The category of low histamine nuts and seeds is both wide-ranging and controversial, with some people erroneously listing all nuts and seeds as high histamine. This is largely due to the presence of biogenic amines other than histamine, which are cleared from the body through the same pathways. But all of the grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes we eat also contain varying levels of antinutrients, some of which certain people happen to be more sensitive to.
For that reason, I recommend avoiding grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes for the first two weeks of your elimination diet, and then slowly adding them back in one at a time, starting with the fattiest ones (starred below with an asterisk). Often coconut is lumped in with tree nuts, but while coconut is also low histamine, it’s not actually a nut and therefore not listed below. Similarly, tiger nuts are low histamine but they’re a tuber (again, despite the name), and therefore not listed below.
- Acorns
- Almonds
- Brazil nuts (no more than 2 a day)
- *Chestnuts
- Chia seeds
- Flax seeds
- Hazelnuts
- Hemp seeds
- *Macadamia nuts
- Pecans
- *Pili nuts
- *Pine nuts
- Pistachios
- Poppy seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Sesame seeds
- Sunflower seeds
I don´t understand the star near some nuts.. What does it mean?
As I mentioned in the introduction, the fattiest ones are ‘starred below with an asterisk’ because they’re the best ones to try reintroducing first, since they have the overall lowest histamine burden.