No-Amylose and Low Histamine Diet

The histamine diet. You can be very restricted with the histamine diet, but since I am already restrictive on the foods I eat, we are taking a more relaxed approach. The histamine issue should go away when the mold is handled as they tend to go hand in hand. So we are following the histamine diet that is attached to the AIP diet. This includes avoiding: fermented foods, no citrus (including lemons and limes), pineapple, bananas, grapes, strawberries, alcohol (even when cooked off), canned foods, cheese, coconut aminos, cured/smoked fish/meats, dried fruit, fish, fish sauce, mushrooms, pork, shellfish, spinach, vinegar and yogurt (including coconut).

For fish and shell-fish, it is the fresh fish that has the histamine issue, so the best way to buy it is when it is frozen on the boat, so buy the frozen fish and then you can still consume it.

The only real big change for me is no more spinach and lemons/limes. The rest I have already been avoiding.

To mitigate histamine during food prep you want nothing to be slow cooked. The slower something cooks the higher the potential for histamine, this includes soup, anything that is slow cooked. So want to use a pressure cooker i.e. Instant Pot. Instant Pots are stainless steel, they do not have aluminium. You can use the same recipes in the Instant Pot, just the cook times will be less. Thawing should also be quick, so not over night in the fridge. For example, for fish take it out and put it in water to thaw quickly. Same with reheating, it needs to be quick, think short for everything. This is why the Instant Pot is good, it is quick. If batch cooking make sure to freeze. It is okay to eat up the slow cooking that I already have frozen first, and then transition into this. For cut up vegetables the histamines are fine (like kohlrabi sticks), it is for things that are cooked and meats that you need to eat/freeze right away.

The amylose diet is separate from SIFO, which I am now finished, and is more liberal. The amylose diet is developed by Shoemaker and is on his website (here is the treatment document, scroll almost to the bottom for the diet).

Basically, of the things I am eating right now, the food group I am removing is things that grow under the ground. The only exception to this is onions and garlic. This means removing carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, and beets which I eat regularly. Also, the only fruit that is not allowed is bananas (this includes plantains).

So all squash even butternut, which has high starch but low amylose, can be eaten now. Basically everything that grows above ground is good.

Amylose content isn’t a perfect science yet, not all the foods have been tested. Tigernuts grow under there ground but their amylose content is 19-21%. High amylose is 25-30% and low amylose is considered below 20, so tigernuts are just fine. I get some more wiggle room since I am more restrictive. Jicama’s amylose content is 23% which is slightly higher than the 20% threshold on the low amylose diet, so reduce consumption. The same holds true for radish and turmeric which has very high amylose content of 48%.

For AIP flours, tigernut is fine (coconut would be fine too if I can tolerate it) but cassava, arrowroot and banana are not allowed.

Some of the pseudo grains are lower in amylose, so like amaranth, quinoa and rice. Beans like lentils and chickpeas are safe on the amylose diet, with the histamine it is fine to soak them (can leave on the counter) and then cook quickly (like in the Instant Pot).

I can now start adding back more fruit and can have more than one serving a day again. As well as diluted fruit juice, applesauce and homemade fruit sauces (cooked fruit). Sweeteners are also allowed again in moderation (maple syrup and molasses). Green tea is also good again but not black tea as it can be high in histamines.