Eating well and aging.

(NC)—Healthy living is a priority for everyone - making good food choices and maintaining a healthy body weight are important steps to living a healthy life. For those who suffer from a chronic disease, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), being healthy is an important element to the management of the disease.

COPD is a serious lung disease primarily caused by smoking and is currently the fourth leading cause of death in Canada. Activities that were once part of a daily routine can become almost impossible.

But eating a well balanced diet nourishes the body and provides much-needed energy.
Taking the time to improve your diet can:

• Improve activity tolerance
• Improve resistance to infections
• Increase ability to prevent illness
• Reduce hospitalizations
• Improve general physical and emotional well-being

Nutritionist Helene Charlebois advises COPD patients that: "Although diet can't improve your COPD it can help make your day-to-day life more productive, manageable, and most importantly, enjoyable."

The following tips can help COPD patients when preparing and eating meals.

• Choose meals that are easy to prepare
• Cook in batches, frozen dinners, meal delivery services, commercial nutrition supplements
• Take time to eat without rushing
• Use breathing techniques while eating
• Eat five to six smaller meals a day
• Avoid temperature extremes
• Avoid gas forming foods such as raw onions, cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, peppers, radishes
• Avoid drinking with a straw as it can cause additional air-trapping in the lungs

For more information on COPD please visit www.copdhelp.ca.

- News Canada