Full Transcript Summit Introduction and Guest Welcome 0:00 Welcome back, everyone to the Gut Health and Longevity Summit. 0:03 I am so excited you're here, and I want you to take a deep breath 0:07 right now, because what you're going to hear over 0:10 these sessions could genuinely change the way you think about your body, 0:15 the way you think about your food, 0:16 and the symptoms you have been told to just live with. 0:21 We built this summit because the science connecting your gut 0:24 to every other system in your body has never been more compelling, 0:28 and most people have never heard it in plain language. 0:31 And our experts are here to change that. 0:34 So today's conversation is definitely one I've been excited to talk about. 0:38 It's one of my good friends, 0:40 and we're going to talk about why some of the healthiest foods on the earth 0:44 can backfire on the body, and what your gut has to do with it. 0:48 So I'd like to introduce you to my next guest. 0:51 She spends her days untangling a mystery that leaves so many people confused 0:55 and dismissed by their doctors. 0:57 Why? Foods that are supposed to be healing, 1:00 such as fermented vegetables, spinach, avocados, and even leftovers 1:05 can suddenly trigger bloating, migraines, and anxiety. 1:09 And she has a name for what's really going on and a way to fix it. 1:13 So I'm excited to introduce you to Doctor Meg Mill. 1:16 She earned her farm D from Duquesne University 1:20 and completed a residency at the University 1:22 of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and began her career 1:26 as a clinical pharmacist before training as a functional medicine practitioner 1:30 who focuses on root cause medicine. 1:33 She is the host of the highly ranked podcast 1:36 A Little Bit Healthier, which I have been on a number of times, 1:39 and where she shares simple, practical steps to improve health and longevity. 1:44 And so I am so excited to have you here today. 1:47 Meg, welcome. 1:48 So I have so many questions for you. 1:50 So let's just get started with question number one. 1:53 Let's start at the very foundation. 1:56 Histamine gets blamed for everything 1:59 from allergies to anxiety these days. 2:03 But can you explain to us what is actually going on
What Histamine Does in the Body 2:07 and what job is it supposed to be doing in a healthy body? 2:12 Yeah, I think histamines like cortisol, right. 2:15 We get it gets a bad rap. 2:17 It's like we need it. 2:19 It's good for us. 2:19 But what happens is it gets out of control. 2:22 So histamine is actually what we call a biogenic amine. 2:25 So when the immune system detects an allergen or an invader, 2:29 histamine is released from your mast cells and your basil's 2:33 which are part of your immune system. 2:35 So they're like the first line defense. 2:37 They're scanning to see if things have come in. 2:39 So what it does is it increases the permeability of your blood vessels, 2:44 and it actually allows your immune cells to reach the affected area more quickly. 2:48 It has purpose in our body. 2:50 So it has immune defense. 2:51 It helps protect protect us against pathogens. 2:54 It regulates summit acid secretion. 2:56 So we'll talk about that when we get to more dive into the gut. 3:00 It affects neurotransmitter activity allergic response. 3:03 It actually also affects your inflammatory response. 3:06 So it actually creates inflammation because it's trying to get again 3:11 recruiting the immune cells to the site of infection. 3:14 So what happens is that histamine is is really good 3:19 when we need it and when it's in short a short term response. 3:23 But what happens is when it goes unchecked and we start to get an imbalance, 3:27 we start to see all of these symptoms start to pop up, 3:30 and it's just getting more and more prevalent. 3:33 And I think people are not understanding what's going on. 3:36 There's a lot of different things that start to happen in our body, 3:39 because there's actually four different types of histamine receptors. 3:42 So we think of histamine often 3:45 from allergic response like we think of it with the H1 receptor. 3:49 And I think a lot of people associate it with allergies. 3:52 But we start to see all of these whole body symptoms. 3:55 Like you mentioned. 3:56 We can see anxiety. 3:58 We can see heart palpitations, dizziness. 4:01 We can see increased PML for women, a lot of menstrual cycle symptoms, 4:06 flushing, joint pain, so many other things that come up 4:10 because of all of these different types of histamine receptors. 4:13 Okay. 4:14 So with that I'm going to grab something because I want to talk about this 4:17 a little bit more. 4:19 So let's talk about this. 4:21 So it's not about eliminating histamine altogether. 4:25 It's really from keeping that excess bucket of overflowing histamine. 4:30 So you are just describing the cell. 4:32 You know me I love my little cell model. Right. 4:34 So if this is a histamine cell and inside here if this is a mast cell okay. 4:39 Mast cell. 4:40 And inside here we have these granules. 4:42 And then you've got these receptors on here. 4:45 And you're telling me there's four different types of receptors. 4:48 Right. 4:48 So tell me like when this is released 4:52 let's just go over it because I like the visual. 4:54 What causes this to be released. 4:58 And then what is the person feeling in their body. 5:01 Because I think the most common thing we identify is, 5:04 oh, we have seasonal allergies. 5:05 Let me take an antihistamine, you know, over-the-counter drug. 5:10 But this is something that's probably happening more often than people realize. 5:13 So so explain to me a little bit more of okay, 5:16 these little granules come out of here. 5:18 What what are they doing? 5:20 Yeah. 5:20 Well, let's start by let's before we go, we'll go into types of receptors. 5:24 And then 5:25 but before we go into types of receptors, let's go into why they're released first. 5:30 And so I think that that is a really good thing that people need to understand 5:34 the basics of what people need to understand when it comes to histamine. 5:37 So I like to give analogies. 5:39 I think it's the easiest way to understand things. 5:41 And so I like to give that bathtub analogy. 5:44 So if you have a bathtub and you're filling the bathtub 5:47 but you haven't plugged the drain, you're just filling water 5:51 in and it's going through the drain and you're never overflowing. 5:54 You're just okay. You're just at steady state. It's fine. 5:56 And that's the way most people are or should be. 5:59 There's two different things that start to happen when we have histamine issues.
Why Histamine Builds Up and Triggers Symptoms 6:03 We either plug the drain and so the bathtub starts to overflow, or 6:06 we turn up the faucet to high that we can't keep up. 6:11 And so I think there's two separate problems that's start to happen here. 6:14 And so the first one is is plugging the drain. 6:18 And that's how we metabolize histamine. 6:19 So we can we'll get more. 6:21 Again we can dive into more specifics in the gut. 6:24 But there are two different ways to metabolize histamine. 6:26 First we have one that's in the gut. 6:29 So we have diamine oxidase. 6:30 And that's an enzyme in your gut that breaks down histamine I like to 6:34 everyone knows about like lack taking a lactate if you're lactose intolerant. 6:39 So that's an enzymatic reaction. 6:41 So this is another enzymatic reaction. 6:43 Diamine oxidase needs to break down histamine. 6:45 So if you haven't impaired gut and you have an imbalance 6:49 of your gut bacteria you start to get a compromise of diamine oxidase enzymes. 6:53 So that's the first one. 6:54 So we need to make sure that we are breaking it down. 6:56 The second way that we break down histamine is in our cells. 7:00 It's like you know you're saying so we have we have to methyl eight and so on. 7:05 Is is another reaction that we have in our cells. 7:09 And we have to be able to break down histamine and methylated it. 7:12 So we break that down through histamine and methyltransferase. 7:15 So there's a pathway in which we break it down. 7:18 So if either one of those 7:19 two things are compromised then we start to have an issue. 7:23 Now the other thing on the other side is turning up the water. 7:27 So what's turning up the water. 7:29 So we're seeing okay would we see increased infections. 7:33 We see toxins. 7:34 We see, 7:35 you know, food that we shouldn't be eating that our body thinks are invaders. 7:39 We're saying, okay, what's coming in mold is another big thing. 7:42 So we start to see things that also another one is actually hormones. 7:47 So estrogen can increase the the release of histamine from mast cells. 7:51 So we see what's making the mast cell actually release more histamine. 7:55 And when we have the most severe part of this is 8:00 we start to get something called mast cell activation syndrome. 8:03 Now not everyone that has issues with histamine 8:06 has mast cell activation syndrome. 8:07 But some people, 8:09 when you've had some exposure to things for years, when we've had a, 8:13 you know, huge stress reactions, we have dysregulated nervous system, 8:16 we start to get this misfiring of the mast cells. 8:19 So the mast cells to start to release histamine release, 8:22 histamine release histamine, they do granulation as you're saying 8:25 and the chemicals are being released histamine along with other things. 8:29 But a lot of the symptoms start 8:30 coming from an inappropriate firing of the mast cells. 8:34 So that would be like kind of the general idea. 8:37 Now we have that we can get into the four types of receptors. 8:40 So we have the H1 receptor and that's found in the smooth muscle endothelial. 8:46 And that's the classic allergic response through smooth muscle contractions 8:50 increased vascular 8:51 permeability stimulation of sensory nerves like that's the itchiness. 8:56 So that's what we're thinking when you're thinking about a Benadryl a zero tech, 8:59 a Claritin or H2 is predominantly in the stomach lining. 9:03 So that's where it regulates your stomach acid secretion. 9:07 But that one can also modulate heart rate and cardiac contractility. 9:12 So that's actually an H2 blocker when you're thinking of a medication 9:16 is something like a Pepcid. 9:17 So you might not even think that, you know, if you're taking a Pepcid 9:20 for something, you know, for heartburn, 9:22 let's say that that can be affecting your histamine receptors. 9:25 Type three, 9:26 the third type of histamine receptor is mainly in the central nervous system. 9:30 So it's less peripheral nerve tissue. 9:33 And it actually acts more in the nervous system. 9:36 And this affects your neurotransmitters like acetylcholine 9:39 or beneficence serotonin. 9:40 So it can affect your sleep wake cycles. 9:43 We often see 9:44 people have what we call histamine dumps 9:46 in the middle of the night, where they wake up anxious. 9:48 We can see insomnia as a big symptom of histamine, and a lot of people aren't. 9:54 I've seen people 9:54 that actually just have insomnia, and they've been able to drill down 9:58 to the fact that this is a histamine issue because we've really dug deep, 10:02 but it's not always presenting the way we think it is. 10:06 And I think that's 10:06 a big point that you want to keep in mind when we're talking about all of this. 10:11 And then we have four. 10:12 And that's more in the bone marrow and the white blood cells. 10:15 So that can be also run through the GI tract the spleen the colon. 10:20 And that also can affect mast cells and other immune regulators. 10:25 So it is it's really kind of this enigma. 10:29 I think sometimes you're you're really getting a lot of different body symptoms. 10:32 So sometimes 10:33 when you have these different things like maybe you're getting migraine, 10:36 maybe you just have classic allergies, but maybe you're getting migraines 10:39 with okay, I'm congested two and maybe I have gut issues 10:44 and I'm starting to see all of these different types of things going on. 10:48 Histamine can be a common thread. 10:51 Okay. So that explained a lot. 10:53 So now let's talk about this terminology. 10:57 So maybe somebody has not heard 11:00 like we talked about the allergy part of it. 11:03 But what about histamine intolerance. 11:06 What does that look like day to day. 11:08 And what are the signs that women are living with 11:11 and probably even dismissing entirely, not realizing 11:16 that it might be connected to a histamine intolerance. 11:20 So can you explain what that term means? 11:22 And because I was feeling like our audience that's listening and watching 11:26 will go, oh, maybe I've got to check in on my histamine here.
Signs of Histamine Intolerance 11:30 So, so when you, you know, 11:31 one of the things that you can actually we'll go through some histamine foods. 11:35 And one of the things that I often have people do 11:38 is actually just start to track their symptoms with their food. 11:42 So I know a lot of people don't want to write down everything they ate every day. 11:45 But sometimes when you start, we'll go through some of the symptoms. 11:48 But when you start to have some of these clusters of symptoms 11:51 and you write down what you ate in the last 24 hours, it's like, oh, wait, 11:55 okay, now I am starting to see a pattern with some of these. 11:58 So, you know, the biggest one is nasal congestion. 12:01 Do you have nasal congestion? 12:03 Do you feel like you're something somebody that's more sensitive, that more 12:07 that reacts more? 12:08 So a lot of people with histamine and talents are the people that maybe 12:12 can't tolerate smell very well. 12:14 Maybe you can't tolerate noise or you just, 12:16 you know, can feel overwhelmed by things. 12:18 It's like you're kind of the sensitive person. 12:20 That's me. 12:21 I was I was like, my mom's like, I remember, you know, it's funny 12:24 how you go to these things that are like part of your life. 12:26 And I remember when I was a child, my parents repainted. 12:31 I had a dresser that I kept my clothes in, and they had it repainted. 12:35 You know, they just it was like, oh, we would need a different color. 12:37 Were you painting it? 12:38 Well, then my clothes went back in the dresser and I would say to my mom. 12:42 Oh, I can't wear these. 12:43 Like my clothes are making me sick. 12:45 And she's like, your clothes are making you sick. What? 12:48 You know what? 12:48 Nobody knew what was going on. 12:50 It was like, what's wrong? 12:51 You know what's wrong with you? But. 12:53 But you know now, knowing what I know, you know, here I am. 12:56 Like, my body wasn't processing histamine well, and. 12:58 And so when that happened, it's like, okay, I'm bothered by my clothes. 13:01 Some people don't even, like, touch. 13:03 And that can be, you know, you might not be sensitive, 13:06 but you also I often see a lot of women particularly have headaches and migraines. 13:10 That's, you know, a classic for me. 13:11 Is there a histamine issue when we're seeing this? 13:14 Even fatigue is one of those things. 13:16 Like if you can't figure out why you're tired, we can see 13:19 things like heart palpitations, dizziness. 13:23 A lot of times hormonal like 13:25 PMS, kind of more severe hormonal symptoms. 13:29 And especially we can see this more in women. 13:31 And so that's another thing that when we're seeing some women 13:36 that are like, I've been fine my whole life, 13:38 now all of a sudden, why do I have all of these symptoms? 13:41 Well, progesterone actually supports diamine oxidase, 13:45 as estrogen has receptors on mast cells that can signal them 13:49 to actually release more histamine and can degrade diamine oxidase more. 13:54 So we're seeing that change in the ability to break down 13:58 histamine when we go through Paramita and see some of these hormonal changes. 14:01 So that's another thing just to think of, because sometimes people like, 14:04 why does this showing up now again we can see sleep disturbances. 14:08 So sometimes waking up 14:09 and sometimes I see people wake up in the night with anxiety. 14:13 So you're not just waking up. 14:14 You might wake up with a start. 14:16 And especially around 2:03 a.m. 14:19 if you're, you know, people often think it's a cortisol surge. 14:21 But digging into it, we could also we also see it could be a histamine dump. 14:25 So that's another thing that starts to happen. 14:27 And then other things that are more classic like hives, rashes, 14:32 you know, skin issues, edginess you to carry out. 14:35 Like it's those kind of things or other things that we often will see. 14:39 Yeah, I know my histamine triggers for sure. 14:42 I'm like, oh, this is not fun. So I do get it. 14:44 You mentioned that that an individual at night might be getting a histamine surge. 14:50 How would we measure such a thing? 14:51 You know, it's hard. 14:52 So it is it's one of those things. 14:55 And I think it's just drilling down into sometimes because, you know, 14:58 when you're having that like what what's the reason and why. 15:02 So it is more 15:04 that's one 15:05 that's not diet like diagnostically easy to tell. 15:09 But I think it's really looking at bringing the overall histamine load down. 15:13 And then once 15:13 we do bring the histamine load down then we see that it's getting better. 15:17 So it's hard to tease that out sometimes from other things, 15:20 but it's just something to look at in a constellation of it 15:24 sounds like sometimes it's a process of elimination. Right. 15:26 So we already check the cortisol, we check the melatonin. 15:29 And if that comes back normal and we're still having these issues, 15:32 then looking at the histamine, which I also have my patients do a food diary. 15:36 And it's very enlightening. 15:38 So let's talk next about food then. Right. 15:40 Because usually when we are thinking about the gut and, you know, 15:46 improving the gut microbiome, we are also being told, hey, 15:52 you're fixed for a bloated gut and brain fog is simply 15:56 to eat more plants or eat more fermented foods. 16:00 However, we know that in these situations that it can backfire 16:05 for some of the people who need that gut healing. 16:08 So can you explain a little bit more the challenges 16:13 that that conventional kind of wellness advice of just eat more plants 16:19 and is not quite the solution, and we'll talk to how can we do it? 16:24 But like, what are we looking for 16:28 when we need the person to heal their gut the most? 16:32 Yet at the same time, like let's let's talk about that a little bit. 16:37 Yeah. 16:37 That's it's tough because everything that you hear not everything 16:41 but a lot of it, I guess that you hear for general gut protocols 16:45 actually cause problems for people that have histamine intolerance. 16:49 And so if you're someone 16:50 who maybe has been through a gut program or worked with someone and you're like, 16:54 you know what? It just didn't work for me. Everything they were having me. 16:57 Do I felt worse. 16:58 And I, you know, I'm not getting better.
Why Gut-Healing Protocols Can Backfire 17:00 Well, you might be someone also who wants to look into histamine issues. 17:04 So all of our things, like our fermented foods, our bone broth, the typical gut 17:10 healing protocols, even probiotics can be histamine producing. 17:15 And so we're we're kind of stuck here. 17:18 And so what we need to do is we need to like be one very gentle. 17:22 So I think one of the things 17:23 that I always try to do with the people I work with is his, 17:26 I mean, is, is ride the line of making progress 17:29 without pushing too much because, you know, when we push through, 17:32 that is not a good thing for people that have a histamine tolerance 17:35 that can make reactions worse. 17:37 It can make them take steps of back. 17:38 I've heard so many people come to me after like, oh, I did this program, 17:42 or I work with this practitioner that just like pushed me in this protocol. 17:45 And he kept going. And now I'm just like so much worse. 17:47 I'm so much further behind. 17:48 So I think one go slowly, listen to your body and don't like, think, 17:53 oh, well, I'm just pushing through this because I was told it might be hurt 17:56 or it might be, you know, we want to make sure that we built. 17:59 So another thing we do is build very slowly. 18:01 So a lot of times, you know, maybe you can't tolerate 18:05 supplements and that's okay. 18:06 So if if you get, you know, let's say 18:09 there are certain histamine producing bacteria in themselves. 18:12 So things like Citra actor and tribe actor Klebsiella more Gonella protease. 18:18 Those are actually histamine producers. 18:21 So question for you sometimes is is it your body. 18:26 Is it your bacteria. 18:27 Because we can have histamine producing bacteria that are, you know, 18:31 affecting us too. 18:32 And so we need to clear some of those bacteria out. 18:34 But again. 18:35 Are you ready. 18:36 So sometimes we just micro dose if you can tolerate, 18:39 you know a very low dose of something. 18:41 And and we'll do that for, you know, a long period of time 18:45 like slowly build up in order to be able to tolerate. 18:48 So I think that's something that you really have to pay attention to 18:51 when we're working with. 18:52 So, you know, go slow micro dose, then, you know, when we're looking at things 18:57 like probiotics, we want to be careful to because 19:01 we can have certain probiotics that are okay, like lactobacillus 19:05 plant or, 19:06 you know, there's certain strands, but there are a lot of strands 19:09 in high dose probiotics that people will react to. 19:11 So not all of the lactobacillus strands are low histamine. 19:15 Some are histamine producers. 19:17 And so sometimes when you're also taking high dose probiotics, 19:20 that's another thing that can put you in a tailspin. 19:23 So it's it's really working with someone who understands 19:27 like really the bacteria individually and what bacteria are good for histamine 19:32 and what can actually, you know, put you in a more 19:36 I'm not harmful, but really just more uncomfortable place. 19:39 So those are some things. 19:41 So I think then like really also another thing I really want to target 19:44 when I'm looking at the someone is the immune system. 19:47 So often I do see in combination a a low secretory IGA, not all the time, 19:52 but sometimes we also see some immune dysregulation 19:56 because of this has often been going on for a long time for people. 19:59 So we want to really make sure how are we supporting 20:02 the immune system and make sure we're building the immune system. 20:06 Will actually be doing some immune system calming. 20:10 I'm going to take one step back though. 20:12 But while we're talking about this, because I can't talk about this 20:15 without mentioning is the nervous system. 20:17 And so I think that one of the things if you don't do 20:22 the nervous system regulation, along with the gut healing protocols, 20:26 you don't make as much progress 20:27 in this case because we're giving our body the wrong messages. 20:31 So a lot of times we're we're focusing on, you know, the testing and the probiotics 20:37 and the, you know, invaders and all the things going on. 20:40 And those are important. 20:41 But when we're more sensitive, if we really go in and we hit those hard 20:46 and we're not doing the nervous system regulation first, 20:50 if we're not giving our body 20:51 the right messages, we often again can just see things get worse. 20:55 And so I, you know, it's not sexy. 20:57 It's never wants to be like, I want the protocol. 21:00 But we also need to go back and we need to. 21:03 What are we doing to calm our body down? 21:07 What are we doing to get back in that parasympathetic state? 21:10 What are we doing to create this regulated place that we're actually giving our 21:14 body the right messages. 21:16 Okay. 21:18 So let me kind of summarize that a little bit. 21:21 So that well-meaning cycle of eating clean then you feel 21:27 worse has an actual scientific explanation behind it. 21:31 So some of the foods that individuals might be eating and I'll be honest 21:35 I, I've done the same thing like I eat fermented foods, 21:38 but certain ones I can't have, like I used to do kombucha I don't like. 21:42 I might have it once every two months now, like I, I won't do it right. 21:46 So things like fermented foods, aged cheese, leftovers, spinach, avocado. 21:52 But hey, I can have so much spinach without a problem, right? 21:56 So it can be very specific to individuals which foods.
High-Histamine Foods and Leftovers 22:00 And that's why the food journal can be really beneficial. 22:03 Avocados, tomatoes. 22:05 Citrus all of these are high histamine histamine liberating foods. 22:10 So if your gut can't clear it for all these reasons, 22:14 that's where you might be getting some of these symptoms. 22:17 So with these symptoms and mind you I agree with the gut bacteria. 22:22 Right. 22:22 Because I do gut microbiome testing, as I'm sure you do too. 22:25 And I often see the Klebsiella and the citrus bacteria and these things 22:29 high in individuals who are also still having having these issues. 22:33 So let's talk about the gut side of this. 22:37 And how can somebody kind of clear this up, this, 22:43 you know, this excess histamine that's getting getting broken down. 22:46 Like how how does an individual go about clearing this out, 22:50 you know, in addition to their diet. 22:52 But how are we going to repair this. 22:54 Yeah. 22:54 And I think it's a multi-step process that we have to do. 22:57 So you know, I think that we need to first go back, 23:01 like I said, make sure that we're doing giving ourselves 23:04 nervous system work and we're, you know, really getting our body 23:08 into the parasympathetic state so that we can digest our food. 23:12 So we need to be able to digest our food appropriately. 23:15 We need to be able to release enzymes and bile and do all the things 23:19 that we need our body functionally to do digestive. 23:23 And so we really want to make sure that all of those digestive 23:27 components are in there. 23:29 And then I also do put people on a low histamine diet temporarily. 23:33 I don't think that that's the long term solution, but I think just temporarily 23:39 reducing the load can be beneficial for a time being. 23:43 And like you said, there are a lot of different foods. 23:45 So we have high histamine foods. 23:47 And those are just me to go through some of the foods. 23:50 Yeah, yeah. 23:50 Let's talk about some of the foods because I'm sure people are like, oh, 23:53 I thought that was like the healthiest food in the world for me. 23:56 And and they eat it every day and they might even eat it three meals a day. 24:00 So let's talk about some of the tricky because a lot of them are good. 24:02 You know, we're looking at like we talked about fermented foods like sauerkraut 24:06 a key for pickles, yogurt. 24:09 We have certain like lentils, chickpeas, vinegar. 24:14 So and another thing like you said is that some people 24:18 can handle a little bit of apple cider vinegar and some people can't. 24:21 So there is individuality within that. 24:23 We also have even things like some people can react 24:27 to the tomatoes, the spinach, cloves. 24:30 We also have histamine liberators. 24:32 So these foods don't 24:33 actually have to mean them selves, but they trigger your body to release it. 24:37 So these are things like banana, chocolate, citrus, 24:41 pineapple, papaya, strawberries good ones. 24:44 Yeah. 24:46 So yes. 24:47 And then we have diamine oxidase blockers. 24:49 So things like alcohol energy drinks tea those are things 24:53 that you have to be careful. 24:54 The other thing that is you know a big thing for people is leftovers because 25:00 and that's where it gets tricky too, because histamine grows in food. 25:04 So if you eat a food and you're, let's say you're a meal prepper 25:07 and you're like, okay, I have a busy week, I'm making my food for the week. 25:11 I'm really good. It's all low histamine. 25:13 But you said, you know, you you maybe cook, cook like something and, 25:17 you know, you make up, maybe you cook like beans and lentils 25:21 and put a salad together and you're like, packaging it up for the week 25:26 and then you like, think you're doing well and it's over 24 hours. 25:31 Then you have an issue with the with the histamines. 25:34 And because they're growing in the foods. 25:35 And so I think we have to be really careful with leftovers because 25:39 and that's tricky. 25:39 So one of the things that I just imagine, you know, 25:43 frozen meals are awful for you. 25:45 But now if we are eating a regular diet 25:48 of, you know, prepackaged, there's probably so much histamine in there. 25:52 One of the things that I'll do or like, or have people I work with 25:55 do sometimes and it depends on like what it is, 25:59 but if it's something that can be frozen, I will just say flash freeze it. 26:04 So make it flash freeze it and then warm it up. 26:06 So if you do need a meal prep, it's like better 26:09 than sitting in your refrigerator to actually have it like flash frozen. 26:13 And so because I get it is also a time thing 26:17 some people just have struggle with, like having the time to prepare every day. 26:21 So it's figuring out like, okay, what works for you and how can you do 26:25 you do it. But I would say watch leftovers. 26:28 It is one of those things that's sneaky, because you could be doing everything
Foods That Help Calm Histamine 26:31 right 26:32 and then 26:32 still have the leftovers in your diet, and then you're still getting the reactions. 26:36 And this is something I would have to say. 26:39 It's it's worth a try. 26:40 You know, this is something that's free. 26:42 And we have a guide that, you know, we are sharing with you that gives it, 26:45 you know, a list of all of these foods. 26:47 And, and there's recipes and stuff it's worth doing if you're, 26:51 if you're thinking about it because you might see a big difference. 26:54 Now you don't want to stop there because if you see a difference, then, 26:57 you know, okay, histamines bothering me, but that's not the end 27:02 all be all because you don't want to be. These are healthy foods. 27:04 We don't want to be limiting them for the rest of our lives. 27:06 But it's a good clue to say like, oh, you know what? 27:09 My histamine load is high. 27:10 Bringing those foods down helped me. 27:12 Now what do I need to do? 27:14 So now we need to say, okay, 27:16 now we need to go and do the gut healing work that we were talking about 27:20 in order to calm the body down, in order to be able to break down the histamine. 27:24 And so those are you know, it's a really good step, though to try. 27:28 And it's something everybody can try easily. 27:31 Okay. So how about this. 27:34 We've talked about some of the ones that are 27:36 we know they're good foods but they might be aggravating this histamine issue. 27:40 So why don't we talk about the ones that can actually help instead of hurt you. 27:44 So can you describe some plant compounds 27:48 that are literally nature's antihistamines or mast cell stabilizers? 27:53 I know you know, things like Kirstyn and vitamin C and others. 27:57 And you know, I will, you know, when it comes to Kirsten, I'm 28:00 like either an apple a day or half a red onion a day. 28:04 I mean, I'm all about the Castor ten. 28:05 So can you tell us a little bit more about these, like how they work 28:10 and which ones do we want to add when it comes to food. 28:14 Yeah. And I think that that that is a good example. 28:16 I mean like the apple is like do you eat the apples? 28:20 Apples and onions are, are really good places to start. 28:23 So you know, we want foods that are that they and the apple skins actually too. 28:29 So and other things can be berries. 28:32 So not okay. 28:33 So I have to not strawberry. 28:36 That's where it gets a little bit. 28:37 But like maybe a parmigiana it can be something you can do like a 28:41 like keynote sweet potatoes all of well coconut oil 28:46 like garlic is another one that can be that are low in histamine. 28:50 So you know, it's adding the things that are, that are good. 28:53 There's a lot of things that we can eat. 28:55 I think that sometimes we get caught up on the ones that we couldn't. 28:58 So even like like broccoli, collard greens, 29:02 beets, arugula, watercress, artichoke, sweet potato, butternut squash. 29:05 So you know, it's adding those foods in. 29:08 And that's what I say to people like concentrate on what you can have 29:11 in your diet a lot of times not take away. 29:14 Okay. All right. 29:15 How about so if there was one food to add this week 29:22 for the people who are listening, which one would you point them to and why. 29:27 Yeah I would probably I would probably say apples would be a good one 29:31 because of the course or ten. 29:32 And you know, I think that that's one that's just saying, okay, it's easy to, 29:36 you know, eat an apple. 29:37 I definitely would leave the skins on it, but that has not. 29:40 So of course, written is mast cell stabilizing that there's antihistamine 29:43 properties and that. 29:44 So I think that would be 29:46 you know if you're saying okay what's one thing I can add I would 29:48 that's where I would go. 29:50 Citrus. 29:50 You had mentioned citrus I find that variable for people. 29:53 Some people will react to citrus. 29:55 You know, there's vitamin C. 29:57 But I do see that it can be a little bit more variable 30:00 in especially with people who have migraines. 30:03 Citric acid bothers them. 30:05 So I think but I think, you know, 30:08 things with the question are really, you know, where we would start 30:11 or other forms of vitamin C other than a citrus maybe. 30:16 So now for, for the people who've been watching along 30:19 this whole time, you've been told multiple times to get on the Apple train. 30:23 Okay. 30:24 So has that come up, another that came up earlier 30:28 because you know, so apples are good for histamine issues.
Practical Steps to Lower the Histamine Bucket 30:32 But I actually used to have a mentor and, 30:37 you know, in the hospital and in the hospitals, 30:39 we get free lunches and it's like, okay, you can just eat whatever you want. 30:43 Free lunches. 30:43 The only thing he would eat every single day 30:47 for lunch was a green apple. 30:52 I mean, literally nothing all day long. 30:53 I mean, 30:54 he'd have his coffee in the morning, but then all day long, for seven years, 30:57 all I watched this man eat was a green apple. 31:01 Okay, so you know, when they say the apple keeps the doctor away. 31:04 So histamine. Yes. 31:06 But then also recently we interviewed somebody who told us 31:10 that there's research on eating two apples a day. 31:14 Can lower your cholesterol by 24 points. 31:17 So when I'm thinking about apples, the fact 31:21 that I have them in my fridge, I've started actually, 31:23 sometimes I don't want to just eat the apple. 31:25 So I started putting them into my salads. 31:27 Like I will just slice up and chop up. 31:29 So I'm consistently getting the care in there on the fiber, 31:32 you know, and all that stuff. 31:33 But so yes, it's just a little reminder to people listening. 31:37 We're all about the apples. 31:38 And that's generally also something that's nice. 31:41 You can generally get decent apples all year. 31:43 So I think that that's another thing. 31:45 Sometimes it's hard to get like it's certain like berries or, 31:49 you know, different things at different times of the year. 31:51 But you usually can get organic apples most of the year. 31:54 So yeah. 31:54 And the best is like if you live somewhere like where you can go apple picking. 31:59 When I used to live in the northeast, I used to go apple picking. 32:03 And yeah, who knew there was this many different varieties of apples, right? 32:07 There's more than just green and red there. 32:09 I could do that with the kids. 32:10 It would be like right before school. Go apple picking. 32:13 Yes. Yeah. 32:14 Get set up at the fall. Okay. 32:15 So last question for you. 32:17 I want to be very concrete. 32:19 So somebody watching right now recognizes themselves in this conversation. 32:24 The bloating the migraines, maybe the skin flares, 32:27 the anxiety that never quite made sense. 32:31 What should they actually do this week to start calming their histamine bucket. 32:36 So let's be concrete. 32:38 Like let's let's give them the exact like maybe next 32:41 three steps to do if this is like really resonating with them. 32:45 Okay. 32:46 So I think what first thing I want you to do is 32:49 I want you to print a blank calendar out or just get a blank piece of paper. 32:53 And I want you to 32:55 write down what, like 32:58 like Doctor Manisha said, what you eat specifically if you're having reactions. 33:02 So if something changes in your day, 33:04 I want you to write down what it is that you've eaten in the last 24 hours. 33:09 And I want you to start 33:10 to become your own health detective and look at what you're eating, 33:14 because we are giving our body information every time we take a bite. 33:18 So I think that that's something we've disassociated with a lot of times 33:22 where it's just like, oh yeah, I eat. 33:23 And I don't consider how I feel when I eat. 33:25 So I want you to say, okay, this is how I'm 33:27 this is my food and this is how I feel now, if it's if you're so sensitive 33:31 that you're not having 33:32 like a particular reaction, but you're reacting all the time, 33:35 you might not see a pattern yet, but I still I still want you to do that. 33:39 Then I actually want you to add some of these, like, let's say 33:43 we can add an apple if you can tolerate we're in a gut health summit. 33:47 So you might not be tolerating onions right now if you're, you know, 33:50 have some other things going on potentially. 33:52 But let's add some of these foods that we just talked about 33:57 into your diet. 33:59 And, and 34:00 then consider removing 34:01 some of the ones that we talked about that are high histamine 34:04 and see if they make a difference and do that. 34:06 Just give me a week. Give me two weeks. 34:08 You know, just take these foods out and see like, 34:11 okay, do I notice any difference in the way that I'm feeling? 34:15 I think those would be the first three steps to start. 34:21 Then beyond that, it's it's a little bit more individual. 34:24 So it's a little bit more. 34:25 Okay. 34:27 What does your microbiome look like. 34:30 What are your cells doing. 34:31 What are you know how do we need to rebalance you individually. 34:35 Where is you know we talked about like do we have the plug going on 34:40 or do you have the water turned up to high or both. 34:42 You know. 34:42 So those are we do interventions a little bit differently 34:46 depending on the unique person. 34:49 But I so I would say start with the diet things right now. 34:52 And then actually there is another thing you can do 34:54 is is start with the nervous system work. 34:56 I'm sure there's other people talking about nervous system here on the summit 34:59 and start doing some thought reframing. 35:03 So I have a little method called the seven second switch that helps you just 35:07 in seven seconds, start to give your body new messages through neuroplasticity. 35:12 We also have breathwork, you know, sit down before you eat your next meal, 35:17 put both feet on the floor, relax and take a deep breath 35:21 and sit there for a minute and just breathe deeply 35:24 and get yourself in a calm state before you eat. 35:26 I that was one of the biggest things in my life. 35:30 When I was having gut health issues years ago, I would stand at my island 35:34 and I would like, eat my food so fast and I would be doing other things, 35:38 and then I'd like, oh, my stomach hurt so much. 35:40 And like I would, and I was eating like, literally, I was eating wrong. 35:44 And you know, you don't even think about it, right? 35:46 A lot of people aren't even thinking about how they're actually eating. 35:49 So just that eating hygiene and being able to change the way you eat 35:53 can be a big step of being able to digest your food better. 35:58 Once we digest our food better, there's less for the bacteria to feed on. 36:01 There can be less histamine producing bacteria. 36:04 We can start to see the balance. 36:05 And the reason I'm not telling you to take a probiotic or, 36:08 you know, prebiotics or, you know, different things right now 36:11 is because I think you need to get some things calmed down 36:13 before we start that and that that needs to be a little more specific. 36:17 Yeah, absolutely. 36:18 I can just imagine 36:19 you standing at the kitchen counter right now to just eating like I'm like, 36:23 oh, busy, I'm eating. 36:24 And full eating is really something that should be taught in school. 36:28 I know I talk about it in my book, The Anatomy of Well-Being, and I'm like, 36:31 we even practice it at my retreats. 36:32 Like, okay, let's mindfully have this, you know, fresh 36:36 like coconut with fresh coconut water in it or whatever we're doing. 36:39 Okay, doctor Meg, this has been genuinely eye opening. 36:42 The idea that our bodies are giving us signals and that healing 36:46 the gut is what lets us finally hear them instead of just muting it. 36:50 And that's the message I want everybody to carry with them today. 36:53 Now doctor men can be found at Meg. 36:55 Com, and I encourage you to check out her podcast called A Little Bit Healthier 36:59 for simple, practical steps to keep this healing going on today. 37:05 So key takeaway for our audience today. 37:07 Your symptoms are not random. 37:10 They are not just in your head. 37:12 Heal the gut and you raise the buckets capacity 37:16 to hold whatever life pours into it. 37:19 So thank you so much, Doctor Meg and I want everybody else 37:22 to stay tuned for our next speaker. 37:25 Thank you for having.
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