If you have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), improving your diet may make breathing a bit easier. Changing your diet won’t cure the disease, but it can make it easier for your body to deal with the disease. These tips can provide you some ideas to change your diet and maintain a healthy weight. As always, you should consult your doctor before making changes to your diet.
- Eat a healthy, balanced diet – A healthy diet that consists of lean protein, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables can help you maintain a healthy weight.
- Avoid certain foods – Certain foods that can cause gas and bloating should be avoided, these foods will vary from person to person. You should also avoid excessive amounts of salt, as it can cause water retention, making it harder for you to breathe. For many people, dairy products can cause mucus to thicken, also making it harder to breathe.
- Hydrate – Drinking water throughout the day keeps your body hydrated, making mucus thinner and easier to cough up.
- Cut down on alcohol – Reducing or avoiding alcoholic beverages may be beneficial. Alcohol can slow down your breathing rate and make expelling mucus more difficult.
- Watch your weight – Those with COPD often have difficulty maintaining their weight in both directions. COPD can require you to use more energy when breathing, making you underweight. If this is the case, include healthy high-calorie snacks in your diet. On the other hand, if you are overweight your lungs and heart will have to work harder, making breathing more difficult. You should talk to you doctor about an appropriate diet plan.
- Make meal prep simple – You may find yourself lacking the energy to prep meals for yourself all the time, so make it simpler by prepping large meals at once to have leftovers for a few days.
To learn more about your lung disease, consider our Breathing Partners program. The program will teach you how to breathe smarter, not harder!