Home & Hearth Caregivers’ Top Lung Disease Nutrition Strategies

As outlined by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, an approximated 12 million adults are currently diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and it’s also expected that another 12 million could be living with this type of lung disease without officially being diagnosed. It’s also worth noting that COPD generally hits in middle age, with smoking as the main risk factor. Frequent exposure to occupational dusts and chemicals also presents a heightened risk factor.

If you have been diagnosed with COPD or another type of lung disease, living healthier can make a significant difference in symptom severity. In fact, eating a healthier diet can help an individual with COPD feel better, increase the required energy needed for breathing, as well as combat chest infections.

The suggestions below can help a person to better manage lung disease symptoms:

• Don’t skip breakfast. For someone with COPD, breathing burns up to ten times more calories than it does for another individual without COPD, so starting off your day with a wholesome breakfast can give you the calories and nutrients you’ll need for the day.
• Boost potassium. Lung disease patients on diuretics often need more potassium. Try tomatoes, oranges, potatoes, and bananas to get the healthy potassium you need.
• Drink plenty of fluids, but cut back on the caffeine. Fluids help keep mucus in the air tract thinner and less difficult to clear. However, caffeine can conflict with some medications and may result in restlessness, so it’s best to stick to non-caffeinated beverages.
• Avoid gas-inducing foods. Foods like beans, carbonated beverages, and fried foods that produce gas and bloating can make it harder to breathe. Try to avoid these types of foods to ward off COPD symptom flare-ups.
• Sodium can cause water retention, which makes it difficult to breathe, so it’s best to stay away from foods that have greater than 300 milligrams of sodium per serving. Salt-free spices like garlic, oregano, basil, curry, onion, parsley, rosemary and lemon juice are all good alternate possibilities.

Home & Hearth Caregivers, serving Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, Kane, McHenry, and DeKalb counties with professional in-home senior care, is proficient in working with COPD patients and their family caregivers to help manage symptoms and make sure that the home is safe and free from irritants. Our skilled home health caregivers help with lung disease management through education, exercise, nutritional support, psychological support and coping skills. Call Home & Hearth Caregivers today at 800-349-0663 or contact us online for more lung disease resources or to schedule a free in-home consultation to learn more about our services.