Top 7 Foods For Nasal Polyps
Top 7 Foods For Nasal Polyps
How Your Diet Could Be The Reason Behind Nasal Polyps
Nasal polyps are the result of the mucous membrane getting inflamed. Small outgrowths appear on the lining of the sinuses and nose and can make it difficult to breathe, smell and can also become painful. This condition can usually treated to varying degrees by using steroidal nasal sprays. If you are suffering from recurring nasal polyps, you should look into making some changes to your lifestyle, starting with your diet and these top 7 foods for nasal polyps.
How Can Your Diet Affect Your Health?
Nasal polyps are a condition that includes inflammation of the tissues inside the nose and sinus cavities. The presence of free radicals is also connected to this condition. Eating a well balanced and healthy diet can contribute to reducing and even preventing inflammation of the sinuses and help to neutralize free radicals in your system. The following top 7 foods for nasal polyps should either be avoided or added to your diet to help treat and prevent this condition.
Top 7 Foods For Nasal Polyps
Gluten And Other Common Allergens
A study looked at the diet of patients who suffered from chronic nasal polyps and found that a significant portion of these patients showed signs of improvement when certain foods were removed or added to their diet.
Food allergies are fairly common and you might not realize that you are allergic or sensitive to some foods since there is a wide variety of symptoms associated with these allergies. Try avoiding foods rich in gluten for a while, including bread, pasta, baked and processed goods, yeast products including alcohol and other similar foods to see if there is an improvement.
Dairy Foods May Cause Intolerance
Intolerance to milk and dairy products is a common factor associated with chronic sinusitis. An intolerance to dairy products seem to affect congestion and could result in nasal polyps appearing. If you think you may have a bit of a reaction to dairy you should try to remove it from your diet for a period of time to see if there is any improvement.
By removing milk, yogurt, ice cream, butter, cheese and other dairy products completely from your diet you may or may not notice an improvement with your nasal polyps. You can replace these foods with alternatives such as soy or almond milk and other dairy substitutes.
Introduce More Selenium Into Your Diet With Mushrooms
Mushrooms are rich in selenium among other minerals that your system needs. They are easy to incorporate into your diet by adding some mushrooms to your favourite dish or pot roast recipe. Another great way is to lightly cook them in olive oil or just eat them raw while they are fresh in a salad (my wife’s favourite way).
Selenium is an important mineral because it is, among other things, great for your metabolism and acts as an antioxidant which helps your immune system. You might be lacking selenium if your diet does not include healthy portions of fruits and vegetables, including mushrooms. Selenium is also found in beef, poultry, fish, grains and nuts like brazil nuts and walnuts. If adding these foods rich in selenium is a problem, other methods could include taking supplements readily available at your local health food supplier or on Amazon.
Get More Vitamin C With Citrus Fruits
Citrus fruits should be an important part of your diet because they are rich in Vitamin C and help boost your body’s natural defences. Oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruits also act as antioxidants and will neutralize some of the free radicals present in your system.
If your nasal polyps appeared as a result of an allergic reaction, citrus fruits could help relieve the symptoms since these fruits help with breaking down histamine, the substance that causes allergic reactions when it is produced in high quantities by your system as it reacts to an allergen.
Try to have a glass of freshly squeezed citrus fruit juice at least once a day or add some juice to your favourite salad. If you can’t access fresh citrus at certain times of the year then use a Vitamin C supplement to help keep your daily intake levels satisfactory.
Other foods high in Vitamin C include: Peppers, guava, dark green leafy vegetables (kale), kiwi fruit, broccoli, strawberries, tomatoes, peas and papaya.
Add Vitamin A and Beta Carotene To Your Diet With Carrots
Carrots make a great addition to your diet because they are rich in Vitamin A and in Beta Carotene. Vitamin A is another antioxidant that will help eliminate free radicals. Beta Carotene helps your body absorb and use Vitamin A.
There are plenty of other yellow or orange vegetables you can eat instead of carrots to get your daily dose of Vitamin A. These include but are not limited to: Tuna fish, mangoes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, kale, squash, red peppers and cantaloupe.
Beta carotene rich foods include: Pumpkin, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale, cantaloupe, sweet red peppers, dried apricots, peas, broccoli, turnip greens, beet greens, squash and cabbage.
Again supplements can be taken to increase your daily intake.
Eat More Fish Rich In Omega 3
Since nasal polyps are an inflammation of the membranes inside of your nose, foods rich in Omega 3 are a great addition to your diet thanks to their anti-inflammatory properties. Salmon, sardines, mackerel and halibut are fishes rich in Omega 3 and should help to reduce to inflammation which may be causing your sinus infection and nasal polyps.
Other foods rich in Omega 3s include: Flaxseed oil, chia seed, fish roe, walnuts and walnut oil, cured and canned fish (smoked salmon), seafood including oysters, squid and clams, soy beans and spinach.
Fish oil and krill oil capsules offer incredibly concentrated doses of Omega 3 and are readily available at your local health food or convenience store and also online here.
Eliminate Carbonated Soft Drinks
Soft drinks contain chemicals including benzoates, tartrazine and glutamate just to mention a few. These chemicals are known allergens and can cause inflammation resulting in nasal polyps among other health issues. Replace soft drinks with water or with fresh squeezed fruit juice and you should soon notice an improvement. Your body needs around 8 cups of water per day to help flush out the toxins and stay hydrated.
Drinking excessive amounts of soft drinks and alcohol will cause your body to become dehydrated and is a leading contributor to Type 2 Diabetes and can also bring on asthma. Asthma is linked to people that suffer from nasal polyps so avoiding these sugary carbonated drinks can only increase your health and reduce the side effects of nose and sinus related problems.
Other Foods To Help Nasal Polyps
There are a lot of other foods including garlic and horseradish, chilli, ginger, onions and more that will reduce the effects of sinus inflammation and nasal polyps. By including some of these into your daily diet you are sure to see an improvement in your symptoms.
So by making a few simple changes to your daily diet you should be able to rule out or pin down the culprits that are cause the symptoms of nasal polyps and sinus infections. With a little bit of effort your condition has the potential to improve over time leading to a much better feeling of well being.
NOTE: The information contained above is provided as general information and is not considered as a replacement for any medical treatments that you may be undertaking or about to undertake. Please consult your physician before using or trying any of the related information to see if it is right for YOUR situation.