The Migraine Diet

by Denise Potter, Rdn

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Migraine Diet is a specialty cookbook and keto based plan by Denise Potter. Released 17th Dec 2019 by Callisto on their Rockridge imprint, it's 225 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. The book also includes a short author bio, and a metric conversion chart. There is no index. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

Chronic migraine can be debilitating. The etiology (causes) are myriad, but like all things, what we put into our bodies and our lifestyle choices have a fundamental effect on how well our bodies work. The author makes a compelling argument for adopting a low carbohydrate diet to ameliorate the severity and occurrence of migraine attacks. The high-fat, low-carb, moderate protein diet was originally developed to treat difficult cases of epilepsy which is comorbid with migraine (people with one are more than twice as likely to have the other, or other neurological issues). The author includes a number of peer-reviewed sources in the links and annotations in the book for further reading.

The books is well formatted and has a logical and easy to follow layout. The introductory chapters (~32% of the page content) cover some of the phsyiology behind the diet, migraines, what to expect, realistic expectations, and other general info. The following chapters contain the recipes, grouped roughly thematically: breakfast, salads & soups, snacks & sides, stews & chilis, meatless mains, seafood mains, meaty mains, desserts, and staples and partial ingredients.

Each recipe includes an introduction with other info such as portion control and yields followed by bullet list ingredients in sidebars with prep-time estimates. The recipes' ingredients lists are provided with English/American measurements only. Nutritional info including macronutrient content is provided in the footer under the recipe instructions. Most of the recipes are not photographed. There are some photos, and they're clear and attractive, but they only represent a fraction of the recipes.

There are quite a number of interesting, appetizing, and relatively easy to cook foods contained here. I would recommend it to people who are interested in adapting a ketogenic diet who are also suffering from chronic migraine.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.