The List

Histamine intolerance is somewhat new to the medical profession. Depending on which country you live in, you may or may not get help from your doctor. In France, it's not a condition which is widely known about, at least in my experience. I have to say that I was lucky to have a food allergy expert point me in the right direction but the rest I put together myself.

At the beginning of my research on histamine, I needed to understand what was happening to me. Which led me to lots of different web sites explaining symptoms and the role histamine played in them. From what I gathered, excess histamine is released into the body as an inflammatory response to fight against an infection or virus. Foods containing histamine only add to this histamine overload. Alternatively, certain foods can be the sole culprit releasing excess histamine to fight against an allergic reaction. Another culprit can be insufficient diamine oxidase, which breaks down the histamine we consume. I'm still not sure which camp I belong to. 

Now, we all have histamine in our bodies. It's part of our make up. But when it's found in excess in the body, for whatever of the above reasons, the resulting symptoms can include hives, anxiety, fatigue, rapid heart beat, tummy ache, headaches, bloating, diarrhoea and many others.

And now for The List. The specialist I'd seen had given me a short list but it wasn't enough. Luckily, many different lists of foods containing or triggering histamine can be found on the Internet. None are exactly the same. But they're mostly similar. In the end, I decided to go with a very all-inclusive list that advised me to cut out the listed foods for 4-6 weeks. The List I used can be found here: The List

At the same time, I kept a food diary of what I ate at every meal and my reaction. 

(I am by no means an expert so this advice is purely informational)