I grew up with asthma. My parents first noticed that I was having trouble during a soccer game where I was running around with my chest up to my chin trying to breathe. They took me to the doctor, and I was diagnosed with asthma. The medical treatment for asthma is an inhaler or three. The inhalers are designed to stimulate the lungs, causing the bronchioles to dilate, or to reduce inflammation, also resulting in a lack of constriction in the lungs.
Unfortunately the first is a stimulant, like caffeine or adrenalin, and the other is an anti-inflammatory steroid, which can predispose one to infection. They controlled my symptoms very well throughout my childhood and early adulthood. When I was 23, my insurance went away, and I realized I’d have to pay for these medications out of pocket. I decided at that time to see if I could do something about it.
Healed from asthma
Through a long process of meditation, chiropractic, and nutritional changes, I beat asthma. I no longer take medication for it at all. I have occasionally taken a homeopathic when I’ve encountered cats again, but for the most part, I don’t consider myself to be asthmatic any more. It’s liberating.
People don’t think nutrition can have a role in things like this, but it absolutely can. The first thing I changed that had an impact was eliminating dairy. Especially low fat and skim dairy. After that, the single biggest elimination was wheat. Once I got rid of the wheat, I’ve been great.
A sinking feeling
The importance of eliminating wheat was driven home to me a couple of years ago. Swimming with my son, I discovered that I was able to hold my breath for inordinate amounts of time. Far longer than I could when I was a child. I didn’t think much of it, and thought it was probably because I was in much better shape now. My fitness had improved tremendously since my childhood.
One night I ate a personal pizza, complete with regular wheat and cheese. I didn’t feel too bad, a little gut bomb, maybe, but nothing terrible. But the next day, I tried to go swimming, and found that my lungs felt just like they had before. That is, when I tried to hold my breath, my lungs burned as if I needed to take a breath almost instantly, instead of allowing me to hold my breath what felt like indefinitely. My conclusion was that eating that much wheat the day before had set up an inflammatory reaction in my lungs that gave me asthma type symptoms.
Nutrition can very much play a role in your health. If you want to find out how, shoot me an email with a question! I’m happy to answer.