Low Histamine Cooking in Your Instant Pot: 75 Easy Meals for Everyday Healing

By Dr. Becky Campbell

Delicious, Low Histamine Meals Made Simple in Your Instant Pot®

Bestselling author and histamine intolerance expert Dr. Campbell understands the difficulty of maintaining a low histamine diet while trying to keep up with a busy lifestyle. With her guidance—and your Instant Pot®!—you’ll learn how to cook wholesome, fulfilling meals that cater to your body’s needs without sacrificing precious weekday hours.

Bursting with dozens of flavorful, satisfying meals, this cookbook proves that a histamine intolerance doesn’t mean surrendering your favorite foods. Indulge in a creamy cup of Coconut Chia Pudding with berries as a morning treat, and then whip up some sweet Maple Blondies for tonight’s midnight snack. Feeling under the weather? Cozy up with a big bowl of wholesome Quick Beef Pho or some soul warming Sweet Potato Chowder. With dishes like her crowd-pleasing No-Wrap Pork Dumplings and her hearty Braised Short Ribs with Gravy, Dr. Campbell teaches you how to beat histamine intolerance and heal your body—in the easiest, most tasty way possible.

Whether you’re just starting your low histamine journey or looking for new, inspiring meals to switch up your routine, get ready to reclaim your body and your health with this life-changing cookbook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Apr 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781645675433

Book preview

One

HISTAMINE INTOLERANCE

The Reason You Are Unwell

Histamine What? What Is Histamine Intolerance?

Before we jump into histamine intolerance, you need to understand what histamine is and how it can turn into a problem. Histamine is a naturally occurring chemical in your body. It often gets a bad rap because of antihistamine medications for allergies.

Histamine is far from bad, though. It is an essential part of your immune system and plays a number of important roles in your body.

Histamine’s primary role is to help your body get rid of allergens. When foreign invaders such as allergens or toxins attack your body, your body immediately sends an army of chemical messengers to alert your immune system. Histamine is one of these crucial chemicals. With the help of histamine, your white blood cells can rush in to kill pathogens. This response, however, results in allergic reactions that prompt many people to reach for antihistamines for relief from allergy symptoms.

Most people don’t know that histamine supports your digestion. It does this by releasing hydrochloric acid to help break down your food and bacteria, preventing bacteria buildup in your gut. Histamine also plays a significant role in your nervous system and brain. It serves as a neurotransmitter delivering messages between your brain and your body.

You see, histamine is not the problem. When your body has just enough histamine to take care of allergens and other pathogens, it is a wonderful protective mechanism. The problem arises when your body has too much histamine.

Histamine intolerance is not sensitivity to histamine, as you might imagine hearing the term. It’s a problem having to do with histamine buildup. When your body releases too much histamine and/or is unable to break down excess histamine after it’s done doing its job, histamine buildup occurs.

Under normal circumstances, in a healthy body, your body sends enzymes to break down histamine. One of these enzymes is the diamine oxidase (DAO) enzyme that does the majority of histamine cleanup and supports a proper histamine balance. Another one is histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT), which helps mop up excess histamine in the spaces between cells around your spine, liver, kidneys and lungs.

When your body has too much histamine, however, it becomes difficult for your body to break down and metabolize the excess. This will result in histamine buildup known as histamine intolerance. Histamine intolerance can affect your entire body, including your gut, brain, cardiovascular system, lungs and skin. It can lead to a list of unwanted and uncomfortable symptoms that can interfere with your quality of life and overall well-being.

Could This Be You? Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance

Symptoms of histamine intolerance may be different for everyone. For many people, they are quite similar to seasonal allergies. For others, symptoms may be more severe. Symptoms may vary from mild to debilitating. You may only experience a few random mild symptoms, or you may recognize every single one from this list.

Symptoms of histamine intolerance include:

• Itchy skin, eyes, ears and nose

• Eczema or other types of dermatitis

• Hives

• Red eyes

• Facial swelling

• Congestion or runny nose

• Seasonal allergies

• Asthma

• Tightness in the throat

• Crawling sensation on the skin or the scalp

• Difficulty regulating body temperature

• A sudden drop in blood pressure when standing up

• Low blood pressure

• Fast heart rate

• Heart palpitations

• Dizziness or vertigo

• Difficulty falling asleep or sleep issues

• Fatigue

• Confusion

• Brain fog

•