I Guess I'll Have to Eat Like a Dog

Mikey's teaching me how to eat.

When I began my research for People Food for Pets, I found many lists of doggie “no no’s.” I consulted list after list; the foods on the lists began sounding familiar.

I’ve been suffering from migraine headaches for as long as I can remember and have been researching the food triggers. Most, but not all, of the migraine “no no’s” have been problems for me. No one has demonstrated whether the foods have a cumulative effect; that could explain the seemingly random headaches, but I know I’ve been the target of each one at some time.

Yes, migraine headaches are the enemy. The enemy seems to sneak into my bedroom at three in the morning and shoot me in the head, usually only on one side, leaving me incapacitated. Then we begin our dialogue: “What did you eat yesterday? Did you eat lunch, breakfast? What time did you come into bed last night? Yadda yadda yadda”

Here’s a curious list:

Bad for Dogs	Bad for Migraines
aged cheese	aged cheese
alcohol	alcohol
bananas	bananas
beer	beer
caffeine	caffeine
chickpeas	chickpeas
chocolate	chocolate
citrus	citrus
corncobs	corncobs
eggplant	eggplant
garlic	garlic
ketchup	ketchup
mushrooms	mushrooms
mustard seeds	mustard
onions	onions
processed meats	processed meats
raisins	raisins
raspberries	raspberries
red grapes	red grapes
red plums	red plums
soy sauce	soy sauce
tea	tea
tomatoes	tomatoes
uncooked yeast dough	uncooked yeast dough
walnuts	walnuts
wine	wine

All these migraine triggers have been on my list for years. Yes, I do give in and eat pizza or sausages with peppers and onions, but at three AM I regret it.

I’m working on a cookbook with recipes for pet food made from the same ingredients that I use for my people food. The first thing I had to find was a list of foods that were dangerous for dogs, ingredients I could never use in my dog food.

If I couldn’t use the ingredients in the dog food, I certainly couldn’t include them in my people food recipes. We’ve been eating the people food without the problematic ingredients for two weeks, and I haven’t had a single headache, not one. Could I have conquered the enemy?

Now I have to figure out how to cook without wine, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and mushrooms. If eating like Mikey will cure my headaches, I may have to start to bark, or teach Mikey to read (He already talks.)