While they all manifest themselves differently, with somewhat different symptoms, herpes, shingles, and chickenpox all spring from the same varicella-zoster virus. it’s also known as the herpes zoster virus or the herpes virus.
Shingles manifests itself as a painful rash that may cause blisters, itching, and pain. While there is no known cure for shingles, a shingles vaccine and chickenpox vaccine can help prevent the condition. That said, there are ways to minimize symptoms that you can do on your own, including paying attention to the following list of foods to avoid with shingles.
Avoid These Foods if You Have Shingles
You can reduce shingles pain, skin rash, itching, and blisters by limiting or avoiding consumption of the following foods.
- Foods High in Arginine – Foods with higher amounts of the amino acid arginine can promote the growth of the shingles virus. This is especially true if the foods are low in the amino acid lysine, which balances arginine in your body.
- Nuts & Seeds – Most if not all nuts and seeds have high arginine levels. While none of them are particularly good for shingles, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and macadamia nuts have the best arginine/lysine ratio, and walnuts, sesame seeds, pine nuts, almonds, and hazelnuts have the worst. And the effect is just as powerful with nut and seed products like almond butter and coconut flour.
- Processed Foods – Getting the right vitamins and nutrition for your diet is a good way to treat shingle symptoms. Because shingles is a viral condition, a strong immune system is a great defence. Particularly important are vitamins A, B-6, C, E, and folate, plus the minerals iron and zinc. The other side of that proposition is that you should avoid foods that are not nutrient-dense, including, sugary, salty and high fat processed foods. If you feel you don’t get the proper nutrition from your diet, talk to one of our nutritional counsellors and ask about a Herbal One Diet Plan.
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