• ·are short of breath – especially when lying flat in bed (orthopnea) or when you move about, with exertion.

• have a cough, usually with sputum

• are not able to lay down flat on your back to sleep

• feel like you need fresh air

• gain weight everyday

• see swelling in your feet/ankles/legs

• notice your stomach or abdomen getting larger or swelling

• experience a rapid or irregular heartbeat

• feel fatigue, weakness or faintness

• notice low blood pressure

• have distended neck veins

• Fatigue

• Joint Pain

• Weakness

• Depression

• Anxiety (feeling of panic)

• Dizziness

• Memory Loss

• Drowsiness

• Blurred vision

• Musculoskeletal changes

• Low heart beat (bradycardia)

• Wheezing

• Pulmonary edema (fluid filled lungs)

• Worsening of congestive heart failure

• Constipation

• Hypotension (low blood pressure)

• Nausea and vomiting

• Impotence

• Need to urinate (pass water) often

• Back pain

• Coronary artery disease

• High blood pressure

• Heart valve disease

• Irregular heart beat (atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter)

• Congenital heart disease

• Cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart)

• Heart muscle infection

• Severe obstructive lung disease – asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, COPD, COLD, etc.

• Overactive thyroid state

• Severe anemia

• Infections with high fevers

• Smoking

• Obesity

• Excess alcohol consumption – Drinking. Alcohol depresses heart function, meaning it does not let the heart work as well as it should.

• Diet that is high in fat and salt.

• Use of certain drugs, such as beta-adrenergic blockers.

• Chest X-ray – a picture of your heart and lungs to see if there is fluid in the lungs and to check the heart to see if it has become larger than normal.

• EKG (electrocardiogram) – a printing of the heart’s electrical activity to check to see if the heart is working correctly.

• Echocardiogram – a videotape of your heart to check and see how the heart muscle is working.

• Take the saltshaker off the table and omit salt from recipes and food preparation.

• Cook without salt or with only small amounts of added salt.

• Learn to enjoy the flavors of unsalted foods.

• Try flavoring foods with herbs, spices and lemon juice.

• Red food labels carefully to determine the amounts of sodium. Learn to recognize ingredients that contain sodium. Salt, soy sauce, salt brine or any ingredient with sodium (such as monosodium glutamate) or baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) as part of its name contains sodium.

• Rinsing canned vegetables and fish will remove much of the salt.

• Season or marinate meat, poultry and fish ahead of time with onion, garlic and your favorite herbs before cooking to bring out the flavor.

• Some terms describing sodium content: lite, light, lightly salted, low sodium, reduced sodium, sodium free, unsalted, no salt added, without salt added, very low sodium.

• Use lower sodium products, when available, to replace those with higher sodium content.

• Use simple techniques like saving chicken broth from a chicken you cook at home rather than buying a canned, powdered or bouillon cube broth.

• When dining out, words that signal high sodium include: smoked, barbecued, pickled, broths, soy sauce, teriyaki, creole sauce, marinated, cocktail sauce, tomato base, Parmesan, and mustard sauce.

• Check the diet and food lists that you have been given to be certain. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL!!!! Never eat foods that have salt as one of the first ingredients on the list.The low fat part of the diet restricts what you can eat that contains fat.

• • Trim off all visible fat from meat before and after cooking

• Choose lean cuts of meat, poultry or fish.

• Cook by broiling, baking, roasting, steaming, poaching, microwaving, stir-frying, or charcoal grilling.

• Fake fry. Try “frying” with calorie-free cooking sprays instead of oil. Spray sliced potatoes and roast them in the oven for french fries that taste fried without the fat.

• Fake fry. Try “frying” with calorie-free cooking sprays instead of oil. Spray sliced potatoes and roast them in the oven for french fries that taste fried without the fat.

• For crispy fish - roll in cornmeal and bake.

• For crispy chicken – remove the skin; dip in skim milk mixed with herbs and spices; roll in bread crumbs, cornflakes, or potato flakes and bake.

• Use a non-stick pan so added fat won’t be necessary or use non-stick vegetable spray.

• Cook meat or poultry on a rack so fat will drain off.

• Remove skin from poultry before cooking.

• Prepare soups and stews ahead of time, refrigerate, and remove the hardened fat. You can use a fat-free broth as a base for gravy and sauces.

• Make gravy with fat-free broth, skim milk and cornstarch or prepare gravy with buttermilk instead of butter.

• Substitute cholesterol-free egg substitutes or just the egg whites for a regular egg.

• Switch from whole milk to non-fat milk and use this with your cereal, coffee or in recipes.

• Substitute non-fat or low-fat yogurt, blender whipped non-fat or low fat cottage cheese, or buttermilk for sour cream or mayonnaise.

• Use evaporated skim milk in your coffee instead of cream.

• If you must eat cheese, select cheeses made from non-fat milk. Reduced fat cheeses should be less than 20% fat.

• Use corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas.

• Use a limited amount of soft tub margarine instead of butter and lard.

• Spread jellies and jams on bread instead of butter or margarine.

• Instead of two-crust pies, serve single-crust (open face) pies.

• Sprinkle seasonings such as garlic or onion powder and oregano on cooked foods in place of butter or margarine.

• Use herb-flavored croutons to flavor soups and salads.

• Make your own breading with plain breadcrumbs. Coat food with crumbs after dipping in skim milk with an egg white and then baking.

• Limit use of gravies, cream sauces, and casserole-type dishes unless using low cholesterol recipes.

• Use oil-free salad dressings, lemon juice, and wine vinegar, instead of mayonnaise-based salad dressings.

• Cook vegetables in broth or sprinkle with herbs to add flavor.

• Make your own vinaigrette. Mix together extra-virgin olive oil and vinegar in a one to one ratio.

• Choose from a variety of vinegars such as Balsamic, champagne, raspberry, red wine and tarragon.

• Spray air-popped popcorn lightly with a vegetable spray and then sprinkle with chili powder, onion powder or cinnamon.

• If you must eat desserts, switch from rich desserts with hidden fats to low cholesterol desserts, such as angel food cake, plain gelatin, fruits, sorbet, or sherbet.

• Cut down on the amount of fat you add to food.

• Add oat bran to your daily food intake.

• Eat spicy foods – you will miss fattening sauces. Add picante sauce or salsa, Tabasco, ginger, or Italian spice blends.

• Sauté vegetables in a little fat free broth, lemon, lime or orange juice instead of fat. Add garlic and onion powder to enhance flavor.

• Make mustard, Worcester sauce or chili sauce your first choices.

• Eat fish with a low-fat tartar or cocktail sauce.

• Keep deli sandwiches lean by piling on fat-free fillers such as lettuce, tomato, sprouts, cucumbers, pickles, and shredded carrots.

• The following foods are terrific salad toppers: alfalfa sprouts, avocados, green or black garbanzo (chick peas), kidney beans, broccoli, shredded cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chives, cucumbers, dried fruit, mushrooms, almonds, pecans, pignoli, walnuts, onions, oranges, mandarin sections, sweet or hot peppers, sunflower, pumpkin, poppy and sesame seeds, tomatoes, celery and radishes.

• A food labeled “no cholesterol” or “cholesterol free”, may be high in fat. For example, potato chips may be labeled “no cholesterol” which is true, but it is high in saturated fat and calories.