Cold Sore Prevention Diet

When you have a weak immune system, you're not just at risk of cold sores, your body is more vulnerable to illness in general. There are many practices you should cultivate to prevent immunodeficiency, among which are several eating habits that will help keep you healthy. A well-balanced diet incorporating fruits, vegetables, vitamins, minerals and water will establish a foundation and help prevent sores from sprouting up around your body.

Staw Away From Acids and Arginine

• Knowing what foods cause cold sores is the first step to create a cold-sore-prevention diet. Foods that are high in arginine tend to aid in forming cold sores and will not help you treat them. Stay away from peas, whole grains, chocolate and other foods with high arginine levels. It has also been found that acidic foods initiate and aggravate cold sores. As good as they may taste, you're going to have to avoid them as much as possible. Check everything you eat and make sure it has low acid and arginine levels.

Eat seafood

• Foods with high vitamin B-12 levels will support production of red blood cells and allow nerve cells to develop properly. This is a key factor in preventing cold sores from spouting. Seafood is a primary source of B-12. Mollusks, clam, liver, beef, fortified breakfast cereals, trout and salmon are all healthy sources. Spend a night out at an oyster bar, or have a some baked salmon for dinner. You want to try to limit fish to once or twice a week to reduce mercury intake, however.

Eat a High Lysine to Arginine Ratio

• Lysine and arginine compete for the same space inside your body. Arginine can aid the growth and reproduction of cold sores, and lysine can't. To prevent cold sores, fill your body with a high lysine level and a low arginine level. To do this you want to eat foods that contain at least twice as much lysine than arginine. This would be represented as a two-to-one lysine to arginine ratio.

  Margarine has a three-to-one ratio, and many dairy products, like plain yogurt and Swiss cheese, contain at least two times the amount of lysine as arginine. Other foods that are beneficial to eat are beef, fish, chicken, milk, eggs, apples, pears and apricots.

Sample Diet

• You have to mix and match the right foods to create a diet that fits you best, but here is a general guideline.

  Breakfast: Plain yogurt and an apple. Many dairy products are extremely beneficial to preventing cold sores, and fruits and vegetables are a great source of vitamins and minerals.

  Lunch: Grilled chicken salad. Lettuce and tomato will give you your source of vegetables, and you can add peanuts to add some zinc to the dish. Mix up some boiled eggs and you'll get a meal that has a real high lysine to arginine ratio.

  Dinner: Bake a salmon and pair it with some broccoli as a side dish. Slice some mango and papaya as a dessert and pair it with a nice glass of wine.

  You should also drink six to eight glasses of water a day.