Low Histamine Week Three

Week three has been somewhat disappointing because I was only able to try two high histamine foods and both caused me to react.  Tomatoes and green beans were routinely eaten several times a week and I was very much looking forward to having those back in my diet.  Sigh.  They so derailed my diet that I was unable to try anything else this week.  I do hope that as my body heals, I be able to add those food back in my diet

I am also pleased that my weight has been stable all week long.  Since my weight loss has stopped perhaps it was weight related to all the inflammation in my body and not so much a calorie issue.  I will continue to closely monitor my weight and will make changes to my diet if need be.

From what I have read about mast cell activation disorder (MCAD), it is fairly common for routinely consumed items to eventually cause problems.  This is likely due to the leaky gut scenario that many people with a MCAD experience; after all mast cell degranulation in the gut causes it to leak/be highly permeable to surrounding tissue.  Mast cells and other immune system components then recognize these undigested food particles and various bacterial byproducts which normally stay within the gut as foreign invaders and attack them, thereby further degranulating and increasing gut permeability.  As one can see, without treating the mast cells in the gut more and more food will likely become triggers for symptoms if not true allergies.

If you would like to learn more about mast cells relation to leaky gut, this review article from the journal Gastroenterology and Hepatology is a good place to start.

My goals for this next week include trying additional, very nutritious high histamine foods like avocado and blueberries.  Additionally, I’d like to purchase more alternative grains, nuts and seeds to try.  I hope that I will be able to add several more foods to my diet to protect against the development of new food issues.  These are the stepping stones to providing my body with nutritious food full of phytonutrients and flavonoids that will naturally stabilize my mast cells and lead to improved overall health.

I also am planning to post about the invisible illness soon.  I welcome your thoughts on this topic.  Please share with me how your invisible illness has impacted you.  If you do not have an invisible illness let me know what questions you have.  I really want this topic to be well covered and beneficial to everyone.   Prayers would be appreciated, too.

The nitty gritty details of what I ate this week and what happened have been updated on My Low Histamine Experiment page.