Eating Easy, Eating Right
Someone with COPD may need 10 times more energy to breathe than someone without COPD. Eating a large meal can leave you feeling too full and make it harder to breathe. Try to eat four to six small meals a day.
- Eat your main meal early in the day
- Pick foods high in protein
- Choose from all food groups
- Eat foods that are easy to chew and swallow
- Avoid high sugar foods. They make you tired
- Avoid alcohol and ca ffeine. They make your heart work harder and you may become more short of
breath
- Avoid foods that produce gas. Gas causes your abdomen to expand. Your lungs then have less room to in ate. This can make it harder to breathe. Avoid things like cabbage, beans and carbonated drinks.
- Drink enough fluids. This is important to help thin the mucus in your lungs and will make it easier to cough. Eight to 12 cups of ca eine-free liquids per day is suggested. Drinking plain water may be best. Caution: Talk to your doctor if you have heart problems like CHF or Heart Failure as well as COPD. Sometimes it’s necessary for people with heart problems to limit their fluid intake.
- Avoid milk and chocolate. These foods can cause you to have more or thicker mucus and make it harder to breathe.