A stuffy nose not only tires you, you feel weak, and it greatly affects the quality of your sleep and your overall well-being. Have you ever considered that it might be hard to breathe through your nose because of food?

Food is a common cause of stuffy noses. Don’t eat foods that cause extra mucus in your body. Also, don’t eat foods that irritate the esophagus or cause inflammation. Don’t eat foods that raise blood pressure. Don’t combine cold-chilled foods, as this can lead to headaches and further complicate the situation. There are a lot of things you shouldn’t eat. Here are the ten most common ones:

1. Spicy food
Eat spices such as curry and tacos, which affect the level of histamine in your body. Histamine is an inflammatory compound made of cells in the body that have already had an allergic reaction.

2. Red meat
Red meat contains a lot of protein, which also causes nasal congestion. Red meat indirectly irritates the sinuses and causes excessive mucus buildup in the nose.

3. Bananas
Bananas are otherwise great for your health, help you sleep, and are rich in minerals, but at the same time, they cause problems in the nasal cavity. Bananas also release histamine in your body, which unpleasantly blocks your nose.

4. Milk
Milk is known to cause the production of mucus, which then travels slowly through the body, making the congestion last longer than usual. Even a single glass of milk can prolong recovery by 2 to 3 days.

5. Cheese
Cheeses have a similar effect to milk. The good thing is, this doesn’t apply to all cheeses. It all depends on the individual.

6. Refined sugar
Sugar, in general, acts in a pro-inflammatory way. The more sweets you eat, the greater the risk that inflammation will make digestion harder, block metabolism, and more inflammation means more mucus. On top of that, sugar further irritates, and if you happen to also have the flu or a cold, get ready for lingering consequences. Usually, this is followed by a stubborn cough.

7. Chocolate
Chocolates, and of course other sweets, should be strictly limited at least while you have a stuffy nose. Not only do store-bought chocolates contain a lot of sugar, but they also stimulate the growth of yeast, which leads to the spread of bacteria in the body and further clogs airways. In addition, chocolates contain milk, which further irritates nasal tissue. Chocolates can even cause swelling of organs near the airways.

8. Tuna
Tuna contains a large amount of histamine, which can cause severe reactions in some people. The nose can swell so much that no medicine helps, so it's best to greatly limit fish consumption when you have a cold.

9. Pizza
Pizza is full of ingredients that encourage histamine production in the body. Pizzas have a lot of cheese, gluten, tomato... Additionally, tomato can cause problems for people with stomach acid issues and further irritate the throat.

10. Wine and beer
Beer contains yeast, which blocks the nose even if you don’t have these problems. Wine and virtually all alcoholic drinks have a similar effect, making your blood flow faster. Redness in the face means even more problems with a stuffy nose.