123. Can Ayurveda Help with Histamine Intolerance? Understanding the Pitta Connection

Welcome to the Holistic Inner Balance podcast with Dr. Nicole Cain and Happy Healthy Hadley.

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Hey everyone.

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Hi there. Welcome to the Holistic inner balance. I'm Dr. Nicole.

And I'm Hadley of Happy Healthy with Hadley.

Today we're going to take a really unique approach to a specific chemical that could also be a hormone and a neurotransmitter that affects our emotions and our physical. So if you ever feel like you get stuffy eyes, itchy eyes, watery nose, all sorts of these annoying allergy feelings, you might be interested to know that that same chemical can also cause you to have difficulty sleeping and maybe even a little bit of anxiety and panic. And the chemical that we're going to be talking about today is histamine. And Hadley is going to bring to the conversation a perspective that I haven't actually heard anywhere else on podcasts before. And so I think you're going to really like it. It's about histamine and what the perspective of Ayurveda has to say. And so I'm really excited about this conversation. So let's dig in and we're going to, we're going to start by just talking a little bit about what histamine is. And then Hadley, I would love to, you know, kind of have you introduce us to how ayurved disease histamine. Does that sound all right?

That sounds great.

So histamine is, as we just touched on in the beginning, it's a chemical that can be made in your endocrine system and it helps pathways happen. So it's sort of like driving your car from point A to point B. Histamine is one of those chemicals that your endocrine system uses. And histamine can also be released in the brain as a neurotransmitter. And so in both of those roles it's a little bit of a nuance. We talk about the nine types of Anxiety. And so when histamine is involved, it could be endocrine anxiety or hormone anxiety. It could be nervous system anxiety if it's in the brain and nervous system, or it could even be a form of anxiety caused by the immune system. Immune system anxiety. So we're going to get to the bottom of it because, remember, your symptoms are opportunities to figure out what's happening so that you can actually heal that. And Ayurveda has a lot of really cool ways to get into the detailed nuance of that. So, Hadley, I'd love for you to take it from here. Tell us what you got, girl.

Totally. So, yeah, when you. When you think about all of the symptoms of histamine intolerance and. Okay, so in Ayurveda, you know, the ancient rishi, the ancient, like, wise people of Ayurveda who created Ayurveda, they didn't have, like, a term for histamine intolerance, right? They didn't have, like, this specific diagnosis, but they had the doshas, and they looked at everything kind of from a lens of the elements. And so when you look at pretty much all of the symptoms of histamine intolerance, as well as when you look at, like, the foods that cause histamine, like, that can aggravate histamine intolerance that have histamines in them, it all pretty much, not 100%, but almost all of it goes back to the pitta dosha, which is that fire element. So if you've been listening to the podcast for a long time, you know that I have a lot of pizza in my constitution, and I have had a lot of experiences with different levels of histamine intolerance. And so I've had to do a lot of research on this for myself. And I'm like, oh, every single thing that it's. That is required of me to kind of get this under control is basically just balancing pitta. So that's the really cool thing that Ayurveda maps onto histamine, like, pretty much, pretty much. Exactly. There's one. There's, like, one thing that sticks. Sticks out to me a lot, which is the. This is the only one that has really stuck out to me this much. But that avocados have histamine in them, because avocados are balancing typically for pitta. But that's the only food that I really look at and is like a direct. Is directly, like, opposing to the two pitta. But all of the other foods, all of the other things, I'm like, oh, that's pita aggravating, pitts aggravating, pitta aggravating. And then all of the symptoms are like, oh, yeah, all of that is heat in the body. Body that. It's. It's pitta. So it's really, really cool how it maps, maps on so perfectly.

So when you talk about Ayurveda, for those who are just coming into this podcast for the first time, is can you introduce us just really briefly to what Ayurveda is and the doshas? And then of course, we'll have links in the bio so you guys can learn more. We have tons of content on it, but just like a quick snap so that you don't have to stop listening. Go learn about that and then come back, right?

Yes. So Ayurveda is an ancient Indian health science. It means the science of life. And it's at least 5,000 years old. Like, we don't know exactly how long it's been around, but over those 5,000 years, they've iterated on learning how the human body works, essentially, and the mind and the spirit. Basically, it's a very holistic health system. And in that health system, there are three different mind body types, and those are based on the elements. And so we've got vata, pitta and kapha. And those are broken down into the elements, so. Or rather the elements are broken down into the doshas. So if you think about someone who has a lot of air and ether in their constitution, that's going to be someone who tends to be more creative, maybe a little bit spacey when they're out of balance. Someone who has a little bit more, you know, like, you think of someone like, where you say, like, oh, they're airy fairy, or, you know, they move around a lot. Like, this is all vata things. Someone that has a lot of air and ether in their body might be someone who is really, really tiny or really, really tall and. And lanky. Not a whole lot of mass to them, right? They've got air. Whereas when we go into the other doshas, those are more dense. So we get a little bit more dense with pitta, which is the fire and a little bit of water, but fire mostly. And so Pitta is the kind of person who tends to be a little bit more type A, might have more ambition, really good at like, getting stuff done physically. They might have just like a more medium mesomorphic body type. If you know about, like, endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph gonna be just like a Medium build. I'm like, I have a lot of pits in my constitution. My height is exactly average. I am, you know, just medium build. And then kapha types are going to be that. The water and earth elements, and so they're going to have a more. Just more density overall in their body type. And then also they're going to be the kind of person that has more. I always look at kapha types as like the teddy bear, the person that you want to like. You want them to give you a hug. They just are like, super welcoming, war loving, nourishing, nurturing. That's like a really brief breakdown of it. We have way, way, way more, but that's kind of the gist of it. Did I do a good, good enough job, like, describing that?

That was great. Yeah, that was wonderful. And we're going to be, as you said, zeroing in on the pitta. Because pittas tend to be more associated with histamine.

Yes. Yeah. So someone who has a more pitta constitution tends to be more sensitive to histamine. And it's really cool. Like now people, you know, we're figuring out lots of different, like how genetics work and all of the things, but, like, what. What Ayurvedic practitioners had back in the day was the doshas. They were like, oh, this is what your mind body type is, and here's how we can. We can balance it. And so we can work with both the modalities of modern science as well as these ancient healing modalities. And I always say when both of these things come together and say, like, yes, this is true, then I'm like, yeah, that's got to be like the most true thing.

Yes, absolutely. And so what I'm wondering is, how does it begin for people? Like, walk us through the process. So are people coming out the womb in a pitta state? Do they become pitta imbalanced or did they get a histamine imbalance and then become pitta? Like kind of walk us through it.

Oh, such a good question. Yeah. Okay. So we are all born with all three of the doshas, but in different proportions. So I always think of it like a pie, like a. Like a pie graph or. Or like a piece of pie. Like, the biggest slice of pie is the. Your most prominent dosha, and everyone has different ratios, different amounts of each one. So my prominent dosha is pitt. So that's my biggest slice of pie. My second biggest slice of pie is kapha. And then my third slice of pie is like my smallest one is vata. So I don't have as much vata, but I do have some vata. Like, if you look at my hands, my hands are very, very vata. I have, like, long, skinny fingers, really, really tiny wrists. So, like, we all have all of the things. We don't have imbalances when we're born, though. So we have different propensities. We have like, oh, I was born with like, this type of bone structure, right? Like, people. Some people have wider, broader, taller, bigger bone structure that's typically more of that kapha. Right? The earth and water. Some people have more of that. The smaller, like small, teeny, tiny, like small bones. That's going to be more vata. And then the medium build is more of the more pitta. But also when we look at the different doshas, we're going to have more of a propensity to get out of balance in whatever dosha is our most prominent. You can go out of balance in any of the doshas. So, like, you know, you can have, let's say you can have histamine intolerance. Even if you weren't born with pitta as your most prominent dosha. There are lots of different factors that contribute to imbalances. Same with, like, you know, a lot of times people think that kapha is the one that has an easier time gaining weight, and the other ones don't really gain weight the other doshas.

But.

But that's not true at all. Like, people will have vata constitutions, but still very much be able to gain weight. Same with, you know, if you have a vata constitution, people think of anxiety as being a very vata thing. But anyone can have a vata imbalance that contributes to anxiety. And also the different types of anxiety do have a little bit of like, a different flair of each dosha as well, which we have a whole episode on too. So you come in with a certain constitution, a certain pie, and then that just makes you more, I don't even want to say susceptible because, like, I don't want it to be like this bad thing. But it's like, okay, so if I have more pizza in my constitution, it's going to be easier for me to go to out of balance with pitta. If I have more kapha in my constitution, it's going to be easier to go out of balance with cafa, same with vata. Does that make sense?

When I was thinking about how a long time ago, you were talking about how oftentimes we crave what will put us more out of balance.

Yes.

And so our behaviors and our habits and our cravings may inadvertently be making our imbalance worse. So, like, Paul's my partner, and we always joke about how he's very vata dominant, and he craves things like bubble water, which will make him, you know, like, air and popping and all the bubbles makes him more vata y. And he also craves lots of busyness and stimulation, which then intensifies his vata. So he has to be really mindful to notice that and to try to pull himself back into center, back into balance, totally.

And, like, the easiest part about all of it is that once you know where your. You know what your dosha tends to be, where you might currently be out of balance, even if that's not your dosha, all you have to do is the opposite. So it's like, oh, I'm, you know, rushing around, doing all of the things. Like, I have a lot of that air and ether quality of just, like, movement, and things feel super ungrounded. All you need to do is the opposite of that is ground down, maybe create some structure. Even with foods, it's like, what are the grounding nourishing foods? Things like root vegetables, which are literally fruit from the ground, Things like that. It's like, oh, it doesn't have to be so complicated. It's just the opposite quality of what you're currently experiencing.

So let's talk about the different qualities of how histamine overload can show up in the different doses. And I know Pitta is the one we're going to emphasize more of, but I do have ideas and how I've seen high histamine levels show up for my patients, and I have guesses on what that might be. Okay. And so I was curious if we could, like, get into that and then we'll, like, spend more time on Pitta.

Yes, I would love to do that.

So I have. Let's say that somebody is experiencing histamine issues. It's allergy season when we're recording this. This podcast. So right now it's June, and the cottonwood trees are releasing all sorts of cottonwood fluffies. And so Michigan right now is covered in, like, a blanket of what looks like, like, fluffy snow.

Oh, yeah.

Trees. Do you remember that? I remember because you guys had these. Also from Michigan. Super fun. And so people are having a lot of allergies right now. And so some people in particular. I talked to a woman today, and the symptoms feel like fullness in the sinuses. So the sinuses are full. They feel heavy. She's got pulse, nasal drainage, it's very mucusy. When she wakes up in the morning, she's got goop in her eyes. Her eyes are kind of, they feel boggy, heavy. It's just a bunch of sinus stuff and it's all histamine. And so for me, that feels very much like a kapha histamine because you have the fullness, the wetness, the. You use the words muddy. Oftentimes you describe kapha. That's how I kind of keep it in my brain.

Yes, totally. Water and earth is mud. Yeah, yeah.

So you've got like, kind of like moist, heavy, full, kind of a sensation that can come from histamine. And so what I'm hearing is that we treat histamine on a functional medicine side and we can talk about the three histamine detoxification pathways and histamine containing foods. But what I love is how can we really put a spotlight on balancing that kapha dosha to get you better results. And so if you were treating this person that I described or advising them, what would you suggest?

Yes. So, okay, so sometimes what happens in the, in the doshas in general and it, especially when we have, when we have things like progress further down the line, like disease progression, we see a lot of a mixture of the doshas and a lot of times what happens. So what I would think is happening with that person is that they have. The primary dosha is still pitta, but it's pushing, we call it pitta pushing kapha. So the primary imbalance is the histamines, which is pretty much pitta. It's, it's, it's increasing heat in the body is kind of what they, what they would describe it as in Ayurveda. But. And so that creates like a bunch of inflammation in the sinuses and, and, and you know, probably redness, all of that kind of thing. But kapha comes in and is like, here, let me protect you from all of this heat. And kapha comes in with the mucus and the eye goop and all the things and it's like, let me protect, let me, let me soothe and soften the inflammation that was there first from the histamines. And then it's like you become sort of a snotty mess.

Right?

Which I've definitely had that happen many, many times because kapha is my secondary, my secondary dosha. And so a lot of times when I have burned out my pizza or you know, something comes up, kapha will come in and be like, yeah, I got you don't worry. We're going to, we're going to protect because. Because the worst thing for all of our. For our organs is inflammation. It literally breaks down our organs. So kapha is like, we don't want that. We're going to come in and kind of take care of things. Does that make sense?

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah. The other thing I would ask is like, so what's the color of the mucus and what's the color of the eye goop and are the eyes red and stuff too? Because that would indicate pitta as well. So like when mucus is more like yellow green, that's more pitta. When it's purely white, that's more kapha. And like igoop, that's yellowy is more pitta as well.

So let's say that it is white and it's more kapha. Pushing. What would the treatment be? Because a lot of times I feel like they could be kind of the opposite kapha and pitta. Because like pitta you want to cool and kapha often you want to warm and kapha you want to astringe and dry out. So somebody has what is clearly like an inflammatory process and kapha is coming in to protect it. What do they do? What would they do for a treatment?

So we still want to go to the root cause, which is more of that pitta. But then we want to bring in a couple other other things that can help with the kapha. So like we want to, you know, go with the foods that are, you know, helpful for anti his, like anti histamine foods and stuff to, to really target the pitta. But then the other thing that we can do is, is help with a little bit of that vata. So, or sorry, that kapha. And a big thing especially, I mean, just speaking from experience, when I have the, the sinus congestion, a lot of times it will go out down to my lungs too, if that, if that happens. And that's super kapha. Kapha is like housed in the lungs. And so we. What we would want to do then is make sure that we're not eating a ton of food. So like when we balance pitta, we're not, we're like, you know, eating like a, a medium amount of food. Whatever. Kapha, we might want to do more kapha proportions of food while we're balancing the pizza amounts of food. Now I don't want you to like go and be like, now I'm supposed to fast all the time. Like, that's not what I'm Saying I am very cognizant about people's relationship with food and not like, you know, going into that deprivation binge cycle, but maybe lessening the amount of food on just until the, the congestion and stuff is gone. So I will. I actually just had a cold the last week. I went up to LA to visit my sister in law and well, my brother and sister in law and their baby. And they warned us beforehand. They were like, we, you know, the baby has been sick, I have like a cold now. And we were like, it's fine, whatever. Todd and I both got sick. And for me it comes up in these pitts of kapha ways. So what I did was I ate foods. Now I'm not dealing with as much histamine intolerance right now. So, you know, I was having things like bone broth and making like, like a chicken soup with bone broth and that kind of thing. But I just wasn't eating as much as I normally would if I were in like my healthy routine and you know, moving typical amount, all of that kind of thing. So going with pitta pacifying foods or histamine pacifying foods, it's basically the same thing. But in kapha, portion sizes would be what I would suggest for like nutrition. And then when you have that more of that kapha, you, you know, and I say this sort of hesitating because you don't want to overdo a workout. But kapha needs a little bit more movement than the rest of the doshas. And so if you have a lot of that, that congestion and stuff, it can be helpful to get more movement. Now if you've got, if the congestion is super yellow and you're just like sick sick. Like, you know, resting is important with that. Maybe going for walks is going to be the best thing for that. But if it's a little bit more of the white mucus and if you're, you know, if you feel I have the energy for it, it's just the symptoms are mostly just like in my head, like not, not in my brain, but in my, literally. Yeah, yeah, in my head, in my like face and sinuses and everything, then getting a little bit more activity in is going to be really beneficial for that kapha piece.

I love that. And so what I hear you saying is that you want to make sure that you're treating the root of that, which is pitta. But then you also want to throw in a couple of other things to be mindful about the kapha component too. And so in particular you emphasized like Getting a little bit of movement, like going for a walk. And then the other thing that you said is don't overeat, maybe even eat a little bit less so that you're not like over filling something that's already kapha y and full.

Right. And if you're like, if you're like tuned in with your body, you will probably not want to eat a ton of food when you're super congested anyway because it feels like you're making yourself more congested. Like, you know, you might find, oh, I ate this thing and now I'm like, I'm coughing more, I have more just mucus. And so the more you like, I mean, and this is what I do with my clients is like really tuning into what our bodies are communicating with us. And then, then it becomes like, oh, I actually just want to eat this amount. It's not like, oh, Hadley said to eat less. It's like, just don't want to eat more. Because I know it doesn't feel good. It actually creates more congestion and it makes my symptoms worse.

That's super helpful.

Yeah.

So you've talked about low histamine foods a little bit. And so I was wondering if we could talk more about low histamine foods that are also other than avocado. Right. That are also going to be helpful for a pitta state.

Yeah, totally. So I mean, the foods that are high in histamine are things like things that are fermented, whether that's alcohol, which is like the. Probably the most. Would you say that has the most histamines of all the foods?

I mean, I put it at the top every time. It's like champagne, beer, wine especially. Like, those are big ones. I also think about like wheat and canned foods and yes, you know, like other pickled or fermented fruit foods like sauerkraut, relish, pickles, soy sauce, yogurt, kefir, which is difficult because, you know, we want to feed the good microbiome.

Right.

But you have to feed the microbiome with things that are going to increase histamine. And so they make probiotics and psychobiotics that are built with more microbial diversity enhancing bacteria, but bacteria that don't increase histamine. And so you want to be mindful about that. So that's kind of. I always, like you said Hans, I always list alcohol first, but I feel like in that continuum it's like fermented, wheat, canned, pickled.

Totally. Well, and the interesting thing about fermented foods is like people are like, like eating a ton of them because they hear, oh, this is healthy for me. I need to eat more of this. And if you have a lot of pizza in your constitution, you're probably eating more than everyone else because you're like, it's healthy for me, then it must be even healthier if I eat more of it, which is like a classic pizza thing because we tend to over achieve. So. But it's really, it's like the thing that is harming us the most. So like things like kombucha, which has so much histamine, and it's like people are drinking like an entire bottle of kombucha in like one sitting. And those bottles are huge.

And you're like, my husband does that.

Yeah. And it's a little bit like fizzy too. So it's pizza, it's pitta and vata.

Yeah, that's exactly it. And like, just like, let's just like feed eating. Like let's just relax you. Yeah, yeah, totally. Smoked foods is another one too. Is like a lot of people are really getting on board, especially again right now we're recording this in June, so we're going into the summer season. So people are out there smoking their foods or on the grill, the smoker. Right. And smoked foods, the process of preparing it and even smoke flavoring additives can be high histamine. And so meats, pepperoni, bacon, salami, lunch meats, hot dogs, like people are swallowing dogs around the fourth of July.

Yeah. And. And the, the unfortunate thing is that that's the worst time of year because that's, that's another thing is that like our bodies need different things at different times of year. And like in the winter we were always our, you know, ancestors and stuff. Like we're always more likely to eat the smoked, cured meats, all of that kind of thing when we didn't have access to other other foods, fresh foods. And so our bodies have adapted to that. Especially if you're from of like European descent or colder climate areas like descent from colder climates, you're going to be, you know, more, it's going to be more beneficial for you to eat those kinds of things in the winter, but not in the summer and especially not during like pollen season. Right. Yeah. So.

So the, the stop eating hot dogs in the fourth of July.

Right.

Other high histamine foods. I. Citrus. Right. Citrus fruits. Most of them are high histamine. Dried fruits, dry. You know, I love the idea of like the portability of dried fruits, but.

Right.

Strawberries, dates, figs raisins, prunes. Those all have high histamine in them.

Yeah. And. And all of those things are. Are pitta. Aggravating.

The.

The drying process makes them way more heating because they don't have the cooling part of water, because they're literally missing the water. And so the fruits can be cooling, and because they have a lot of water in them. Right. If you think about watermelon, like, you want to eat that in the summer, it's super cooling. It makes you feel refreshed. But if we're gonna dehydrate these fruits, that's gonna take out the cooling properties and gonna make it a lot hotter. So ayurvedically, it makes perfect sense that they have more histamines too.

I love that. I love it when it works out like that.

Yeah.

There's also. So there's high histamine foods, but there's also foods that can make your body or stimulate your body to release histamine. Yes. So you may not be taking in histamine, but in response to the food, your body may decide to produce histamine. And so alcohol makes your body produce histamine. It's also high histamine. Inherently artificial preservatives and dyes. And so you may be eating a low histamine. I'm doing air quotes for those listening. You may be eating a low histamine meal, but if they've added preservatives in dyes, that may provoke your body to make histamine. Dairy cow's milk. We have all these kids running around, and they have allergies and histamine issues. And you would think that milk would, you know, because it's, like, wet. You think kapha cows running in the mud. Kind of what I think of. But you think, like, pour milk on it, chill it out. But no, it will provoke the body into a histaminergic response. And tomatoes. Another summer treat. People put tomatoes on their hot dogs. Maybe, like, high his. It makes your body make histamine.

Yeah.

And so, you know, it's chocolate. I skipped over that one in my list because I didn't want to hear it.

Well, okay, so this is, like, a big thing for me. I haven't eaten chocolate in years.

Hadley, stop. You just bought me chocolate. You guys, Hadley just bought me chocolate.

I know. Well, I. I am a big fan.

Of I won't eat this, but I'll give it to Nicole.

Well, I also, like, have done the food sensitivities test, and that's, like, the highest thing on my food Sensitivities. And I think that it also has, has something to do with, with the histamine and in the aging process of chocolate, especially the chocolate that like the cacao, the stuff that's like really high quality. It's really high quality. And it can have a lot of histamine because of the ag. Like aged cheeses even have more histamine. All of the aged things have more histamine because they're like, they're like sitting out for a long time. Even if you have like lefto, like leftovers that are days old that has higher histamines in it. So chocolate is another one. I like, I literally, I've. I've took, I've taken like a sip of cacao or what was it? It was two sips of cacao and two bites of these little like, like chocolate truffles in like a four hour setting. And I literally got like a rash around my mouth. It's immediate.

It's not. That wasn't yeast sugar, right?

Well, that was like, that was like over a year ago. So it was before all of the, all of the other things, all the yeasty things. But. Well, the, it could have been. It could have.

It.

Chocolate could have a little bit of yeast, but it also has more of the histamines as well.

So it could feed your sugar. And then it's like the Little Shop of Horrors. Feed me Seymour. And then it's totally more chocolate.

Yeah.

Here's another thing though. Did you see the Consumer Reports article that came out and they were talking about all the brands of chocolate that had heavy metal contamination.

Oh. So, I mean, I very much believe it.

What if chocolate is innocent? You see what I'm doing this like these mental gymnastics to make chocolate. Okay. What if it's not the chocolate but rather the sourcing and contamination? And is there a place where I can get chocolate that isn't going to give me histamine issues?

I don't know. I would love to. I would love to find something because I like you guys, chocolate was like my favorite food. Yeah. Like, yeah, I always. People, people who like, quote unquote, weren't chocolate people. I was always like, like, I don't know if we could be friends.

Yeah, no kidding.

Like, chocolate was literally my favorite thing.

However, it's my favorite source of magnesium. I know.

Yeah, it is.

Yeah.

It's great. So if we can find one that's like the lowest histamine chocolate, if anyone knows of something out there, like, please let us know.

That would be no mold. No metals, no. Histamine. Yes. Chocolate, yes.

It's so defined, but yes. So chocolate is. Yeah, Chocolate is another one. I will say, though, once I gave up chocolate, and I. I mean, I have a lot of pits in my constitution. So, like, once I gave it up, I was like, I don't want it anymore. It's fine because I just, like, have that, like, whatever. We're gonna just do what I need to do. Once I gave that up, it actually opened me up to a lot of different, like, ways of, oh, how can I get creative with. With treats and different things like that, too? So I actually kind of saw it as, like, a blessing in disguise that I was like, oh, this is kind of fun to experiment with some. With different things.

So I am glad you're the one doing the experimenting and not me then.

I know I always joke that I'm literally the guinea pig for all of my clients because I'm like, I've had all of these health issues over my lifetime, and I'm like, oh, well, I dealt with that. So, like, I definitely know how to, like, come through it, and I've dealt with of that. I know how to go through it.

Sometimes the best healers are those who've walked it themselves. So I really, like. All joking aside, like, mad respect to you, my friend. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we've been talking a lot about what people can't have, and I feel like that's really depressing. And so I want people to be able to walk away with what they can have. So what are some good foods that we can eat that would help us bring down histamine and also tame the feisty, fiery pitta?

Okay, let me see.

I have a couple of ideas while you're, like, pulling up your list.

Yeah, I mean, basically, it's like, the freshest foods, but go ahead with, like, specific.

That's what I was gonna say.

Okay.

Yeah, I was. I was gonna say all the fresh food. Eat as much fresh food as you can, especially stuff that's in season. So then you're late. Like, as you said earlier, there's, like, different doses and predominance depending on the season that we're in. And so if it's in a hot, sunny season, you're going to be getting fresh fruits and veggies that aren't. Aren't citrus, but fruits and veggies that are going to be low histamine.

Yeah, totally, totally. So fresh fruits and veggies, even, like, fresh meats. So, like, chicken is pretty.

Pretty.

Pretty safe. Fresh Meats, meaning, like not deli meats, not things that are cured and don't have, like, additives. So if you're buying like a rotisserie chicken from the store that has like a bunch of ingredients that you don't understand, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about like the, like actual fresh meat. There are some fish as well, and usually that. Usually the fish that are lower histamine are the ones that are also pacifying for pizza. The white fish is more of what. What I'm talking about there, which is awesome. Fresh veggies, not including, like the, like tomatoes and nightshades. You've probably heard of, like, nightshades. Those are going to have more. More histamines, like eggplant, that kind of thing.

Yeah, yeah. And no spinach and no cabbage Spinach.

Yeah, yeah. That was something that I like when I was going through my histamine intolerance phase, because I went through all the phases. That was something that was kind of surprising because it was like a fresh vegetable. But it. Spinach is also one of the only greens in Ayurveda. That is heating for pizza. That is, you know, so it's. Yeah, it's really cool how that happens.

Eat fresh fruits. So I'm thinking like kiwi, mango, pears. You talked about watermelon earlier. So that's a low histamine. So you can eat all the watermelon, grapes, apples, cantaloupes. Make sure that you look at the environmental working group. Check out the dirty dozen so that you're buying organic when necessary. You don't have to buy everything organic, but the environmental working group has some good lists and resources. What about oils? I'm thinking about, like, coconut oils.

Yeah, totally. We want to do oils that are, I mean, that are anti inflammatory in general. Those are going to be really helpful. So like, coconut oil, I want to say coconut oil is probably the best option for low histamine. I mean, you know that ghee is like my favorite thing. Although I like want to look that.

Up now to make sure to geek out about it. I've been telling pun jokes all day.

Oh, my gosh. I love it. Okay. Yes. I wanted to look it up and make sure it is indeed low histamine.

Good, good.

He is wonderful. Even like, olive oil. What's the other. Oh, what's the other oil that I always.

All I have is olive and coconut oils. My examples.

Okay, cool. Yeah. Olive and coconut oil. I mean, that's what I use the most, is those and, and ghee. Anytime I cook, I use ghee. And for those of you who don't know what ghee is, it's clarified butter. So what they do is they take butter and they simmer it in. I mean, you can make this yourself? I just make it myself because I don't actually like the taste of the store bought kinds. I like the taste of the kinds that I make. You just simmer butter on the stove and then you drain it and all of the, all of the milk solids essentially like come to the top. You can scrape them off the top or you can just like put them in a little strainer thing and it'll strain out and that takes out a lot of the inflammatory fats or sorry, not fats, it takes out the inflammatory proteins like whey, which is, that's what those milk solids are that come to the surface. You take those out and then, then the oil that's left over is awesome. It's like super beneficial for your gut. It's low histamine. It's super healing. And in Ayurveda it was like the like nectar of the gods. Like, it's like the best thing ever. So highly recommend.

And then an herb, you know, you and I have in the Ayurveda course, we have herbs and botanicals that balance the doshas. And as I recall, tell me if I'm wrong, Hadley, but turmeric was tridosha. Tridosic, right? Right.

Yes. Yep.

Yeah.

So it's, yeah, it's like, it's, it's cooling enough for pitta, but it still has a little bit of heat for vata and it is in a little bit of heat for kapha as well. And it's just like, yeah, it's a wonderful, wonderful herb.

And it blocks your mast cells from releasing histamine. It can combat allergies. It's an antioxidant. And then as Hadley just confirmed for us, it's also tridosic. And so what about like golden milk? Would that be okay?

Yeah. Okay. So one thing that I do want to say is to. Because this is something that I learned about while I was in like a couple years ago in this high histamine state. That was when I had the first mold exposure that I had. So, so I, I found out that a lot of the dried, like dried spices have, are very high in histamine. Just. Well, most. Mostly due to the fact that they, they're just like sitting on a shelf for a long time and so they gather more histamines. I now Keep all of my spices in the fridge. And that's just a really easy way to make sure that they don't have as much histamine accumulation over time. So I have like a whole shelf in my fridge that's just spices in the door of my fridge.

I was wondering why that was. That's so cool.

What a little life hack.

Yeah, I feel like that's actually my favorite hack from this whole conversation. This is.

Yeah, it's a good one.

Yeah. So today we've been talking about histamine and Ayurveda's perspective on it. And I feel like we got a really cool take on how to supercharge your histamine detox, your histamine process. We have a whole lot more information about Ayurveda and if you have a Kapha imbalance, what to do, or a pitta or a vata imbalance. And so definitely check out our information. We have a free quiz and so you can go to the link in the resources below and definitely go take that quiz and see if you can zero in on when you feel a certain way, what kind of an imbalance you might be in and what you can do to put yourself back into balance. And then inside of the Holistic Wellness Collective, I have a whole lesson on histamine detox. And so we talk about the three main detoxification pathways your body uses. And so that includes, you know, methylation and it includes acetylation and it includes the gut and that's dao. And so, you know, sometimes it's not about how much is coming in, but how effectively you're getting it out. And so if that's something you want to dive in more, I have a whole lesson on that. And then if you need one on one support, actually you have a group and you do mostly group stuff now. Right. So if you want that kind of personal contact that personal support is, you could go to Hadley's Instagram and she has link in her bio about that.

Yeah, yeah. And if you want to chat about, you know, whether it's the right fit for you, just DM me and we can, we can hop on a 30 minute discovery call and see if it's a, see if it's a good fit for what your, your goals are. So yeah, I, I love this conversation. I think that it's going to be so helpful for so many people. One other thing is stinging nettles is they're actually not just low histamine, they are antihistamine. So we love that.

Yeah, yeah.

If you can get like a T or I. I'm on the west coast. There are stinging nettles like that. People forage here and sell at farmer's markets. I buy them and I put them in my eggs. It's great.

I love that you said that the Latin name is urtica diosha and that reduces mast cells also from releasing histamine. And so if you have a pitta imbalance you can make a tea but then like put it in the refrigerator and have yourself a nice iced tea. Or if you have, have you want to do it as a salad like Hadley said, you could forage it. It grows here in Michigan too. You just got to be mindful because it's called stinging nettles for a reason.

Yeah, you, you gotta forge it with like some gloves on and then once.

You wash it, the stingers, they go away and you can eat.

And if you cook with it, I just like put it in the, you know, in the pan or whatever. Like with a glove, I put it in the pan and then once it wilts enough that you can just eat it it and you don't have to worry about it.

Yay. Thanks for mentioning that. I love that plant.

Yes. They're so good too. I love stinging nettles. It's like my favorite vegetable.

Episode. Thanks for listening. Thanks.

Yeah, thanks for listening everyone. We love you so much and can't wait to see you in the next one. Bye guys. Bye.

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The recording you just listened to consists of the personal opinions of Dr. Nicole Caine, a naturopathic doctor with a Master's in Clinical psychology, and Happy Healthy Hadley, an Ayurveda expert with a master's in health, behavior and health education. While these opinions are based upon literature, counseling education, medical training and clinical experience, this content should not be viewed as the definitive opinion on these subjects. Listening to this podcast is not a substitute for any sort of medical, psychological or other form of treatment. If you are in a Crisis, please call 911 or call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255. If you are in need of counseling, don't hesitate to make an appointment with a counselor in your area. Dr. Nicole and Hadley are passionate about you becoming the expert of your own emotional and physical well being. If this resonates with you and you think this podcast would help someone you love, please share it with them. We look forward to seeing you on the next episode of the Holistic Inner Balance Podcast.

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