Herpes and the Vegan Diet (update)
Here is a response I got to the Herpes and the Vegan Diet post that I thought I’d share with everyone:
I have been veg for 24 years and vegan for 20. I have also had Herpes Simplex 1 for (approx) 22 years. I remember reading about it and discovering the same information your questioner found, eat foods high in lysine and low in arginine. This was very discouraging to my new love of veganism, but I was determined to not eat animal products – even if it compromised my health.
So when I had an outbreak, I bought vegetarian L-Lysine pills. It did the trick. I definitely healed much faster than when I didn’t take them, but I didn’t like supplementing. It was expensive and I hate taking pills. So I paid attention to what made an outbreak worse or better or come at all.
What I found was that stress was a huge factor. If I got some rest, slowed down, and focused on the positive, this was the best healing plan. Food was a factor as well, but it really had to do with how junky and processed the food was, not necessarily the lysine content. I did find higher lysine plant foods, but what really made the difference was to stop eating junk and eat whole grains, fruits and veggies in a more natural state, not highly processed, no added sugar/salt etc.
I tried both independently – high lysine foods vs. just cleaning my diet and eating super healthy for a few days and the latter worked the best. So I stopped supplementing and thinking about the lysine all together and focused on living and eating healthy. My outbreaks became fewer and fewer and now I haven’t had one in about 7 years.
Twenty years ago I thought my contracting Herpes was a curse, but now I look at it as a blessing that encouraged me to learn to eat and live healthy. I’m now a vibrant vegan of 40 (had my blood work run recently and everything is great) and I’ve never supplemented with anything else.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:39 am
20 years of veganism and no B12 supplementation? How?
March 30th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Either fortified foods or luck. However, if you plan to continue on the no supplementation (and no fortified foods) path, I would recommend you get your homocysteine levels checked. Most vegans who do not eat fortified foods or take B12 supplements have elevated homocysteine.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
It’s actually hard not to stumble on fortified foods if you’re vegan. I eat a couple of (big) bowls a week of All Bran or All Bran Flakes, which are fortified, and drink some fortified milk (Natura, Silk, Eden, etc.) with and without the cereal, and get plenty of B12 by the end of the week. No supplementation necessary. Some weeks I don’t, but then just going back to my normal gets me quickly back on track. Not much worries there.
June 16th, 2009 at 2:29 am
I’ve had very similar experiences with lysine/arginine and cold sores. As a vegetarian I noticed that eggs, chocolate and nuts in combination with a little stress could cause a cold sore almost immediately. As a vegan, I’ve noticed that my vulnerability to stress and nuts seems to be less (obviously the chocolate/eggs fell away but I eat a lot more nuts than ever before). Taking lysime supplements when I have a cold sore outbreak worked like a miracle cure while I was a vegetarian (seemed to heal twice as fast) but seems to have much less effect since I am vegan. Skin irritation to sun and even wind is now the biggest factor in whether I experience a breakout.
July 31st, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I have an herpes outbreak right now, I was looking for more information about this subject and I’ve found this website. I had herpes all my life, but only had like five or six outbreaks ( i am 33 yo), this last one was caused by many hours of solar exposure, I also know about the Lysine x Arginine and I even compiled a very detailed list of foods rich in Lysine. It’s true that peanuts are awful and I tend to overdose on nut butters but besides that I am vegan, eat no processed foods, no sugar, no fried foods, no alcohol (no drugs), only whole vegetables, fruits, beans, cereals, nuts and seeds (and seaweed too), take a b12 suplemment, do sports, try to sleep well, but there is no universal justice, is there? But well, I will survive herpes and I am more worried about the scar it will leave…
List of foods with a better lysine/arginine ratio, from the top to the bottom>
Papaya
Beets
Mango
Apricot
Apple
Pear
Apricot, dried
Fig, dried
Fig
Avocado
Tomato
Turnips
Soybean sprouts
Potato
Celery
Persimmon
Squash, summer
Peach, dried
Peach
Plum
Green beans
Lentil sprouts
Lettuce, romaine
Lettuce, iceberg
Cauliflower
Guava
Spinach
Kale
Watermelon
Cabbage, chinese
Corn
Sweet potato
Turnip greens
Banana
Asparagus
Oat flakes
Beet greens
Endive
Leeks
Pumpkin
December 15th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
This is interesting to me … I have had cold sores all my life, but have been having multiple outbreaks since I became vegan seven months ago. I determined that I was eating a very high arginine diet. Nuts, oats, and chocolate were three of the biggest components of my diet! I’m trying to cut back on those and take a lysine supplement and it seems to help.
April 3rd, 2010 at 6:59 am
I found out that I had herpes 3 years ago. Since then I’ve had outbreaks almost every two weeks. I’ve been taking one Valtrex pill when I feel the onset of an outbreak and it usually stops it from progressing. However, I’ve still had to take 1-2 pills a month. Well, I went veg (lacto-ovo, but DRASTICALLY limiting all animals products with the ultimate goal of veganism) a little over a month ago. I haven’t had one outbreak since!!! I’ve been amazed that I have not felt the onset of an outbreak AT ALL since I’ve almost eliminated animal products from my diet. Not sure if the veg diet has anything to do with it…but if it does, I’m STOKED!
April 29th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
I feel so frustrated with finding out all the foods I eat are high in arginine. I was just diagnosed in Dec of 09 and since then I have had one OB a month. Usually not too bad, but discomforting none the less. I am struggling with what to eat. I DON”T eat processed foods, and I haven’t for years. I have been a vegan, raw foodist and a now I am primarily a vegetarian (duck eggs and goat milk are so good!) But nuts and and veggies and fruits are what I mainly eat. I am just not sure how to really work all this out. HELP?
March 22nd, 2011 at 2:37 pm
I’ve had herpes for 10 years (I’m 31 now). Seven years ago I stated eating a vegetarian diet and haven’t had one outbreak. Before that I only had one serious outbreak, when I contracted herpes.But I used to use drugs (weed, alcohole, coke, meth, etc.); and during that time I had frequent mild outbreaks, in the form of mild rashes, redness, and itching.
But on my vegetarian diet, I never paid attention to hepres suppressing or aggravating foods. I just ate plenty of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts (nuts sparingly). That seems to work just fine.
August 3rd, 2011 at 7:27 pm
I suffer from coldsores and had a terrible outbreak in the spring after snacking on nuts all winter. Since then I’ve changed my habits and I believe the best solution is to always counteract nuts with an equal amount of nutritional yeast (nooch). As a vegan I could not fathom giving up nuts. I make dressings with equal amounts of nuts and nooch, plus some vinegar and a clove or two of garlic (and enough water to make liquid)… yummy! I also add nooch to “cheese” sauces made from nuts and to pesto as well. Also I eat peanut butter on toast with Vegemite (another yeast product… I have no idea of the lysine content but many Aussies swear by its effectiveness against herpes and coldsores).
February 5th, 2013 at 7:02 am
Odd this stuff. I have had cold sores since I was little. They’ve been quite frequent, two or three times a year ever since. Until about two years ago when I chose veganism. Haven’t had another to date.
February 15th, 2013 at 5:55 am
i just found out yesterday that i have herpes(22yo), the doctor said by looking at my OB that i’ve had it for awhile and this was not an initial OB, although i feel that it is; but after doing research, i noticed that recently i’ve been eating a lot of all the foods i shouldn’t of been eating had i been following within the lysine/arginine guideline. also i had been consuming an extreme amount of alcohol due to a lot of personal trauma physical and mental trauma.my ex-boyfriend beat me up pretty bad about two weeks ago, she said all the stress and alcohol consumption was most likely the trigger. so i’m wondering if that’s what brought this OB on or who knows maybe it is initial, looking back theirs been a few times where i remember being really itchy down there but i just never really paid attention and one time i had went to the doctor and she said it was trich, it doesn’t matter either way i have it. i was prescribed acyclovir 3x a day for 5 days. so here i am now reading and trying to figure out what i shouldn’t and should eat my OB isn’t extreme at all just a few sores and they were pretty much healed up 5 days later(probably why the doc thinks its not initial), some websites say fish, eggs, dairy products are good. i have to eat what my family eats, so i’m trying to adjust my diet to where its not noticeable and doesn’t limit my family especially since i can’t tell them. i know that i have not been eating meat and i had been trying not to since before my diagnoses i noticed when i cut out meat i actually lost a lot of weight, but tuna is relatively cheap. i know to cut out bread, nuts, chocolate, but i’m confused i saw some people still eat seeds? also it’s posted on many websites the lysine/arginine ratio content table. does that mean i can eat the things listed on that table but stick to the items listed more towards the top because i’ve been eating brussel sprouts and i read to eat them but i noticed they were lower on the list than crab and i read that you shouldn’t even eat shell-food, so i’m really confused a lot of the veggies weren’t on the high end of things either. as of now i don’t want to go vegan, i can do vegetarian but if i can benefit from eating chicken and fish (which i read were good) then i’ll eat chicken and fish. i don’t know i’m just really confused would someone mind clearing the air for me and preferably giving me a shopping list of do’s and don’t. also what about exercising, i started lifting weights and doing crunches pretty basic activities, what kind of exercise regimen should i follow. thank you.