Is Food Making You Sick?: The Strictly Low Histamine Diet

by James L. Gibb

People all over the world suffer from histamine intolerance without being aware of it. We itch, sneeze, suffer from joint pain, inflammation, sleep disorders, irritability, anxiety, bowel disease, diarrhea, flatulence, stomach pain, heartburn and acid reflux, nausea, bloating and other digestive problems, eczema, psoriasis, tissue swelling, urticaria (hives), itching skin, itching scalp, sinusitis, runny nose, puffy eyes, hay fever, asthma, and breathing difficulties, or endure tension headaches, migraines, fuzzy thinking, dizziness, irregular heartbeat, painful periods (women), sudden drops in blood pressure, faintness or flushing. Symptoms may endure throughout our entire lives if we continue to consume large amounts of histamine without knowing it. Histamine is colorless, odorless and tasteless - undetectable except by scientific analysis, and yet crucial to our well-being. Individual histamine tolerance thresholds vary greatly. A range of circumstances including our genes, our environment, our diet and stress, cause our bodies’ histamine levels to rise. If they rise faster than our bodies can break them down, we experience the excessive inflammation brought on by histamine intolerance, or HIT. The good news is, if we can understand what is happening and why, we can treat or prevent this widely unrecognized condition. By far the best way to treat histamine intolerance is with diet. All foods with the potential to raise histamine levels should be avoided until your health improves significantly. This book discusses HIT in depth, including causes, symptoms and therapies, backed by scientific research. Along with a list of foods to help HIT sufferers, it includes a wide range of recipes for everything from entrées to desserts. Find out more at

Genres: Health, Nutrition, Nonfiction

374 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2014

Reviews

[Jayne Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are new to the idea of Histamine Intolerance, I think this is a great beginner book. It has a lot of helpful information, lists of high and low histamine foods and a lot of recipes. I've researched on the internet but its nice to have everything in one place and that book does that for me.

[Annie Kostyk · Rating 2 out of 5]

The reason for two stars? Basically everything I read on websites was simply regurgitated to once place. It' collected information about histamine intolerance. Nothing new for information. Information is only covered on 86 pages, the rest is recipes and fluff. Don't buy it, just research yourself.

[Claudia Torkan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Symptómy nadmernej hladiny histamínu pripomínajú alergické symptómy, preto sa pri diagnóze obe poruchy často zamieňajú."

Možno nie som doktor, no do lekárne za mnou chodí čoraz viac ľudí, ktorí mi na otázku: Máte nejaké problémy, o ktorých by som mala vedieť? odpovedajú, že majú práve vyššie spomínanú histamínovú intoleranciu, takže nič nemôžu.
Aj farmaceuti sú len ľudia, ktorých v škole všetko nenaučia, a preto je na mne a mojom voľnom čase, aby som si doštudovala všetko, čo môžem niekedy zúročiť. Naviac, histamínová intolerancia je dnes tak rozšírená, až ma neprekvapilo, keď ju diagnostikovali aj mojim kolegyniam.

"Je dokázané, že príliš intenzívne cvičenie môže spustiť alergické záchvaty, predovšetkým v teplom prostredí."

Táto kniha sa skladá z dvoch hlavných častí, a to teoretickej, ktorú nasleduje dlhšia časť s receptami. Ja som sa zamerala hlavne na tú prvú, a druhú dala posúdiť kolegyni, ktorá už čo to uvarila/upiekla.
HIT je skvele spracovaná kniha, ktorá sa do problematiky ponára pomaly a pekne do hĺbky. Začiatok je všeobecný, autor poukazuje na širokospektrálne problémy organizmu, ktoré môžu často evokovať začínajúcu histamínovú intoleranciu.
Niektorí ľudia majú za to, že s takým ochorením sa človek musí narodiť, len sa mu postupne zhoršuje. Bohužiaľ, takto to vôbec nie je.

V knihe som našla dosť zaujímavých a poučných vecí, ktoré by si mali prejsť samotní ľudia trpiaci hit, nielen niekto, kto pracuje v zdravotníctve. Táto kniha je na to ako stvorená.
Autor sa vyjadruje k viacerým vitamínom, minerálom, dokonca aj k probiotikám, a hovorí o ich účinkoch na organizmus ľudí trpiacimi hit. Je fascinujúce, aké účinky na pacientov majú špecifické kmene laktobacilov.
Každopádne, druhá, obšírnejšia časť, obsahuje približne 150 receptov, ktoré sú vskutku konštruované práve pre pacientov s hit, aby sa čo najviac znížil príjem histamínu, ktorý dostávajú do organizmu z potravy.
Ako ale hovorím pacientom, každý organizmus je iný a nie každý musí byť citlivý na dané potraviny v rovnakej miere.

Recenzia aj na blogu:

[Shona M. S. Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea why I felt so ill and this book was so easy to read and explained everything so well that I now know how to manage my food and feel so much better.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure how much this book will help. Which is not to say that it doesn't have a lot of great information in it because it does and I learned things that I didn't know. Having all kinds of recipes is also a big help and it's something that I have been struggling with. My issue is that on top of doing a low-histamine diet because of my symptoms I also have dairy, gluten, soy, and salicylate intolerances which severely limit my diet already. The salicylate intolerance is my newest intolerance so am trying to figure that out while seeing what I can eat with that that I can also eat that is safe histamine-wise. Long story short: I think this book is helpful. It is a quick guide to give you and your practitioner(s) ideas on how to make you feel better with tons of recipes that make up the bulk of the book. Which is more important than anything when you are venturing into the unknown of a new and strict diet.

[Kate Laycoax · Rating 2 out of 5]

I applaud the author for shining light on an important topic that doesn't get much coverage, even though it can wreak havoc on lives and be a root cause for many. However, all the info in this could be found by a quick Google search. And, the info is only about fifty pages, max; the rest of the book is recipes. Maybe you should have called it a recipe book and not an informational book with some recipes, as it's basically a cookbook. I thought this had so much potential and could have been so much better and so much more helpful. It was a let down of epic proportions.

[Aaron Mikulsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can see how this book might help certain people. I did learn many new things in the first 80 pages. Note: Over 200 pages here is a recipes book. The book could have been written better and more concisely. I found several typos and confusing points.

I see how people get frustrated with health and "diet insights" as they are complex and many times contradictory. Since we are all different, eating a "healthy" diet is difficult to figure out when the "right formula" for one might harm another.

[Kaye · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing new here.

[Iulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good and easy to read. Very helpful 🙌💯

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I requested this book from my local library, primarily because it's literally the only book in the entire library system that focuses solely on Histamine Intolerance. For a variety of reasons, all of which are completely irrelevant on a book review blog, I've been reading up on this condition, so of course I had to check it out (pun totally intended).

There are 2 section in this book, the first being informational and the second being recipes. the information section was informative, so no surprises there. I can't say I read anything new here, but I did find Gibb's explanations to be clear and concise. It would be a solid choice for someone just getting started on their journey to learn about Histamine Intolerance.

I was underwhelmed by the recipes, honestly. Most of them were things my family probably wouldn't eat, and the ones my family would eat are mostly just slight variations on things I already prepare for us. Attempts were made to convert the recipes for use in the United States, but be prepared that you'll need a scale or constant access to Google to look up conversions.

And, speaking of "for use in the United States," you absolutely must check out the hilarious 'International Cookery Terms' glossary in the back! Seriously, it's the only reason this book gets more than 2.5 stars...see, this book was originally published in Australia, so there's a handy guide for readers in the UK and the USA. I have lived in the United States my entire life, and I can assure you Mr. Gibb, we know what hard-boiled eggs and frying pans are. Also, nobody I've ever met calls zucchini 'courgettes' and it's either a cake pan or a baking pan, not a cake baking pan.

I probably wouldn't recommend this book as a 'just for fun' read, but if you've got some questions about Histamine Intolerance, it's worth the read.