Do you know what tonsil stones are? Many people have “stones” in their tonsil crypts, also called tonsilloliths. They are whitish plugs that can be pretty annoying and can be removed from the tonsils by gently pressing around the stone.
These “stones” are made of bacteria, calcium, and cell debris. They’re formed when trapped debris hardens, or calcifies. This tends to happen most often in people who have chronic inflammation in their tonsils or repeated bouts of tonsillitis. People with post-nasal drip often have them as well, and people who eat a lot of dairy are frequently more susceptible to them.
Before Superman was diagnosed with celiac disease, he was plagued by tonsil stones. He would hack away, trying to clear his throat, but just couldn’t find relief.
It wasn’t until we changed our diet and cut out dairy & grains that Superman’s tonsil stones went away.
Funny thing is, the doctors never made a correlation between his diet and his tonsil stones and subsequent bad breath. They kept giving him more meds to try, and none of them worked.
One of our sons had repeated sore throats, snoring, stuffy noses, etc. for years. Unfortunately, at the time, I knew nothing like I know now when it comes to how diet relates to health. At the advice of our doctor, we had our sons adenoids removed. And guess what? It did nothing. It wasn’t until we cut out dairy for our son that he finally stopped snoring and was able to breathe freely at night. I am so sad that I put my son through an unnecessary surgery just because I wasn’t informed.
If you are plagued by tonsil stones or inflamed tonsils, frequent sore throats, or bad post-nasal drip, start by eliminating dairy from your diet for at least 30 days. See if that helps with the amount of phlegm, post nasal drip, infections, and bad breath. And if you have tonsil stones, see if they disappear! It made a world of difference for Superman and our son!
Jo @ WorkingOnHappy.com says
It’s amazing how much diet affects every part of our body. So many people don’t understand that.
I love reading articles like this! Thanks so much for sharing!
Carla says
Thank you for this post! It helped confirm that I am not crazy. I was plagued by tonsil stones for years. They were embarrassing! I can remember coughing one up on a date! For years I had thought they were related to my allergies. It was not until I did my first Whole30 that I was able to correlate food to the stones. Within 2 days of my reintroduction of grains I had painful tonsil stones again. My PCP and gastroenterologist both looked at me like I was crazy when I told them about the correlation between the dairy and grains and the stones. I had been keeping track of all the foods I was eating thanks to the Whole30 message boards to help keep my accountable. I even took pictures of the stones in case they thought I was crazy, which probably made me sound more crazy. But there was not much information online to support what I believed. I did not have a single stone for the 6+ months I was eating mainly paleo. I can’t wait to be done with my gluten challenge and celiac’s endoscopy/biopsy so that I can stop dealing with the stones again, do another Whole30, and get back on track with feeling great when eating Paleo.
I firmly agree that there is some correlation, so thank you so much for this post! You have a new blog subscriber for sure!
Tamara p. says
My son complains of these often and I keep telling him it’s his diet. He’s 23 and still not listening to mom! ugh!! (Thanks for the back up..sending him this post. 😉 )
Chibuzor Aguwa says
So diet effects tonsils as well…i thought is only as a result of Strep.
Anna says
I’ve had tonsil stones as far back as I can remember…at least 20 years. I never talked with a doctor about it until 5 or 6 years ago, but when I did, it was an ENT who said tonsil stones were mostly caused by my severe acid reflux + seasonal allergies and not much I could besides try my best to get those in check. That’s been an uphill battle all my life. He also suggested gargling with hydrogen peroxide to help (gross and it never made a difference). I tried a couple over the counter mouthwashes that never helped either.
I started Whole30 January of 2019 and noticed that they completely went away near the end of the month. I was ecstatic. I had a mostly Whole30 diet through October 2019 and they stayed away all that time. Over the holidays, I ate a bunch of crap. Breads, sugars, dairy, etc. I gained 15 lbs AND the tonsil stones came back (along with anxiety, joint pain, arthritis, etc). Needless to say, I started doing an official round of Whole30 at the start of this month and the tonsil stones are gone again and all other crappy symptoms have vastly improved 🙂