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You might be watching your fat grams to look better, feel
better, and live longer. Now there's another good-for-you reason to keep
reading those nutrition labels fewer migraines.
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When you eat
a low-fat diet, you not only cut down on the number of migraines you get, but
you can have shorter and less painful headaches, too. That means less
medication.
Researchers
at the University of California at Irvine
tracked the diets of 42 women and 12 men with migraines. Their findings could
change your life.
Halt
headaches. During the first month of the study, they all stuck to their usual
eating pattern. Those who ate fewer than 69 grams of fat a day
suffered, on average, five migraines. Those who ate more fat had twice that
many migraines.
When they limited
their fat to 20 grams
a day — equal to one McDonald's Quarter Pounder — everyone had fewer migraines.
Not
surprisingly, they also lost weight, lowered their percentage of body fat, and
slashed their cholesterol.
Make smart
substitutions. You don't have to turn into Jack Sprat, but a low-fat diet might
be worth a try. Even if you can't get down to 20 grams a day, cut some
fat and leave those migraines behind.
Here are
some easy ways to shave fat grams during a typical day:
- Use a cup of
skim milk instead of whole milk on your breakfast cereal and you'll slash 8 grams of fat from your
morning meal.
- Instead of a
double-bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a shake for lunch, eat a turkey sandwich
on whole-wheat bread, skim milk, and an apple. You just cut your fat intake by
nearly 60 grams.
- For dinner, a
batter-dipped fried chicken breast might sound yummy, but a skinned and roasted
chicken breast has 31 fewer grams of fat.
- In general,
aim for more fruits, vegetables, and legumes and less meat, cheese, and chocolate.
- When
cooking, steam, poach, roast, broil, grill, or microwave your food rather than
saute or pan-fry it. Use herbs, spices, and chicken broth for flavor instead of
butter and sauces.
- Get the big
picture. Experts believe migraines are just a signal that you have a type of
imbalance going on in your body.
- High levels
of blood lipids — or fats — along with free fatty acids in your blood lead to
changes in your body that cause your blood vessels to dilate. This change in
blood flow contributes to migraines. Researchers think reducing dietary fat
could help reduce migraines.
- While this
theory seems sound, keep in mind that other factors might be involved. When the
people in the study changed their diet, they didn't only eat less fat. They
also consumed different nutrients, while eating fewer calories. So fat might
not be the only thing affecting their headaches.
- It's still a
good, healthy strategy — for your head and the rest of your body — to trim some
fat from your diet.
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