What dietary taboos should you pay attention to when you have rhinitis?

The core dietary taboos for patients with rhinitis are to "avoid what they are allergic to". There is no universal list of taboos. Give priority to avoiding foods that are clearly known to trigger rhinitis attacks, and then limit high histamine and highly irritating foods based on your own reactions. There is no need to blindly follow the trend and avoid so-called "hair-raising foods".

There is a girl next to me who has been suffering from seasonal allergic rhinitis for almost 7 years. In the past three years, I heard the elders at home say that rhinitis should avoid all "hairy things". Beef, seafood, mangoes and even eggs are not allowed to be touched. She usually eats very light meals, so rhinitis is a common sin. Last year, she checked for food allergens and found out that she was only allergic to pineapple and shelled seafood. She had given up her favorite braised beef for so long, but now she eats it twice a week, and her rhinitis has not worsened.

Oh, by the way, there are actually different opinions on whether rhinitis should avoid raw and cold food. The traditional Chinese medicine system usually recommends that rhinitis patients, especially those with yang deficiency who are afraid of cold and prone to runny nose, should avoid cold and cold foods such as ice milk tea and ice watermelon. Cold air invading the lungs can aggravate nasal congestion and runny nose, but Western medicine does not have a clear statement on the contraindications of raw and cold food. As long as you eat cold food without causing itchy nose, sneezing, or worsening of nasal congestion, it is perfectly fine to occasionally eat a popsicle in summer without feeling too guilty.

Of course, there are two types of foods that most patients with rhinitis can easily aggravate their symptoms, so it’s best to be more careful. Not long ago, I suffered from acute rhinitis. I was greedy and ate pickled fish that had been at home for almost a week. Half an hour after eating, my nose was itchy and I wanted to rub it down. I sneezed more than a dozen times. After checking, I found out that pickled foods, leftovers that have been left for a long time, alcohol that has been left for several days after opening, and fermented fermented bean curd all have high histamine content. The nasal mucosa is in a highly sensitive state during a rhinitis attack. Excessive histamine intake can easily aggravate allergic reactions. There are also those particularly spicy butter hotpots, super high-alcohol spirits, and cold dishes with a lot of mustard and raw garlic, which are so irritating that they make you cry. After eating, the nasal mucosa immediately becomes congested and swollen. It was just a little stuffy at first, but after eating it became so blocked that you can only breathe through your mouth. It is best not to touch such highly irritating foods during a rhinitis attack.

If you are really not sure what you can and cannot eat, you might as well keep a food diary. On a day when your rhinitis suddenly worsens after eating something you don’t usually eat, write down the food. If you have the same reaction two or three times in a row, just avoid it in the future. This is much more suitable for you than the cookie-cutter list of taboos on the Internet.