10 Foods That Improve Your Lungs

The lungs are essential for human life. They work almost tirelessly, pulling in air and dumping out what can’t be used over and over, day and night. Breathing brings in oxygen and expels carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolism. Breathing is also essential to our ability to talk and sing.

Our lungs make up a large part of our immune system. Pollutants and infection-causing microbes are captured by mucus in the lungs and shuttled upward by tiny cilia for us to cough out or swallow. Sneezes are another way the lungs help rid us of infection or pollution, often before these invaders even pass beyond the sinuses.

Here are a few foods that help enhance and improve the health of the lungs.

1. Water:

Water plays a huge role in health and is the base of any cleansing action. Pure, clean water is essential to keeping blood flowing to and from the lungs. It also keeps our lungs hydrated and the mucus flowing. It may sound disgusting, but that mucus is important and needs to be the right consistency for the cilia to move it—along with toxins, microbes, and pollutants—out.

2. Apples:

A British study found that even after controlling for other factors, people who reported eating two to five apples a week had a 32% lower risk of asthma than people who ate less. Any amount less than that didn’t seem to make a difference one way or the other.

3. Carrots: 

These roots are rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, and lycopene, all antioxidants that affect lung health and lower the chances of developing lung disease.

4. Beans, Seeds, and Nuts:

These all contain rich amounts of magnesium, a mineral that contributes to healthy lung function. They also provide essential fatty acids that are good for the cardiovascular system.

5. Grapefruit:

Naringin, a flavonoid in grapefruit, inhibits the activation of a cancer causing enzyme. White grapefruit contains a high amount of this flavonoid, though pink grapefruit has some too along with the antioxidant lycopene. Grapefruit is especially good at cleansing the lungs after quitting smoking.

To be continued…