Chemical Balance

What you eat, the supplements you take, and what you put into your body can have a tremendous effect on the frequency and intensity of your headaches.

Most people have experienced a headache from dehydration, withdrawal from caffeine or as a result of too much alcohol at some point in their lives. Those are extreme examples of the effect that imbalance in your diet can have on your body, but there are other factors that can affect your body (and in turn, your headaches) just as significantly.

There are three dietary balances that are important to monitor and understand if you are experiencing headaches:

1. 1. Blood Sugar Balance
      If you are consistently spiking your blood sugar by consuming drinks with a high sugar content (fruit juices, sugar in your coffee, soda’s…) or by eating foods such as high glycemic index fruits, vegetables and tubers (potatoes, tomatoes…), refined foods, and wheat (which, interestingly enough, has a higher glycemic index than sugar), then you could be unwittingly creating headaches as a result of swings in blood sugar levels. If you experience headaches and consume a lot of high glycemic foods and beverages, it would be wise to reduce the amount of these foods in your diet.
   2. Essential Fatty Acids Balance
      Fat is not our enemy, in fact your brain uses fat for energy! Essential fats are important to brain health; Omega 3’s and 6’s are called “essential fats” because they cannot be created in the body and so they must come from your diet.Why is it important to keep a proper balance of Omega 3’s and 6’s in the body?

      Omega 3 fatty acids can be compared to a light switch that turns off inflammation, while Omega 6 fatty acids are like a light switch that turns it on. Imagine having a diet that is high in omega 6 fats in a ratio of 18 to 1. That would mean that you have 18 switches turning on inflammation and only one to turn it off. This problem is pervasive in North America as we have diets that are extremely high in Omega 6 fats while low in Omega 3 fats; in turn as a society we experience many problems with inflammatory diseases. Problems such as sinusitis (inflammation of the sinus cavity) and arthritis (inflammation of the joint) can also irritate neurological structures in the head and neck and create headaches.

   3. pH Balance
      Your pH balance is essential to your body’s ability to maintain health and in turn with your ability to experience less headaches. The pH balance of your blood is extremely important because blood cells thrive in an alkaline environment; if your blood gets acidic from eating too many acidic foods, your blood cells will begin to stick together and inhibit your body’s ability to bind oxygen. As Oxygen is the number one nutrient for your survival, a reduction in blood oxygenation levels can cause significant problems for your body. As your brain is metabolically the most active organ in your body, it suffers from lack of oxygen the most – this lack of oxygen is often manifested as a headache.

If you notice that your headaches are consistently bugging you at certain times of the day it may be associated with the chemical balance of your body. Monitoring these above-mentioned aspects of your diet can have a great effect on reducing the intensity and frequency of your headaches.