Living with Heart Disease

According to Medical News Today, the cardiac diet emphasizes vegetables, whole grains, and oily fish, noting that these foods are beneficial for heart health. The diet also limits processed foods high in sugar and salt, as these increase the risk of heart disease.  Salt can be found in many foods and most sodas and is often more abundant in diet sodas. Adding extra salt to foods that already contain them is problematic. Sugar also seems to be an issue as most American's eat an unhealthy amount of sweetened foods. Understanding what too much of these substances do to the body is critical in cardiac diet compliance. Consuming excess salt causes the body to retain water, leading to excess fluid build-up in the body. The excess fluid causes an elevation in blood pressure which puts strain on blood vessels and increases the workload on the heart and kidneys. Likewise, consuming extra sugar also raises blood pressure and causes the blood vessels to become inflamed, leading to heart attac...