About

This blog aims to combine my two passions, food and helping others manage their asthma.

I learned at an early age the power that food has to bring people together; friends, families and communities. Growing up, Sunday dinner was always my favorite part of the week. It was the one night when the entire family gathered together over big plates of pasta, sausage and meatballs.

I’m the happiest when I’m in my kitchen, I love nothing more than preparing and sharing a meal with those I love. I took my love of cooking and majored in culinary arts in college. After graduating, I was lucky enough to work for a few extremely creative chefs at exciting restaurants, and even owned three of my own. However, there was problem. I couldn’t breathe.

Turns out I have asthma. The severe, persistent kind that was being triggered by the heat and stress of working in professional kitchens. I was spending more time in the emergency room getting breathing treatments than I was cooking. I had to make a difficult choice; continue my culinary career or make my health a priority.

So, after a decade I said goodbye to the restaurant world and changed careers. I started a quest to find out all I could about asthma, the ways to manage it, and to explore the link between diet and asthma.

I am now a certified asthma educator (AE-C) and have spent the last 10 years teaching clinicians, non-licensed health educators and those living with asthma and their caregivers how to manage this disease. In doing so, I became obsessed with creating recipes that will hopefully help everyone breathe happier.

So, asthma chef was born. A dear friend encouraged me to create this blog, so this site is dedicated to him (thanks, RKH!) and to all of my family and friends who continue to help me in so many ways.

Wishing you happy eating and easy breathing,

~ Lorene