AF and Dieting

[Pammie9]

I have AF and overweight. I am interested in Michael Mosely’s diet plan, 800/5:2 and starting to read all about it. I love the recipes which suits me. He did say, need to check with a doctor first if have heart problem, heart disease or high blood pressure. I thought to myself, why? Either I follow this healthy plan or eat junk, which is much worse?!? I am confused!

[Ianc2]

Eat a healthy diet, don't touch the junk. Eat lots of veg, cut out the fried stuff, no white bread or sugar, cakes and biscuits. If you get a craving remember to move and do something. Get your chloresterol measured and cut back on your fat if you need to. Get your self some carrots or celery to nibble on

Take regular gentle exercise, fast waking 3 or 4 times a week for an hour or so. Consider getting a fitbit or similar, get your weight to less than half your height - which will probably bring you inside your BMI. Remember it is perfectly possible to kill yourself with kindness, I have seen several of my friends do it.

Ditch the excuses 'I am big boned', 'all my family is big', 'I see a lot of people like me it's quite normal'. It is not and neither is heart disease or diabetes.

[Pammie9 in reply to Ianc2]

Thanks, yes it makes sense, now I know what I should eat and not other stuff!

[sdalen in reply to Pammie9]

When I get a "craving" I make a ketogenic pancake. 1/2 cup egg whites, 2 TSP coconut flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder. Mix and let sit a bit and then fry in a pan sprayed with Pam or something like that...or even olive oil. Flip. I use sugarless syrup . Sometimes I add cinnamon. Coconut flour is very high in fibre and fills you up. Just remember to let it cook until it is a bit firm before flipping... really, really helps. My hubby has donuts on the counter and I haven't touched one (nor do I feel like it). I am on a keto diet slightly modified...no bad fats, just good ones. I don't go for filling up on saturated fats except for MCT oil which is different. Only 1 tbsp per day of that.

[fallingtopieces]

I’m 2 days in to 800 calories a day and I’m going to stick to that for a month if I can. I’m not following his recipes as I know what I should and shouldn’t eat. I’m concentrating on vegetables, then fruit with some meat, fish or eggs. I’ve just had my dinner and I’m full.

I’m also keeping to a 6 hour window for eating which suits me fine while at work. The weekend may be difficult.

I really can’t see the 800 calorie or the 5/2 being harmful to anyone but I suppose the caveat of checking with your doctor is needed these days.

(Of course, you must only do this if you have the weight to lose🙄)

Pat

[Auriculaire in reply to fallingtopieces]

What you need to be very careful about with these diets where you restrict your eating to a "window" is letting blood sugar drop too low. This can bring on palpitations among other unpleasant symptoms and might even provoke an afib attack. Most people will lose weight simply by cutting out junk and reducing the amount of carbs like bread ,rice and pasta. Drastic diets will work but then the weight will just come back ( and then some) if one returns to normal eating. 800 calories a day is ridiculously low . The body will simply reduce it's metabolic rate to combat the starvation and this guarantees a return of the weight later.

[Pammie9 in reply to Auriculaire]

GP has given me her full approval and says Michael Mosely is a good doctor. Thanks for your input which is appreciated

[Auriculaire in reply to Pammie9]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to look up symptoms of low blood sugar so as to recognise any problems.

[sdalen in reply to Auriculaire]

I agree with you. You do not want to slow your metabolism down through a starvation diet, which is exactly what happens. Reducing or eliminating simple carbs is usually enough to lose weight and you don't need them anyways. Fibre is your best friend. A carrot has sugar in it, but it also has plenty of fibre. Take away that fibre and you now have a simple carb. If you get that Silver Hills "Little Big Bread", it is even better than Weight Watchers.

[fallingtopieces in reply to Auriculaire]

Nope, that’s not true actually. The 800 calorie regime has been proven to take many type 2 diabetics out of diabetes diagnosis and off their drugs. The window of eating effectively creates a ‘fasting’ situation which is beneficial to health and longevity.

This ‘starvation state’ theory has been disproven, so has the theory of putting it all back on again quicker than slow weight reduction.

Now, Faster weight loss =keeping it off longer.

I’ve been reading a whole lot of Michael Mosley lately.

google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dail...

Pat

[Auriculaire in reply to fallingtopieces]

And nobody has ever suffered from low blood sugar on these diets? Has it been established that they are safe for people with afib?

[fallingtopieces in reply to Auriculaire]

Look, AF for some is triggered by walking up the stairs or turning over in bed at night. Shall we all stop walking up the stairs?

No, of course not..

I think you’re confusing triggers with causes.

Why would reduced calories cause Afib?

For the overweight, this seems a very good safe way of shifting weight fast which is what we’re all after.

Weight moving too slowly or plateauing, is usually why people give up new eating plans.

Btw today is day 5 for me and I’m still doing well. Feel good on it actually.

Without grazing throughout the day and not eating til 3pm, just cups of tea before then, it’s been easy with plenty to eat.

Pat

[Auriculaire in reply to fallingtopieces]

It is well known that drops in blood sugar can cause palpitations and many people with AF start their attacks with a run of ectopics - certainly I do. I am suspicious of diet fashions of which this intermittent fasting and very low calorie regime are examples. Low calorie meals to shift weight fast have been around for donkey's years- and have been failing for donkey's years too. Crash dieting has been shown over and over again to result in weight regain once the diet is abandoned and no that is not what all of us are after . Actual epidemiological studies show that people who are classed as overweight or even mildly obese by the ridiculous BMI measurement are often healthier and live longer than those with a so called "normal" BMI. Which by the way was overnight altered downwards some years ago so as to catapult a much larger proportion of the population into the overweight category . Purpose -to make more money for the billion pound dieting industry . Of which Michael Mosely and anybody else who writes diet books is a part. Staying on an 800 calorie diet for months as Mosely suggests is possible in his article would be extremely difficult for most people. Only by changing eating habits FOR LIFE will people become healthy . This means giving up eating crap manufactured in factories and for most people simply eating a lot less - so no going to the Chinese buffet and filling up your plate 3 times like the two overweight women I sat next to the other day, no pigging out because it's a special occasion, no biscuit with the cup of tea etc. Good luck with your diet - I hope it works for you . As someone who suffers from sudden drops in blood sugar ( unfortunately I don't feel hungry till it's too late ) I would not fancy it and I simply wanted to warn of the possibility of blood sugar drops . Mosely makes no mention of this in his list of caveats at the bottom of his article. Maybe afib is no longer a heart problem.

[secondtry]

Select organic food, find one or more good suppliers, buy from the grower,be prepared to pay twice as much, spend more time in the kitchen and eat half as much. Slowly introduce over time. It's what's sprayed on food (e.g. sulphites) and what's in processed food (e.g. MSG) that is a likely AF issue. Good luck.

[Pammie9 in reply to secondtry]

GP has given me her full approval and says Michael Mosely is a good doctor. Thanks for your input which is appreciated

[sleeksheep]

I have had to change my diet because of Diabetes 2 ( with AF ) and became very conscious of carbs. and how they react in the blood.

The sugar in your blood thats not burnt off will be converted to fat.

All I have found so far is Multigrain bread is miles in front of Wholemeal for low GI even when the label calls Wholemeal Low GI.

White bread and Wholemeal are practically the same in carbohydrates the only advantage with Multigrain is its slower release into the blood.

Labeling on Rice is generic - long grain is best but labels show short grain the same.

Pasta is a weird one , newly cooked high/med GI but second day re heated Low GI.

Walking doesnt make you loose weight but it makes you want to eat less ( sort of ! )

Between meals I just eat fruit and drink tea or water / water is great for making you feel full but with AF it needs a bit of planning if your going somewhere - multiple stops

[Pammie9 in reply to sleeksheep]

GP has given me her full approval and says Michael Mosely is a good doctor. Thanks for your input which is appreciated

[Dovelady]

I tried a diet similar to this that also caused ketosis, I did it without speaking to my doctor. It caused a dramatic drop in blood pressure and put me into AF. I had been doing well on the weight loss though but stopped the diet and decided to just eat more healthily. I lost weight again but more slowly but didn’t have any untoward reactionsi.

[Pammie9 in reply to Dovelady]

GP has given me her full approval and says Michael Mosely is a good doctor. Thanks for your input which is appreciated

[sdalen in reply to Dovelady]

One of the side effects of the keto diet can be increased palpitations. I have modified mine. No saturated fats except 1Tsp of MCT oil a day. I eat a lot of natural fibre food in Chia seeds and make my own hot cereal out of them, flaxseed, nuts. Or you can make chia seed smoothies using berries and nut milks and green protein powder. Keto can be easily paired with Mediterranean Diet and there is a book out that does just that. I have a bread recipe that is fantastic and tastes like a real, artisan bread. LOTS of fibre in that. You do not have to be in ketosis to lose weight and you can also mix in the glycemic index scores as well. And walk. I walk a half hour every day. Not strolling. Walking at a quicker pace.

[Bagrat]

Remember if you are on warfarin and choose to change your diet quite a bit you will need more frequent INRs until you settle into your new routine.

[sdalen in reply to Bagrat]

TRUE!!!

[Becksagogo]

Please Pammie before you embark on this diet, consult your Doctor. 800 calories a day is not enough to keep you going after a lifetime of junk. A change in diet is needed but please see a dietician who will put together a plan both for food and exercise.

[Pammie9 in reply to Becksagogo]

GP has given me her full approval and says Michael Mosely is a good doctor. Thanks for your input which is appreciated

[Kn177yn0ra]

I have joined Slimming World and I absolutely love it! I have lost just over a stone in 9 weeks and feel really good. Can’t recommend it enough - virtually no processed food and loads of veg, fruit, pasta, lean meat and fish.

[Pammie9 in reply to Kn177yn0ra]

GP has given me her full approval and says Michael Mosely is a good doctor. Thanks for your input which is appreciated

[momist]

Be careful what you wish for. the 5 - 2 diet I tried some years ago certainly worked, but the side effects were intolerable after a couple of months. Headaches, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, at one point I even had double vision. This was before I ever started with AF, but I'm sure it would not have done that any good.

A clean healthy diet is what people need, and just keep the portion sizes smaller than you would like them to be, and you'll be fine.

[Pammie9 in reply to momist]

GP has given me her full approval and says Michael Mosely is a good doctor. Thanks for your input which is appreciated

[Pammie9]

GP has given me her full approval and says Michael Mosely is a good doctor. Thanks for your input which is appreciated

[bennie06]

Not sure whether you have come across the LEGACY study so here are a couple of links you may find interesting. This study investigates the link

between weight and AF and the results are very positive for those "in

pursuit of weight loss". Although the sample data set is not huge (around

50% of the original sample were excluded. Not sure what the exclusion criteria

was) it seems pretty representative. The first link from Medscape is a summary. Note the reference to avoiding severe swings between loss and gain. The second link drills down the numbers. Good Luck.

medscape.com/viewarticle/84...

doi.org/10.1093/europace/eu...