Welcome to your new low histamine recipe book! I’m so glad you’re here. I’m Max, a Master’s student in Nutrition, and I’ll be your fellow classmate in learning all about Histamine Intolerance (HIT) and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). This site of mine is a labor of love & patience, and the result of years of frustrations and tears.
On it, you’ll find all sorts of low histamine recipes and low histamine lifestyle tips, as well as some guides to finding the most system-friendly ingredients for cooking and beyond. If you’ve just stumbled upon this site, you may be wondering what “low histamine” even means.
Aren’t histamines some kind of allergy thing? Well, yes and no.
The oversimplified answer is that histamines are a compound released by cells in response to perceived threat. It’s a type of immune system response, and histamines are present in all sorts of foods and out in nature, as well as being produced by our bodies in response to stimuli.
Someone who needs to eat low histamine, like myself, needs to avoid histamine-stimulating activities and environments, as well as foods high in histamines. All of this comes down to eating a very fresh diet, full of select fruits and vegetables, and a limited amount of animal products, grains, and nuts.
You’ll likely need some supplements, as well, and you’ll definitely want to be under the supervision of a holistic health practitioner or a functional medicine doctor. I found one who takes my insurance through the official IFM site, but if you live outside of the United States, a simple Google search will likely yield results.
My histamine intolerance still comes in waves, and really it has ever since my initial healing in May-August of 2020. Because of that, I’ve felt a heavy dose of imposter syndrome some days. It’s the reason you’ll notice I don’t really show my face much around the blog (though I’m also a pretty private person).
I’ve shoved myself far from my symptoms during the last 7 years of slow & then rapid decline, because I’ve never really received a diagnosis. Every doctor seems to agree that I’m experiencing autoimmune activity, but I don’t show any of the typical markers for known autoimmune issues. I’m a mystery.
I’ve had every guess thrown at me from fibromyalgia, CFS/ME, MCAS, EDS, and “just plain ol’ depression.” I’m accepting that I may be like this, may just be sensitive, for the rest of my life. I’m still at the very beginning of what will certainly be a very long journey, and I am not an expert.
2023 Update: I’ve finally gotten a diagnosis of MCAS, which after running this site, kinda makes sense to me. I’m in the process of finding medicines that work for me to help stabilize my erratic histamine production, but beyond that over 3 years I’ve gotten confirmed diagnoses of endometriosis, PCOS, Fibromyalgia, and HJS (Hypermobile Joint Syndrome; lower on the spectrum of EDS-like disorders).
But I do hope that this online diary of sorts will help you plan out stress-free low histamine recipes for your own life. Because I believe that food is one of those things that should cause pleasure, not pain.
Now I think that’s enough info for an About page, but if you want to learn more about my own histamine intolerance journey, I’m keeping this post about my own journey updated with details as I learn them.
We’re all in different stages of the healing process, but I’m just glad that you’re on a healing journey at all. I hope you’ll stick with me on mine.