Demystifying the Importance of Low Sodium Diet for Heart Failure Patients

Do Not Stake Your Heart At Risk By Skipping The Heart Healthy Diet!

Sodium causes high retention of water in your body. This can worsen the symptoms of your heart failure. Limiting sodium can help you feel better. That is the importance of a low sodium diet for heart failure patients.

Heart patients must always keep up with their heart healthy diet by avoiding the sodium intake. Fast food and restaurants also tend to be very high in sodium. In order to have a heart healthy diet you can ask your doctor to tell you how much sodium is right for you. For example, less than 2,000 mg a day. This includes all the salt you eat in cooked or packed food.

Why Is It Dangerous to Skip the Low Sodium Diet for Heart Failure Patients?

One of the most important food diets for heart patients is to follow a low salt diet. Sodium plays an important role in maintaining the right volume of blood. When there is too much sodium in the blood, the more fluid will be retained by the body. This extra liquid causes blood volume and blood pressure to rise, placing additional pressure on the heart.

The high sodium diet is also usually high in fat and total calories, which can cause obesity, as well as strain the blood vessels that can cause many related complications.

How Can You Take Care of The Diet for Heart Patients?

For those with heart failure, the balance of the liquid is very important and the heart cannot handle additional fluid retention that occurs with a high-salt diet. Taking less than 1,500 mg sodium daily is recommended. Sodium content can be easily identified on the nutritional label of most foods.

The following are some tips that will help you to keep up with the diet for heart patients:

• Avoid adding additional salt to food. Instead, try alternative spices.
• Avoid processed foods or pre-packages because they can have a large amount of sodium.
• Avoid canned foods, such as soup, fish, and vegetables. It is not a suitable diet for the heart.
• Understand the importance of a heart healthy diet and reduce the use of salt-loaded spices such as soy sauce, tomato sauce, mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, olives, and salted spices.
• Read the food label, and try to avoid food with more than 400 mg of salt per serving because it is necessary to be on the low sodium diet for heart failure patients.
• Heart patients must avoid eating canned meat, fish, bacon, processed cheese as well as frozen prepared foods.

While planning for the best diet for heart patients, a heart healthy diet is just as important. Heart failure patients must never miss out on including fruits, vegetables, grains, healthy fats, and oil in their diet.

Treat Yourself with This Low Sodium Food Diet for Heart Patients

• Fruits and vegetables. You can buy it fresh but eat it without adding butter, sauce, or spices.
• Peas or beans. You can buy dried beans to cook at home so you can control how much salt is in it. If you buy it in cans, find them without salt added. Rinse them before you eat it to remove extra sodium.
• Shredded wheat and oatmeal are one of the healthy choices. Choose a plain type, you can dress them with fruit or nuts before you eat it. If you buy cold cereal, look for that with sodium DV 5% or less on the nutrient facts label.

• Include high fiber foods. After all, the best diet for heart patients includes high fiber food, low cholesterol, and low sodium that will help you maintain or achieve a healthy weight. Cooked dry beans, nuts, and whole wheat food also help digestion and control glucose levels.

Can Limiting Salt Intake Prevent the Risk for Heart Patients?

Reducing salt is one of the easiest things you can do to prevent heart failure, but it's not the medicine. There may be other causes, bad diet, less exercise, being overweight, smoking, and excessive alcohol consumption. Limiting salt intake must be part of the heart healthy lifestyle as a whole that includes regular exercise, a healthy heart diet, and maintaining a healthy weight. That aids in lowering the risk of heart failure for heart patients.