Diet Modification Tips

  • Check the sodium content of your food. Choose items with less than 350mg of sodium per serving.
  • Keep a dietary log. You can find two forms in the "Tools to Manage Your Health" section of this website by cicking here.
  • Avoid processed or canned items when possible. Opt for frozen or fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit. Processed items often have high sodium content.
  • Cook with herbs to bring out flavors, increase taste, and reduce the desire for salt. See this video for tips: Reducing Sodium
  • Observe food labels. Avoid consuming more than 100% of your daily allowance of sodium, cholesterol, and fat.
  • Click here for more tips on healthy eating from UCSF Medical Center.

(UCSF Medical Center, 2011)

Find videos on healthy cooking and printable food diaries in the "Tools to Manage Your Health" section on this website!

Those that have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure must learn to modify their diet and choose heart healthy items. Congestive heart failure causes the body to retain sodium. By consuming excess sodium, the body begins to retain fluid causing congestion, increased workload of the weakened heart, and narrowing of arteries that results in raised blood pressure (Silvestri, 2008, pp. 870).

The American Heart Association (2010), suggest that you observe and limit three key nutritional components: sodium, fat, and cholesterol. Sodium should be less than 2,000mg per day; cholesterol less than 56-78mg; and cholesterol less than 300mg daily on a 2,000 calorie diet (AHA, 2010). You can find information from the AHA on how to read food labels by clicking here.

Research on the Effects of Obesity in Mice After a Heart Attack

Thakker et al. (2006), completed a study on the effects of obesity on the cardiovascular system using a mice model. The study compared mice with diet induced obesity to lean mice after having a myocardial infarction (heart attack). Contrary to the group of lean mice, the obese group had significantly advanced comorbidities associated with the myocardial infarction. The obese mice were more likely to develop hypertrophy and reshaping of their left ventricle, insulin dependence, increased lipid deposits in the heart, and fatty liver disease in comparison to the lean mice. (Thakker et al., 2006)