Reviewed by Dr. Prabhat Arya, MD (Internal Medicine) on 29 September 2026
Diet chart for heart failure
When the heart pump is weak, salt and extra fluid collect as swelling and breathlessness. Ordinary home food with little salt, measured drinks and small meals keeps you out of hospital.
- Salt: less than one teaspoon a day in all. No pickle, papad or namkeen, and no extra salt at the table.
- Drink only as much fluid as Dr. Arya has told you; if no limit was set, ask him. Count everything: water, tea, milk, dal, soup, chaas, juice.
- Eat small meals, five or six times a day. A big meal makes breathing harder.
Eat more
- Fresh vegetables, cooked dry rather than in gravy: lauki, tori, bhindi, beans, cabbage, carrot
- Protein at every meal to keep muscles strong: dal, paneer, curd, egg, fish, chicken
- Fresh roti, rice, dalia, poha, made at home with little salt
- Fresh fruit in small portions: apple, pear, guava, papaya
- Lemon, herbs, jeera, ajwain, pepper, garlic for taste instead of salt
- Home-cooked food; ask for less salt when eating out
Eat less, and measure
- Water and all drinks: within the daily limit Dr. Arya gives you
- Dal, soup, curd, milk and chaas: count them in the fluid limit
- Cooking oil and ghee together: 4 to 5 teaspoons per person for the whole day
- Watery fruit such as watermelon: count it as fluid
- Tea and coffee: two cups a day, within the fluid limit
- Sweets and fried food: they add weight the heart must carry
Avoid
- Pickle, papad, namkeen, chips, salted peanuts
- Bread, pav, bakery items, instant noodles, ready-made soups
- Low-sodium "lona" salt: its potassium can be dangerous with heart failure tablets
- Baking soda (soda bicarb) and eno in cooking or as a medicine
- Alcohol: it weakens the heart muscle further
- Cold drinks and packaged juice
A sample day
Vegetarian first; the swap is for those who eat eggs, fish or chicken. Count every drink in your fluid limit.
- On waking
- Weigh yourself and note it. Half a cup of tea with little sugar
- Breakfast
- Two moong or besan chilla with a little curd, or one small bowl of vegetable pohaSwap: Two-egg omelette with vegetables and one roti
- Mid-morning
- One small fruit: apple, pear or guava
- Lunch
- Dry sabzi, a small katori of thick dal, one or two rotis or a small katori of riceSwap: Chicken or fish, dry, in place of dal
- Evening
- Half a cup of tea with roasted chana without salt or makhanaSwap: A boiled egg
- Dinner, by 8 pm
- Dry sabzi, a little paneer, one or two rotis. Smaller than lunchSwap: Grilled fish or chicken with sabzi
- Bedtime
- Only if within your fluid limit: half a glass of milk
Common myths
- Drink plenty of water to keep the kidneys clean.
- In heart failure, extra water collects in lungs and legs. Follow your limit.
- Sendha namak or black salt is safe.
- They are still salt and cause the same swelling.
- Low-sodium "lona" salt is the healthy choice.
- It is potassium salt, which can be dangerous with your tablets.
- A weak heart needs ghee and dry fruits for strength.
- Ordinary food with enough protein is what helps.
Dr. Arya’s note for you
Weigh yourself every morning after the toilet, before breakfast. Weight up 2 kg in 3 days, more swelling, breathlessness or pillows at night, or dizziness, vomiting or loose motions: call Dr. Arya the same day. Breathless at rest: go to hospital at once.
This is general advice for adults. If another chart (such as kidney stones) says "drink plenty of water", your fluid limit wins. With kidney disease, also watch potassium. On warfarin, keep green leafy vegetables steady. Ask Dr. Arya.