Food & Supplements For Better Breathing

Transcript:

TERESA: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. We are a Minnesota company that specializes in real food nutrition education and counseling. This show, Dishing Up Nutrition, has been helping people connect what they eat to how they feel for the last 20 years. And we're so grateful for you, our listeners, whether this is your first episode or your five hundredth.

In this weekly show, we also strive to provide real deal down to earth solutions to healthier living through eating real food. My name is Teresa Wagner and I am a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. I'm here today with my cohost, Leah Kleinschrodt, who is also a Registered Dietitian. Today we are going to be sharing some foods and supplements for better breathing.

LEAH: An interesting topic, and it's always good to be back in studio with you, Teresa. So as I was preparing for today's topic, I did a little light reading. So the American Lung Association puts out a state of the air publication every year. So I was just perusing.

TERESA: A little light reading.

LEAH: Just a little light reading before bed, nothing too serious. And so I was perusing the 2024 report and the thing is that the data that they're looking at is usually a couple of years behind like the actual year that we're in, so they were, this time around, they're looking at data from 2020 to 2022.

And this particular report focuses on ozone and fine particle pollution, which are the most harmful forms of pollution that are, that's out there in the air. And what they found was that 131.2 million Americans live in places with failing grades for unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution.

So that's a third of Americans now have this environmental risk factor that may contribute to their asthma, COPD, lung cancer, allergies, heart disease, and even say like post COVID symptoms. So higher air pollution can even make you more susceptible to infections overall, since pollution is a burden on the immune system.

Now, most air pollution, of course, it comes from the industry and transportation sectors, but in more recent years, we've also had to contend with a lot more wildfires. I know I remember this. I think many of us remember watching all the air quality monitors almost all last summer.

TERESA: Yeah, I know that was something I was paying attention to too, and I'm not even a person who lives with a lung condition. But I definitely was on the weather app checking air quality before I would go for runs because there would be times where the air quality was so poor that it was actually unhealthy to go for a run because of that air quality.

And the tricky part about that, a lot of times is you can't really tell. And so without some of those advances in technology to let us know what the air quality is, you may have gone out and done some damage to your lungs without knowing. So I remember that very well last year.

LEAH: Yeah. Yep.

TERESA: Unfortunately, we can't control the wildfires or air quality. And most of us, we can't move to Hawaii, Hawaii being known for its clean air, probably because it's so far out in the middle of the ocean, they're unaffected. So the next best option is to do what we can do to reduce the burden on our lungs and to reduce our inflammation from the inside out. And since this is a nutrition podcast, we are going to talk about foods and nutrients that can help keep our airways healthy and support our immune system.

Our lungs have the ability to repair

LEAH: Absolutely. And before we launch too far down that path, I just want to highlight, again, a few numbers for the listeners that I found interesting as I was researching for the show, so this was a 1962 paper. So this is a while ago. This was published in the journal of Nature. And this paper discussed that the epithelial cells in the small little tubules in the lungs turn over every seven to 10 days.

So that's a mouthful. What that just means is every 7 to 10 days, you have a brand new layer of cells in your lungs that now we have a chance for those cells to work better than the tissue that was in there before it. There's a few other types of cells and tissues in the lungs that turn over about every 3 weeks.

That was another piece that was in that paper. So those numbers I found interesting. And then there was a, just a quote from a 2014 paper that I was reading and it stated that “It is now known that the lung has remarkable reparative capacity.” So it was previously thought that the lungs, once they were damaged or once they were inflamed, like there wasn't any going back, like you just had to live with it from there on out.

But the more recent research is saying that actually our lungs can repair. They can get better. We can improve on them, which I wanted to highlight those numbers just I think it sends a message of hope.

TERESA: I think it does too.

LEAH: Yeah. I think it helps to show that if we can change the inputs we're giving to our bodies, so food being one of those big inputs, we have the ability to make healthier cells in the lungs in a relatively short period of time. Within a month, we can potentially start to feel some of those positive changes in our breathing, have better energy levels if we're just able to get oxygen around the body a little bit better, and have that chance of feeling like less puffy and less inflamed overall.

TERESA: I just, I don't know about you, Leah, but I am constantly amazed by how remarkable the body is and its ability to repair itself.

LEAH: Yeah.

Drink sufficient water for healthy lung function

TERESA: And, the damage that we've done to our lungs, whether we've had a things in the past that maybe have been damaging to them that we, maybe we can do something. So we just have to do our best to tap into that potential and give ourselves and our tissues the best building blocks that we can.

Let's talk about some things that we can be eating or drinking in order to help build healthy lung tissues. The first thing that comes to my mind is drinking enough water to keep our lungs hydrated and elastic. In several of our classes, we break down how much water we lose from our major organ systems and how much they require each day to function optimally.

Of course, we have a picture of the lungs. It's front and center, and it shows that the lungs themselves and breathing every day results in three and a half glasses of water lost, which is about 27 ounces of water.

LEAH: I know exactly the slides you're thinking of. I remember those very clearly as well. And yeah, the kidneys are the big water hogs. Those are, that takes first place right there. They take a lot of water cause they have to do a lot of the filtering and transporting things around the body. But the lungs are, they come in second place.

So when we're looking at that three and a half. cups of water every day, that 27 ounces or so every day, like that's, I'd argue that's the minimum of what we need to be giving our lungs and those breathing tissues to keep them hydrated, to keep them working well. And I know when I have a full day of clients where we're doing a lot of talking, a lot of conversating or on days where I'm teaching a class, or maybe it's just a day when my toddlers are asking a lot of questions and they're feeling extra needy that day, I feel thirstier and need to drink a lot more water on those days.

Cause we're losing more when we're just, when we have to talk and project and do all those things. And Teresa, you talked about running just a little bit ago. So again, that sounds like that is a form of exercise that you enjoy and you just, I know you just generally enjoy being outdoors anyways. So I'd imagine your lungs probably also need more than that baseline of three and a half cups of water.

TERESA: Yeah, absolutely. And it's really just the more breathing you do, the more water your lungs require.

LEAH: Yeah. Makes sense.

TERESA: Like you're saying, when you exercise, you breathe more and when you talk, you breathe more and so we just need more water.

LEAH: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

TERESA: If I'm working with clients who have any kind of lung issues like asthma, COPD, or even allergies, I'm typically encouraging them to drink 75 to 80 ounces of water per day and for some people, maybe even a little bit more than that. This can be a tall order, but it is something that we can work on;

Simple changes that pack big punches. If you're not used to drinking that much water in a day, just start ramping up slowly. No need to just do it all overnight if you don't want to. We can just start where you're at.

LEAH: If you don't want to live in the bathroom for a week while your body adapts, like better to do it a little slower.

TERESA: Absolutely. Give your tissues time to get used to it so that they actually hold the water versus like you were talking about the kidneys that we just filter it through and go to the bathroom. So yeah, start ramping up slowly. And then just think about are there any gaps in your day where you don't typically drink water?

One gap I often see in people's schedule is the time between when they wake up and when they have that first cup of coffee. And I think that, when we think about all that breathing, think about how people breathe when they're sleeping.

LEAH: Yeah.

TERESA: It's a lot of deep breathing, right? And so we get very dehydrated as we're sleeping. And so it would be a natural gap, like we're talking about, where we could maybe start that hydration process, start that, try to have a glass of water before your coffee, because once you have that sip of coffee, it kind of blocks or blunts that thirst mechanism. And then you don't feel like you need to drink any water. So drink the water first. Have that be like your goal. “Once I finish this class, I can have my coffee.” It's very motivational for some of us.

LEAH: And I do that same thing. I've, I know I've shared a story on before where I've challenged our listeners to say like, you know, put your coffee mug out with the coffee, like with the coffee maker, your Keurig, or whatever you're using, fill it with water, and you have to finish that water before you can put coffee in that mug.

That's one thing. I did that for a while. Now my automatic pattern is before I go to bed the night before, I make sure I have a, I fill up my water bottle or my glass of water, whatever I'm using at home, so that when I walk up the stairs from my bedroom, that is the first thing I see. I go for the water first before I turn on the coffee maker or turn on the Keurig or whatever I'm doing,

TERESA: Yep. I love that. And I feel like that's just, it's a routine that we've both built into our systems where we have that water right away. And it really makes a big difference. When I don't do that, I really notice a difference in just the way my brain kind of functions and thinks.

LEAH: Totally.

TERESA: And now I'll have to pay attention to if my lungs, if I feel like, yeah, if it affects there.

LEAH: Yep. Yeah. And to your point too, I noticed if I don't start with the water, it is easy to get behind by 10, 11 a.m., and then you're playing catch up. So again, if you start early and just keep it going, like your body will thank you for that.

TERESA: And you will thank you at bedtime if you don't trying to chug water before bed.

LEAH: Yep. That too. Absolutely. So yeah, maybe it requires to setting an alarm on your phone and look for those gaps in your day. Do you have a daily stand up meeting at your work? I recently was talking with a nurse client of mine and she has these daily safety meetings and rounds and stuff that she does. So is that a time, like something that's already consistent in your day, could you plug in eight ounces of water in that time frame?

TERESA: Great way to build a habit, right? We talk about that stacking habits, pair a habit or pair something new with a habit you already do.

LEAH: Yeah. Yep. That's perfect. Or are you someone that needs to jazz up your water with some flavors or some fizz or just something to make it more interesting? And one of my favorite recommendations, especially right now, this time of year is electrolytes to just add a flavor pop to water.

So as long as those electrolytes were not, we don't have artificial sweeteners in there like sucralose or aspartame. We carry a couple options here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness. There's a Nutridyn Hydrate product. There's Synerplex. I personally, I like LMNT. You can find that out there on the web.

But many of our clients also love to use Key Greens powders or some of my clients love to do a sparkling, a can of sparkling water or two throughout the day, just for a little texture difference and just something other than plain old water. So it is, it's asking yourself that question, like, how are you going to remember and get excited about drinking enough water to keep your breathing happy and healthy?

TERESA: Let's also point out that when we're drinking more water, there's less room for other potentially inflammatory beverages like soda or juice or sports drinks and alcohol. And I should say, when we were talking about electrolytes, we weren't talking about sports drinks.

LEAH: True. Good point.

Avoid sugar & artificial sweeteners in beverages

TERESA: Many of those drinks contain a lot of sugar, or if they're not high in sugar they're probably sweetened with artificial sweeteners, which can create lung inflammation. There was a study published in 2022 in the Journal of Asthma that looked at data for almost 10,000 children, and it showed that children who drank sugary beverages had an asthma prevalence of 16.4 percent versus 7.5 percent in children who didn't drink any sugary drinks. A 2016 study looking at adults found a very similar association as well.

LEAH: Yeah. Yeah, such a good point. So what we drink or don't drink is can truly make a difference in how well we breathe, and I want to elaborate just one point on two of those research studies as I read through them. Both of those made a point to say that the asthma prevalence was independent of the obesity of the populations that they looked at.

So they knew that it wasn't their body weight. It wasn't the obesity factors. So they could throw that to the side and say no, it is actually more the, what are we consuming; the sugary drinks that was driving more of that inflammation, driving more of that asthma reaction in both the adults and the kids.

TERESA: Yeah, that's a really important point to know.

Gluten is a common irritant of the immune system & airways

LEAH: So along those same lines, thinking about things that could create inflammation in the lungs, I'm just going to drop this in here before we take our break. Gluten is another common irritant of the immune system and our airways. We had a great show.

I just listened to it the other day on gluten and gluten free products that we just did last week. So I do want to talk a little bit more about that on the other side of break. So you are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. I am Leah Kleinschrodt, and along with Teresa Wagner, we are your hosts for this episode. We're talking about things we can do to improve breathing through food and supplements. And we'll be back in a moment.

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Client success story

TERESA: We are back with your weekly Dishing Up Nutrition episode. Before we jump back into our show, I wanted to just talk about a client that I recently saw who has been through our Nutrition for Weight Loss Foundations program, and she sees me regularly and she was just telling me all these wonderful stories about how she had come back from a trip in Northern Minnesota with her grandkids where it was just this very active trip where they were doing alpine slides and hiking and all kinds of activities that two years ago when she had started Nutrition for Weight Loss, I don't think she would have thought would have been possible. She has lost 95 pounds. She is an avid exerciser.

She listens to our radio or podcast when she's exercising. So hello, and I hope you're having a good workout. And she's just a testament to how that program can work so well. And that when you have this real food approach where you eat foods that are nourishing to your body, foods that you can just buy at the grocery store, there's no gimmicks, there's no, it's not a fad diet.

It's just real food nutrition to help you be the most healthy version of yourself. So if you're interested in learning more about this life changing nutrition program, our Nutrition for Weight Loss Foundations course, we do have classes starting coming up the week of September 3rd.

We have in person classes available, and we also have an online format or a Zoom format for people so that they are able to be in class if they can't be with us here in Minnesota in person.

Sign Up for Nutrition for Weight Loss Foundations!

LEAH: Yeah, and that's the fun thing about those virtual classes. I think I'm scheduled to teach the one that will be on Wednesdays, and I love it when we get East Coast, West Coast, south, north, like all the people coming in and just like what that opportunity looks like, or just it's great to have that opportunity. That's so many people across the country can join us.

TERESA: Yeah. It's so fun.

LEAH: Yeah. And I, just to piggyback, I know the client that you're talking about, because I have had her in some of my classes as well and seen her for a little bit of counseling too. And I just want to piggyback a little bit on what you said too. Yes, she's made such great strides over these last couple of years. And it also, it's, it's not been without its challenges.

So I think that is also where some of the structure and community and support with these groups is so invaluable. Like we can't always do it on our own and that just having that community and helping us have that consistency that it takes to lose the weight, to better our lungs, to better our heart, to better everything else; it does, it takes that bit of consistency and that support.

And it's so great when we have those communities and we're able to run them every couple of months and start a new batch.

TERESA: Yeah. And with that consistency that the class being set up as a 12 week program allows for you to have some consistency over several months. And so it's really good. Yeah. It's a really great class. So if you are at all interested in that, I highly encourage you to sign up.

LEAH: Yes. Yes. So let's dive back into the topic at hand. We've been talking about things, especially beverages, like what can we drink and what should we potentially stay away from when it comes to beverages and how that ties into lung inflammation and how well we're breathing.

More on gluten & how it can affect airways

And then I dropped a nugget before we went to break about how gluten can be a common irritant of the immune system and of our airways. And I wanted to share a story. I recently had a follow up with this client. So this client has celiac disease, which is an autoimmune condition. So the immune system reacts to gluten, the gluten protein that's found in wheat.

She went out to a restaurant with her family members over the weekend and she got accidentally “glutened”. Her telltale sign that she's accidentally ingested gluten is that she immediately starts coughing and she may cough so violently until she vomits. So and she doesn't have any underlying asthma or respiratory issues, but this is just how gluten affects her. It really like starts to attack those lungs or gets after the breathing.

And so I think that's a really an interesting story And I also want to mention just because I find this particularly fascinating that this client pursued getting tested for celiac disease originally because she had a rash on her foot that wasn't going away, and her doctor was the one who said this might actually be celiac and recommended getting testing and lo and behold, there you go.

TERESA: Yeah. How interesting. What a smart doctor.

LEAH: Yeah. Smart doctor. And just goes to show just how sneaky, like it's not always digestive. Gluten can just be a sneaky little compound.

TERESA: Yeah, for sure. And like you're saying, so often it's thought that if you have an issue with gluten obviously I wouldn't know because I would have digestive issues. But that's not always the case. In fact, it can show up in many different ways, not just with the lungs and not just with digestive issues; skin, all kinds of different ways.

If you have a chronic condition like asthma or COPD or emphysema, it may be worth doing a trial of removing gluten to see if it's a contributing factor to the overall inflammation in your airways.

LEAH: Yep. I agree. It would definitely be one thing that I'm as I'm like looking or going through a day with a client, I'm looking for, okay, where are we potentially getting some of these inflammatory compounds in? And it may seem like a daunting undertaking to go 100 percent gluten free, but it could be so worth it.

And I mentioned before we went to break, we just did a fabulous show about gluten, gluten free products. Like are gluten free products really gluten free? I thought that was a really interesting title. But it just to quickly review in case people didn't catch that show, gluten is found in anything with wheat being the big one, but there, you know, barley, rye, spelt, kamut; these are other just grains that have that high amount of gluten protein in them.

So you have to think about anything that's breaded or anything that's made of bread or flour, but that this could also be things like barbecue sauce, soy sauce, again, breadings, or like coatings on meats and things, couscous. Even oats, I know they touched on in the last show also that oats aren't, they don't inherently have gluten, but there's often a lot of cross contamination there.

When I'm talking about gluten free with a client, I'm just saying like, let's, let's just be cautious and say let's get rid of oats for a little while too, while we're doing this experiment. So yes, it may be simple to just say, okay, then I can just take my regular bread and switch it out for a gluten free bread or take my pasta, switch it out for a gluten free pasta. But we have to think, is this really going to help you achieve that goal of less inflammation overall?

It might help a little bit, but in general, what we have found just through our clinical work over the last 30 plus years, that it works better when we focus on gluten free foods that mother nature gave us; meats, eggs, fish, seafood, vegetables, and fruits and potatoes and quinoa for the carbohydrate side of things, and then we round it out with some of those nice, healthy fats.

Healthy fats hydrate lung tissue & reduce inflammation

TERESA: Yeah. And I'm glad you mentioned those healthy fats. So let's just double click on those healthy fats for a minute, because having those nourishing fats in our bodies is another way to hydrate our tissues, including our lung tissues. Healthy fats are also anti-inflammatory, so they pull double duty when it comes to lung health and breathing.

LEAH: Yes. Yeah, that's a great point again, like we hydrate with water, but we also hydrate with healthy fats.

TERESA: Yeah. I think of it like lotion. To really hydrate those tissues, we want to be able to penetrate the tissues with something that's hydrating like that. And I think that with water, we picture it rolling off. We have to have it get into the cells, but with those fats, while they need to too you can see it a little bit more, how it can have that hydration.

LEAH: Yep. Absolutely. A client asked me recently, like which fat, which oil is the most anti-inflammatory? I was like, oh boy, putting me on the spot. And I had to ponder that one for a second. And then, this is such an answer, but my answer ended up being like, they're all anti-inflammatory in their own right. There's all, butter is a great source of CLA, which is conjugated linoleic acid. So it's, this is an important compound for like energy production and our mitochondria.

Pumpkin seeds have great zinc. Avocados have great magnesium. Coconut oil has medium chain triglycerides, which is just another source of energy, and it's antimicrobial. Brazil nuts are the best source of selenium in the food supply, and selenium is a great antioxidant. Most nuts and seeds have fiber that feed our good gut bugs.

So it's a very nuanced answer when you ask me something like that, right? It's one of the reasons why we recommend getting a variety of healthy fats throughout the day, or even like on a week to week basis, like just do something a little bit different each week so you get the benefits of each of those things.

Now I do think about omega-threes being very anti-inflammatory in general, and we get those omega-3s through eating our fatty fish like salmon and sardines, or through supplementing with cod liver oil. That's something I have sitting in my fridge right now, or like a good quality omega-3 supplement.

When we talk about also those specifically inflammation for the lungs, I do think about omega-3s, but I also think about a different fatty acid that's called gamma linoleic acid or GLA.

TERESA: And we can't have a show about lung health and breathing without talking about GLA.

LEAH: Yes.

TERESA: GLA is an essential fatty acid. Which means that we have to get it through the diet or through a supplement. Omega-3 fatty acids are the same way. We have to consume them. Our bodies cannot make these on their own. So we find GLA in foods like nuts and seeds and oils like evening primrose oil, hemp oil, and borage oil.

However, some people are not able to break down this fatty acid from their food and then their bodies can't use it effectively. So even if they're eating it, it's not getting into their system and getting into the tissues that really need them, like the lungs. So these people will certainly benefit from supplementing with GLA.

LEAH: Right. GLA being a more activated form or just again, like a form of that fatty acid that is utilized a little bit easier in the body, even if you don't have some of those specific enzymes to break it down from foods. And I was doing a little bit of research again, what I found and came across was an interesting combination.

When you pair GLA with EPA, which is one of those omega-3 fats, and there's the, the jury's out on DHA, a different omega-3 fat, but especially the GLA plus the EPA in the omega-3s may be an extra potent combination for combating lung inflammation and also helping the lungs do that exchange with oxygen and carbon dioxide, like down there deep in the lungs.

To hit a therapeutic dose of GLA, I usually edge my clients up to four to six softgels of our, like our GLA-160 per day, which gets us in the ballpark of 640 milligrams to 950 milligrams of GLA per day. So I'll usually have clients, I'll say, take two with each of your main meals. And so it, because it is a fatty acid, it helps to have the fats from the meal there to digest it and to absorb it.

I usually tell them like, do this, let's plan on doing this for at least three months to say really saturate those tissues, and I'll have them do the same thing with fish oil. So pairing that GLA and the fish oil. I'll have them do those omega-threes, again, four to six soft gels per day for three months to get that overall anti-inflammatory benefit.

TERESA: Yeah. And that's a winning combination of those essential fatty acids. I also want to just drop a few little nuggets here and say that GLA can be helpful for several other symptoms too. So if you are taking, you're like, wow, that's a lot. That's a lot of GLA that I have to take, but it can help with other things too, so it doesn't just work with the lungs.

What else can GLA help with?

It can be helpful for other things as well. So a few of these things I'm noting when I'm talking with clients, if they tend to have really dry, cracked or flaky skin. If they have that sort of that bumpy kind of, what is that called? Like chicken skin on the back of their arms. If they have psoriasis or rosacea, if they have hormonal symptoms, like significant PMS symptoms, like cramping around their period or hot flashes, these are things that I'm taking note of as I'm talking with them and thinking about GLA.

LEAH: Like, when you're talking with clients, you are, again I know I'm always making that mental note or like pinning things in my brain and looking for the clues and trying to connect the dots and just, again, put together that picture of okay, what's going to be the most helpful for that client?

Yeah, to your point, if someone has asthma and they have dry skin and terrible period cramping, then we'll probably be recommending some GLA and omega-threes to compliment their gluten free eating plan. So again, thinking about bringing it all together. There's a lot of different avenues to approach these issues with. And so we work closely with our clients.

We ask a lot of questions to again, just help them figure out that most sensible course of action going forward. And it doesn't mean we always hit the nail on the head right out of the gate. We, oh, we can course correct, but it's again, like when we're just picking out those clues and connecting the dots, like it's actually pretty amazing what we can do in those first couple of appointments,

TE-RESA: Right. It's some great points to just review and really we are one whole system. We're not just our lungs. We are also our lungs and our hormone system and our skin and they're all interconnected. And when we look at it more as a whole picture like that, we don't need to do one thing for one, another thing for a different thing and another thing for a different thing. We can have crossover. That gluten free diet would be good for all of those things. The GLA will be good for all of those things. The omega-threes will be good for all of those things.

Recap

So today we talked about hydrating our lung tissue with adequate water and those healthy fats. We discussed some factors that could be contributing to inflammation in the airways, including high sugar foods and drinks, as well as gluten or other food irritants. And we talked about GLA and omega-3 fatty acids being especially helpful for knocking back that low grade inflammation in the lungs.

LEAH: Yeah. So maybe you're, maybe you are already a great water drinker, or maybe you already eat a real food balanced diet. What is your next step to better breathing? We hope we've given you at least one or two other actionable takeaway items from today's show. But if you're still feeling a little at a loss or just overwhelmed or unsure what that next step should be, don't hesitate to reach out and connect with us at Nutritional Weight & Wellness.

We've worked with clients who have had chronic respiratory issues for years, and even as I mentioned earlier, even clients who have struggled with their breathing since having a bout of COVID. Foods and the right supplements can make a world of difference. So give our offices a call at 651-699-3438, or visit our website at www.weightandwellness.com.

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Our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to provide each and every person with practical, real life solutions for everyday health through eating real food. It's a simple, yet powerful message. Eating real food is life changing. Thank you for listening, and if you enjoyed this show, please head over to iTunes or your favorite podcast app to leave a review and help others find our show.