Diet taboos for pharyngitis

What patients with pharyngitis really need to avoid are the three types of foods that "can directly irritate the throat mucosa, aggravate the inflammatory reaction, and induce mucosal secretion disorders." In addition, as long as there is no clear food allergy, there is no need to excessively restrict food. Even blind taboos are the culprits of many people's repeated pharyngitis.

I just met a 29-year-old Internet practitioner in the clinic last week. He has suffered from chronic pharyngitis for three years. He said that he has not touched anything spicy, sweet, or cold in the past three years, and he only dares to steam and eat fruits. As a result, he still gets pharyngitis once a month. According to the test, his immunity is much lower than that of his peers. He has not supplemented any nutrition, and there are not enough raw materials for mucosal repair. How can he be completely cured?

Let’s talk about the spicy food that everyone is most concerned about first. In fact, not all spicy food should be blacklisted. If you usually eat spicy food, it is perfectly fine to eat mildly spicy home-cooked food during the stable phase of chronic pharyngitis. However, in the acute phase, your throat will be so congested and swollen that it hurts. If you try spicy hot pot, grilled fish with vine peppers, and strong liquor, the mucous membranes will be burned directly after one bite, and the congestion and edema will double. The pain is so mild that you can't speak. In severe cases, it can cause coughing and shock to the mucous membranes to bleed. Oh, by the way, there are also strong coffee and strong black tea that many people ignore. The theophylline and caffeine in them will make the water in the throat mucosa evaporate faster. Pharyngitis is prone to dryness and itching. Drinking two or three cups of strong coffee can make you cough all night. I met a middle school teacher a while ago. He had pharyngitis and had to stay up late to prepare for lessons. Two cups of strong American coffee a day made him sleepy. The cough didn't go away for 20 days. Later, he changed the coffee to warm light honey water, and most of the cough was relieved in 3 days.

There are also foods that will make your throat sticky after eating, such as pearl milk tea with half a cup of sugar, cakes with a thick layer of non-dairy cream, fried chicken popcorn crisps, etc. It is not that they are poisonous, but after eating these refined foods with high sugar and fat, the secretions in the throat mucosa will thicken, making it difficult to cough it out and swallow it. If it is blocked in the throat, it will aggravate the foreign body sensation. To be fair here, many health accounts say that "you must not eat anything sweet if you have pharyngitis" is really too extreme. It is perfectly fine to eat natural sweet fruits such as a pear or a strawberry, and you can also supplement vitamins to help repair the mucous membrane. What I am afraid of is that it is just processed food that adds a lot of refined sugar.

As for the most controversial question "Can you take cold drinks if you have pharyngitis?", in fact, there are indeed differences in the recommendations in different fields. The view of Western medicine is that as long as you don't feel uncomfortable after eating something cold, such as eating room-temperature yogurt or even a small spoonful of ice cream in the summer, and you don't feel your throat itches or your cough gets worse after eating it, there is no need to prohibit or make things difficult for yourself. However, Chinese medicine generally recommends that you try not to touch ice in the acute stage or when you have obvious sore throat and cough up yellow phlegm. The cold will congeal the qi and blood, and the inflammation will subside slowly. This actually depends on the individual's tolerance. When I have pharyngitis, I will occasionally take a few bites of iced watermelon to relieve sore throat.

Another completely individualized taboo is the food you are allergic to. If you get a rash or itchy throat when eating mangos, seafood, nuts, etc., you must avoid them. If you have no history of allergies, you can eat them normally. The high-quality protein in fish and shrimp can also help the mucous membranes repair faster.

Oh, by the way, there is another pitfall that 90% of people have stepped on. If you have pharyngitis, you have to drink "hot water to sterilize". It is really unnecessary! The highest temperature that our throat mucosa can tolerate is about 50°C. Eating water, porridge, and hot pot dishes that exceed 60°C will directly cause small damage to the already fragile mucous membrane. Repeated exposure to hot water will not only slow down the recovery of pharyngitis, but also risk other diseases in the long run. My mother had pharyngitis before and drank boiled water that had been left out for two minutes every day to kill bacteria. The pain lasted a week. Later, she switched to drinking warm water around 35°C, and she felt much better in two days.

All in all, there really aren’t that many dietary taboos for pharyngitis. The core principle is “eat when you feel comfortable, and avoid when you feel uncomfortable.” Everyone’s physique and tolerance are different, so there is no unified list of taboos. Don't put shackles on yourself, don't dare to eat this or touch that. In the end, your nutrition will not keep up, your immunity will drop, and pharyngitis will be more likely to recur. If you are really not sure, just eat lighter in the first two or three days when you get sick, and then slowly test your tolerance after the symptoms subside. Being sick is already uncomfortable enough, so there is no need to make yourself uncomfortable with food.~