Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group

She could ask her doctor for a referral to a dietitian. She could get some really good advice that way. Also, there is scads of information about this kind of healthy diet on various websites.

Hi Tammy. I have been on Coumadin for 23 years and over that time, I pretty much eat a normal diet. I have found that the best strategy is to vary my diet. In other words, I can eat broccoli, but once a week, not every day. Its important for your mom to get her INR done regularly, and I have found that it doesn't pay off to over-react to changes in the INR. If it proves to be too variable, I would suggest changing from the generic warfarin in favor of the brand name Coumadin.

Hi Tammy,
The main thing to remember is not to panic too much about Warfarin and it can be a life saver for A/fib sufferers.
I take Warfarin and I have my own "Coagucheck" machine to do my own INR levels and then I feed the result into a web site set up by a Doctor near here and he sends me the dose to take .
After a while you get to know your average INR levels and to be honest I do not watch my diet too much as once you have been on Warfarin for a while a pattern emerges that will help you adjust your doses your self if you have one of these testers.


Cheers ...Kvntoday

It is actually a good thing that she eats consistent foods in regards to Warfarin. The salt and the fat, however have to go probably because her blood pressure and cholesterol need to be well in check.
Most hospital and cardiology offices provide free nutritional consultations regarding cardiac and warfarin diet. try calling the cardiologist's office for referral. Because your mom is probably on a lot of meds, she needs to have personalized nutriton plan according to her weight and medical problems.

For a long time people were advised to stay off spinach and other vit K containing foods, but lately they've been advising to continue eating these foods, but consistently, so the Vit K levels in the blood are the same and Warfarin INR can be adjusted by dose changes.
The latest recommendation was to stay away from Cranberries and craberry products more than anything, but even that is being questioned.
good luck.

Hi! I have been on Coumadin because of atrial fib for about 18 months. My doctor said not to worry about vegetables and just eat a healthy diet, the more vegies the better, actually. The important thing is to have the protyme tests very often to monitor the level. My doctor said insurance would probably pay for a personal meter so one could monitor very closely. I am hoping to come off Coumadin very soon but otherwise I would definitely get one of those as it is so important to be protected. But vegetable restriction is not advisable.