High Histamine Foods To Avoid (And Low Histamine Foods To Eat Instead)

Nour Zibdeh is an Integrative and Functional Dietician, and she helps people overcome food intolerances. Today, it’s about getting rid of the underdiagnosed condition that is histamine intolerance, by first eliminating the triggers, and then not getting stuck on the low-histamine diet

The recommendations

High histamine foods to avoid include:

• Alcohol (all types)
• Fermented foods—normally great for the gut, but bad in this case
• That includes most cheeses and yogurts
• Aged, cured, or otherwise preserved meat
• Some plants, e.g. tomato, spinach, eggplant, banana, avocado. Again, normally all great, but not in this case.

Low histamine foods to eat include:

• Fruits and vegetables not mentioned above
• Minimally processed meat and fish, either fresh from the butcher/fishmonger, or frozen (not from the chilled food section of the supermarket), and eaten the same day they were purchased or defrosted, because otherwise histamine builds up over time (and quite quickly)
• Grains, but she recommends skipping gluten, given the high likelihood of a comorbid gluten intolerance. So instead she recommends for example quinoa, oats, rice, buckwheat, millet, etc.

For more about these (and more examples), as well as how to then phase safely off the low histamine diet, enjoy:

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Further reading

Food intolerances often gang up on a person (i.e., comorbidity is high), so you might also like to read about:

• Gluten: What’s The Truth?
• Fiber For FODMAP-Avoiders
• Foods For Managing Hypothyroidism (incl. Hashimoto’s)
• Crohn’s, Food Intolerances, & More

Take care!