I spent the weekend at a naturopathic conference. It's always great to connect with my classmates and colleagues from all over Canada and be inspired by experienced mentors and teachers.

My favourite lecture was one all about histamine. Before my work with Lyn-Genet and the Plan, histamine was something I learned about in school when it came to acute allergic reactions, but I didn't have the full understanding of how complex its reactions in the body are. This lecture by Dr. Gary Schafer, was an excellent synopsis of just that.

Histamine is your Best Frenemy

Histamine is a molecule released in stress, trauma, infection and allergies. It is used in the inflammation response to help the body heal. However like most things too much is not a good thing.

Histamine binds to receptors ALL over the body - in EVERY system! There are 4 types of histamine receptors in the body - and each type creates a set of symptoms.

For the purpose of not overwhelming your brain thingy I'll keep this article to what happens when histamine binds to the type 1 receptors.

Here we see symptoms that relate to contraction of the smooth, involuntary muscles in the body and constriction of blood vessels creating areas of low blood supply and not enough precious life giving oxygen - what the medical profession calls hypoxia.

These symptoms include:

• brain fog (not enough blood flow to the brain)

• high blood pressure (as the blood vessels constrict)

• itchy skin with no redness or hives - instead the skin is pale (because of the decreased blood flow)

• tightness in the chest and asthma

• dry hacking cough

• urinary urgency

• painful period cramps

• restless legs

• tight muscles - these are the people that are constantly going for massage to relax the muscles, but never seem to release the tension

• digestive cramping and constipation

• dull headaches.

That is quite the list! And that's from only one type of histamine receptor! I'll get to the three other receptos in other posts but I just wanted you to see how wide spread these reactions can be.

So when you eat that food that is reactive with your biochemistry, you produce histamine a molecule that has the potential to affect your entire body.

Here are a couple other interesting tidbits that Dr. Schafer shared on the weekend:

There are certain molecules that can decrease histamine release from the cells that produce it. These include amylase, manganese, iodine, and plant chemicals called bioflavenoids including quercetin, rutin, and luteolin.

I'll often use quercetin with my patients who are suffering from acute allergies as we're working to discover and eliminate their reactive foods.

Why do we hear about eating sea vegetables or taking kelp supplements? For the iodine! And we usually think of this as supporting the thyroid - which it does - but this a great example of how connected the entire body is.

What is amylase? It's an enzyme that digests starch and sugar. We have it in our saliva and pancreatic juices. If our digestion is healthy we release natural anti-histamines every time we smell or see food!

With stress or the overconsumption of carbohydrates we DEPLETE our amylase stores, and lose that anti-histamine effect. I typically recommend sticking to one serving of starch per day, and this is an excellent reason for that guideline.

MSM has become one of my favorite supplements over the last few months. It's commonly one of the first things I suggest people take. Why? Sooooo glad you asked.

This molecule donates a methyl molecule that helps break down histamine once it has been released in the body. Guess what also donates a methyl group? Our stress-busting friend SAM-e.

I'll wrap up by saying how incredible our bodies are and how we really are designed to heal and thrive. By identifying and eliminating your reactive foods, as well as managing (or eliminating) stress you really can heal on all levels.

WATCH OUT FOR PART 2