Eating Smart May Help With Your Asthma

For the last few years, I have been eating a high-fiber diet with the view of eating cleaner to help with my eczema. However, I am learning that eating a diet rich in fiber can help with my asthma, too. This is brilliant news.

The journal Nature Medicine published a study showing that a high-fiber diet could reduce inflammation in the lungs (based on tests on mice). With extra fiber entering your digestive system, they change the nutrients being absorbed from the gut which, in turn, helps to alter the immune system.¹

A typical day of eating

An average day, for me, consists of oat and blueberries with chopped bananas for breakfast. There is plenty of fiber both in the oats and banana. The blueberries are rich in antioxidants and are delicious, too! For lunch, I will have sushi or a salad with some crisps/chips. Naughty I know, but I have a weakness for salty snacks - cuff me! Dinner will consist of wholemeal pasta or rice with vegetables and fish but, again, switching to wholemeal foods will help you get more fiber into your diet.

And it may indeed make some sense. If I compare my asthma with my eczema, the asthma is far easier to manage. I noticed that I would occasionally forget to take my Seretide inhaler (steroid preventer) and noticed that my breathing was not affected. Now of course this is because the build-up of the medication is still at work in my system, so if I miss now and then is not a major problem.

My diet may have contributed to better breathing

However, I started to notice more and more that I felt less dependant on taking not the drug, but the dosage I was on. Seretide has been and still is absolutely brilliant in the management of my asthma. Because of my observations, I was able to convey this message across to my primary carer and we worked out a plan to safely reduce the dosage. I have to say that if there is a wild change in the weather, like a bitterly cold spell or I am playing football or tennis, or any change in my environment/behavior, I will up the dosage to allow for any negative impact on my breathing.

So, when I saw the research published in the journal Nature Medicine it got me wondering whether my breathing and overall health had improved because of the change in diet. There are so many variables it is hard to fully know, but I know one thing, I intend on sticking with a diet rich in fiber, protein, and vegetables because as someone once said, "You are what you eat."

I also know that when I lived on a diet of greasy, fatty foods and sugary snacks (i.e., fizzy drinks, chocolates, and fast food), both my asthma and eczema suffered greatly. Surely this cannot be a total coincidence?! All we can do is keep on top of the latest research and hope that in time we find a way to live without the constant nagging thought of what if I have an attack or will I be able to do such and such?!