Headaches / Vegetarianism

I think headaches are pretty common whenever we make any kind of drastic change in our eating styles. I'm not vegetarian or anything, but when I switched from my eat junk a lot to rarely eat junk lifestyle I had HORRENDOUS headaches for days and days. Once my body got used to it, I was fine. Now, I only get them when I eat junk food.

I've been a vegetarian since I was 11 or 12 years old. I'm what they call a pescatarian... I eat seafood, drink skim milk, and once in awhile I'll have eggs but I prefer egg substitute.

When I was younger I had migraines a lot... the Dr told me my iron was low and that could be the reason for the headaches and always being tired.

So if you are new to the style you have to be sure you are getting enough iron in place of the iron you'd get from eatting meat. Also if you are cutting back carbs or anything else, this may cause the headaches. I know they say when you start a low-carb, high-protein diet that headaches are common in the beginning and they suggest you drink more water to help reduce the frequency of headaches. Hope this helps!

I'm a vegetarian and didn't experience chronic headaches when I switched over to my non meat diet. Although if i DO get a headache its either because I'm dehydrated, in which case I drink several glasses of water, or my blood sugar is low and my body wants protein. In that case I'll eat some cheese, hard boiled egg, cottage cheese, nuts, beans. It's definitely easy to get into the carb heavy diet when you're not eating meat, so just make sure you're getting enough. There are lots of non meat protein options! Hope this helps!

I don't think blood type has anything to do with eating meat, the headaches are probably just from changing your diet. I was a vegetarian for 14 yrs, have been a pescatarian (I allow myself fish occasionally now) for 2.... A lot of ppl start a vegetarian diet and base their diet on pasta and rice etc... just because you stopped eating meat and become vegetarian does not mean you are going to become healthy or lose weight.... its difficult to get enough protein on a veg diet, so make sure you make a concsious effort to track that, and B vitamins & iron (take a supplement or multi v every day). For protein, try drinking a protein shake every day and make sure you eat beans, nuts, and soy. They make some yummy meat substitutes from Boca and Morningstar Farms, but they are processed food, and can have higher sodium content so don't go overboard on them. And make sure your vegetarian diet is actually full of veggies!! Don't rely on the carbs! Almost every veg cookbook I have bought has a billion damn pasta recipies in them...so annoying, that does not count!!! LOL

You might have a food allergy and since you gave up meat you are now eating more of something else to fill the void and that might be causing the headaches. It would be best to go through an elimination process to help you determine where your headaches are coming from.

Food Intolerance / Food Sensitivity / Food Allergy Headaches: Many practitioners categorize these
headaches as part of the migraine group, however outside of an occasional enzymic deficiency, they are not
treated by normalizing organic or chemical problems. The most effective way to deal with these types of
headaches is to avoid the foods or beverages that one is sensitive to, since in contrast to air-borne allergies
(hay fever) where allergy shots may be an option, there are no shots available for dietary triggers.

The Elimination Diet uses a type of protocol where an individual starts with a one day fast, and then begins
to re-introduce various food items every day, whereby the types of foods causing headaches or any other
medical symptoms are then permanently eliminated.

The Rotational Diet simply rotates various food groups, assuming that symptoms / reactions can be kept to
a minimum by not consuming the same offending foods on a frequent basis. If a particular food from a food
group stands out as a cause for headaches, it may then also be eliminated.

There are several variations to the above methods, whereby some people find that eliminating specific
Food Groups on a trial basis offers the most practical and least interruptive approach. In other words, one
follows a conventional diet, but then begins to avoid foods of the nightshades group, or legumes, citrus, dairy,
meats, grains, etc. - in no particular order - for a specific time period:

• Nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, garden peppers, eggplant, paprika),
• Root Vegetables (carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, rutabagas, garlic, onions),
• Cruciferous Vegetables (Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower),
• Gourd Vegetables (squash, cucumber, pumpkin, zucchini),
• Leafy Green Vegetables (lettuce, spinach, kale, chard),
• Legumes (peanuts, soybeans, all other beans, peas, lentils),

• Citrus (lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, tangelos),
• Fruits (apples, pears, bananas, plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, grapes, pineapples, olives),
• Berries (strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, blueberries, gooseberries, blackberries),

• Dairy (milk, ice cream, sour cream, cheese, yogurt - and other dairy-containing sources),
• Meats (beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey),
• Fish (salmon, tuna, sardines, herring, trout),
• Shellfish (lobster, shrimp, oyster, mussel),

• Seeds (pumpkin, flax, sesame, sunflower),
• Nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, filberts, Brazil),
• Grains (wheat, barley, rye, corn, millet, oats, rice, buckwheat, amaranth, spelt),
• Various (eggs, mushrooms, spices, alcohol, tobacco, sugar, honey, tea, cocoa, oils, yeast).

Once an offending food group is isolated, the same approach can be applied to single items of the same
group, although in some - but not all cases, an entire food group may be responsible for causing headaches.
Keeping an accurate diary is most important to not only help isolate any problem foods, but also additives
such as sulfites, MSG, nitrites / nitrates, or other common offenders such as caffeine or tyramine, and to not
miss any possible non food-related triggers such as lack of sleep or sleeping in too long, electromagnetic
fields (cell or portable phone), fresh news print (magazines, news-papers), eye strain, pet allergies, nutritional
supplements, or prescribed medications.

Headaches - or any other symptoms related to food sensitivities, intolerances, or allergies generally clear in
about 4 - 5 days, so any particular food group should be avoided for at least a week to 10 days. This also
applies to salad dressings, ketchup, baked goods, etc..., that contain any suspect food sources.

http://www.acu-cell.com/dis-hea.html

When I switched to being a vegetarian a year and a half ago (strict-no meat, fish, gelatin, etc), I also started getting headaches. It seemed to be from a lack of protein and iron. Once I focused on getting more of those, they went away, and I felt great! Good luck!

Very very unlikely. I am also O+ and have been vegetarian for 20 years, and get freakily few headaches compared to most people. I literally only ever get them when I don't drink tea in the morning, which is almost never!

I used to be a vegetarian and I would get headaches if I wasn't eating enough or wasn't eating a balanced diet. Make sure you're getting enough protein and enough calories and drinking enough water. Those were my culprits as a veggie!

I think headaches are pretty common whenever we make any kind of drastic change in our eating styles. I'm not vegetarian or anything, but when I switched from my eat junk a lot to rarely eat junk lifestyle I had HORRENDOUS headaches for days and days. Once my body got used to it, I was fine. Now, I only get them when I eat junk food.

I agree... its' the change, not the lack of meat. Have you read Skinny *****? Or China Study? Locked me vegan for life.