Whether you get a headache once a year, once a week or daily, they are no fun. Some headaches can really wipe you out and the usual remedy is to take some type of over the counter medication to relieve the pain. For some people their headaches are so bad that over the counter remedies don’t work and they need to spend additional money on prescriptions to get rid of the pain.

What if I told you, that there are natural way to get rid of a headache. Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D, shared in one of my courses that headaches are a way that our body is telling us that we are off-balance. She explained that headaches are really about an energy imbalance. All foods have energy, but if we have too much of one thing or another, we create an energy imbalance. The way our body tells us our energy is out of balance is by getting a headache. Listed below are the 5 basic different types of headaches and the natural remedies for them.

1) Expansive – This type of headache usually occurs from too much fruit, ice cream, sugar, dessert, alcohol. The Remedy is to eat salty food like olives, umeboshi plums, anchovies – even salty potato chips.

2) Contractive – This type of headache (sometimes referred to as a tension headache) usually occur from too much protein, salt, not enough food, not enough water, too much heat, too much stress, work, tension. The Remedy is two glasses of juice, (any kind, apple juice works well), apple sauce, italian lemon ice, seltzer with lemon.

3) Liver – This migrany headache comes from eating too much fatty or oily food on an empty stomach. (i.e. fast food, a whole bag of chips (which can be 70% oil), or other oily food.) If the food drops into the empty stomach and does not get diluted, when it hits the gallbladder 3-4 hours later the headache begins. The Remedy is lots of lemon. See the Lemon tea recipe below.

4) Caffeine – This is the headache you get when you stop drinking caffeine. If your body is used to getting this drug on a regular basis and you were so busy you didn’t get a chance to have your coffee or soda, oh boy, you get a headache and go into withdrawl. Caffeine is so addictive and the quickest way to get rid of a caffeine headache is to have some amount of caffeine. This is the reason it is hard for so many people to give up soda or coffee. As a reminder, there is caffeine in tea, black tea, green tea, decaf tea or coffee, chocolate, and so on. Lots of over-the-counter drugs used as headache remedies also have caffeine in them as well. It is the most popular drug in the US and many people are addicted to it.

If you have a caffeine withdrawal headache, drink lots of water, and wait till it goes away. If you clear the caffeine from your system – which could take 2,3 weeks – you will feel calmer and steadier. Depending on how much caffeine you drink per day, don’t go cold turkey, it could be very painful. Go really slow.

5) Structural – If you have tried all of the above and none apply, you may have had some type of head trauma. In this case, it is beneficial to see a chiropractor, massage or cranial therapy.

So this blog was timely for me, as I usually don’t get headaches, but yesterday I had a headache start in the afternoon and just couldn’t get rid of it. I remembered this lesson from my classwork and decided to try one of the natural remedies. When I looked at the descriptions, I realized that it could have been a combination of too much heat and not enough food (a contractive headache, so I needed to eat something sweet) So I went into my freezer and found some italian ice. No kidding, I had a bowl and my headache was gone in minutes.

So the next time you get a headache, before you go to grab any kind of pill, see if one of these simple remedies might work for you. If you understand the model, you should be able to heal any headache you get within minutes.

Lemon Tea recipe. It is based on an Argentine folk recipe called “el te de la Madre Celestina.” Enjoy!

LEMON TEA
½ organic lemon
1 cup water

1. Juice the ½ lemon and pour juice into a cup. Take the juiced-out peel, cut into several pieces, and place in a pot with the cup of water.
2. Simmer the lemon peel in the water for 10 minutes. Strain water into the cup with the juice. Discard the peel. Drink hot. Makes 1 serving. Enjoy!