Looking back, it's hardly surprising that I was ill every Saturday. At the time I attributed it to relaxation after the working week, but the more I think about it, the more likely it seems that food and the lack of food contributed to my downfall. The lack of food, or the wrong sort of food, can be just as important, as blood sugar swings are a common factor in migraine attacks. Eating a slice of cake or a few cookies may boost your blood sugar in the short term, but your body may overcompensate by producing too much insulin, dramatically lowering it again. Overdoing a weight-loss diet may also cause problems, as may strenuous exercise coupled with delayed meals.
Some women find they can eat chocolate any time except just before a period.
To complicate matters, some people can be sensitive to common foods that we eat in large quantities often several times a day such as wheat or milk, and this can make identifying them very difficult. It's not just the foods, either it's the things we put into them, the flavorings and preservatives, thickeners and colorings. For a small number of sufferers, these may be a genuine problem. The good news is that, for many migraine sufferers, food is not a problem at all. No one can tell you whether it is going to be a problem for you.