Dear all and especially those interested in maintaining health through food.
During a recent post there was a discussion about healthy eating and the effect on AF (and for me other illness). Also several of us struggle to lose weight since developing AF and several people indicated that they would be interested in joining a dedicated group to discuss food, nutrition and it's relevance to disease but also to encourage and motivate each other, swop recipes etc.
I just checked on the HealthUnlocked site and there are already 2 such sites, one for weight loss and the second for Healthy Eating. Rather than reinvent the wheel, what about joining the Healthy Eating site and using that site? They seem to be doing a lot of the things we were talking about.
What do you guys think?
Written by
CDreamer
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Sounds like a good idea cdreamer will check them out...got 4 Stone to lose...tried all kinds nothing works being an older woman and post menopause doesn't help either, although my exercise levels at the moment are rock bottom..... !
I will check them out too, CDreamer, I need something to shift the weight (short of explosives)...
That sounds a really good idea. I will look at that site.
I am 72 and been told by my doctor to loose weight. Where I live in London there is a referral scheme for 12 weeks free at Weight Watchers, so I have taken advantage of this. I have only lost a few pounds so far and have a long way to go but my blood sugar levels have dropped right down ( I have type 2 diabetic). Also I have PAF and have not had an episode since joining 4 weeks ago (Fingers Crossed) there might be a connection, don't know.
My diet was quite healthy but I now realise that the portions were too big ,so cutting down size wise is how I am dealing with it.
Hi I am 57 and last September I was taken to hospital with PAF it was my first episode. I was almost 4 stone overweight and a smoker, I was advised to stop smoking and shed the pounds, so I joined weight watchers and nhs stopover, I quit smoking and I have got 2lb left to lose, I'm on Warfarin and Bisoprolol as well as statins, it has been an arduous journey trying to lose the weight as exercise has been difficult with both the tiredness after an episode of PAF regularly and the effects of medication, also my portion sizes have been difficult to master, but I'm getting there slowly, best of luck on your journey.
That is interesting! I find eating even a teaspoon full too much at a meal can make me feel very uncomfortable , tired and triggers AF. Perhaps it is something to do with size of full stomach and pressure on vagus nerve.
Hi, will have a go, I' m the heaviest I've ever been and hate it, but think it's probably a combination of lack of exercise, large food portions ( my husband does the cooking and tends to over estimate portion sizes) and the menopause. Any help would be good xx
Hi Shirley, I am not a great believer in dieting to lose weight as I find it just leads to yo yoing up and down so I am more interested in the healthy eAting as well.
I had colitis in my 20's and had some strong drugs to manage that but found over time that I managed it much better with healthy eating. Of course anxiety plays a part as well as do other emotions. I did the elimination diet in those days which was very restrictive, I remember lettuce and more lettuce for ages but I think the modern elimination diets are not quite so restrictive. Once you stabilize the digestive system on the restrictive diet you can then start to introduce other foods, one at a time. You keep a careful log of everything you eat and any reaction to that food in the following 2 days. You soon learn then which foods to avoid. I found my main triggers were dairy, no milk, cheese but butter was ok. No sugar at all, I made my own cakes using honey instead and that was fine. Aubergenes created havoc, sprouts I reacted to but eaten occasionally and well cooked were ok. Tea and coffee i elimated completely. I drank a cup of hot wTer with a slice of lemon in it half an hour before every meal. I ate no meat or fat of any kind for 6 weeks, no longer as you need fat in your diet.
I found this site very helpful for an updated version.
I now use hemp oil (local source) or olive oil or butter and that's it. I eat red meat just once a week, a lot of veg both raw and cooked and juiced and smoothies, chicken, turkey (excellent source of selenium) and fish twice a week.
To see the other sites on HealthUnlocked go to home page and browse 'other communities' you will then see it listed. See you on there!
Thanks so much cdreamer, Ill see what I can find on there, much
appreciated. Shirley.
I eat smaller portions, go gluten free and follow the concept of the FODMAPS diet. I am not out to loose weight, don't believe in it, I am out to control my AF. So far successfully. But if I followed conventional 'Healthy eating' wisdom I would be in a serious mess and would no doubt see my AF back in my life again. If I went down the road of 'eat 5 or 7 fruit and veg' a day I really would be in trouble. I've spent (with the help of a Nutritionist) the last 4 years isolating different foods (and even the Nutritionist has been surprised at what upsets me). So like most things in life - its all relative - we are all different. In so many ways this bloody AF is very much and individual and private journey .... with a few common denominators thrown in just to confuse and confound the medical world.
Really glad it worked for you, as you say it is all individual. I am more or less dairy free and am thinking about going gluten free, have done it before but as long as I stick to wholemeal and no or very little sugar I seem to be ok.
I follow a similar strategy John. I would add finding the right food is a very long but enjoyable journey, accepting the higher prices and making the time for more exercise can seem difficult…however any improvement is a success! We have been slowly improving for 5 years now….be prepared for disillusionment when you find how poor most 'big company' food is and that there is no surprise people are overweight.
How do you know you have found good food, it's simple……….you treasure again the preparation and anticipation, you only need small portions and you feel satisfied. If there is some left over you don't throw it away as one often does with other food. Sounds weird?…try it and see.
Yes, I too have struggle with weight loss, I've eaten the right food by the right quantities, but very difficult to exercise when on some drugs. 10 years of AFIB and cardiologists pumping me with more drugs till a young cardiologist from Bulgaria whom was a fill in whilst my other cardiologist was on holiday in Canada (I am from Australia) performed an Ablation on me which I insisted on despite the risks. I've not had any AFIB since, its like I have a new lease on life and now able to exercise a lot, no problems at all. My AFIB was triggered back in 2004 by a general anesthetic. Episodes of AFIB was being experienced every day after the use of a CPAP machine about 6 months ago - use to only get AFIB about 5 - 6 times a year. My AFIB would only come into effect when my heart rested at approx. 60bpm, I would never go into AFIB with my heart over that but the drugs would prevent my heart pumping over about 85bpm. Now Blood pressure, sleep patterns, I have no problem getting bpm over 100 - with ease, everything is back to normal. Yet I am still being forced back to specialist for test after test after which is extremely annoying and costly and very stressful. One of the leading causes of AFIB as I understand it is indeed stress. So whilst one cardiologist fixed me the other one is trying to undo all that good work... just over it all. Anyone with AFIB I would personally suggest to consult with a brilliant cardiologist as I have been fortunate to do - to perform an proper ablation, not a half witted one as many are done. Drug companies make money out of us by prolonging such the condition as AFIB of which I have been a victim of. After 10 years of AFIB, I no longer live with this debilitating condition and its just AWESOME and trust me, I tried EVERYTHING to control it, NOTHING worked. I now continue to lose weight because now I can
Hi Froggy, thanks for that. I have had 2 PVI ablations, I saw an EP just over a year ago. My problem is now not the AFib as I haven't had any arrythmias since about 4 weeks after the second ablation but as I didn't recover my strength it became obvious thT something else was wrong, indeed it was I developed myasthenia gravis. This is a dysfunction of the nerve/muscle junction which means my muscles just stop working. Other names for this disease are 'Floppy Doll' syndrome or the Americans call myasthenics Snowflakes, one because heat increases the symptoms, as does stress, emotions and over exertion and the second reason is that similar to snowflakes, each individual has a different pattern to the symptoms of the disease. It is similar to MS and Lupus.
Apart from being anticoagulated, although I hope to stop the Dabigatron at the end of the month when I see my new EP, I am not on any anti-arrythmia drugs, I can't take them because they make the Mg worse.
So you see my problem, I am exercise intolerant so diet becomes more important for me.
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Found this article on healthy eating forum so thought I would pass it on 
weight loss surgery 
Healthy living v average lifestyle and how this affects af 
