Foods to Avoid If You’ve Recently Had a Heart Attack

Stay strong and avoid these foods if you recently suffered a heart attack.

If you’ve recently had a heart attack, you are a survivor. Congratulations on your strength and courage as you embark on a path toward a healthier heart  and, ultimately, a healthier life.

Surviving a heart attack can be both terrifying and isolating. The road to recovery is long and often painful as sufferers make sweeping lifestyle and dietary changes designed to help them come out of the experience heart-strong.  But heart attack survivors are not alone. According to the Center for Disease Control, 735,000 Americans have heart attacks every year. Of these, over 525,000 are first heart attacks. Doctors and dieticians agree that the best way to prevent a second heart attack is to change diet, exercise, and other habits.

Most heart attack survivors come away with the experience with a new understanding of heart-healthy foods and the best intentions for a healthful new lifestyle but slip back into old habits once they’re back in their old routines, according to a lead cardiologist. One way to change your habits is to plan ahead. For example, if you know you’re going someplace where there might be temptation to fall back into old habits, like a restaurant or party, make sure you know the menu beforehand and can map out your meal. 

“The biggest factor in staying healthy is translating what you now understand into healthful daily decisions,” a Dr. says. “Plan out your meals ahead of time so as to reduce the risk of impulsive mistakes. Even one cheeseburger can increase the cholesterol and harmful by products in your bloodstream even temporarily.”

So if you’ve recently had a heart attack and you’re ready to get healthy, now’s the time to start evaluating problem foods on a case-by-case basis and try to take them in moderation or replace them with healthier alternatives. We’ve listed some foods that are most often cited by professionals as problematic for heart patients, so click through and then get busy on your journey to a healthy life!

Buttered Popcorn

Plain popcorn actually has more health benefits than most snacks; it provides fiber and antioxidants. However, most microwave brands contain butter and loads of salt, which adds a lot of fat and sodium. So snack away, but check the label and make sure that all you’re getting is popcorn.

Cheese
While you don’t have to swear off cheese forever, a Dr. says that patients who’ve recently suffered a heart attack should think of cheese as a treat to be enjoyed in moderation. “Foods high in saturated fats, such as cheese, should be eaten sparingly,” says the Dr.

Chili Peppers

Spice lovers may have to cool it after a heart attack, according to a cardiologist. “Hot chili peppers could cause swelling of the blood vessels due to their capsaicin, and thus a fall in blood pressure,” says Dr.  “They are also very high in beta-carotene, which has been shown when given in supplement form to increase the risk of heart attacks.”
 
Cream Sauce

Cream sauce is traditionally made using butter or oil, flour, and whole-fat milk or cream, and each of those foods tops the National Institute of Health’s list of foods to avoid for a healthy heart. The butter, oil, and dairy contain more than the recommended daily allowance of saturated fat, and the refined white flour causes weight gain, which further stresses the heart.
  
Egg Noodles

Egg noodles can seem like a heart-healthy alternative to starchy pasta, but the problem is that they compound the cholesterol of eggs without the added benefits, like protein and B vitamins.  

Fried Food

This one should be a no brainer, but sometimes fried foods are labeled “healthy” because they’re pan fried in healthier oils, like olive or canola. But healthier oil alternatives should be used sparingly, says Lori Williams, and even frying in healthy oil will be detrimental to weight loss and heart health. “Oils are made up of fat, which has twice as many calories as foods made up mostly of protein or carbohydrates,” Williams says.

Grapefruit

While heart attack survivors are often encouraged to eat more fruit, they might want to check with their doctors about possible side effect before eating grapefruit. “Grapefruit can interact with several heart medications, including cholesterol-lowering drugs such as simvastatin or Zocor,” Dr. Osborne says.

Kale and Spinach

This may seem counter-intuitive, since leafy greens are usually touted for their health benefits, but kale and spinach can both cause harmful side effects when they interact with certain medications. “Unfortunately, if someone is taking warfarin, a blood-thinning medication, after a heart attack, then some of the green leafy veggies, particularly kale and spinach, might interfere with the anti-clotting effects of warfarin,” Dr. Osborne says. “The good news is that we have several new medications that replace warfarin which are more effective, safer, easier to take, do not require monitoring, and, importantly, do not have the food interactions that warfarin has.”

Lunch Meat

Lunch meat can be surprisingly high in sodium, and it may even weaken your heart. Sodium nitrate is often used as a preservative in popular lunch meats, and the preservative could make your arteries harden, according to research.

Non-Dairy Creamers

Just because there’s no dairy in that creamer doesn’t mean it’s good for our heart . According to the doctors, recent heart attacker survivors should attempt to cut saturated fats out of their diets. But the label on “low fat”non-dairy creamer is misleading. There’s typically a full gram of saturated fat in each teaspoon, and if you’re drinking coffee daily, you may be taking in more fat than you realize. 

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                                                                
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