Healing with Food Article

Stop Snoring

Accompanying recipe: Mustard Greens and Garlic

Snoring can be a pesky problem. When there's an obstruction or congestion in your windpipe or airways then your breath will pulsate, rattle or buzz around the uvula. The resulting sound can vary from a sweet purr to a roar that actually damages the eardrums.

To help relieve snoring with diet, it's useful to visualize how it happens. Imagine a straw made of a spongy, absorbent material. When it's dry, you may smoothly blow through it. However, if you were to wet a “spongy” straw it would expand, restrict the passageway and cause your breath to vibrate.

Snoring is similar. When our airways are open and their soft tissues and uvula (the conical flesh that hangs from the soft palate in the middle of the mouth) are toned, breath flows smoothly.

What diet affords you snoring relief? One that tones, rather than puffs-up, the airway's soft tissues. Follow a healthy diet and lifestyle, avoid overeating and try to have your last meal by 6 p.m.

Foods that help reduce congestion include:

Citrus rind
Horseradish
Lobster
Mustard greens
Mustard seed
Onion family, including garlic, leeks and scallions
Pears
Seaweed, all varieties
Thyme

Conversely, eliminate or reduce consumption of foods that contribute to the formation of excess intracellular fluids or mucus. These include:

Allergy triggering foods (typically wheat, dairy, soy, corn & eggs)
Baked goods, including bread, pizza, bagels, crackers, cookies
Dairy products, especially hard, baked or processed cheeses
Fried foods
Refined oils and fats
Sugar and non-nutritive sweeteners

Note the foods and activities that lower your snore's decibels. Odds are that your overall sense of well-being will also be better. This positive reinforcement, of feeling good when we take good care of ourselves, makes it even easier to continue with the life-enhancing habits.

During sleep our tissues are most relaxed and so snoring is then most problematic. Sleeping on your back causes the tongue to fall backward and the jaw to drop open, which partially closes the windpipe and amplifies uvula vibrations. So train yourself to sleep on your side. Additionally, if you are overweight, reduce, as the obese are three times more likely to snore due to engorged tissues.

The accompanying recipe for Mustard Greens and Garlic is one that address congestion.

May you be well nourished,

Rebecca Wood