How You Can Alleviate Asthma with the Right Diet

Asthma is a chronic health condition that makes the airways of your lungs inflamed and swollen. The narrowed, small airways make you suffer from symptoms, such as breathing difficulties, tightness in the chest, fast heartbeat, coughing, drowsiness, and exhaustion. All these symptoms reduce your energy, hamper your sleep, lower your immunity, and increase your susceptibility to various ailments. Thus, the inflammatory condition affects the quality of life of asthma patients. So, World Asthma Day is observed on the first Tuesday of May every year to spread awareness about the condition globally and improve care for asthma sufferers. This year, World Asthma Day will be celebrated on 2nd May 2023 to raise awareness by educating people about this health condition and its treatment. The theme of this global healthcare event is “Asthma Care for All.” It emphasizes quality care for all asthma sufferers worldwide. It promotes the development and implementation of asthma treatment programs globally. Certain dietary modifications and asthma homeopathy treatment are some of the natural ways to manage the condition.

Adding certain foods to your asthma health plan can enhance your lung function, boost your immunity, ease asthma symptoms, and improve your relief largely. Likewise, eliminating certain foods from your diet plan for asthma patients can prevent the worsening of the symptoms and minimize asthma attacks. So, you might be wondering which foods you should add to your diet and which foods you should not, aren’t you? Discover all about a healthy diet for asthma by reading this blog below.

6 Foods to Eat to Alleviate Asthma Symptoms

1. Eat Ample Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Fresh fruits and vegetables are great sources of antioxidants, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene. These nutrients help minimize lung irritation (inflammation) and swelling resulting due to free radicals. Flavonoids and selenium in apples and grapes are antioxidants that offer anti-inflammatory benefits that ease your discomfort. So, devour plenty of fruits and vegetables such as oranges, berries, cherries, pears, pomegranates, kiwis, broccoli, bell peppers, coriander, garlic, ginger, and spring onions.

2. Fatty Fish

Abundant in omega-3 fatty acids, fatty fish are healthy food for asthma sufferers. Eating these fish high in omega-3s helps reduce the levels of IgE that your body makes. As these antibodies that cause breathing issues are reduced, you get great relief from asthma symptoms, such as breathing discomforts. Also, this crucial vitamin strengthens your immune system’s response against germs that minimizes the swelling of your airways and improves your relief. So, include salmon, sardine, tuna, and other healthy fatty fish in your diet. Also, you can add flax seeds, chia seeds, and walnuts to your diet as they are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids.

3. Foods Rich in Vitamin D

Individuals having severe symptoms of asthma may have low levels of vitamin D. Boosting your vitamin D levels can help soothe the symptoms of asthma. So, add milk, fish, orange juice, and eggs to your asthma health plan. Also, eating bananas as their potassium content can help improve your lung function. You should also spend some minutes in the fresh morning sunlight to increase your vitamin D levels naturally.

4. Vitamin E Food Sources (Nuts and Seeds)

Adding vitamin E food sources to the diet plan for asthma patients can help minimize wheezing and coughing. Tocopherol in vitamin E helps reduce wheezing and coughing effectively. So, enrich your diet with kale, nuts, mustard greens, almonds, hazelnuts, kale, raw seeds, and broccoli.

5. Mediterranean Diet:

Ensure that your asthma diet plan contains plenty of whole grains, nuts, beans, fresh vegetables, and fruits. You may also eat fish and chicken twice a week. However, avoid or limit red meat. Replace butter with canola oil and olive oil. And, flavour your food preparations with herbs instead of salt. Eating such a well-planned Mediterranean diet can help reduce your asthma attacks and improve your relief largely.

6. Tomatoes

Packed with antioxidants and low in calories, fresh tomatoes are ideal nutritious options for an anti-asthma diet. Lycopene content in tomatoes helps improve your breathing and relief. So, incorporate tomatoes into your diet to beat asthma symptoms.

Maintain a Healthy Weight

Being overweight or obese can worsen your asthma. Shedding those extra kilos can help ease your asthma symptoms and improve your relief. The guidance of certified nutritionists can help you have a healthy weight that helps improve your overall health effortlessly.

7 Foods to Avoid in Asthma

Here is a quick rundown of foods to avoid to alleviate asthma symptoms.

1. Junk Food and Fast Food

Eating a lot of junk, fast, canned, and processed foods can aggravate one’s symptoms of asthma, such as inflammation and coughing. So, limit or avoid them.

2. Sulfites Containing Foods

Eating foods containing sulfites can aggravate asthma symptoms. They may cause lung irritation. That makes them one of the foods to avoid in asthma. So, refrain from eating foods having sulfites, such as dried fruit, pickles, bottled lemon juice, frozen shrimp, wine, and maraschino cherries.

3. Allergy-Triggering Foods

Allergic food reactions can trigger asthma symptoms, such as wheezing and other discomforts. In some asthma sufferers, asthma symptoms may aggravate if you exercise after consuming certain foods. So, identify which foods make you suffer from allergic reactions and avoid the intake of those foods. Some common foods that can trigger allergic responses are dairy, shellfish, and wheat, though it is different from person to person.

4. Salicylates

Consuming foods containing salicylates may make it harder for some people to breathe. This is particularly harmful if you already have asthma. So, if you are looking to ease your asthma discomforts, avoid eating foods containing salicylates, such as tea, spices, coffee, herbs, and certain anti-inflammatory pills.

5. Liquid Nitrogen

You might like the stream of smoky coldness that spirals from a frozen dessert, fancy cocktail, and other foods due to the liquid nitrogen. However, it is wise to avoid these foods, particularly if you have asthma, as they may make you suffer from breathing issues. Such foods with liquid nitrogen can also cause serious injuries to the internal organs and skin. So, foods containing liquid nitrogen are one of the prominent beverages and foods to avoid in asthma.

6. Foods with Artificial Sweeteners and Preservatives

The intake of foods containing preservatives, artificial sweeteners, and flavours can irritate your lungs and worsen asthma symptoms. So, when trying to reduce asthma attacks, refrain from consuming sodas, sweet juices, pastries, colas, candies, and other foods having artificial flavours and preservatives. Also, avoid eating foods containing an excess of salt (sodium). Reduce your intake of salt.

7. Excess of Foods

Excess intake of calories than what your body burns increases their storage in fat cells. As a result, you turn overweight or obese. This increases your risk of developing asthma and may even worsen your symptoms. Further, it may make you unresponsive to general asthma treatments that help curb asthma attacks. So, be sure that you do not relish excess food. Eat in moderation.

Now that you know how you can ease asthma discomforts naturally with diet, adopt these dietary measures to beat asthma. Let’s spread the word about the role of a balanced, well-planned diet for managing asthma this World Asthma Day so that a maximum number of asthma sufferers may benefit from it. Seeking previous guidance from certified nutritionists and dieticians, such as health experts at Health Total, can help you have a customised diet plan for asthma patients comprising the right foods. Our diet plan for asthma not only helps improve your relief but also manages your weight, boosts your immunity, and lowers or prevents potential health risks. So, be quick, reach out to us at Health Total and soothe your asthma and improve your overall health with our personalized asthma health plan.

Sign up for a FREE consultation with Health Total experts to get more tips for improving your health and relief from asthma diet or managing any other health condition. Call toll-free at 1-800-833-171709 and Book Free Consultation!