Managing Your Atrial Fibrillation: What to Eat (and Avoid)

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is with you for life, but it doesn’t have to run your life. 

At Healthstone Primary, Dr. Hector Fabregas and our skilled medical team provide patient-centered chronic disease management, creating sensible plans that work. Diet is part of the treatment for heart conditions like AFib. What you eat or avoid may help manage symptoms and reduce the risk of complications.

Here, we explain what to eat and avoid when managing atrial fibrillation.

About atrial fibrillation

AFib is an arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, that affects the heart's upper chambers. Your heart beats in a coordinated and rhythmic manner, contracting and relaxing to pump blood through each chamber and then the rest of the body. 

With AFib, the heart's upper chamber is out of sync with the bottom chamber, causing a chaotic or extremely fast heartbeat. The upper chamber can’t fully contract, affecting blood flow to the lower chamber. Blood may then pool, increasing the risk of blood clots. 

AFib treatment may include medications or procedures that restore the rate and rhythm of the heartbeat and reduce the risk of blood clots. Lifestyle is also part of the treatment plan, which includes a heart-healthy eating plan. It may also require avoiding foods that interact with medications.

What to eat with AFib

There’s no specific diet for AFib, but as a type of heart disease, a heart-healthy plan makes the best choice. A balanced eating plan for AFib should include a variety of nutrient-rich foods, such as:

• Fruits and vegetables (unless told otherwise)
• Whole grains
• Beans, peas, and lentils
• Lean meat proteins like poultry and seafood
• Low-fat or nonfat dairy or plant-milk alternatives
• Healthy vegetable fats like olive oil, nuts, seeds, and avocados

The Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest eating styles and is a good choice for people with AFib. It emphasizes plant foods like whole grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, and olive oil; moderate amounts of omega-3 fatty fish (salmon and tuna), poultry, and dairy; and limited red meat and butter. 

The Mediterranean diet can’t reverse AFib, but studies show it may help by lowering heart disease risks like obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. 

What to avoid with AFib

Recommendations for a heart-healthy diet include limiting your intake of foods high in saturated fat, added sugar, and sodium. Eating a diet filled with high-fat meats, fried foods, and ultraprocessed snacks may increase the risk of heart disease risk factors like high blood pressure and high cholesterol. 

You may also need to limit your intake of leafy greens if you’re taking Coumadin, a blood thinner that works by blocking the formation of vitamin K blood clotting factors. Vitamin K is a nutrient naturally found in high amounts in leafy greens like spinach, kale, and bok choy. 

Getting too much vitamin K from food lowers Coumadin’s effectiveness, increasing the risk of blood clots. Conversely, insufficient vitamin K may increase efficacy and risk of bleeding. It’s not that you need to avoid leafy greens while on Coumadin, but you need to eat a consistent amount from week to week to maintain balance.

What to eat and avoid with atrial fibrillation depends on many factors, including overall health, severity of the arrhythmia, and treatment. No single diet plan works for all. 

If you have questions about your AFib treatment plan or need help with your diet, call us today at our office in Weston, Pembroke Pines, or Davies, Florida, or request an appointment online.