You can cook with more spices, I was on a low histamine diet too for long covid, it’s even more strict. In fact many spices are anti-inflammatory too.
you can’t go wrong counting calories but honestly I would focus on eating the right food first. Then work on calorie reduction if you are having a problem after 2-3 weeks.
the thing is, getting off processed food, added sugar, animal based saturated fat takes tremendous effort for a couple of weeks. And your appetite will be sky high for a while as you come off that dependency.
about 3 weeks in you’ll start craving natural foods and loving how they taste. I would crave scrambled eggs and potatoes like you could not imagine. Some nights I had to have broccoli. I’d even make a special trip to the store to get it. I would devour okra in the afternoons. I would eat an entire personal watermelon multiple times a week.
the key is to be real and not fudge. 5g or less of added sugar per day, preferably 1-2g. Zero processed carbs. No butter, no steak, chicken skin, or bacon, avoid cheese and dairy at first. Just get your system off the crap as soon as possible.
Lean heavy on fruits and vegetables. It’s impossible to over eat broccoli and sweet potatoes (as an example). You can’t do it. They are not calorie dense. What you can’t do is eat few veggies and fruit and lean on protein and cheeses. The foundation of anti-inflammatory is lots and lots of vegetables and fruit.
eating out even the healthy stuff is a trap imo. Cook at home that’s the only way you know it’s good food.
once you’re on the diet then if you aren’t losing weight count calories.
once you are losing weight you can add milk and cheese, yogurt and some tiny minuscule added sugar cheats but you still want to be 5g or less.
the final piece has nothing to do with weight loss but round it out with a good supplement game especially stuff that’s good for your brain and nervous system, exercise, sleep, invest in your relationships and then at that point you are firing on all cylinders for a maximum health span and a longer life.