Heart failure can be very dangerous in daily life. Even though this condition is often incurable, there are treatments that can alleviate and slow down severe forms. In addition to treatments, a good diet is also recommended. Discover what you can and cannot eat when you have heart failure.
Reduce Salt and Sodium
Salt and sodium are different, but a diet rich in salt is bad for your health. Sodium, on the other hand, is heart failure's worst enemy because it promotes water retention in the lungs, abdomen, and legs. Therefore, we recommend that, whenever possible, you calculate the amount of sodium and salt present in your food to keep a close eye on what you consume. We advise you to carefully read the labels of food and drinks before buying them to avoid any excess. It is recommended to consume only 2 grams of sodium per day.
Prepare Your Own Meals
Following on from the first point, we advise you to prepare your meals at home to better control your diet and avoid eating out. For better organization, you can implement the batch cooking method, which means preparing all your meals for the week in advance and storing them vacuum-sealed in the refrigerator or in Tupperware containers. When preparing your meals, limit saucy dishes and favor spices over salt. This saves time daily and, most importantly, allows you to eat foods that you have carefully chosen yourself beforehand.
Limit Consumption of Liquid Foods and Beverages
Liquid foods and beverages can be a factor in the swelling of the abdomen and lower limbs. Therefore, you must pay attention to the amount of water, juice, sodas, coffee, herbal tea, or soup you consume daily. To help with this, favor compotes or yogurts to take your medications and squeeze a lemon into your glass of water to avoid getting too thirsty throughout the day.
As specified in this article, this dietary recommendation should be taken with caution, as it may depend on your doctor. Indeed, depending on the heart failure cases, liquid consumption may or may not be an important factor. In most cases, it is a crucial factor.
Avoid / Ban Certain Foods
Heart failure imposes quite a few dietary restrictions, especially with foods that are too fatty or too salty. Therefore, avoid processed foods, particularly canned products and sauces, pizzas, cheese, cold cuts, bouillon cubes, salted nuts, pickles, and olives.
Favor Certain Foods
To better manage these restrictions, here is a list of foods you can consume with pleasure. These are primarily foods with very little to no sodium: fish/seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, nuts, bread, eggs, baked meats, rice, and pasta.
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