Eat to Breathe Easy

A healthy diet can help control asthma related conditions.

While no specific food can spur or prevent an asthma attack (unless you are among the 5 percent of asthmatics who also have food allergies), your diet is important as a means of controlling two other conditions that contribute to and worsen asthma: obesity and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Blame It on the Belly Fat
Being overweight is more than a cosmetic problem — especially if you have asthma. In addition to making you more prone to heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer, those extra pounds specifically make asthma both more severe and harder to treat.

• Severely overweight asthma patients are five times more likely to be hospitalized than asthma sufferers who maintain a healthy weight.
• Leaner people respond better to inhaled corticosteroids, one of the most common forms of asthma medication, than those who are overweight.

Researchers are more certain of the cure (lose the extra weight) than the cause, but theories center around the fat in the center cavity of your body.

Visceral fat — the stuff that gathers around your intestines — produces hormones such as leptin that may encourage the lining of your lungs to become inflamed (these hormones also contribute to inflammation in the rest of your body, upping the risk of heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers).

QUIZ: What's Your Body Type?

Give Yourself Room to Breathe
The good news: Research shows that losing weight can improve your condition. Additionally, reaching and maintaining a healthy weight reduces your chances of diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer. Here, some ways to start eating to breathe easier:

• Eat three small meals a day and three snacks. Contrary to what you might think, going hungry doesn’t help with weight loss. Intersperse small, healthy meals with snacks of 100 to 150 calories, such as an apple or a banana with a tablespoon of almond butter.
• Watch portion size. It may be that your expanding waistline is due to expanding portions. Servings of common packaged and prepared foods have more than doubled in the last century. When it comes to your plate, though, control is in your hands — literally. Make your lean protein serving about the size of your palm. A serving of whole grains, such as brown rice (cooked, of course!), is about as much as fits into a rounded handful. A serving of vegetables or fruit is about the size of your fist. Follow those rules of thumb for each meal and you’ll be giving yourself a real helping hand in controlling your weight.
• Fill up on fruits and vegetables. Eat up to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Not only does this keep you full, helping stave off cravings for rich, sweet food, but it ensures that you are eating a balanced diet full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.