We are what we eat!” & “Breathing is the most important activity in our life.” are two facts we cannot dismiss but did you know that what you eat will change the way you breathe and how you breathe will change the food you eat?
This is the conclusion I have reached after gathering a sample of over two hundred of my patients over the past three years. It came as a surprise to me even though I have been working in the field of breath training for over fifteen years as a Buteyko Educator and as a Whole Plant Nutritionist for the last two years.
Since a poor diet can lead to many modern diseases from Allergies to Cancers and poor breathing is a major factor in the development of Asthma, Hypertension, Panic attacks, ME, Heart problems, Gut problems and many more conditions, even orthodontic problems, this link between the two needs far more attention. To explain the physiological connection between poor diet and poor breathing is easy; a diet comprised of too much meat, dairy, soft drinks, processed foods often leads to metabolic acidosis (the body becomes too acid) & to correct this the body can either draw calcium from your bones or cause you to hyperventilate to get rid of carbon dioxide to neutralize the acidity. Thus it is important when teaching people to breathe normally and stop hyperventilating to ensure they are eating a good diet.
The connection between good breathing and diet is more subtle; when we breathe normally the body is optimally oxygenated and we are usually calm and free of stress, this appears to cause us to be more thoughtful of what we eat and we tend not to snack on junk foods.
The chart below shows my most recent results of this research. You can easily check your own stats by visiting  “Check your own breathing” to get your Control Pause (CP on the chart). Go to “Check your own diet with the 4LeafSurvey”