Chef Johan's Raw & Tasty

Archive for the ‘Migraine Headaches’ Category

Spicy Spring Roll with Thai Spinach Salad

Don’t get caught in the all-or-nothing trap. Try it out and you’ll find yourself moving, at your own rate, towards a diet that includes more and more uncooked meals.

via Raw is the New Vegan: 6 Reasons to Experiment With a Living Foods Diet | Personal Health | AlterNet.

What does MSG do?

Monosodium Glutamate is an excitotoxin used as a flavor enhancer.  It is known to cause brain lesions in the hypothalamus which regulates thirst, hunger, body temperature, and also blood pressure.   It has been linked to problems such as asthma, migraines, headaches, skin rashes, diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramps, fatigue, weakness, memory loss, insomnia, tachycardia, seizures, and Alzheimer’s.   MSG is also known to disrupt the connection between the nervous and endocrine system causing obesity and reproductive disorders.

MSG is often hidden with creative food labeling, or created during manufacturing and not labeled.

How to find MSG in your food

These have the highest amounts of MSG:  Autolyzed Plant Protein, Autolyzed Yeast, Calcium Caseinate, Calcium diglutamate, Gelatin, Glutamic Acid, Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HPP), Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP), Magnesium diglutamate, Monopotassium Glutamate, MSG, Senomyx, Sodium Caseinate, Soy Protein Isolate, Textured Protein, Vegetable Protein Extract or concentrate, Yeast Extract Glutamate, Yeast food or nutrient, Natural Flavors, Flavors, Flavoring, Seasonings, Spice.

The following may have factory formed free glutamate in different amounts, but can add up since many products contain more than one of these ingredients:  Malted Barley, Maltodextrin, dextrose, Caramel Flavoring, Bouillon, Carrageenan, Whey Protein Isolate, Protease Protease enzymes, Lecityin, Amino Acids (as in Bragg’s liquid amino acids),  Soy Sauce or Extract, Soy Protein, Soy Protein Isolate, Enzyme modified proteins, Gluten and gluten four, Modified food starch, Corn syrup and corn syrup solids, Yeast Nutrients, Dough Conditioners, Fermented proteins. Citric Acid (when processed from corn), Annatto, Gums (guar and vegetable).

Juice made with celery, carrots and apples can keep migraine headaches at bay.

What if there was something simple you could do that could get rid of your migraines without having to take expensive prescription pills, wouldn’t it be worth trying?   Since I get migraines from time to time, I started to do some research on natural cures for migraine headaches.

The answer was simple.   Celery juice and vitamin B (B2, B6.)   It also helps to avoid food triggers such as MSG, sulfites, nitrates, aspartame, etc.   Like many of you, I was a bit skeptical, so when I had a migraine shortly after reading this, I resorted to over-the-counter pain relievers first.  After 6 hours, my headache was still going strong, so I thought, why not give it a try?  I pulled out my juicer and made a juice out of celery, carrots, and apple.  To my surprise, 15 to 20 minutes after drinking my juice, the headache was gone.

Since then I have my celery, carrot, and apple juice every morning, but sometimes I get lazy on the weekend and don’t make any.  This past Sunday night, after not having had my juice for two days and eating some “trigger” foods, I got a migraine.  Again, I resorted to pills, which of course did not work.  Around 3:30 AM, I couldn’t take the pain and got out of bed and made myself a glass of juice.  Again, 15 to 20 minutes later, the headache was gone, and I was asleep soon after.   So now when I feel a migraine coming, I’ll reach for the celery juice.  After all, what can it hurt?  Right?

This is my recipe, which I have every morning, and when I have a headache.

1 whole organic apple (to sweeten the juice)

2 organic celery stalks

3 organic carrots

Place in juicer and out comes the migraine cure.