It’s here – the 5 day migraine diet meal plan! Fourteen pages of downloadable migraine-friendly recipes, grocery lists, and everything in between to help you get started on the Heal Your Headache migraine diet.
The 5 Day Migraine Diet Meal Plan
This list is currently for two but I will also work on one for four people. If you are cooking for one, you can still use this migraine diet meal plan. Just make sure to only buy 1 chicken and either half the amount of meat or plan to freeze it for later. Many of these dinner recipes freeze beautifully, so you won’t end up with a ton of wasted food.
You may take a look at the grocery list and get a little overwhelmed. Don’t worry, a lot of it are pantry staples you may already have in your kitchen. Be sure to read through and decide if you’d like to make any adjustments to the grocery list. To help you out, here are some tips.
Meal Plan Tips
- There is a recipe for rotisserie chicken that can be made on Sunday and used throughout the week for lunch. If you have access to a Whole Foods, Sprouts, Fresh Market, etc. you can often find a “naked” rotisserie chicken there – one without extra spices. I highly recommend grabbing one of those to save yourself time.
- The carcass from that chicken can be used to make this instant pot chicken stock. I encourage you to try that because it’s so easy and flavorful. I have yet to find a store-bought “safe” stock that is widely available but Trader Joe’s Hearty Vegetable is my favorite in a pinch (onion is lower on the ingredient list than other options).
- Cookies are easy to make and easy to freeze. Jennifer’s Snickerdoodle recipe can be made gluten free or regular. If doing gluten free, we recommend this brown rice flour and this oat flour. If not, we recommend this Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose flour.
- Dressings will last you up to 5 days in the fridge. You don’t have to worry about tyramine build up in these as much as you would with meat.
- If you want to make your own mayo, here’s an HYH friendly version. Store-bought is tough to find 100% clean. My favorites are Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil and Sir Kensington’s Organic (what I use). Avocado oil does not present the same issue with tyramine that a real avocado does and the amount of lemon juice in Sir Kensington’s is negligible. For my UK friends, look for Tesco brand.
- Keep any leftover seeds in the fridge or the freezer and use them on side salads or for future chia pudding breakfasts.
- I suggest buying tortillas, bread, and pita. If you’re cooking for one, you may want to just buy 1 package of tortillas and use those for lunch wraps instead of the bread so they don’t go to waste. Look for brands like Pepperidge Farm bread or TortillaLand tortillas in the refrigerated section if you can’t find any safe ones that are freshly made. For gluten free, look for corn tortillas. I have no gluten free options for pita – sorry! The salad is still good without it.
- Two of the recipes suggest using an instant pot or a crock pot. Instant pot will cut down on your cooking time, but for the meat I think a crock pot tastes better. You can make this instant pot stock in a crock pot by keeping it on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
- One of the recipes uses tomatoes, which is allowed on Heal Your Headache but Dr Buccholz does mention it possibly presents an issue for some because of the glutamate. If you find this to be the case for you, simply omit them or you could also replace them by wilting some fresh spinach in the mix.
Enjoy and please let me know your feedback for future migraine diet meal plans. My next attempt will be a vegetarian HYH meal plan.
This looks so great! Is the chicken salad recipe one serving? And where is the boursin cheese used?
Yes! the chicken salad recipe is just for one as is and the boursin cheese is used with crackers for snacks or an appetizer. Sometimes I like to spread it on my chicken sandwich instead of mayo too.
Wow! Thank you for this great resource! I went all in and am four days into this exact meal plan and all I can say is Wow!! Last night I made the pulled pork salad with BBQ ranch and it was out of this world awesome! The chicken salad is completely delicious, the sunbutter energy balls are hands down amaze-balls (pun intended), and the pumpkin spice chia pudding is a game changer for me! I overcooked the meatballs so I kind of ruined that one but I figure I can’t do it all perfectly in one go. 🙂 Thank you Alicia for this!
Erica, I’m thrilled this worked out for you so well! Thanks for the review. Since it’s my first time creating one of these, let me know if there’s anything I can do to improve or what you really liked about it (besides the recipes!). Luckily the meatballs all come with a sauce so hopefully that helps haha.
Could you please tell me where to find recipe for Pumpkin spice chia pudding? I thoroughly enjoy pumpkin spice.
Thank you so much.
Ruth
Hi Ruth, If you just click on the picture that say “5 day meal plan” it will open a downloadable pdf and the recipe is in there. I hope you enjoy! 🙂
Thanks for posting your journey with VM. I have just been diagnosed by a neurologist. I am starting the migraine diet and love your site. Thanks for taking the time to help others.
Thanks so much, Chris. I hope the diet works as well for you as it did for me. Please keep me updated.
Greetings from Nepal! Thank you so much for giving me some hope in terms of leading a “normal” life. I’ve just been diagnosed with vestibular migraine (ten days ago), and it’s nice to see that you CAN get back to being yourself (or as much as possible) 🙂
Hi Shriya, how amazing that you found me! I’m so happy you have some hope. Please keep in touch! 🙂
Hi. I was wondering what vegan options and substitutions you suggest?
Thanks,
Michelle
Hi Michelle, I really need to work on a plan for that. For now, there are some good vegan recipes in this post or ones that can be easily adapted. You can also find a really great list of protein sources here! https://thedizzycook.com/2018/11/06/is-a-migraine-diet-as-a-vegetarian-possible/
And a few recipes here: https://thedizzycook.com/?s=vegan
Combining a vegan diet with a migraine diet can be incredibly challenging because most substitutions use products that are fermented or contain high amounts of tyramine, like nuts. While you can replace nuts with seeds, the pre-made products out there don’t necessarily do that. Substitutions are to replace butter with oils and eggs with chia or flax eggs. I’ve seen some people do it successfully but you really want to make sure you’re not missing out on nutrients!
Hi Alicia,
Thanks for the quick response. I appreciate the feedback. Yes, it’s quite challenging and tricky and quite honestly is my biggest point of frustration these days.
I’ll keep an eye out for more vegan recipes. Like you say, I worry about not getting the proper daily nutrients, which is why I was glad to find your website.
Thanks so much.
PS – I’m looking forward to trying those buckwheat pancakes.
I think it’s great you’re still trying to do it and I’ll keep it in mind for recipe development – I really tried to for my book that’s coming out.
Of course! If you need some extra help there’s a group on FB called Migraine Strong and a few people on there who have done vegan HYH. Also we have an RD as an admin there so she can help you if you have some questions about structuring your meals.
One more thing if you haven’t seen it is this foods allowed list – maybe that will give you some ideas too.
The buckwheat pancakes are my favorite!
I’m so glad I found your site! I just read the book and am embarking on the diet in hopes of getting rid of my migraines. I found myself at the store yesterday staring at shelves not even sure where to start! It’s a bit overwhelming starting out. And to complicate things, I have two picky kids who love cheese. Ha.
Haha you can still have cheese!! I actually love really good quality white american cheese cubes as a snack (and I think kids will too!). Also Boursin…I could eat that all day!! This post may help you out a lot! https://thedizzycook.com/2018/01/17/pantry-staples-for-the-heal-your-headache-diet/
I know you said to eat the rotisserie chicken throughout the week but should I be concerned about tyramine buildup?
Not if you consume within 2-3 days or if you freeze and thaw as needed.
Hi Alicia
I have literally just discovered your website and it looks amazing whist I have not been diagnosed I am pretty sure your diet suggestions will help and reading about your symptoms they are identical to mine
So I am going to continue reading get down the shops and hopefully manage the migraines better.
I order the book later today
Reg Berry
Alicia,
I have suffered from migraine for nearly 30 years. Over the summer, I found myself at rock bottom with daily headaches. My thighs were like pin cushions, bruised from multi injections of Imitrex. I was bedridden during two significant family events. My vision became blurred, but my trip to the eye doctor resulted in only a script for reading glasses. And my moods were a roller coaster of extreme emotions. The final straw was when I observed my kids’ behavior taking a turn for the worse based on my modelling (because of said emotional roller coaster).
Around this time, I was looking for migraine diets. On Pinterest, your “12 Foods…” post popped up. The avocado in the background caught my attention. “I thought avocados were healthy?!” I thought. So I read your blog. Then I bought the HYH book and read it in one weekend. A week later, I jumped in with both feet.
Words cannot express my gratitude for what you provide on this site. I am on day 11 of the HYH diet and 90% of the food is from one recipe of yours or another. The 5-day meal plan and shopping list (SO HELPFUL) was easy to follow, provided amble food, and offered a lovely variety for my pallet.
Thank you for helping make this big lifestyle transition so much easier! I have high hopes for my new eating habits. And a lot of that I contribute to how easy you have made it. Keep it up. You are changing the world, one recipe at a time.
With endless gratitude,
Evonne
Oh Evonne, thank you so much for your kind message! I love that it has helped make the transition a little easier on you and can’t wait to hear about your success. Please keep in touch and let me know how you do!
My teen daughter has been suffering from what they are labeling as vestibular migraines for 9 months now. Meds she’s tried all make her be at rock bottom and not good for her in the long term. She just finished reading Heal Your Headache and is very inspired. Since I make dinners especially for our family of 4 I have been trying to keep it so that we can all support her on her particular diet or food she’s eliminated. I went looking for migraine diet recipes and you were the first one that popped up on the search and the first thing I noticed was VM. OMG I read through and was like yes yes yes and even sent the link to my daughter. Now we are both really inspired and already printing out your recipes as well as these to start making and get her to that 90-95% again. My hope of course is to get her back as much as possible to being a ‘normal’ kid.
Hey Deanna! So glad you found me and that you guys are trying out the diet with the whole family on board. I’m sure that makes life so much easier for her too. I definitely think that’s a very realistic goal for her and wish you guys the best. Most of my days now are dizzy free!! Let me know if I can help.
A bit frustrating that this is supposed to be a migraine-safe diet but includes items identified as triggers such as meat and tomatoes 🙁 I was hoping for a meal plan that more strictly adhered to omitting possible trigger foods.
I apologize that my free meal plan did not meet your specific needs. The tomatoes are only in one meal and can easily be left out. Meat is not considered a trigger on a migraine elimination diet either – so I’m not sure which diet you are following. Feel free to browse all the other vegetarian and fish recipes on the site and make your own meal plan!
Thank you so much for putting together this meal plan and GROCERY LIST! You saved me tears and frustration as I began making the transition to the HYH diet. I am forever grateful! I’m almost a month into the diet now, and I’ve used only recipes from your website. They have all been delicious! I can’t wait to get my hands on your cookbook and keep going. 🙂
Thanks, Sarah!!