Diet taboos for emphysema

Heavily processed foods that are high in salt, sugar and fat, highly gas-producing foods that can easily induce flatulence, and irritating foods that can irritate the airways and induce coughing and wheezing. Other foods can be consumed normally as long as there is no discomfort after eating them, and there is no need to overeat.

Last week, I went to the outpatient clinic with Sister Li from the respiratory department and met a 64-year-old Chen. He was discharged from the hospital last week due to an acute exacerbation. He greedily drank two large bowls of soybean stewed pig trotters at home. In the middle of the night, his stomach became bloated like a bulge. He was so breathless that he could only sit up and sleep. In the middle of the night, he came to the emergency room again. Think about it, the lungs of emphysema patients are already in a state of overexpansion due to long-term inflation. When the belly bloates, the diaphragm pushes up, directly squeezing into the lung space. Is it possible to breathe without difficulty?

Foods that easily produce gas, such as soybeans, sweet potatoes, onions, and carbonated drinks, are indeed things that most patients should pay more attention to, but they are not completely untouchable. I have seen many patients who love to eat sweet potatoes and never suffer from flatulence after eating them all their lives. It is perfectly fine to eat just half a piece. On the contrary, for those who have slow gastrointestinal motility and keep farting after eating two mouthfuls of soy products, it is best to avoid it. There is no need to make trouble for yourself.

Let’s talk about the problem of high salt that is most easily ignored by everyone. Many elderly people have strong tastes and have been accustomed to eating pickled vegetables and sauced meats all their lives. They are not sure about the amount of salt they add in cooking. Eating too much salt will lead to water and sodium retention. Not only will the phlegm become more sticky and difficult to cough up, but it will also increase the burden on the heart and make breathing more severe. Nowadays, clinical practice generally recommends that the daily salt intake be controlled within 5g, which is about the amount of an ordinary beer bottle cap. If you sweat a lot in summer, or are taking potassium-removing diuretics, you can also relax it appropriately without having to stick to the standard - it is better than not being able to eat and not keeping up with nutrition, right? A reminder here, if you are taking potassium-sparing diuretics, do not buy low-sodium salts on the market, otherwise there is a high risk of blood potassium rising.

There are also high-sugar and high-fat foods, such as milk tea, cream cakes, and fatty meats. Eating too much will not only make you fat, but also produce more carbon dioxide when the sugar is metabolized in the body. Emphysema patients originally have a hard time expelling carbon dioxide, but this increases the workload of breathing, which is really unnecessary.

As for irritating foods, such as peppers, raw onions and garlic, ice drinks, and tobacco and alcohol, these foods will directly irritate the airway mucosa and easily induce severe coughing and excessive phlegm, especially for patients with sensitive constitutions. One sip of iced Coke may cause coughing for half an hour, so it is best to avoid it. Of course, there are exceptions. I have met patients from Sichuan who have been eating spicy food all their lives. After being diagnosed with emphysema, they still have spicy food every time, and they don’t have any coughing or wheezing reactions after eating it. There is no need to quit hard, just reduce the amount appropriately. There is no need to lose your appetite for food because of dietary restrictions.

Here is a controversial point that many people are struggling with: Can we eat "foods" such as seafood and mutton? From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, it is recommended that patients with cough and asthma try to avoid such triggers to avoid aggravating symptoms. However, from a clinical perspective, as long as you do not have a history of allergies to seafood or mutton, and your cough and asthma do not worsen after eating them, you can eat them normally. These are sources of high-quality protein, which can help patients supplement nutrition and maintain the strength of their respiratory muscles. The benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

I have been in the respiratory department for almost 6 years, and I have seen many patients who go to two extremes: either they dare not eat anything, just eat plain porridge with pickles, lose more than ten kilograms in three months, lose muscle mass so fast, they don’t even have the strength to walk.； Or I would eat everything indiscriminately and be hospitalized every three days because my cough and asthma worsened. To put it bluntly, dietary taboos are never a sticking criterion. It is more important to observe your body's reaction than anything else - after eating something, you feel you have a lot of phlegm or have severe breathlessness. Eat less next time. If you feel no discomfort after eating something, just eat normally.

After all, having emphysema is worrying enough. Being able to eat happily and nutritiously is much more important than going through the list of taboos. If you are really unsure, just ask the doctor casually during your next follow-up visit. There is no need to figure it out on your own.