Can I eat watermelon if I have rhinitis?

There are many different types of rhinitis, among which allergic rhinitis is a type of rhinitis that often occurs in people. Allergic rhinitis is mainly caused by smelling more irritating odors. Therefore, patients with allergic rhinitis must pay attention to their daily travel after suffering from rhinitis and avoid areas with more irritating odors. At the same time, I believe that doctors will advise patients with rhinitis to pay attention to their diet. Can patients with rhinitis still eat watermelon at this time?

1. Can people with allergic rhinitis eat watermelon?

You can eat watermelon for allergic rhinitis. Chinese medicine calls the rind of watermelon "watermelon green coat". It has the effects of clearing away heat and relieving summer heat, purging fire and relieving restlessness, and lowering blood pressure. It has certain therapeutic effects on patients with anemia, dry throat, cleft lip, as well as cystitis, ascites, and nephritis. In addition, because watermelon peel is rich in vitamins C and E, you can use it to rub the skin, or mash it into a paste and apply it on the skin, then wash it off with water after 10 to 15 minutes. It has the effects of nourishing, rejuvenating, beautifying the skin and preventing and treating prickly heat.

1. Do not eat things that easily cause inflammation: such as chocolate, French fries, mango, apricot, durian, bayberry, longan, lychee, jujube, leek, chili, brown sugar, walnut kernels, melon seeds, peanuts, etc.

2. Avoid irritating foods: such as coffee, wine, gravy, chili, mustard, pepper, etc. These foods will stimulate the secretion of gastric juice or damage the gastric mucosa and should be avoided. Everyone has their own unique response to food, so the food intake should be adjusted appropriately according to individual differences, and there is no need to fast completely.

3. Avoid acidic foods: Fruits with higher acidity, such as pineapples, oranges, and so on, will not cause much irritation to patients with ulcers if eaten after meals, so they do not necessarily have to be prohibited.

4. Avoid gas-producing foods: Some foods easily produce gas, which makes patients feel full and should be avoided. However, whether a food will produce gas and cause discomfort varies from person to person, so you can decide whether to eat it based on your personal experience.

2. Dietary considerations for patients with allergic rhinitis

1. Be careful when eating fish, shrimp, and crabs: Generally speaking, shrimp and crabs are considered to be the most likely triggers of allergic reactions, so patients with allergic diseases should try to avoid eating them.

For all patients, it is sometimes not an absolute taboo; but from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine theory, foods such as seafood are "irritants", and it is better for individuals with allergies to eat less.

2. Be careful when eating spicy, fried, and greasy foods: Patients with allergic rhinitis should eat a light diet and reduce fat intake, especially those fatty meats and spicy, fried, and other irritating and greasy foods.

Generally speaking, when eating meat, you should eat lean meat such as beef, chicken, etc. To prevent this type of food from "adding heat to the evil, causing the evil heat to accumulate inside the body" and not be dissipated outside. Furthermore, the intake of overly spicy and irritating foods can easily trigger an attack of allergic rhinitis.

3. Avoid eating cold and raw foods: Traditional medicine believes that this disease is mainly caused by the "three deficiencies" of the lungs, spleen, and kidneys, especially qi deficiency in patients; coupled with the invasion of the nasal cavity by exogenous wind and cold, the disease occurs.

If you consume a large amount of cold and raw food, such as raw and cold fruits, cold water, cold dishes, etc., it is very easy to damage the lung and spleen yang energy and aggravate the patient's symptoms of deficiency and cold. Generally speaking, people with respiratory diseases are most afraid of cold and dry foods. When there is lung qi deficiency, spleen qi deficiency, or kidney yang deficiency, special attention should be paid to avoiding cold and raw foods.

4. Avoid smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages: Allergic rhinitis patients have significantly increased sensitivity to external gases, especially cold and irritating gases, such as direct or indirect smoke, ethanol odor, etc. Contact inhalation can easily cause symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose or nasal congestion to be significantly aggravated, especially for those patients with "stagnant heat in the lungs".

Therefore, given that the tobacco and alcohol stimulation that patients are exposed to can aggravate the symptoms of the disease, "no smoking and limited alcohol" measures must be taken in daily life.

5. Try to avoid and prohibit the consumption of allergic foods: Patients themselves should also understand the type or type of food that may trigger allergic rhinitis. When it has been discovered or confirmed that this type or type of food may trigger allergic rhinitis, it must be avoided as much as possible to reduce the onset or aggravation of the disease.