What are the dietary taboos for bronchitis?

There are actually only three core dietary taboos for bronchitis - those that easily irritate the airway mucosa, those that will increase the viscosity of sputum, and those that you are clearly allergic to. The rest of the so-called "fat foods" and "cold fruits should not be touched" are mostly misinformation without universal basis.

Not long ago, Uncle Zhang in the community suffered from acute bronchitis. He heard from his downstairs neighbor that he should avoid "all hairy things." He even stopped eating boiled eggs every day and drank white porridge for a week.

The real taboos to avoid first are actually highly stimulating foods, especially those with extreme temperatures or overly strong flavors, such as iced milk tea and popsicles just taken out of the refrigerator, as well as spicy hot pot that is so spicy that it numbs the throat, and salty cured fish and bacon, which themselves cause bronchitis. When a tracheitis occurs, the airway mucosa is in a hyperresponsive state of edema and congestion. When stimulated by cold, spicy or salty substances, the edema that had subsided will reappear. In mild cases, you will be unable to stop coughing. In severe cases, it may even induce airway spasm and make you unable to breathe. You are completely asking for trouble.

Also try to avoid foods high in sugar and oil, such as sweet cream cakes, pearl milk tea with half sugar, and candied fruits wrapped in icing sugar. After eating these things, the phlegm secreted by the airways will become more viscous. The phlegm that could have been expelled with a slight cough is now stuck in the airways and cannot be coughed out. This is equivalent to providing a natural breeding medium for bacteria, and the course of the disease will naturally be prolonged. A while ago, I treated a 5-year-old patient who was rewarded with a whole mousse cake by his parents when he was about to recover from bronchitis. He coughed so much that he sat up and cried that night. The sputum was so heavy that he could hear it through the clinic door. It took him another three days to return to his previous recovery state.

As for the various “fat food” taboos that are widely circulated on the Internet, they are actually not that absolute. For example, eggs, milk, and seafood are often mentioned. Unless you are allergic to these foods, or you have coughed or itchy skin after eating them before, you can eat them normally. The high-quality protein in these foods is supposed to help the body repair damaged mucous membranes. If you avoid them all and only drink white porridge, it is equivalent to running out of food and grass during a war. How can you get better quickly?

There is also the question of fruit taboos that everyone often asks, but it is not as strict as everyone thinks. The statement that "oranges are irritating and pears are cold cannot be eaten" is too one-sided. If you have bronchitis caused by a cold, you will cough up white phlegm and feel cold all over. , then eating iced watermelon and iced pears will definitely be uncomfortable, but if you have a severe dry cough, a sore throat and yellow phlegm, steaming a pear or boiling some orange water to drink can actually soothe your throat and reduce phlegm, which is very comfortable. There is no need to kill all the fruits at once.

Finally, I would like to say one more thing. In fact, there is no need to be too restrictive in the diet for bronchitis. It is generally light and easy to digest, and just avoid eating foods that are obviously uncomfortable. If you dare not supplement any nutrition because of the so-called "taboos", but instead slow down the recovery, then the gain is really not worth the loss.