Is there a food cure for stress headaches?

Q:

I took over running the fall programming at my church, and the extra pressure is wearing me down. By the time I get home, my head is pounding, and it’s hard to unwind. Can a diet tweak help?

A:

To keep tension-related pain at bay, we advise a two-pronged approach:

(1) As soon as you feel the first signs of a headache, sip a cup of coffee. It works wonders: In a study at the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, 58% of headache sufferers who consumed 200 mg. of caffeine (the amount in a large cup of coffee) reported complete headache pain relief after just 30 minutes. The caffeine in the brew causes blood vessels around the skull to constrict, instantly blunting tension-triggering pain.

(2) Snack on 1⁄2 cup of almonds daily. The magnesium in these nuts eases muscle tension and blocks the activity of pain-triggering nerves in the brain. This effect helped subjects in one study slash the frequency of their headaches by 42% in nine weeks.