About Alicia
I’m a recipe developer, cookbook author, food photographer, and migraine advocate. I live in Dallas, Texas with my family of four and my rescue dog, Cocoa.
Since 2018, I’ve been sharing rigorously tested recipes for a migraine diet, based on the Johns Hopkins diet and Heal Your Headache by Dr. David Buchholz, as well as Mediterranean Diet recipes. I also share my personal journey with vestibular migraine, along with things that have helped me go from chronic migraine to migraine remission, and everything in between.
Over the years my easy, anti-inflammatory recipes have helped millions of people manage cooking with migraine attacks, chronic illness, or just simply enjoy more additive-free meals at home. My recipes have been featured by Healthline, WebMD, PARADE, mindbodygreen, and Good Morning Texas. My story with vestibular migraine was featured by The New York Times.
I teach online and in person cooking classes for non-profits like the National Headache Foundation, American Migraine Foundation, and Miles for Migraine. I also work for Danielle Foundation and Migraine at School, creating recipes for their Nourish program.
I have 2 published cookbooks – The Dizzy Cook, which is a best-seller, and The Mediterranean Migraine Diet with Dr. Shin Beh.
My Expertise
I have always loved to cook, and grew up with my mom and grandmother showing me how special family meals could be, even if they were very easy. As a self-taught cook, I’m very dedicated to providing you with recipes that work the first time – especially since I know how difficult it can be to cook with chronic illness.
To expand my knowledge, I have completed different culinary programs in Dallas, Texas. I also love to participate in immersive farm-to-table education in other countries like The Cooks Atelier and Alexia Cooking School. This inspired has me to get to know local farmers and learn about food sourcing, which I apply to a lot of my recipes. Overall my goal is to provide easy meals with fewer ultra-processed ingredients.
My Journey
When I graduated college, I was in a new city with few friends. I quickly fell in love with exploring different cookbooks, like Julia Child and Ina Garten, and original food blogs, like Smitten Kitchen. It brought me comfort on days I felt lonely.
But it wasn’t until I became ill with chronic vestibular migraine that I really started into recipe development. I was having to customize and create new recipes to navigate potential migraine triggers, and it was difficult. I realized food could be more than just nourishment, but could also heal by bringing joy, accomplishment, and togetherness. So I started sharing my recipes to migraine facebook groups, and different volunteer organizations like the Vestibular Disorders Association. And this eventually grew into The Dizzy Cook.
Not only did my migraine attacks start becoming much less frequent with dietary changes, but I was also creating a community who was finding joy again through cooking.
Each recipe I develop takes into consideration a few different things – it either needs to meet a need, like being a great comfort food when you don’t feel well, or it needs to provide some kind of benefit (pain relief, high omega-3’s, high magnesium, electrolytes, easy to freeze or make ahead, or be very easy to make). My hope is to meet you where you’re at, and help you find a recipe that will make your life easier.
Connect with Me
- Join my email list – with my newsletter you get weekly recipes and more personal stories on my migraine treatment.
- My vestibular migraine treatment plan – I have a full list of everything I did to heal my chronic migraine and eventually get to remission, or rare episodic attacks.
- On Social Media:
Thank you for being here. I hope that I’m able to share a little bit of joy (and relief!) with you and your family through my recipes.
