Foods to Avoid After Congestive Heart Failure Treatment

 

To help CHF patients recover quickly, there are food items that they should avoid. This post will brief you about such food items and ways to avoid for effective congestive heart failure treatment process.

 

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is caused when the pumping of the heart and delivery of oxygen to other parts of the body is affected. This happens when the body consumes extra sodium/salt or retain too much fluids. Therefore, congestive heart failure treatment is effective by having a proper diet withthe consumption of restrictive sodium and fluids. Following are the waysto avoid such food items in the diet:

 

 

1.    Reduce salt quantity:

It is imperative to reduce salt in daily food. This can be done in various ways:

-       Supplementing snacks with fruits

-       Trying alternative seasoning like herbs

-       Adding pepper and lemon juice for extra taste without salt

-       Instruct waiter for low salt dishes when ordered in restaurants

-       Choose low sodium or sodium-free food

 

2.    Substitute for water:

As a part of congestive heart failure treatment, a patient with CHF is recommended to consume a max of 2 litres of fluid per day. The restriction can be fulfilled in smart ways like:

-       Dodging the thirst quench by swirling the water around the mouth and spitting it.

-       Sugar-free candy or a small ice-cube can help reduce the thirst.

-       Eat fruits high in fluids like watermelon or citrus helps reduce thirstiness.

 

3.    Avoid processed food:

 

It is vital to avoid processed food by CHF patients. These foods contain a standard amount of salt (to enhance the flavor and increase shelf-life) that is higher than the recommended. Therefore, it is recommended to avoid frozen, prepacked, processed food even if they are labeled as low-sodium items.

 

4.    Track consumption:

To track the consumption of salt and fluid, always check for the sodium quantity per serving (less than 350mg  of sodium recommended). For the fluids, (2 litres per day recommended), breaking the intake during different meals will help one in restricting the fluid consumption over the day. 

 

For the CHF patients to have efficient functioning of heart, the above ways will help them reduce the fluid and salt in food to show effective results from congestive heart failure treatment.

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