Could you please define what a "healthy looking girl" actually is?

For some, food is a huge trigger.  Most common triggers are nuts, caffeine,
chocolate.  And foods high in arginine.  (There's a list on the internet
somewhere that lists food high in arginine.

ar

Some people swear by staying on some form of food diet to help with their
herpes situation. I'll be honest though and say that I don't believe food
diets are for everybody. In fact, I eat whatever I want basically and it
doesn't affect my herpes one way or the other.

Well hopefully you do realize that there are folks that have herpes and
don't know that they have it because they never get any signs or symptoms.
Plus, how can you really be sure of the source of your infection if you have
has sex with more than one person in your lifetime?

If you are having trouble with flare ups have you thought about going on
suppression?

Nothing that you have mentioned has ever increased my flare ups and I've had
genital herpes for eight years.

Angela
www.yoshi2me.com

It is thought that foods high in arginine and low in lysine (two amino
acids) can lead to outbreaks, and there's a table of common foods
ranked by their lysine/arginine ration here:

http://www.herpes.com/Nutrition.shtml

I'm not sure where the carbo groups show up on the list, but perhaps
you'll see something there.

It's really hard to say.  Your OB could be a coincidence, or could be
that your three months *without* carbs was just what an opportunistic
virus needed.  Since you were outbreak-free and presumably chomping
the carbs between Spring 2001 and three months ago it doesn't seem
likely that carbs, by themselves, would be responsible for the
recurrence.

Don't know where you live, but a lot of people I know seem to have
experienced outbreaks with the switch from lovely Fall to horrible
Winter.  Humidity changes, temp changes, etc., can stress the body,
and stress is probably the number one trigger of the H (and other
things.)

Take care,

Mike

I went off caffeine a while back and noticed a minor decrease in OBs
but then again, I am having a rough first year....with multiple OBs a
month.  But they did slow down.

As a long term low carb, high protein dieter (it is more a lifestyle
than a 'diet' for me....here is my two cents worth.  

When you say you are introducing carbs, are you saying you haven't
eaten ANY or you are increasing the carb levels?  Also, if you have
been eating carbs, have they been from veggies or from sweets?  

Adding the carbs back in is hard on the body - sort of.  You will
notice digestive track changes, such as diarrhea, etc.  Everyone will
react differently. I know this is not an Atkins list so I really won't
blather too much....=)

In my thoughts, this transition being hard on the body and the HSV
being an opportunist, that might be the right breeding grounds.  Or
there might be other things going on with you....stress, getting ready
to get sick, not sleeping enough, etc.  

That nutrition list that was posted was great....use that in
congruence to your eating plan....and that should help....

Also, I would treat it sort of like a food allergy.  Introduce only
one carb type of thing, IE fruit, rice, etc. at a time for a week or
two and see how your OBs go....you might be able to narrow it down.  

HTH.  

r.