A number of fish are being cooked on a BBQ.

Choosing foods for keeping your lungs healthy can help improve your lifestyle. To keep our bodies ticking over nicely, keeping your lungs healthy is critical. Lung health is a cog in the wheel that makes your body work effectively.

Keeping your lungs healthy

A good way to keep your lungs healthy is by eating a healthy diet. A healthy diet is a long term investment to good lung health and a better lifestyle. In Nutrition and Respiratory Health, a Feature Review, it is the Mediterranean diet that is found to have protective effects for allergic respiratory diseases. This type of diet consists of fruit, vegetables, cereals, breads, seeds and nuts and beans. It also includes a low to moderate intake of dairy foods, fish and poultry. However, in addition to a healthy diet, exercising your breathing muscles is beneficial too.

1. Water

Water is essential for healthy lungs. Dry lungs are prone to irritation.  Each day you should try to drink between six and eight glasses to keep the mucosal linings in the lungs hydrated. This respiratory mucosa moistens and protects your airways, helping your lungs function better.

2. Fatty fish

Fish high in fat is an excellent choice of food for healthy lungs as they contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids which are linked with lung health. According to The Lung Health Institute, these fatty acids are particularly beneficial if you have a chronic lung disease. Firstly, omega-3 fatty acids help to fight inflammation. Secondly, they may help reduce the risk of lung infections. Finally, they can help to reduce feelings of anxiety and depression.

3. Apples

A team from St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, studied the diets and lung function of more than 2,500 men aged 45-49. They found that good lung function was associated with high intakes of vitamins C, E, and beta-carotene, citrus fruits, apples, and fruit juices.

4. Apricots

This fruit is good for keeping your lungs healthy due to its vitamin A content. The Office of Dietary Supplements notes that vitamin A supports respiratory tract linings, and may lower the risk of lung infections.

5. Broccoli

Scientists at John Hopkins Medicine Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences, made it their mission to understand the disease-deterring benefits of a compound found in broccoli. The compound, Sulforaphane, is plentiful in broccoli. It produces protective enzymes that might protect against asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or other respiratory illnesses. There are also other cruciferous vegetables, such as cabbage, kale and Brussels sprouts that contain Sulforaphane.

6. Poultry

Chicken, turkey, and other small poultry birds can benefit your lungs. According to the Office of Dietary Supplements, these foods are high in lung health boosting vitamin A. The reason why vitamin A in this form is so beneficial is because our body may absorb animal-based versions of vitamin A better than plant-based versions.

7. Nuts

The Lung Institute highlights 3 types of must that you should limit if you have chronic lung disease. These are pistachios, cashews and chestnuts. The reason being, these are lower in healthy fat than other nuts and higher in carbohydrates. A diet high in carbohydrates may increase levels of lung tissue inflammation. However, there are other nuts that may help to reduce this inflammation. These include brazil nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds.

8. Olive oil

A Northwestern Medicine study shines a light on the different health effects of vitamin E, depending on its form. It reports canola, soybean and corn oils containing gamma-tocopherolare are associated with decreased lung function. On the other hand, olive and sunflower oils containing vitamin E in the form of alpha-tocopherol, is associated with better lung function.

9. Berries

Berries are rich in antioxidants, which the American Cancer Society notes protects lungs. In fact, Acai and blueberry are two of the top sources, however cranberries, grapes, and strawberries are also good for the lungs.

Foods that are bad for lung health

Research in The Lancet (2019) reveals that eating processed meat may increase the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It elaborates on this by saying this increase in risk of developing COPD is found in middle-aged women. Furthermore, other high-risk lifestyle factors, such as smoking or an unhealthy diet increases this risk too.

What can you do outside of diet?

You can help to keep your lungs healthy by making them stronger and more resistant to fatigue. This, in turn, could potentially help them fight off infection. Furthermore, If you have a respiratory condition, then breathing training, such as with POWERbreathe IMT will also help to keep your lungs healthy. This will exercise your breathing muscles to improve their strength and stamina. Breathing training has seen improvements in asthma symptoms by up to 75%, improvement in laboured breathing by 36% & quality of life by 21%.

https://youtu.be/X4Q4i_g74YU

Everyone can benefit from stronger breathing muscles, not just people with breathing problems. Breathing training is being used in fitness workouts and sports to enable people to reach their peak levels. By improving breathing, you increase your endurance, which means you can exercise harder with the same effort.

POWERbreathe Inspiratory Muscle Training exercises your breathing muscles, mainly your diaphragm and intercostals. This ‘resistance training’ works like ‘dumbbells for your diaphragm’, improving the strength and stamina of your inspiratory muscles. And, as a thank you for reading this blog about lung health, we’d like to offer you 10% off a POWERbreathe Plus breathing training device.

In a nutshell

Eating the right foods keeps your lungs healthy and helps to prevent lung infections. This is important if you have a lung condition. A diet rich in nutrients such as fatty fish, apples, apricots, broccoli, poultry, nuts, olive oil and berries is essential for healthy lungs. Also, water hydrates the mucosal linings in your lungs to help prevent irritation.

Improve your breathing for good lung health

Use this coupon code at the checkout and receive 10% off a POWERbreathe Plus: livelung