Natural therapies for asthma - Getting my body ready for conception

In order for me to get pregnant, my health is very important. Why did my childhood asthma return to haunt me? I have tried asthma medications and they interfered with my cycles. I really need natural therapies!

FOOD THERAPY

First of all, I shall always start with the spiritual aspect.

What does the bible say about healthy food?

In Leviticus, the Lord has told Moses what is clean and unclean food. You can refer to this website for the bible verses. I have summarised them.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2011&version=NIV

Leviticus 11

• Eat animals that have divided hoofs and chew cud. Examples - No hyrax, camel, rabbit and PIG! 
• Eat sea creatures that swim and have scales and fins. No prawns, crabs, stingrays, clams etc???? No wonder these food are a no no for people prone to allergies.
• Specific birds are listed as unclean e.g. raven, osprey, vultures, owls, bats. I am not interested to list them because I don't think anybody would eat them. Wow, this means that chicken, goose, duck, pigeons etc are fine.
• Flying insects that have four legs are unclean. I thought insects have six legs??? This part is very puzzling to me. The only type of insects that we could eat are those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground like locust, katydid, cricket and grasshoppers.
• Do not eat any creature that moves along the ground on its belly, walks on all fours or many feet. I do not really understand this because most animals move on fours. Means no centipede, dogs, cats, snakes.

But in Mark 7:1-23, Jesus mentions in verse 18 and 19 that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them for it doesn't go into their heart but their stomach and then out of their body.

Interestingly, the so called unclean food mentioned in Leviticus are unhealthy by medical terms. We all know that eating too much pork and seafood is not good for our bodies as it raises our cholesterol levels. I interpret Mark by saying that since we have been saved through our beliefs in Jesus Christ, we have been made clean and food even though unhealthy cannot make us unclean spiritually.

Next, I will move on to the Traditional Chinese beliefs in food that are too cold or too hot. I find it very confusing and managed to find a good website that categorises the food into hot and cold.

http://www.tcmecc.org/foodtherapy.htm

Since I have been plagued by respiratory problems for quite a while. I shall list down the food that are supposedly good for lungs. I ran through the list and only apricot is listed as good for asthma. It is so difficult to find fresh apricots. I finally found them yesterday at NTUC Finest. I was wheezing and took one apricot. The wheezing stopped. I thought maybe it was a coincidence . I tried it again and it worked!

Food good for lungs and asthma

• Apricots - S
• Grapes - N
• Bananas - C
• Grapefruit - C
• Lemon - slightly C
• Pear - C
• Persimmon - C
• Strawberry - N
• Tangerine - N
• Carrot -N
• Chinese Yam - N
• Green onions - W
• Onion - N
• Radish - C
• Water Chestnut - C
• Duck - N
• Pork - N
• Milk - N (This is strange because I though milk produces phlegm.)
• Corx seeds - slightly cold
• Chrysanthemum flower - slightly C
• Garlic - W
• Fresh ginger - slightly W
• Peppertree seeds - slightly W
• Walnut kernel - slightly W
• Avoid cucumber

I also went to research on natural remedies for asthma as I do not wish to depend on steroids as a cure.

http://jdmoyer.com/2010/07/17/how-i-cured-my-asthma-with-one-simple-lifestyle-change/

Supplements

• Magnesium
• Vitamin C
• Fish Oil

What to avoid

• Wheat
• Grains
• Processed food
• Dairy products
• Tomatoes
• Bananas
• Avocados
• Kiwi

I also started to list down and categorised the activities and food into allergy and non allergies. It really helped a lot. Overall, I find that micro fibre bed sheet helps. Apricots, fish oil and especially Vit C works well with asthma but Vit C causes severe constipation for me so I have stopped. Red meat and cheese are big no no. Cold drinks at night is also a big trigger. Soupy food is the best.

DEEP BREATHING TECHNIQUES

I also found a TCM article that claims that prolonged grief would lead to lung deficiency.

http://www.acupuncture.com/newsletters/m_oct12/grief.htm

This article is EXCELLENT because the breathing exercises really work and would cure a mild asthma attack. It claims that the breathing techniques would help dispel the grief from your lungs.
It is in some way, true because if I feel stress or sad, such feelings are triggers too.

I attended YOGA THERAPY which helped a lot in my asthma condition too. Yoga has many different types. The more strenuous ones worsen my asthma but Therapy classes help ease the airways.

ACTIVE LIFESTYLE

Leading an active lifestyle helps a lot. Perhaps my one year break from work has caused me to lead a more sedentary lifestyle even though I tried to organise outings and activities. As a result, I looked forward to working again - anything that I could do to heal my asthma.

I hope that people out there with overactive immune system like me, would benefit from reading what I have researched and not rely on inhalers especially steroids so much. Of course, if you are very breathless, you have to take a puff, please take a puff but don't be taken in by the false sense of security and when you don't make any adjustments to your lifestyles, you would be overly dependent on the inhalers. 

After some trial and error, based on my personal experiences in controlling asthma, breathing techniques like Butekyo breathing techniques http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/buteyko-breathing-technique-nothing-to-hyperventilate-about/
and guess what, eating WATERMELONS that are NOT CHILLED
http://www.qualityhealth.com/asthma-articles/watermelon-benefits-unconventional-asthma-treatment