Is anyone with AF have any problems with certain foods, and can it bring on AF.. and what foods to avoid. Anyone gone veggie and does it hel

Shirlgal•4 years ago•

I drink decaffinated tea and coffee for heart and because of a gastric problem brought on by Amiodarone. I had a coffee in cafe today normal and it stated AF off...also someone said about dehydration causes problems anyone any ideas on this or anything else to help myself and save myself anxiety. How does anyone cope with the feelings of anxiety

I have from time to time..I see the arythma team at Torbay on Monday 17th March.

Hope they sort out the tablets etc as this has happened since I have come off Amiodaron

Read more about...

amiodarone

20 Replies

oldest • newest

SRMGrandmaVolunteer

4 years ago

Hi Shirlgal,

Yes many people have found that certain food, or in my case, too large an amount of food, triggers of their AF. Food that would make no difference in someone who does not have the tendency toward AF can make a real difference for some of us with AF. Dehydration can absolutely be a trigger, and is one of my biggest triggers. Now I keep a cup of ice water with me everywhere I go…in the car, on a walk, at my desk, and on my treadmill. I drink two whole glasses while I am on the treadmill. Caffeine is not only a stomach irritant, and a bladder irritant, it is very dehydrating. As far as diet specifically, I have been talking about that a lot here lately , as I have switched to a plant based diet at the insistence of my cardiologist. He has every A.F patient on it, and it is most helpful to decrease blood pressure, and for those with diabetes, it can reverse diabetes. I began this in January and have never felt better in my life. I think that being proactive really cuts down on the anxiety. Doing everything you can to be healthy, including getting good sleep, eating right, keeping active and exercising as you are able really lowers the anxiety level. Be happy around your arrhythmia. Good luck with your appointment on Monday.

SRMGrandmaVolunteer

in reply to rosyG

4 years ago

Rosy, My diet consists of all fruits, all vegetables, whole grains. I get my proteins from peas, beans, legumes, flaxseed, brown rice, potatoes to name a few sources. I avoid all processed foods, refined fats, refined sugars, and flours. I use almond flour or rice flour or oatmeal in recipes. This food plan is high in fiber and there is no calorie counting. No animal protein or dairy is also the plan. Now admittedly I still have a small amount of salmon, and 2 eggs in a week, which is not exactly according to plan. Everything I make is from scratch, nothing processed. In the mornings I have a smoothie with oats, blackberries, flaxseed, banana, and almonds for example. Sometimes I do one with apples and spinach. Today for lunch I had a zucchini fritter and a tomato salad and for our evening meal we will have whole wheat pasta with a sauce made of green and red peppers, roma tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, garlic, onion and spinach.

I am on one of the newer anticoagulants where there are no dietary restrictions. If you are on warfarin the key will be to readjust the dose accordingly and keeping your intake at an even amount.

Every single person in the class that is facilitated by my cardiologist has A.F. When they show us case studies of people who have changed their diet to eating like this, it shows amazing and continuous of normalization of everything from cholesterol levels to blood glucose, to BMI, to Blood pressure, with improvements that continue year after year. A key component is also getting plenty of exercise so they gave each of us pedometers as well as cookbooks, with great recipe ideas (even healthy desserts), text books and they check all of our blood levels throughout the program. I kind of went into it having no clue they would ask for such a lifestyle change in my diet, but I am, in just 6 weeks a believer! And I am back to wearing the size I wore when I got married nearly 41 years ago!

Good luck to everyone who is working in every way they can to achieve optimal health.

2 likes

Hidden

in reply to SRMGrandma

4 years ago

G'day Grandma,

Thought your comments were very interesting as I am now into my 3rd year of diet change (which is an ongoing work in progress) as a technique to control my AF - in fact so successful has it been that I can't remember when I last had a AF event. Occasional palpitations yes but not very strong or disturbing ones. Interestingly I can eat green stuff without affecting my INR, like cabbage, broccoli, brussels, spinach and cauliflower nor does this stuff impact on my digestive system. However if I ate stuff that you mention - oats, peas, whole grains, all beans - maybe with the exception of broad beans - legumes, carrots - it would tear apart my digestive system and do god knows what to my AF. Additionally, I cannot take very much lettuce, cucumber or tomato. No nuts or stuff with traces of nuts, Coffee, tea or alcohol have no impact on my AF whatsoever. But chocolate and diary products in small quantities is no issue either. I'm 6ft tall and 95 kgs - a bit overweight but I'm not aiming to reduce it, that's not the plan - the plan has always been to reduce and ideally stop the AF event from happening.

Aussie John

forestoke

4 years ago

Hi et al , well the whole page is spot on with its advice for sure. I have just taken my Pill in the Pocket Flecainide for my palpitations as it has just started up 50 to 170 the usual. I'm waiting for a second RT Ablation in London, I'm under a chap called Dean at Exeter. His is good the ablation lasted a year last August and then it all kicked off again. I have been in hosp three times since then so now have the pill in pocket , well a long story short is that tonight I had a larger than normal meal , late and spicy and just two pints of ale and I no longer drink on top advice from the London Consultant, and away we go. So the diet is more than just important because I'm very very careful , tonight well I let down my guard and I'm away from home too.

But also coupled to this is I suffer from gout and I get a runny tum with taking colchicine , now I've just fended off a bout before coming away. I take Alluprinol , for gout , lasartan , bisoprolol , warfarin , and low and behold I have a runny tum now too.

I would like to know if any other has the Gout and same heart problems together? As I can not find a lot of advice and evidence of an association .

But deffinately the diet is mega important, believe me ! I usually take loads of water and maybe not so much today and always decaff and I had a normal coffee too