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Diet for Herpes Zoster

Herpes zoster, better known as shingles, is a condition that comes from the same virus that can give you chickenpox at a young age. As you get older, a weaker immune system can lead to its resurgence as a rash that can cause nerve pain and irritation. As soon as you begin to experience the disease you should make several changes to your diet immediately. Consult your doctor when making any drastic dietary changes.

  1. What to Remove

    • Herpes zoster can be inflamed and aggravated by drastic emotional changes. There are many foods that can make our emotions fluctuate and those should be removed from the diet right away. Foods with processed sugars and other carbohydrates have the tendency to make blood sugar spike and should be replaced by more natural sugars like fruits. Alcohol is a depressant and it can weaken the immune system. These two properties can wreak havoc on a body attempting to combat herpes zoster. The same can be said for coffee and cigarettes. Extremely fatty foods, fast foods and fried foods should also be eliminated. If you can make these few changes, your body will have a much stronger ability to work against the disease

    Vitamin-Rich Foods

    • Next, add some of the following foods to your diet that are rich in vitamins and minerals that can help your condition. Vitamins A and C are antioxidants that can help with your body's cellular damage and can promote a better environment for healing. Vitamin A can be found in apricots, mangoes, sweet potatoes, fish and eggs. Add vitamin C to your diet with red and green peppers, avocados, oranges, onions and strawberries. The mineral selenium helps to heal and restore healthy skin when combined with flax-seed oil and the amino acid lysine. Increase your selenium intake by eating Brazil nuts, whole grains, poultry, salmon and lobster. Vitamins B12 and folic acid are helpful as they protect the nerves and heal the sheath that goes around them. Vitamin B12 can be found in lean meats, blue cheese, king crab and milk. Folic acid is found in pinto and navy beans, Brussels sprouts, brown rice, mushrooms, lentils and dates.

    Supplemental Herbs

    • There are multiple herbal remedies that you should include in your diet to help with the symptoms of shingles. Using pure aloe vera gel along with oil from vitamin E can bring immediate relief when applied topically to your shingles rash. Follow this by supplementing herbs like echinacea and goldenseal, which have strong antiviral and antibacterial properties. Passion flower is an herbal sedative that can help to treat shingles by calming the nerves and reducing stress that could bring on a shingles attack. The herb can also help to relieve some of the pain. If you follow all of the above steps, there is a good chance that your herpes zoster symptoms will begin to feel much better within a few days.

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