Cause and Relief from Diet Headache Attacks

Did you know that approximately 30% of migraine and/or headache attacks are caused by weight loss-related dieting issues? Yes, you may be suffering from diet headache attacks wherein your brain and body reacts to the decreased calorie intake, the increased exercise levels, and the increased stress levels brought by the pressures of weight loss.

Fortunately, diet headaches can be resolved by taking the appropriate measures related to their probable causes. You should then make notes as to the cause-effect relationships between what you are doing as part of your weight loss plan and what these activities are doing to your body specifically in triggering headaches.

Let’s take a look at these cause-effect relationships and the steps to resolve your diet headaches.

Diet Causes

The most common triggers for diet headache attacks are related to the diet. This is not surprising as the body easily reacts to changes in its intake of food and drinks with the common reactions and solutions including the following:

• Calorie Restrictions

When your body is deprived of the necessary amount of calories, your blood sugar levels drop so much so that your body goes into starvation mode. You will then experience so-called hunger headaches caused by the chain of chemical and hormonal events.

The solution: Eat 5-6 small meals spaced at 4-hour intervals during the day so as to feed your body with the calories and nutrients it requires for proper functioning. Try to eat healthy snacks in between meals to keep up the calorie and nutrient supply such as a handful of nuts, a few sticks of baby carrots, or a pack of whole wheat crackers.

When you have eaten, your diet headache attack will soon go away.

• Dehydration

Your body also requires fluid for its proper functioning. Too little fluid and you will observe a headache coming on. Scientists are still unsure about the exact cause but the widely accepted theory is that dehydration causes narrowing of the brain’s blood vessels, thus, lessening the supply of nutrients and oxygen.

The solution: Keep a bottle of water handy especially during hot weather or when you are exercising. Go beyond the recommended eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily when on a weight loss program.

You may also be suffering from cold turkey when soda, coffee and caffeine-laced drinks are eliminated from your diet. Go gradually and you will soon see changes.

• Exercise

You may have also pushed your body too far when exercising in your effort to melt fat, build muscle tone, and increase endurance. Your headache can occur before or after your workout.

The solution: Ease into your exercise program by building up your stamina, endurance and strength in stages. Be sure to do warn-up and cool-down exercises, too.

Indeed, your sufferings brought by diet headache attacks can end! Just as you are taking full responsibility for your weight loss, then you must do the same for your headaches.