HYH Diet Ingredient Check
The Heal Your Headache (HYH) Diet was created by Dr. David Bulchholz and published in the book by the same name. The book includes the most common Migraine trigger foods reported by Dr. Bulchholz’s patients. People with frequent migraine attacks, both classic and vestibular, might benefit from adopting this diet for at least four months or until migraine decreases significantly. We call this baseline. Once you have reached your baseline with Migraine, you can then attempt to reintroduce foods individually to identify your own food triggers. Below, there is an Ingredient Checker created by our admin team from Migraine Strong. Hopefully, this will allow you to feel more comfortable when selecting foods to order online or pick up from the store.
Click here to learn more about the HYH DIET and Migraine Triggers
This product is not allowed on the HYH Diet.
This product is allowed on the HYH diet!
This product is "iffy" on the HYH diet. Avoid it if you are early in the process.
No triggers were found in these ingredients*.
Common triggers:
MSG or ingredients high in glutamine:
"Iffy" ingredients:
Tea:
This contains tea. Black, white and green tea are all triggers and should be eliminated. Chamomile, peppermint and other so-called "teas" are allowed as long as they don't contain other known triggers.
Coffee:
Coffee is a trigger, unless it's Swiss Water Processed, Water Processed, or CO2 processed.
Soy:
Soy products, especially if cultured (miso), fermented (tempeh) or otherwise highly processed (e.g., soy protein isolate/concentrate) are not allowed. Also avoid soy sauce (as it is high in glutamate). Soy oil, soy lecithin, and unprocessed soy like edamame are allowed.
Yeast:
Fresh yeast is high in tyramine and glutamate. Avoid fresh yeast-risen baked products homemade or commercial breads. Especially sourdough, bagels, doughnuts, pizza dough, soft pretzels, and some coffee cakes made with yeast. Once 24 hours have passed since baking, then it is allowed.
Cheese:
Cheeses cured for less than 90 days are allowed. Aged cheeses, for more than 90 days, are not allowed in the HYH diet. We are working on a blog post on this topic, but in the meantime, you can find out a more about the topic here this link.
Aged cheese(s) - not allowed:
Cheese(s) - be cautious, do more research:
Feta cheese made from cow's milk is allowed. Feta cheese made from sheep or goat's milk is not allowed.
Mild cheddar is cured for under 90 days and is allowed. Medium or aged cheddar is aged for longer than 90 days and is not allowed.
Mild provolone (provolone dolce) is allowed. Provolone picante is aged for 6-12 months and is not allowed.
Monterey jack made in the USA is usually cured for less than 90 days and is allowed. Those made in Europe are aged for longer and are not allowed.
Pepper jack made in the USA is usually cured for less than 90 days and is allowed. Those made in Europe are aged for longer and are not allowed.
Fresh cheese(s) - allowed:
*Even though these foods are allowed based on the HYH Diet, everyone has different triggers. Something that may be allowed for the majority of people, may be a personal trigger for you.
There are other diets that we recommend as well, Keto x HYH as well as Charleston. If you are not seeing any results from the HYH diet, feel free to check out this information on the other recommended diets.