In this article, I’m going to teach you about the Cold Sore Diet – that is – what foods and beverages to avoid – and which ones to favor.
For nearly 20 years of my life, I suffered from regular cold sore outbreaks on my lips.
During the worst years, I would sometimes get 6-8 cold sores in a 12-month period, each taking 1-2 weeks to completely heal.
It was no way to live.
Fortunately, I am happy to say that it’s now been four years since my last cold sore.
There is no cure for cold sores, however, with the Cold Sore Diet and other lifestyle changes, I’ve been able to successfully prevent them.
If you too want to be FREE of cold sore outbreaks, this Cold Sore Diet I’m about to share with you is an EXTRAORDINARY place to start!!!
Cold Sore Diet – Cold Sore Overview
Cold sores, also known as fever blisters, are groups of small blisters that form on or near the lips. Cold sores are a result of something called herpes simplex virus (HSV).
There are two types of HSV, and both can cause cold sores. HSV-1 typically is responsible for cold sores, and HSV-2 is most often the cause of genital herpes.
However, both types of HSV can cause cold sores or genital herpes.
After primary infection, the virus resides in the associated dorsal root ganglion where it lies dormant until an external stimuli (such as stress or immunosuppression) initiate reactivation of the virus from dormancy.
The virus lives on forever, and that’s why people continue to get cold sores over and over again. There is no cure, but with the right lifestyle changes, you can drastically reduce, or even completely eliminate cold sore outbreaks.
Cold Sore Diet – The Lysine/Arginine Relationship
One of the main changes you make on the Cold Sore diet is increasing the amount of L-lysine in your diet, while decreasing the amount of arginine.
Let me explain why…
L-lysine is an essential amino acid. This means that we need the nutrient for human health, but our bodies cannot manufacture it.
As a result, L-lysine must be obtained from either food, supplementation, or both.
Here is a list of lysine-rich foods:
- Chicken
- Fish
- Red meat
- Pork
- Turkey
- Cheese
- Milk
- Eggs
- Legumes
Click here to see a list of the foods with the highest L-lysine content.
Why is L-lysine a major component of the Cold Sore Diet?
In 1981, Christopher Kagan, M.D., discovered that if he isolated HSV in a petri dish, and added the amino acid L-arginine, the virus would multiply.
However, when he added L-lysine, the virus’s ability to multiply became inhibited.
He realized the virus becomes inhibited because lysine blocks the bioavailability of arginine, which prevents the virus from replicating.
In simple terms, the virus that causes cold sores has a very difficult time replicating when there are high levels of lysine, and low levels of arginine in the body.
Here is a list of foods that have high arginine/low lysine:
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Chocolate
- Whole grains
- Oats
A double-blind, placebo-controlled study concluded that “Lysine appears to be an effective agent for reduction of occurrence, severity and healing time for recurrent HSV infection.”
In the study, the cold sore treatment group was given 1,000 mg L-lysine tablets three times a day for a six-month period.
In another study, researchers found that “oral ingestion of 1,248 mg a day of L-Lysine monohydrochloride shows evidence of decreasing the recurrence rate of herpes simplex attacks in nonimmunocompromised hosts.”
As you can see, lysine is a very important component of the Cold Sore Diet.
Thus, the first step in the Cold Sore Diet is to increase your daily lysine-to-arginine ratio.
You can do this by adhering to the following guidelines:
- Start taking 1,000 mg of of Solgar L-lysine three times a day on an empty stomach 45 minutes before meals.
- Reduce your consumption of foods on the high/arginine – low/lysine list (such as dark chocolate), and increase your consumption of foods which have the ratio of high/lysine – low/arginine (such as fish).
Cold Sore Diet – Organic Whole Foods
Now that you know how to increase lysine and decrease arginine on the Cold Sore Diet, let’s talk about processed foods versus organic whole foods.
One reason people with the cold sore virus get outbreaks is due to eating an abundance of processed and refined foods.
The cold sore virus thrives on the following:
- Processed foods
- Refined flour
- Refined sugar
Things like soda, white bread, crackers, chips, cookies, microwave dinners, white pasta, and other refined and processed foods create an internal environment that supports the cold sore virus.
To properly follow the Cold Sore Diet, you need to get at least 85% or more of your nutrition from organic whole foods.
An organic whole food diet staves off the cold sores virus, and it also leads to better physical and mental health.
Focus on eating the following on the Cold Sore Diet:
- Organic whole foods
- Free range meat, dairy, and eggs
- Wild caught seafood
- Plenty of fruits and veggies
- Healthy fats
- Plenty of water (spring and/or alkaline)
Note: Depending on your own unique biochemistry, you may also benefit from foods such as legumes, nuts, seeds, and grains. However, everyone is different. The important part of the Cold Sore Diet is that you focus on organic whole foods, and drastically reduce processed foods, refined foods, and sugar.
Cold Sore Diet – Other Foods to Avoid or Limit
The Cold Sore Diet also limits or avoids certain foods and supplements which have been known to trigger cold sores.
The following should be avoided or limited on the Cold Sore Diet:
- Fried foods
- Large amounts of Panax Ginseng (small amounts are good)
- Coffee
- Soda
- Pre-workout supplements containing creatine, L-arginine, or L-citrulline
- Tomatoes
Cold Sore Diet – Final Thoughts
Well, what do you think about using the Cold Sore Diet? Pretty straight forward right?
Getting cold sores is no fun, but now you have this proven Cold Sore Diet to help you keep those facial herpes lesions from popping up on your lips or other areas.
Before I end, I want to say something important…
Follow this diet 85 to 90 percent of the time, and 10 to 15 percent of the time…
Eat whatever you like.
This way you’ll be happier in life and less stressed out. Remember, stress is the number one trigger, so it doesn’t matter if you’re following the Cold Sore Diet to the tee if doing so stresses you out.
Along with diet, there are many other effective methods of preventing cold sores. To learn about these, I encourage you to check out my Ultimate Guide To Preventing Cold Sores.
Okay so that wraps it up!
I have complete faith that if you use this Cold Sore Diet, you will either reduce or completely eliminate cold sore outbreaks.
Good luck, and I wish you the best!!!
If you have any comments or questions on the Cold Sore Diet, please post them in the comment box below.
Kylie Dotts says
I like how you said that even though you could follow this diet you should still eat what you want every once in a while. Especially considering that a diet isn’t the only way to be able to prevent this kind of thing from happening. Dieting well and visiting a cold sore prevention professional would be a great way to keep yourself from getting them.
Matt says
Thank you. That was coming from experience. When I used to try and eat perfectly all the time, it led to so much stress that is was actually unhealthy. Much better to try and eat clean most of the time, but let yourself eat unhealthily too, and really enjoy that!
amjad says
If cold sore professionals were fixing us appropriately we wouldn’t have been discussing this issue here