Living with COPD

COPD has no cure yet. However, treatments and lifestyle changes can help you feel better, stay more active, and slow the progress of the disease.

Sick lungs don't show, people can seem perfectly fine while at rest, but they run into trouble quickly when they become more active. Other people don't understand how sick they really are.

This disease is insidiously progressive,It gradually curtails people's physical activity. Being out of breath is a miserable sensation, so people avoid the activities that make them out of breath. Gradually, they become homebound or less willing to travel, experiencing a major impact on their quality of life.

 Everything takes  longer, you can't keep up. It's a huge effort and you become very short of breath just doing the basics -- taking a shower, getting dressed, trying to get out to do what you have to do. By the time you're ready to go, you don't want to do it. A lot of people just give up.

                  Managing COPD With Exercise and Diet

• Just to breathe, the breathing muscles of a person with COPD burn 10 times the calories of other people.

  And exercise, including specific breathing exercises, can help in many ways, even though it can feel counterintuitive to do something that may cause some shortness of breath.

Because COPD, impairs lung function, it greatly increases demands on energy. In a person with COPD, the muscles involved in breathing require up to 10 times more calories than usual.

 This makes it important to get sufficient calories from healthy foods. COPD also puts a person at greater risk for chest infections, but good nutrition keeps your immune system strong and better able to ward off illness.
                    Vitamin- and Mineral-Rich Foods

• Eating plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits supports lung function.

• Citrus fruits, peppers and melons are rich in vitamin C.

• Good sources of beta-carotene include carrots, sweet potatoes and leafy green vegetables.

•  Nuts and whole grain products provide vitamin E. If you use glucocorticoids for COPD you may be at risk for loss of bone mass and osteoporosis. To support bone health, get sufficient calcium from foods like dairy products, dark leafy green vegetables and almonds.

High-Fiber Foods

A diet rich in fiber lowers risk of death from respiratory diseases by an average of 41 percent, found a study published in "Archives of Internal Medicine" in June 2011. 

• Fiber-rich food options include oatmeal and other whole grains, nuts and seeds, and fresh vegetables and fruits such as carrots, pears and berries. Apples, cucumbers, beans and lentils are also rich in fiber, but they're not ideal sources because they promote bloating, which can make breathing difficult.

• Banana ,Pear, Orange ,Raisins,  Peaches, dried:                      
  Figs, dried.

                             Low-Sodium Foods

Excess salt, or sodium, causes your body to retain water, which leads to bloating that hampers your breathing.

•  Instead of adding salt to your food, flavor your meals with herbs and spices. Try naturally low-sodium condiments like fresh tomato sauce and plain yogurt in place of high-sodium condiments like ketchup and salad dressings

                  Small Meals and High-Calorie Snacks

High-calorie, nutrient-dense snacks can prevent you from losing excess weight due to COPD.

•  Snack options include eggs, peanut butter and crackers, bagels with cream cheese and whole-fat diary products like cheese, yogurt and pudding.

• Avoid nutrient-poor snacks like potato chips and candy bars.   Rememmber Being overweight can impair your breathing !!