How to Prevent Cold Sores – Practical Tips on Cold Sore Prevention

Considering how to prevent cold sores is important if you are a herpes sufferer. There are many effective natural herpes treatments available which we review here, but these should be combined with you taking a proactive approach to health.

Cold sore prevention centers on trying to make sure that your immune system is as strong as possible. Cold sores and herpes outbreaks are caused by the herpes virus. The virus gets into your nerve cells and lives there. Once the virus is in the nerve cell it does not go away. It just flares up from time to time giving you the symptoms of a cold sore or herpes outbreak. This is why you don’t cure herpes or cold sores, you manage them.

What Causes an Outbreak?

Normally your immune system is able to keep the virus under control. However when you get stressed or run down your immune system suffers. As a result it cannot control the virus as well and an outbreak occurs.

So one of the main tips is to make sure you give yourself enough rest. If you get an outbreak, that is a sure sign you need to give yourself more rest to boost the immune system.

You also need to make sure you are eating well. Poor diet can also affect immune function. This can include high sugar, highly processed foods, artificial sweeteners and caffeine containing drinks like coffee, cola and so called “energy” drinks.

Foods to include in your diet include:

• Lots of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kale. These contain substance that can interfere with the herpes virus’ ability to reproduce, which is what it does when you get a cold sore.
• Eat foods rich in Zinc, Vitamin C and Bioflavonoids. All 3 of these are important for proper immune functioning and they also help the skin repair itself after injury. Vitamin C is found in fruit and vegetables. Bioflavonoids are also present in fruit and vegetables, particularly citrus fruits like oranges and lemons. Zinc is present in seeds, nuts and meats.

Avoid Arginine, Eat Lysine Rich Foods.

Arginine and lysine are both amino acids – the building blocks of proteins, and both have a role to play in cold sore prevention. However arginine helps the herpes virus grow, whereas lysine stops it. Arginine rich foods include chocolate, nuts, oats and muscle building supplements including arginine. Lysine rich foods include diary products, fruit and vegetables (especially tomatoes, apricots, apples, beets and avocados), eggs, meat and fish and brewer’s yeast. So eat more lysine rich foods and avoid the foods that contain arginine. It may be necessary to consider supplementing with lysine. The product we recommend for this is Herdox.

How to Prevent Cold Sores – the Summary.

This article should have given you some simple tips on how to prevent cold sores. In summary, avoid stress, get plenty of rest, eat well, eat foods rich in Vitamin C, Zinc and Bioflavinoids, avoid arginine rich foods and eat more lysine rich foods. If all else fails and you still end up with a cold sore or herpes outbreak, we recommend Herdox to bring the outbreak to a speedy end.