The Headache Prevention Cookbook: Eating Right to Prevent Migraines and Other Headaches [Paperback]

David R. Marks M.D. (Author), Laura Marks M.D. (Author), Laura Marks (Author), David R. Marks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 14, 2000

If you're one of the 50 million Americans who suffer from headaches, you can eliminate the pain entirely just by changing the way you eat. A headache sufferer himself, Dr. David Marks treats thousands of patients a year at his internationally known headache clinic. The recipes in this book can help you ward off headaches while ensuring that you eat well in the bargain.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Food can't cure headaches, but avoiding certain foods may prevent them, according to author David R. Marks, medical director of the New England Center for Headache. Some foods commonly trigger headaches in some people. If you're a headache sufferer, eliminating those foods from your diet is a sensible second step towards managing headaches. (The first step is to see your doctor to determine if there is some underlying condition that is causing the headaches.)

The key is to go on an elimination diet that avoids trigger foods such as most cheeses, chocolate, nuts, certain meats, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, MSG, caffeine, beans, out-of-the-oven yeast products (e.g., pizza, yeast breads, doughnuts), alcohol (especially red wine), ice cream, olive oil, and many, many more. If you were left to your own devices to figure out what's left after eliminating all these foods, you'd probably give up within a day. But Laura Marks has done the work for you, putting together 100 recipes that contain none (whew!) of the forbidden foods. The Headache Prevention Cookbook's recipes aren't bland or boring. They include Hearty Potato-Mushroom Frittata, Crepes with Spinach and Cheese Filling, Eggplant "Caviar," Corn and Carrot Chowder, Linguine with White Clam Sauce, Garlic Chicken, Cornish Hens and Wild Rice with Apricot Sauce, Asian Ginger Beef with Broccoli, Seafood Curry, and Angel Food-Strawberry Delight.

The authors suggest that you follow this diet, using their recipes and others you create yourself, for at least two months, and see if your headaches go away. Then gradually reintroduce the foods you avoided, one per week, so you can track which foods are your personal headache triggers. Once you've figured that out, avoiding those foods permanently can be your ticket to a headache-free future. --Joan Price

Review

Food can't cure headaches, but avoiding certain foods may prevent them, according to author David R. Marks, medical director of the New England Center for Headache. Some foods commonly trigger headaches in some people. If you're a headache sufferer, eliminating those foods from your diet is a sensible second step towards managing headaches. (The first step is to see your doctor to determine if there is some underlying condition that is causing the headaches.)

The key is to go on an elimination diet that avoids trigger foods such as most cheeses, chocolate, nuts, certain meats, preservatives, artificial sweeteners, MSG, caffeine, beans, out-of-the-oven yeast products (e.g., pizza, yeast breads, doughnuts), alcohol (especially red wine), ice cream, olive oil, and many, many more. If you were left to your own devices to figure out what's left after eliminating all these foods, you'd probably give up within a day. But Laura Marks has done the work for you, putting together 100 recipes that contain none (whew!) of the forbidden foods. The Headache Prevention Cookbook's recipes aren't bland or boring. They include Hearty Potato-Mushroom Frittata, Crepes with Spinach and Cheese Filling, Eggplant "Caviar," Corn and Carrot Chowder, Linguine with White Clam Sauce, Garlic Chicken, Cornish Hens and Wild Rice with Apricot Sauce, Asian Ginger Beef with Broccoli, Seafood Curry, and Angel Food-Strawberry Delight.

The authors suggest that you follow this diet, using their recipes and others you create yourself, for at least two months, and see if your headaches go away. Then gradually reintroduce the foods you avoided, one per week, so you can track which foods are your personal headache triggers. Once you've figured that out, avoiding those foods permanently can be your ticket to a headache-free future.

(Amazon.com Review -Joan Price )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (July 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395967163
• ISBN-13: 978-0395967164
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,683 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Headaches

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, June 28, 2006

By 

eileen2000 (E Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Headache Prevention Cookbook: Eating Right to Prevent Migraines and Other Headaches (Paperback)

My husband is trying to eliminate tyramines and other migraine triggers. I was hoping to find a cookbook that would help us create meals that tasted good, were healthy and safe.

This cookbook misses the mark on several fronts. The worst thing is that it takes a very conservative approach to what is safe to eat. Most recipes included items that we had concluded were not safe or were borderline (determined from researching several different reliable sources). In the initial stages of testing out whether or not tyramines are triggers it is especially important to have an inclusive list and not make exceptions.

The second factor were the recipes themselves. There was very little here that would allow you to make an actual meal and no guidelines on how you would do that.

Third, as another poster pointed out, the recipes are not generally healthy, high in fats and low in vegetables and fruits. This could be compensated for if the rest of the meal were healthy, but without any guidelines it would be difficult to do.

I am hoping to find another cookbook but in the meantime I have been adapting recipes with quite a bit of success. Maybe I'll write a cookbook when I'm done!

41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Medicine For Your Stomach, July 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Headache Prevention Cookbook: Eating Right to Prevent Migraines and Other Headaches (Paperback)

Like most headache sufferers, I'd do anything to get rid of my migranes.

While I knew that food had a big impact on headaches, I didn't know much about it. This book provides all the answers including which foods to eat and which to avoid. Then the book offers "headache-free" recipes which is a must if you like to eat many of the "banned" foods.

The recipes I've tried so far have been outstanding and relatively easy to make. I can honestly say that, at least for now, I look forward to making something new every night.

It was comforting for me that the book was written by two medical doctors including Dr. David Marks, a Yale educated headache specialist. I find that most non-medical solutions to medical problems come from nutritionists who lack the professional training and education of a doctor.

While I don't believe food is the only source of headaches, understanding the food-headache relationship is important. The results speak for themselves...since reading this book, I've definitly had fewer and less severe headaches.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for headache sufferers, March 16, 2005

By 

Edward Ellks "EdFromOhio" (Niles, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Headache Prevention Cookbook: Eating Right to Prevent Migraines and Other Headaches (Paperback)

I had headaches almost daily for about 30 years and FINALLY did something about it. Between this book and the "1-2-3 Program" book, I've eliminated about 98% of my headaches - headaches I thought were incurable.

With almost any headache prevention book, you will be told to go on an elimination diet to rid yourself of foods that can trigger headaches. This book has many recipes for folks like us (you're reading this because you have headaches, right?)

For a life with significantly reduced pain, the price of this book is negligible. Buy it, you won't regret it.