Histamine During the Festive Season
For people living with histamine intolerance, managing your diet can be difficult enough at the best of times. During the holiday season this can become even harder, as work parties and family celebrations can combine with the stresses of the season to exacerbate certain responses to histamine.
The Histamine Bucket
The ‘histamine bucket’ is often used to describe how our bodies respond to excess histamine. Our bodies naturally produce histamine as a reaction to things like pollen and stress, as well as histamine that’s ingested through our food and drink. Everyone’s bucket is a different size and can hold different amounts of histamine, and when the bucket overflows that is when reactions can occur.
Chloe, our Resident for November / December 2024 points out that people have reactions to different things, but once you know what causes your own reactions, you’re able to start better managing your histamine levels and emptying your own histamine bucket.
“So your body is the bucket, and different things are going to fill it up at different rates,” Chloe said. “If stress is a factor for you, then try to relax before a social occasion, maybe do some meditation or some yoga. If it’s mostly dietary for you, then eating a lower histamine diet prior to your event might mean that you have more room in your bucket to go out and have your normal social occasions where you can have some high histamine food, maybe a bit of alcohol if you want some, which again is high histamine.”
Key Considerations
Everyone’s body is different, and different things will trigger reactions in different people, but here are some top tips to help you enjoy the festive season as much as possible:
- Know what triggers your own response to histamine, and try to be aware of these ahead of any social events. Some broad categories to look out for include your overall gut health, certain medications, mould, insect bites, hormone fluctuations and high histamine food and drink.
- Try to minimise histamine in your diet in the day leading up to a social event, to empty your ‘histamine bucket’ as much as possible ahead of it. It’s worth keeping an eye out for alcohol, aged meat, aged cheese, fermented and preserved foods.
- Stress can be a trigger for a lot of people, so do what you can to minimise this over what is for many people a stressful period. Don’t leave Christmas shopping to the last minute, and if you’re hosting friends or family for Christmas, plan the day in advance as best you can!
- Remember that a lot of alcohol contains high levels of histamine, so take it easy during your festive Christmas meals and drinks.
Histamine is generally fine in moderation, relative to the size of your own bucket and how fast the bucket fills up, due to certain triggers. It’s a naturally occurring chemical that runs through our bodies and is exacerbated by external factors, most commonly found in certain food and drink. If you want to find out more information about histamine intolerance, it might be helpful to look at our guide here.
The key takeaway should be the awareness of your own triggers during stressful times like these. So make sure to enjoy your time with others, but always make sure to look after yourself too!