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Thank you for taking the time to write all this out!
I would like to add, if it isn't in a link here, that for estrogen dominance, cruciferous vegetables are VERY helpful. Cruciferous veggies being: cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and broccoli. I recall kidney beans being good as well. It really helps people with this and with PCOS, because they lower estrogen via some mechanism I can't recall. 
PS - Did you used to be SweetJade?
Thank you for taking the time to write all this out!
I would like to add, if it isn't in a link here, that for estrogen dominance, cruciferous vegetables are VERY helpful. Cruciferous veggies being: cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and broccoli. I recall kidney beans being good as well. It really helps people with this and with PCOS, because they lower estrogen via some mechanism I can't recall.
PS - Did you used to be SweetJade?
Yes, they are mentioned under Good Things for Hormones as well as anytime sulfur is mentioned such as the sections on inflammation and liver health.
Now why would Sweetjade use another name? She's a hero. But I'll take that as a compliment.
Bumping. Since it's been a month since it's been on the first page. But the number of reads keeps creeping up anyway. Over 16,400.
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What is the relationship between overproduction of histamines and foods such as cinnamon?
I've only seen one published research study involving the relationship between cinnamon and histamine, and that study showed that cinnamon was effective in preventing excessive formation of histamine!
Certain foods do indeed have high histamine content. Histamine is a substance typically produced from the amino acid histidine. This amino acid is found in many protein-containing foods, especially if those foods have had time to age. When a food is high in the amino acid histidine and certain types of bacteria are given enough time to start metabolizing parts of the food, they can convert histidine amino acids found in the food's proteins into histamine. (In biochemical terms, they decarboxylate the histidine using a decarboxylase enzyme.)
Practically speaking, since this buildup of histamine from histidine in food can take a good bit of time, it is often aged, higher protein foods that contain larger amounts of preformed histamine. These foods can include fermented soybean products (like fermented soy sauce), many cheeses, and other fermented foods like sauerkraut. Aged meats can also contain higher amounts of preformed histamine. When fish starts to spoil-even before the signs of spoilage are detectable-there can be a buildup of histamine in the fish from this same bacterial process. For this reason, it's important to include the freshest of fish in your Healthiest Way of Eating if you are trying to avoid all preformed food histamines.
The histamine question gets more complicated, however, when you consider the digestion of any higher protein food. Certain bacteria found in the digestive tract can also take the histidine in any food and convert it into histamine. In other words, if a person does not have a fully healthy digestive tract, there is a chance that his or her body will end up with too much food histamine, not because that histamine is found preformed in food, but because the histidine amino acids in food are being converted into histamine inside of the digestive tract. In this case, avoiding high-histamine foods won't help a person nearly as much as restoring digestive vitality and digestive tract function.
In my book, The World's Healthiest Foods, I note that there are 160 milligrams of total protein in two teaspoons of ground cinnamon. I've been unable to find a breakdown of specific amino acids in cinnamon, but there would definitely be far lower than 160 milligrams of histidine in two teaspoons of cinnamon because there would be a pattern of various amino acids in this spice (like in every spice). For this reason, cinnamon would be an unlikely source for much histamine exposure (either preformed in the spice or formed upon breakdown in the digestive tract).
One nutrient that stands out in the histamine allergy research is vitamin B6. In the cells that line our digestive tract (and elsewhere in our body as well) there are enzymes called diamine oxidases. These enzymes can break down histamine into other substances before it gets absorbed into our bloodstream. They are also enzymes that require vitamin B6 to function. Making sure that you've got optimal B6 intake is one way to help lower the risk of histamine reaction in your body. In my book, you'll find a full profile of vitamin B6 and food that provide it in the greatest quantity.
For more information on this topic, please see:
Cinnamon
Vitamin B6
References:
Csaba G, Kovacs P, Tothfalusi L, et al. Prolonged effect of stress (water and food deprivation) at weaning or in adult age on the triiodothyronine and histamine content of immune cells. Horm Metab Res. 2005;37(11):711-5.
Oguri S, Enami M, Soga N. Selective analysis of histamine in food by means of solid-phase extraction cleanup and chromatographic separation. J Chromatogr A. 2007;1139(1):70-4.
Sato T, Horiuchi T, Nishimura I. Simple and rapid determination of histamine in food using a new histamine dehydrogenase from Rhizobium sp. Anal Biochem. 2005;346(2):320-6.
Wood JD. Histamine, mast cells, and the enteric nervous system in the irritable bowel syndrome, enteritis, and food allergies. Gut. 2006; 55(4):445-7.
Can you suggest a good meal plan? I look at many of these things individually and stumble in trying to put them together a way that works well. I know some micro-nutrients inhibit others, but it's probably not that big of a concern.
Would it be wise to eat an assortment of raw veggies, nuts, etc.? I tend to think stews and soups are tastier and easier to eat, but I guess it would be best to eat more like a hunter-gatherer, and reduce the number of cooked meals? Let your stomach get good 'isolated' exposure to one food at a time, and then move on to another food for the sake of variety?
Thanks for all the info in the thread, I've just begun my exploration into the dietary side of this whole thing. I have discovered two things that severely impacted my acne in the past: The use of harsh cleansers, and ejaculation. As soon as I stopped the cleansers, my facial acne reduced immensely. As soon as I reduced ejaculation to 1x per week tops, my acne subsided! I'm try to bolster my system overall so that I CAN have sex comfortably without worrying so much about the effects of it. But I guess ultimately the first step is the acknowledgment of the problem.
Can you suggest a good meal plan? I look at many of these things individually and stumble in trying to put them together a way that works well. I know some micro-nutrients inhibit others, but it's probably not that big of a concern.
Would it be wise to eat an assortment of raw veggies, nuts, etc.? I tend to think stews and soups are tastier and easier to eat, but I guess it would be best to eat more like a hunter-gatherer, and reduce the number of cooked meals? Let your stomach get good 'isolated' exposure to one food at a time, and then move on to another food for the sake of variety?
You should eat a variety of raw foods for the enzymes and nutrients damaged by heat, but stews and soups are good too. Also, try stir fries and curries with lots of onions, garlic, ginger, tumeric and heavy on veggies like cabbages, kale, broccoli, sweet potato, etc. These quicker cooking methods without a lot of water minimize nutrient loss. Cook just until done. When the veggies start turning from bright green to brown, nutrients have been destroyed. And the spices are also highly anti-inflammatory. Also cook legumes like lentils with onions, garlic, maybe add tomatoes, maybe curry powder, with greens thrown in when it's all cooked. You can of course, add shrimp, chunks of fish, chicken, etc to these dishes, but you'll have to figure out the timing to keep from overcooking anything. Fish and shrimp cook really fast as do greens, broccoli, etc. This is how I eat most days and I try to keep a pot of something on hand ready to eat all the time, with a serving or two in the freezer as well.
I frequently make curry with lots of onions, sweet potatoes, peas, then chopped spinach or whatever green I have in the freezer thrown in when everything else is done. Then add either a little coconut milk or yogurt. The potatoes make it seem like a comfort food, yet it's very nutritious.
You could also try sticking to hypo-allergenic foods, which also happen to be good nutrient-dense and anti-inflammatory foods. There's a link to info under Food Intolerances.
Do check out the food and recipe thread for lots of meal ideas and recipes:
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Food-and-...ce-t205099.html
Hey alternativista. I've read about a third of all the stuff you've published and linked in your original post and I just want to thank you greatly, great research indeed!
I'm far from clear and I don't want to tempt fate but if I had to guess at a post that could potentially fix me, this would be it!
Just showing some appreciaiton, keep up the good work..
alternativista,
Excuse my ignorance if you've already answered this, but have you read The Dietary Cure for Acne? Would you recommend buying it? My local library doesnt carry it and it seems interesting. I'm interested in hyperkeratinization/hyperproliferation and digestion issues.
Thanks.
alternativista,
Excuse my ignorance if you've already answered this, but have you read The Dietary Cure for Acne? Would you recommend buying it? My local library doesnt carry it and it seems interesting. I'm interested in hyperkeratinization/hyperproliferation and digestion issues.
Thanks.
The Cordain Book? I link to a PDF in the ZAG enzyme thread under hyperkeratinization. I don't know if it's the whole book, though. Check it out. It's pretty much the paleo diet.
The Cordain Book? I link to a PDF in the ZAG enzyme thread under hyperkeratinization. I don't know if it's the whole book, though. Check it out. It's pretty much the paleo diet.
I couldn't access the link...
That's too bad. It worked not that long ago. I guess they figured out their mistake. But if you google The dietary cure for Acne pdf, you'll find places you can download it.
There are so many factors that may be the reason for your problem. The best thing that you can do is; have your daily exercise, have a , take vitamins or any that can help your body , avoid vices and live right to enjoy life.
But notice how interrelated everything is. The same diet and nutrients appear over and over throughout the lists. And the Good Things for any given issue tend to involve improving other issues. That's why there are links from one list to another. This really should be a wiki.
Thread on making your own Nicomide, a prescription vitamin formula for acne and rosacea.
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Roll-Nicomide-t252903.html
Nicomide is also available as a topical treatment.
i really want to get my sleep schedule on track ebcause i think it's affecting my hormones, but my light/ dark is all off because i sleep with the lights on becasue i'm afraid of the dark 
embarassing, i know
what do i do to stop being afraid of the dark or help otherwise get my sleep on track
i really want to get my sleep schedule on track ebcause i think it's affecting my hormones, but my light/ dark is all off because i sleep with the lights on becasue i'm afraid of the dark
what do i do to stop being afraid of the dark or help otherwise get my sleep on track
Not my area, but you need to do it. Maybe try not sleeping alone, i.e. a friend or a pet? Set the sleep timer on the TV to 30 minutes and turn it on a sitcom. Most TVs have a timer even though few people seem to realize it. I do this to keep me from thinking about something that might aggravate me, and I'm usually asleep after the first commercial.
See this is why I think small children should always share a bedroom. When I was small, all 4 of us shared a room until I was 5, then we moved and got a room for the 2 girls and 2 boys. Neither my little brother or I were ever afraid of the dark. I can't speak for the oldest 2.