Food That Should be Avoided by Heart Failure Patients

Cardiology | by Dr. Sabyasachi Pal | Published on 05/08/2021

Heart failure or congestive heart failure is a condition marked by the inability of the heart muscles to pump blood efficiently. This could be due to a plethora of reasons, the most common of which is coronary heart disease. Irrespective of what the name suggests, heart failure does not mean that your heart completely fails to work, but rather it is too weak to carry out its function of pumping blood throughout the body efficiently. Treatment for heart failure is offered at all the best cardiac hospitals in Kolkata. 

Life is definitely not easy for patients living with heart failure and they need to make a lot of changes in their day-to-day habits as well as dietary modifications to ensure a better quality of life and prevent their condition from aggravating any further. Diet, especially, plays a major role as it helps to strengthen your heart muscles and might even aid in reversing the damage to some extent. The best cardiologists in Kolkata highly recommend healthy dietary changes to patients suffering from heart failure. 

Now, it is important to understand that when we talk about making healthy dietary changes, it not only means eating healthy but also avoiding those foods that can have a negative impact on your heart. In this blog, we are specifically going to talk about those foods that heart failure patients should refrain from eating, with the help of the top cardiologists in Kolkata. 

Alcohol – The harmful effects of excessive alcohol consumption are known to all. The heart muscles of a heart failure patient are already very weak and drinking alcohol can worsen the problem by further aggravating the condition of the heart muscles. Hence it is better to avoid all forms of alcohol, including red wine. 

Salt – Excessive salt consumption is known to promote unhealthy fluid retention in even a normal healthy person, let alone someone who is suffering from a serious condition like heart failure. This can give rise to serious complications and even cause the patient’s blood pressure to spike up. High-sodium diets usually contain high amounts of fats and calories which can lead to obesity. No doubt lowering your sodium intake can be difficult at first as food just seems to be bland without salt, however, once you get used to it, there’s no looking back. You can try by removing the salt Shaker from your dining table or try healthy, low-sodium recipes. You can also replace salt with healthy Herbs and Spices that are easily available in the market. If you are buying canned foods, make sure they have no added salt in them. 

Processed grains – Highly processed grains and products made of it, such as white pasta, white rice, and white bread have been associated with various health issues. The processing of these grains lowers the fiber present in them and as such, these are loaded with carbs which are known to cause problems like type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol. You can instead try products made of whole grains, as they are rich in nutrition and fibre. 

Processed meat – As mentioned earlier, sodium is not good for your heart health and cured & processed meat contains high levels of sodium. These are also rich in fats that can promote atherosclerosis. So it is better to avoid red meat and eat white meat and fish instead. The latter is rich in Omega 3 fatty acids and low in saturated fats, making it very healthy for your heart.

If you want to know more about heart failure and get a personalized diet plan, consult the experts from the best heart hospital in Kolkata.