I know it's not always practical to eat the perfect diet 100% of the time, and besides, we all have are little vices, right? The key to any good diet is everything in moderation.
Without going into too much science, here is a quick summary. The herpes virus needs an amino acid called arginine to replicate itself, lysine is another amino acid which blocks the metabolic rate of arginine, so what we are looking for are foods that are rich in lysine and relatively low in arginine.
Here is a list of foods to avoid with herpes, and which contain high amounts of arginine.
Nuts (Particularly walnuts, pistachios and hazelnuts).
Shellfish (Crab, lobster and shrimp).
Chocolate (Sorry!)
Coffee (One of my vices).
Seeds (i.e. sesame and sunflower).
Brown rice (White rice isn't as bad).
Processed foods, sodas, anything with added sugar and alcohol should also all be kept to a minimum.
Right, that was the bad stuff, now here is a shortlist of the good stuff and what should be a regular part of your diet, everything listed contains high amounts of lysine and low amounts of arginine.
Chicken
Eggs
Broccoli
Fish ( Especially tuna and salmon).
Turkey
Beef
Cabbage
As I said before, the secret of a well balanced diet is moderation. Nobody is expecting you never to eat anything with high amounts of arginine in it again, just keep in mind that lysine will help kill the virus and arginine helps it replicate. Being mindful of what you eat will definitely help you.