How I'm Surving the Migraine Diet

So I thought I would do a post on this Migraine Diet I am on and how it's affecting me just over one week in (to get the story as to why I am on this diet please read this post). It's not been easy and I have days where I don't miss anything and other days where I start craving ham and cheese sandwiches (which I haven't eaten in forever), I see a post on Facebook that about pizza and my mouth waters or I come across a new recipe that I want to try but I can't as it's all things chocolate and it's a struggle.
On Thursday night we had nachos for dinner and my plate was so sad as my mince didn't have onions or beans in it, I wasn't allowed salsa, sour cream or avocado and I just had to have plain corn chips. I ended up putting on a teaspoon of cream cheese on it just so I could have some cheesiness, but compared to everyone else's it looked liked like I was into bland food. Saying that dinners haven't been too bad unless I go out which requires me to either check with the people beforehand or as is the case at dinner after church looking closely at all the dishes and hoping the ones I select are fine.

When I got the diet I gave myself a day of not being 100% on the diet just so I could ease myself in (and say a proper goodbye to chocolate), I had intended to take a few days to transition but it was easier just to go into full on.  Full disclosure I am not 100% off chocolate so have been reducing it which for someone who has been known to eat a whole block in one day its a good thing, I am officially off chocolate next Tuesday. Some items on the list are easier to avoid than others, then there are other things are hard to avoid as they are in a lot items and it can seem like they are everywhere.
One thing that helped was when I got the list of what I could/couldn't eat I took a photo of it to have on my phone so I could reference it as needed which made things easier when I was in the shops and trying to look at labels. I also photocopied it and stuck one in my room, put one in my diary and stuck one on the fridge.

Here are things that I have had to actively avoid and have impacted on my day to day diet (the ones in bold are the ones that on the list I have to avoid and can't eat any of, the rest I just need to reduce):

• No chocolate - some people need coffee I need chocolate. I've started to ween myself off chocolate gradually and only stuck to dark chocolate (I have tiny row of 70% dark chocolate a day after lunch). I've also avoided the chocolate section of the store as I knew it would be tempting. I'm also having to adapt what recipes I bake as anything that involves chocolate is a no go.
• Only allowed 8 ounces of diet soft drink a day - this calculated to being just over a cup, so I can't drink a whole can of Sprite Zero. I do drink diet lemonade at home but when I do I mix it in with sparkling mineral water, so I can have a glass of that a day but that's my limit.
• 3 eggs a week - I practically begged the physio when he gave me the list of what I could and couldn't eat to let me eat one egg a day. I eat one egg a day for breakfast and for me to switch to toast or have to find another alternative would not be fun. Thankfully eggs are one of things that have low reactiveness and as long as I stick to only one egg a day I can continue to have them for breakfast. 
• No nuts - as someone who enjoys a handful of nuts for a snack this took away my healthy snack option and also means no nut bars which I eat when I'm on the go.
• No pizza - I don't eat pizza a lot maybe once or twice a month? On the first Saturday of the month the church does pizza for dinner so that means I have to take my own dinner on that night. 
• No beans - we use beans to bulk up dishes and include them in nachos and stuff, also baked beans are always a quick and easy dinner on Sunday nights.
• No processed/smoked meats (including bacon and ham) - I tend not to eat a huge amount of bacon (I've always found it a bit too salty) but we do put it in potato salad and if we're doing a breakfast with friends and family we will have it. I've never been a huge fan of processed meats and have found I have reacted badly to some of them in the past (hotdogs are something I can't eat). I do give myself a pass on sausages as we get ones that are good quality and don't have a lot of additives, but I'm only allowed 1 and that's also my salt for the day. 
•  No Aged cheese - did you know that pretty much all the cheese we eat has been aged? This has left only cream cheese, ricotta and cottage cheese but even then it has to be small amounts (1 teaspoon).
• No MSG - I'm doing a lot of label reading at the moment and figuring out what other names MSG can be called. It's also easier to just avoid Chinese food and sushi altogether as most contain soy sauce to some degree (which I'm not allowed) and MSG is often added as flavour enhancer.
• No avocados - I love avocado and I'm missing it in rolls and in salads. 
• Minimal salt - this has probably been the easiest thing to reduce in my diet, I just don't add salt to things when I bake and cook. The only salt I eat is what's already been added to things but I have limited the amount of things I eat that are high in salt (packaged chips is a big one).

The list also rules out a lot of fermented things such as sour cream, yeast products (vegemite, homemade bread, doughnuts and sourdough), anything pickled or marinated, soy sauce (which can also contain MSG), and I'm only allowed 1/2 cup of citrus a day. 

When I first saw the list I felt really overwhelmed and it's meant I've had to relearn what I can and can't eat. So many of the things on the list I eat daily and don't realise it - cheese is a big one for me all my easy freeze and reheat lunch options (savoury muffins, quiche etc.) that I make big batches of contain cheese. I'm dairy intolerant so cheese and chocolate were my main sources of calcium so I now take a calcium supplement as I'm not having any dairy.

Lunch for me is the hardest meal to have as breakfast is one egg and dinner is meat and veg, I have been known to skip lunch and just snack throughout the day if I don't have something readily available to me. So here is what I have been having:

• Hummus with veggie sticks and crackers - I also enjoy the flavoured hummus but the only one I can eat is the beetroot one and even then it can't be in huge amounts. 
• Bread roll/wrap made with cooked chicken, salad vegies and a bit of mayo/aioli - I baked 5 chicken thigh fillets coated with a bit of olive oil and Italian herbs (you can't have anything marinated on the diet) and then shredded the chicken before freezing it into portions that can be used in wraps, on salads etc. 
• Cream cheese mixed with herbs with vegie sticks and crackers - you can buy cream cheese already mixed with herbs but that's more expensive and often will contain onion in it so its cheaper to just mix in a sprinkle of dried herbs with the cream cheese or eat it plain. 

I'm trying not snack much at the moment but in terms of snacks I eat the following:

• Plain crackers - I just eat the water crackers you get in a pack for $1 at Coles (they are low in salt and don't taste too much like cardboard), rice crackers are also an option (Aldi has brown rice ones that aren't that bad). 
• Half a Lebanese cucumber - I use half for lunch and then have half for snack.
• Baked goods that don't contain chocolate - I made some cinnamon scroll cookies the other day and froze a batch and they help with the mid afternoon chocolate/sugar craving.
• Plain popped popcorn - I haven't actually had this yet but it is an option especially as it doesn't contain salt unless you add it.
• Roasted chickpeas - these are an easy snack on the go and taste great. I also have them in the lime and cracked pepper flavour as well. However they do contain quite a bit of salt so I don't have them everyday.

Trying to eat out can be a challenge especially when you want to be healthy. I was in a food court at a shopping centre for lunch last weekend and there was one place I could eat at and even then all I could have was a chicken and salad wrap. I'm finding that places that are marketed to be healthy have some options and there's a café chain that does a variety of chicken and salad rolls that I can eat. 

As a family we often go to Grilled to eat for birthdays as they have a good range of options and many burgers are Low FODMAP friendly or can be made to fit the Low FODMAP diet (which my sister is on) and looking at their menu it appears that many of their burgers could be made Migraine Diet friendly with a few tweaks.

I'm not going to lie this diet has been a struggle but I am hopeful it will help. If you are thinking of going on it or are on it, here are my tips:

• Prepare food in advance and meal plan - portion out snacks, bake and shred chicken then freeze it in portions to be used in lunches, chop a stack of vegies to have with hummus, prepare what you can at the start of the week so meals can be made easily. I also have a list of meals using what I have prepared that I can eat during the week for lunches.
• Give yourself a few days to transition to the diet - I had a day where I still ate (non dark) chocolate and said goodbye to things I couldn't eat once the diet started (like cheese). I actually got rid of all my chocolate (I might've had a stash of chocolate) by sharing it with friends and it meant I didn't have the temptation around.
• Always have a few snacks with you - I carry around some plain crackers and a pack of roasted chickpeas just in case I am somewhere where there is nothing I can eat, it also helps when my stomach starts rumbling unexpectedly (like at the doctors office). 
• Take a photo of the diet - I was given a sheet with the diet on it and I took a photo of it on my phone so I can reference it when I need to (you're not going to remember exactly what you can and can't eat).
• Its not the end of world if you have something that you're not meant to - I'm going away for a weekend and in the dietary requirements I just put down the things I have to avoid not things I need to reduce (but I avoid 99% of the time) as I really don't want the cooks to hate me. Also I'm still eating some chocolate (but I'm stopping next week) which I am meant to be avoiding. Plus Easter is coming up so it's a given I will be eating some chocolate then as well. 
• Stick to whole foods - on this diet its better to limit processed foods as they often contain added salt and reading labels can be tiring as you never know what exactly they will contain. Also avoid the aisles with things you know you can't eat it really lessens the temptations. 

I have no idea whether this diet will help with these dizzy spells and it's still early days, but I'm willing to try anything to get my life back and feel normal again.