Those who start a migraine diet are often surprised to find their meal replacements and protein shakes have to go out the window. What makes these protein powders a potential migraine trigger? And what is the best protein powder for migraine sufferers? Well, the answer is kind of tricky.
Some sites will tell you protein powder is filled with MSG and that’s not entirely accurate. What makes this so confusing is migraine brains tend of be sensitive to glutamate in general, whether it is MSG (which is processed) or naturally occurring glutamate. So even if a protein powder doesn’t contain sugar substitutes or additives and is in a natural form, some people might find they still have issues with migraine attacks. Whey Protein and Migraines
For people following a migraine diet like Heal Your Headache, there are forms of glutamate that need to be strictly avoided during the elimination period. Often these names come with “protein” or “isolate” at the end of them.
For instance, you’ll see these in many common protein powders and diet shakes:
- Whey Protein
- Soy Protein Isolate
- Hydrolyzed Protein
The idea is that the processed versions of these items are high in glutamate and act similar to MSG in the brain of someone who is sensitive. Sensitivity to glutamate can vary from person to person. Some find they are able to tolerate natural items higher in glutamate, like tomatoes, but not anything processed, like protein isolates.
Others find they’re sensitive to almost everything. If you find yourself reacting to tomatoes or mushrooms, you may even have an issue with some of the items below. Reading labels and checking glutamic acid content can help.
What About Collagen Powder?
There are some forms of protein that fall into a bit of a grey area with migraine diets, like collagen powder.
For a long time I took Vital Proteins collagen powder because it was extremely trendy and I had heard amazing things about it helping with joints and skin. When I checked the ingredients, all seemed to be ok. All it contained was collagen powder.
I didn’t noticed that it triggered my symptoms, but this was also in my process of eliminating foods. As I learned more about the migraine and glutamate connection, I took note of the amino acid panel on the back of the collagen peptides label and realized it contained an high amount of glutamic acid, around 2,200 mg. At that point, I realized it was probably best for me to eliminate this item from my diet as well.
Now I did this combined with a number of other things, but I did notice my migraine threshold definitely increased after I stopped using collagen peptides. If you’re in a state of chronic migraine or get attacks often, I recommend avoiding collagen peptides unless it’s prescribed by your physician. It’s always something you can re-introduce at a later date.
Pea Protein and Migraine
Pea protein is found in a lot of protein powders as well as some milk alternatives, like Ripple. If you’re just starting a migraine diet, it should be eliminated in the initial phase.
While shelled peas are allowed on a migraine diet (except pods, like snow peas), peas are naturally higher in glutamate like mushrooms, walnuts, malted barley, and aged cheese and meat. They’re also on the higher end of tyramine levels. Again, if you find yourself sensitive to even these natural elements at the very basic level, having a processed version could be what lowers your threshold enough for attacks. This is especially important if you’re consuming daily.
Protein Powder Alternatives for Migraine Diets
We know that managing blood sugar fluctuations can play a major factor when it comes to migraine. Avoiding spikes and drops can help us to avoid triggering an attack.
While smoothies are extremely easy to consume, especially on high pain days, the amount of sugar in the fruit alone can cause a spike in blood sugar. Therefore it’s recommended to pair consumption with a good amount of protein to balance out any fluctuations.
You’ll notice I like to add sunflower seed butter and hemp seeds to a lot of my smoothie recipes. This is exactly why I do it. It fills your body up a little bit more the natural way, without using any protein powders.
Homemade Hemp Milk
Even making your own hemp milk can add a large amount of protein to your smoothies easily. I set out to create my own hemp milk and I never realized how easy it actually is. This works great if you own a high speed blender like a Vitamix.
My recipe is:
• 1/2 cup shelled, raw hemp seeds
• 3 cups filtered water
• 1tsp lucuma powder and vanilla to sweeten
Blend on high for about a minute and chill. No need to strain!
Protein Amounts in Seeds
There’s really no rule that says you have to get protein from a powder and if you’re mixing in with smoothies, chia pudding, or overnight oats, the below are great ways to make them more substantial.
- Sunflower seeds contain 6-7grams protein per 1/4 cup
- Hemp seeds contain 11g protein per 2-3 tablespoons
- Chia seeds contain 4 grams protein per 1 ounce serving
- Flax seeds contain about 2 grams protein per tablespoon
Other Protein Powders for Migraine Sufferers
The below seem to be the best protein powders for migraine sufferers.
Pumpkin – If you don’t want to grind up the seeds yourself, you can buy pumpkin seed protein powder. This brand offers 19 grams of protein with a serving, however some reviews complain of it being gritty.
Rice – Although I used to recommend rice protein to people, upon investigation for this article it does seem like the ones available have a really high amount of glutamic acid as well. Although rice is HYH safe, it may be safer to choose other options available.
Hemp – My favorite option of them all, this is the lowest in glutamic acid and also tyrosine, the amino acid which tyramine is derived. If you’re highly sensitive to glutamate, this will be your best bet for a protein powder.
Finally, my recommendations can only go so far. It does take a little bit of trial and error to find out what works best with your body, but hopefully this gives you some ideas for added protein.
Breakfast Ideas with Extra Protein
Chia Pudding
Overnight Oats
Scrambled eggs with tomatillo salsa
Buckwheat pancakes with sunflower seed butter drizzle
Cherry Vanilla Smoothie
Sunflower Seed Smoothie
PB&J Smoothie
Thank you, Alicia. Informative, as usual. I’ve just been looking at protein powders (vegetarian ones) lately, as I’m trying to make breakfast a quick one. I’m not in the elimination phase of HYH anymore (did that last year) but I do need to watch for sensitivities.
So would hemp protein powder that has only “hemp protein powder” (like the “Oh, Hemp, Yeah!” or “Nutiva” brands) be OK? No sweeteners or anything else added.
Tam
Grrrr… I mean, if it lists only “hemp protein powder” as the only ingredient :-D.
Tam
Those would definitely be ok! I believe I have nutiva linked in the post.
Hi Alicia, Love all your info!!! I would like to try the nativa hemp, but a lot of people are hung up on the prop 65, guess there are low traces of lead??? I know we live in a very polluted world, and I try to eat fairly clean, would you worry about this??? Thanks Ellen
I think you may find this helpful. I personally don’t worry about it, much of this is naturally occurring in the soil. If you want to avoid everything like this it’s a slippery slope to go down – from cars to sunglasses, you’d have to avoid a lot of stuff.
Hi Alicia, I’m enjoying your cookbook and have loved every recipe I’ve cooked. I’m cooking a recipe a day and find it’s giving me the discipline to be careful about what I eat.
I’m finally beginning to feel myself again. Today I made your white chocolate blondies which are out of this world and greatly improved my outlook on life!. Happily, I did my grocery shopping before the shelter in place alert went out. Thanks for all you do. Hopefully this coronavirus hiccup will pass quickly and you’ll be back on the road again. Hang in there! Pat
Patricia A Anderson: That’s sooooo encouraging – I have Alicia’s cookbook too and along with your post, its motivating me to do more for myself and hopefully feel better again. Thank you for this post on protein powders Alicia – I’ve wondered about which ones would be okay – you’ve made things so clear as to why some may be a problem! 🙂 X
Hello. I am new to all of this and am trying to figure out what causes my migraines and what to avoid. Along with migraines I have a vestibular problem that leaves me unbalanced for Mmmmm from days to weeks where it feels like I just got off the tea cup ride. I eat poorly and am overweight so there is a large range of things I can eliminate. Do you recommend I start small or eliminate everything such as caffeine, pizza, ice cream and dairy all at once? I take Botox for my migraines and it had been working. Now I find my head pulsating all of the time, especially when I wake up and when I stand up so not sure if my blood sugar is too low or high. I’m not diabetic that I know of. My last labs were in January. Thanks
Hey Nicholas, I recommend picking up my new cookbook and the Heal Your Headache book. There’s no need to get rid of dairy all together unless you’re sensitive to it. Some non-aged dairy products like mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, and even vanilla ice cream can be migraine-friendly and enjoyed in moderation. I think you’ll find by doing a migraine diet, you’ll see some improvement in migraine days and weight loss. Often if we’re feeling better we can be more active, so exercise is important to incorporate as well (they say 30 min a day can be as effective as Topamax in one study). Activity can also greatly help vestibular issues as your brain learns to compensate. It stinks sometimes, but it really does build up over time to get you used to performing certain activities without always getting dizzy. Plus with this particular diet, you’re reading labels and really focusing on fresh foods. Shopping the perimeter of the grocery store and loading up on fresh veggies vs packaged foods can make a big difference both in weight loss and migraine days.
I recommend eliminating everything at once (as does Dr. Buchholz), although you may need to do a weaning process for caffeine, which can be tough for some people. But the diet won’t work if you just cherry-pick different things to eliminate. The idea is that you eliminate everything together, giving your brain time to calm down, then when you’re feeling better, you can reintroduce foods one by one to tell if they spike your migraine symptoms. There were things I was eating daily that I never noticed were an issue because I had symptoms daily. When my brain finally calmed down, I could tell that they were giving me issues each time I ate them.
I never would have guessed that a google search for Protein powder & migraines, would once again lead me to your site! I have a flavored protein I am returning, it definitely triggers migraine for me. I was about to order the unflavored protein, as it only has 2 ingredients but the label shows the same Glutamic Acid level as the flavored formula. Here are the two versions, the first being the one that definitely triggers migraine symptoms for me:
PROMIX
Indonesian Vanilla
Grass-FED + Undenatured
Whey Protein
Grass-Fed Whey Protein Concentrate, Non-GMO Can Sugar,
Indonesian Vanilla Extract, Less than 1% Non-GMO
Sunflower Lecithin.
Glutamic Acid 4,700mg
——————————————–
This is the one I was about to order:
PROMIX
Unflavored
Grass-FED + Undenatured
Whey Protein
Grass-Fed Whey and non-GMO sunflower lecithin for a light,
natural taste.
Glutamic Acid 4,700mg
——————————————-
As you can see, even though one has fewer ingredients, they still have the same Gluamic Acid level,
The type of exercise I do, i really need that 25 grams of protein twice a day. I’ll look into the hemp protein, but in the past I noticed it takes a lot of those types of products to add up to the protein levels you can get with a whey product.
Once again, thank you for making this site!
Brad, sorry I missed this. My husband is really big into crossfit and what he does after is usually eats some kind of protein like ground beef, chicken, or eggs (he’ll make a big batch). Then he supplements with BCAA’s from Pure Encapsulations. That really is the best way to do it if you’re needing more than hemp or seeds can supply.
Hi Alicia,
This site has been a godsend. Wondering your thoughts on egg white protein and eggs in general. I noticed that glutamic acid is naturally occurring in egg whites so it would obviously be in the protein powder. How do you determine how much is too much? I guess I’m curious if it makes a difference if the glutamic acid is from the powder or the eggs, because the HYH diet doesn’t mention eggs as a trigger. If I eat eggs regularly would I get the same response to the glutamic acid? All of these little questions that come up make my head spin. Thank you for being such a great resource!
Hey Lorena,
It’s tough to say because it’s so personal. You may not have an issue with MSG or natural glutamate at all, while others can’t tolerate eggs and mushrooms cause they are so sensitive. It would be better for you to eat fresh eggs as opposed to a processed egg white protein because often it’s the processing that causes issues for people with migraine. If you’re not noticing an improvement with your migraine days, that’s when I would scale back on the eggs or eliminate them if you suspect them to be a triggers for you. I hope this helps.