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Eating & COPD

Learning to Eat Without Being Short of Breath (SOB) or That "BloAeD" Feeling!!!

©Philip J. Cable 2006 - Permission granted to re-produce For non-profit distribution.

Note about the Author: Phil Cable was a COPD'er who helped many on the internet with his proper breathing techniques.

A couple of months ago I sat down to a supper loaded with turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, squash, bread dressing and condiments. I ate the whole thing with no SOB and did not have any bloated feeling!

So, what Happened? What Changed? How I breathe while I eat is what has changed. Up till then, I would breathe in as I put some food in my mouth. I would then hold my breath as I chewed the food. Then I would breathe in again; swallow the food and then exhale. In essence, I was inhaling twice for every exhale and “trapping air”. I started to exhale more while I was eating. Now, as I am chewing my food, I very gently exhale for as long as I comfortably can. That’s it! That’s the only change! I can now eat without stopping because I am too SOB or too tired to continue. As a bonus for me I gained 1½ pounds, which is significant for a man who is 5’8” tall and weighs 99 pounds.

It takes a lot of O2 to digest your food, so please do not lie down right after supper as our breathing rate slows down when we sleep and it's harder to get O2 in and CO2 out when we sleep. I hate to break the ladies' hearts, but you should leave the dishes for a few hours, until your meal is digested.

"As a final note, most of us know how important it is for us to address our breathing problems properly. Unfortunately, the medical community has not seen that need, as yet. We have medicinal therapy, physical therapy, nutritional therapy, but no breathing therapy as such. Somehow we have to reach out to the medical community to see how this can be changed."

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