Healthy Eating

Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump efficiently and cannot supply enough oxygen to the body. Dietary changes can take some stress off the heart, prevent further complications and provide symptom relief.

Heart Healthy Eating

Learn more about how you can adjust your diet while living with heart failure:

- - Diet tips
    The key to preventing and managing cardiovascular disease is a healthy diet and lifestyle. Your food choices make a difference. Learn how to integrate foods that are low in saturated and trans-fat, high in fibre and low in sodium into your diet in appropriate portions.
  - Sodium restriction
    One of the most important things you can do to avoid retaining extra fluid is reduce the amount of sodium (salt) in your diet.
  - Potassium management
    Maintaining a normal potassium balance is important, as high or low potassium levels in your blood can affect your heartbeat.
  - Fluid restriction
When people living with heart failure consume too much fluid, their heart has to work harder to pump the excess fluid around the body and may not be able to keep up. As a result, extra fluid can accumulate and seep out of blood vessels into tissues, leading to swelling and difficulty breathing. Fluid restriction is a key component of treating heart failure symptoms.
- Eliminating alcohol
  Alcohol is toxic to the heart. It is recommended that all patients with heart failure completely abstain from alcohol.