When everyday allergens – and the histamines your body releases to deal with them – hit hard, your only thought may be ‘what can I take to stop my symptoms this very minute?!’ You might reach for an antihistamine, and sure, it will dry things up a bit and briefly mask the symptoms, but it will also add a host of unpleasant side effects, like headache, dry mouth and drowsiness to your misery. Not a great trade-off, and certainly not a ‘cure.’ Histamines are, after all, a key player in your immune system response. When you understand how they work, you should be able to manage them without the pharma “fixes.” 

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One of the best ways to handle your histamines is to consider the potential allergens you may unknowingly be putting into your body multiple times a day, and that’s food. Certain foods may be causing you a lot of physical grief (in the form of allergy symptoms) while also compromising the health of your gut and immune system to boot. And just to make the story more interesting, some foods produce their own histamines which make them more likely to trigger your body’s allergic over-reaction.  

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So, how about putting a stop to all that, taming your histamine response and enjoying life with a lot less allergy trouble? Here’s where to begin:

Histamine is a chemical on a mission.

In case you’re wondering what a histamine actually is, it’s a signaling chemical released by your immune system whose job it is to fight off infections and other threats to your health. Food allergy reactions occur when the immune system overreacts to the presence of a particular protein antigen, or allergen, which, although usually harmless, the immune system, especially a weak one, perceives as a threat. It sends out histamines to shut the problem down, causing the allergic reaction. When the histamines are unable to neutralize the allergens, or when the body can’t break down the histamines after they’ve done their thing, you can wind up with ‘histamine intolerance’ and accompanying symptoms like migraine, hives, skin and digestive problems, nasal congestion, fatigue, etc. At the far end of the histamine-response spectrum is anaphylactic shock which can be fatal, an example of severe food allergies becoming a life-or-death situation.

A home for your histamines.

A lot of your histamines are housed in your ‘mast cells’, a type of white blood cell, also part of your immune system and found in much of your connective tissue, under the skin, near blood vessels and lymph vessels, in nerves, in the lungs and intestines. Mast cells attack allergenic and other toxic invaders by releasing their histamines, but too much or too often can lead to chronic inflammation. Let’s say you have a mild allergy to something like strawberries, and then you start to eat them multiple times a week. That can easily blossom into more serious allergy, and chronic inflammation.

Get your gut in order.

If you want to reduce allergic reactions of all kinds, not just food allergies, supporting your gut microbiome -- the trillions of bacteria that live in your gut -- is the way to go. A microbiome with a healthy balance of bacteria not only protects the gut against inflammation-triggering leaks, it also helps the gut’s immune system not to overreact to allergens so it doesn’t send out excessive amounts of histamines.  The result? Fewer or milder food allergies. To start getting your gut in order:  

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1. cut sugar and processed foods to the bone, as they promote inflammation, leaky gut and an over-enthusiastic response to allergens. Immunity flounders on sugar and junk, and so will you if you don’t quit ‘em.
2. learn to just say no to genetically-modified (GM) foods, gluten and wheat, all of which will weaken gut health, encourage gut permeability, inflammation and exacerbate allergies.  
3. cut way back on immune-system weakeners and histamine triggers like chocolate, alcohol, beer and wine, all of which contain histamines and sulfites, all too good at triggering allergic responses.
4. focus on low histamine foods like asparagus, artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, onions, parsnips, radish, and watercress, to name a few.
5. swap in more fresh veggies that are rich in plant fiber, to help ‘seed’ the gut, feeding the beneficial gut bacteria responsible for producing a compound known as butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid that helps inhibit allergic overreactions. Try asparagus; artichokes; kale, Swiss chard, collard greens, bok choy, cabbage, butter lettuce, red leaf lettuce, mustard greens, beet greens, dandelion greens; endive, etc. 
6. ...and don’t overlook the importance of lifestyle tweaks, as things like chronic stress and less-than-steller lifestyle choices can trigger histamine intolerance and increase gut health issues. Focus on good rest, plenty of movement, stress reduction and of course a healthy diet.

Handling your histamines.

Histamines perform a lot of jobs in the body, many of them outside of the gut, everything from helping to regulate the sleep/wake cycle to playing a role in learning and memory. So, your job is balance them, to calm them down when they get over-excited, not to carpet-bomb them with antihistamine drugs. To start the process, you’ll need to identify which foods trigger over-zealous histamine responses – as in, allergic reactions which make you itch, break out, make your stomach feel off, trigger headaches, etc. You may be unknowingly allergic or sensitive to certain foods while paradoxically also craving them, despite feeling unwell after tucking in. (Those cravings may actually help you ID the culprits!)

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Even if you’re not sure exactly which food is causing the trouble, you’ll need to make some dietary adjustments. To narrow down the possible perps, the first step is to cut back on the number of foods that commonly elicit histamine reactions. If your allergies are severe, you may wish to try an elimination diet but if your allergy issues aren’t too extreme, you can take a more moderate approach and limit high-histamine foods, and paying special attention to how certain foods make you feel, alone or in combination. To minimize the number of high-histamine foods on your plate, watch out for foods such as: 

• aged and/or smoked cheeses
• alcohol, beer and particularly red wine
• fermented foods, like sauerkraut and kimchi, fermented drinks and sweetened beverages
• certain high-histamine vegetables like spinach, tomato, eggplant, avocado, mushrooms
• high-histamine fruits, including bananas, pineapple, papaya, lemon, limes, oranges and strawberries
• cured meats and other heavily processed foods
• canned, smoked or frozen seafood
• flavor enhancers like soy sauce, vinegar, cinnamon, chili powder, etc.

Other ways to tame your histamine intake:

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• Focus on fresh, whole, unprocessed foods, and avoid over-ripe foods.
• Add herbs like oregano and basil to your plate, along with healthy fats like olive oil, coconut oil and ghee.
• Don’t eat cooked foods stored in the fridge for more than 48 hours – freeze leftovers immediately instead.
• Cook from scratch as much as possible.
• Cook or freeze fresh foods within 24 hours of purchase.
• Eat frozen foods immediately after opening or cooking.

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Also consider adding one or more of these helpful, histamine-taming supplements to your rotation – with your Doc’s OK, of course:

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• Bicarbonate Salts – help maintain normal histamine response.
• Bioflavonoids – help with transport of vitamin C into our cells, also tamping down allergies.
• DAO (Diamine Oxidase) Supplements – DAO is an enzyme that breaks down histamine in the digestive tract. Some people with histamine intolerance may have low levels of DAO.
• N-Acetyl Cysteine, or NAC – can help relieve inflammation in the lungs and loosen mucus, making breathing easier.
• Quercetin – a plant nutrient which may help stabilize mast cells and reduce histamine release.
• Freeze Dried Stinging Nettle leaf – a natural, no-drowsiness, natural antihistamine that’s been used for thousands of years.
• Vitamin C – supplies an antihistamine effect as well as overall immune support.
• Vitamin D – several studies have linked vitamin D deficiency with an increased incidence allergy symptoms.