Diet After A Heart Attack - What Do They Eat, Drink After A Heart Attack?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Diet after a heart attack

Measures for the organization of proper nutrition of the patient after a heart attack are the same part of the rehabilitation program as drug therapy, therapeutic exercises, control over the patient's weight and mental state. Trying to organize optimal care, relatives of a sick person ask themselves the question: what does the diet include after a heart attack - what do those who have recently been on the brink of life and death eat, drink, how not to provoke relapses of the disease?

Content:

• Basic principles of a diet after a heart attack
• Nutrition after the rehabilitation period
• Prohibited foods for a patient after a heart attack
• Healthy foods after a heart attack
• Careful grapefruit!

Basic principles of a diet after a heart attack

The diet for such a person should be as balanced as possible, contain a full set of nutrients for the early recovery of the heart muscle, and also not contain too many calories, and contribute to weight loss. It is advisable to limit the intake of salt, fatty foods, excessive amounts of liquid.

Diet stages depending on the rehabilitation period:

• Lasts for a week after the attack. The patient eats at least 6 times, in small portions. Possible products are lean fish and beef, steam omelet, cereals, pureed vegetable soups, boiled chicken. Baking, smoked meats, coffee, spirits, chocolate are strictly prohibited.
• Lasts for the next 2-3 weeks after the first stage. The food is fractional, at least 5 times a day, in small portions, there is no salt in the dishes. The diet becomes more diverse, mashed dishes disappear from it.
• The scarring period lasts from 4 weeks after a heart attack for several months. Nutrition remains limited in salt (3-5 g per day), liquid (no more than a liter with soup, tea and compote), and also low in calories. Dried apricots, raisins, prunes and other dried fruits are added to the patient's diet to replenish potassium and magnesium reserves in the body.

Nutrition after the rehabilitation period

The end of rehabilitation and scarring of the area of the heart muscle that has suffered as a result of a heart attack does not mean that the patient can return to the lifestyle he led before the attack. Since that time, the patient is constantly at risk of recurrence of the disease, and he must adhere to certain life rules.

Principles of nutrition after rehabilitation:

• Eating a lot of fresh, baked, boiled vegetables and fruits, grilled or steamed. Canned vegetables or fruit are not recommended, as well as overcooked vegetables.
• Bringing high-fiber foods to the menu to increase saturation with simple dishes, as well as to cleanse the intestinal walls - wholemeal bread, cereals, vegetables and fruits, except for very sweet ones.
• Moderate intake of proteins, for an optimal balance of nutrients, it is enough to eat 350-400 g of cottage cheese, lean meat or fish per day.

Prohibited foods for a patient after a heart attack

Foods and drinks containing caffeine and alcohol are absolutely prohibited in a sparing diet. Instead of the usual coffee, it is better to switch to chicory; carbonated drinks and cocktails are also prohibited. For the prevention of hypertension, it is recommended to switch to a salt-free diet or to use dishes with a small amount of salt as recommended by a cardiologist. Replacing ordinary table salt - medicinal salt with a high content of trace elements, mainly potassium and magnesium.

Do not include baked goods with trans fats or hydrogenated foods derived from vegetable oils in your diet. The consequences of their use are negative: on the walls of blood vessels such fats leave deposits in the form of plaques, which leads to atherosclerosis and recurrence of myocardial infarction. They contain ready-made cakes and pastries, chips and confectionery, as well as margarine and spreads, which replace butter for some categories of consumers.

Healthy foods after a heart attack

It is not at all necessary to invite a nutritionist to get an idea of what a diet after a heart attack is - what to eat and drink in the period after rehabilitation. The range of healthy dishes and products is defined quite clearly, the main thing is to adhere to the chosen line of behavior.

The composition of the diet after rehabilitation:

• Meat - only low-fat types of meat products are used: chicken, rabbit, turkey, beef, game. Pork, goose meat, lamb, as well as ready-made meat semi-finished products and sausages are not recommended to be included in the diet.
• Fats - olive oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, and a small amount of natural butter are recommended.
• Dairy products - all types and varieties of milk, kefir, sour cream, cheese should have a low percentage of fat.
• Fish and seafood - all varieties of sea fish with white meat (flounder, cod), fatty fish (sardines, tuna, herring), fish of the salmon family (salmon, pink salmon, chum salmon) are useful.
• Vegetables and fruits - almost all fresh, baked and boiled vegetables and fruits are allowed, except for sorrel, spinach, radish and radish.
• Flour and confectionery - bread and bakery products made from wholemeal flour, wholegrain and yeast-free bread made from rye flour and bran flour are recommended. It is not useful to use cakes and pastries made from butter dough, cooked with saturated fats or cream.
• Drinks - it is desirable that the drinks are unsweetened or contain a minimum amount of sugar (tea, chicory coffee, fruit juices, still mineral water).

Alcohol remains strictly prohibited until the end of the patient's life. There are no exceptions to this rule. Heavy weight puts more stress on the heart muscle, making it work with tension. After consulting a doctor, you can arrange fasting days with light meals for overweight patients.

Careful grapefruit

Grapefruit juice is extremely useful for the prevention and treatment of many conditions and diseases. It contains trace elements, vitamins A, B, P, C, carbohydrates and organic acids. The positive effect of grapefruit juice has its effect on liver function, normalization of blood pressure, removal of stones, prevention of complications of osteoporosis and diabetes mellitus.

Grapefruit juice has one very important feature - it is excreted from the body for a very long time (within 2 days), actively influencing the activity of the liver. This feature affects the processing of drugs by the body, significantly changing their properties and the expected therapeutic effect.

The mechanism of action of grapefruit juice:

• The juice activates the absorption of drugs through the intestinal wall.
• Part of the drug, which previously passed in transit through the digestive tract, is actively absorbed, causing the accumulation of the active substance in the tissues of the body.
• An excessive amount of the drug not withdrawn in time causes an overdose and associated serious consequences.

More than others, drugs for the treatment of pathologies of the cardiovascular system, antibiotics, hormonal agents are susceptible to this effect of grapefruit juice.

So, for example, the treatment of arrhythmias with pharmaceutical drugs against the background of the use of grapefruit juice or the fruits of this fruit will not be effective. On the contrary, heart rhythm disturbances will only intensify, which will inevitably lead to myocardial infarction.

Reducing the load on the heart muscle is the main task of rehabilitation after myocardial infarction. An optimally formulated diet will help you get all the nutrients you need for a fulfilling life.

The author of the article: Kuzmina Vera Valerievna | Endocrinologist, nutritionist

Education: Diploma of the Russian State Medical University named after NI Pirogov with a degree in General Medicine (2004). Residency at Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry, diploma in Endocrinology (2006).