Diet taboos for tracheitis

Avoid foods that can directly irritate the airway mucosa, avoid foods that you are allergic to, and eat less high-sugar and high-fat foods that can aggravate phlegm secretion. The other taboos for so-called "hairy foods" and "cooling foods" should be judged based on your own situation. There is no need to blindly apply one-size-fits-all.

My old uncle has been suffering from chronic bronchitis for almost eight years. He has been to the respiratory department and the traditional Chinese medicine department one after another. He has a thick stack of medical records, including three dietary lists. There are discrepancies between what different doctors said, so I can clarify all the common questions that everyone has.

Let’s talk about the most uncontroversial spicy food first. At our last family gathering, my cousin ordered spicy fried rice noodles. My old uncle secretly picked up a chopstick because he was greedy. He coughed so much that he sat up for half the night, and his chest hurt. The explanation from Western medicine is very straightforward: Substances such as capsaicin, alcohol, and nicotine in tobacco will directly irritate the airway mucosa that is already in a state of edema, aggravate the airway hyperresponsiveness, secretions will increase instantly, and symptoms of coughing and wheezing will naturally arise. But there is also an interesting difference here: the old Chinese medicine doctor I took my uncle to see said that if it is acute bronchitis caused by colds and colds, when you first get sick, boil some ginger brown sugar water and add a small amount of pepper to cook noodles, which can dissipate the cold. As long as you don't deliberately eat spicy food or drink strong alcohol, this kind of mild stimulation is good for recovery, and you don't dare to touch it without a little ginger. My old uncle caught a cold last winter and fell ill, so he drank ginger tea for two days using this method. He was indeed better than just taking western medicine.

A more hidden trap than irritating foods is allergenic foods. When my uncle was hospitalized, there was an aunt in her 60s who was in the same ward. She was about to recover from bronchitis, but her daughter was worried that she didn't eat well in the hospital, so she specially cooked shrimp porridge and brought it over. As a result, the aunt started to wheeze after drinking less than half a bowl, and she even had an oxygen tube inserted. Later, I found out that she was allergic to shrimp. She only had a rash before, and she never thought that it would trigger an acute attack of bronchitis. Many people think that bronchitis requires nutritional supplements, such as milk, eggs, and seafood. However, if you are allergic or have allergic bronchitis, these high-protein foods are likely to be allergens, which will aggravate the immune response. Both Chinese and Western medicine have similar views on this: there is no unified list of contraindications. It is best to do an allergen screening first. As long as you are not allergic, you can eat it. If you don't have the conditions to check, you should pay more attention to what you eat that will make your cough worse, and just write it down to avoid it.

There is another category that people tend to overlook, which are high-sugar and high-fat foods that can increase phlegm production. My uncle used to love drinking the candied date and white fungus porridge that his wife cooked for him, saying it would soothe his throat. But every time he drank it, he would cough up thick phlegm for a long time, and it was hard to spit it out. According to Western medicine, high sugar will increase the viscosity of airway mucus. The phlegm that could have been coughed up will become blocked in the trachea, which not only makes the cough uncomfortable, but also easily breeds bacteria. ； High-fat foods will increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract. When immunity is already weak, recovery will naturally be slow. But there is also a common misunderstanding here: many people think that rock sugar pear water can relieve coughs. In fact, it depends on the situation. If you cough with yellow and thick phlegm and thick greasy tongue coating, which is a phlegm-damp type according to traditional Chinese medicine, drinking pear water with rock sugar will make you drink more phlegm. If you have a dry cough, no phlegm, and a sore throat, drinking some pear water without or with less sugar will be helpful.

As for the "can't eat cold food" and "can't eat hairy food" that are so popular on the Internet, it's really not that absolute. When my uncle coughs and his throat burns in the summer, he will also eat two mouthfuls of watermelon at room temperature. After eating it, he feels better. As long as it is not ice soda or ice cream just taken out of the refrigerator, food with a slightly lower temperature will not be a problem at all. There are also so-called "fat foods". As long as you are not allergic or aggravated by coughing, you can eat mutton and beef. Don't listen to what others say and dare not touch them. On the contrary, they will become malnourished and recover more slowly.

Oh, yes, one thing that all doctors have repeatedly emphasized is that you must quit smoking and drinking. My uncle smoked for 30 years before, but after he got bronchitis, he gritted his teeth and quit. The number of coughs he usually has has been reduced by more than half, which is more effective than any amount of cough medicine he takes.

In fact, after all, dietary taboos are really not a cold list. Everyone’s physique and disease type are different, and taboos that are suitable for others may not be suitable for you. I left half a page blank at the end of the dietary list I made for my old uncle, so that he could write down whatever he ate and felt uncomfortable every time. Now he can become half a doctor himself, knowing what he can eat and what he can't touch. It's much more useful than following the list on the Internet.