheese is my downfall!
Histamine rich foods
My new diet needs to be totally fresh, not include some really easy flavour hacks like tomatoes, marmite, olives, dairy, fermented foods (errr alcohol - seriously fuck this one), reheated foods (I usually cook a big dish and live off it for a couple of days - real tears here), anything cured, canned, smoked, preserved, dried or pickled, shellfish (lobster is my absolute fave), legumes (lentils, beans, soy like friggin tofu - another love), sausages or bone matured meat. Oh, and I can't drink caffeine anymore either, nice!
Wild hunter gatherer
I can eat him tho! So, in short, if I am too follow the rules, not only can I not really eat out in public, I need to go out and forage my food for that exact meal, and cook it straight away to the exact portion size because there can be no reheating!
Wild foraging
I taught myself, in all the moments I didn’t have spare, about wild foraging, as I like to eat what's natural, local and in season. I run Wild Superfoods Workshop on what I learnt. And I feel that if I had to survive in the wild I could at least eat…
Pure food misery
But foraging can be a lengthy process and where I live there is shortage of delicious options nearby. I am therefore subsisting in a monotone, flavourless middle world, eating little but fluff and illegal Fry's Peppermint Creams, which although 'bad' for me can't be avoided to take the edges off my misery.
Nostalgia for yesteryear
Those were the days my friends! Most of my most special memories with some of dearly departed loved ones all involve food and booze?! I just want to jump back into the past and see them all again. Not in spirit form but human form, so we can once again eat the cheese palmiers I can no longer touch and drink the champagne I can no longer bear?! FML!
What's left to eat?
A toilet wall for me, given how much time I spend in one!
Not sure what the writing on my wall is, perhaps I need to seek my pleasures in just the spiritual form and turn into a Sufi! Great, I am slowly becoming totally unfit for mainstream society, oh well a good excuse to retire permanently to Scotland
Bespoke Wellbeing Consultations
If this literary splurge resonated with you and you suspect your diet is having an adverse effect on your health and wellbeing, book yourself in for a 360 Degree Wellness Consultation with me and we’ll work out what’s going on and how to get you well.