I'd recommend you watch the documentary The Magic Pill.

It contends that sugar is the biggest culprit of heart disease, not fat. Very interesting and it will make you look at food much differently.

As far as making healthy food taste good, you answer is fat. By removing the fat, you remove the flavor. In all low fat foods, there is a lot of added salt and sugar to bring back the flavor. You are eating and drinking far more sugar that you realize because it is hidden in your "healthy" foods.

Okay, just got home from seeing the PA at the heart doctors office. The short diagnosis is no CHF, they think the edema is still from the Amlodipine-Benazerpril that my regular doctor put me on as it is way less than two weeks ago. They think it will eventually go away and suggest I increase my walking and weight lifting along with salt reduction. I am averaging 2.7 miles a day and will try to up it to 4 miles.
My ejection fraction was around 69% which they say is normal. I have had 3 normal ECG's in the last 40 days and am back on my regular PB meds and off of the Lasix.

They did however see some Aortic Root Dilatation so I am getting scheduled for a CT Scan of my heart to rule out an Aneurism. The PA said that the CT will give them a more precise information than the ECHO and that it may just be something they monitor, or it could require repair. Don't have a date for the CT yet.

Had my CT done Thursday afternoon. I got a call this morning from my heart doctors office and there is NO aneurism.
They confirmed that I just have a large thick wall aorta. Said they would see me in 6 months for my regular checkup.
Most of my edema has gone away and they think the rest will leave as my veins heal from the leakage caused by the Amlodipine.
I will be keeping all of y'all in my prayers that have CHF. I am going to keep on the low salt and sugar diet as I am becoming adjusted to it. I still have about 10 pounds to loose, but it is coming off.

Great news. Hang in there.

I am totally in agreement with what you said , I would add that you should remove all GMO based food products . The protein that is built into GMO seed structures ( think Monsanto ) can cause extreme levels of inflammation . If you track when Monsanto started releasing GMO seeds into production ( 1994 ) for human consumption , all the immune system diseases started rising significantly , especially in children .
I would also eliminate HFC's ( high fructose corn syrup ) . The food industry has tried to convince people it's the same as sugar ---it is not , it's basically just a sweet tasting chemical compound that is super cheap VS sugar and also causes high levels of inflammation .
When I changed my diet , I eliminated all GMO , all HFC's , most dairy ( especially Ice cream---my biggest weakness at the time ) no soda's and I feel better at 60 than I did at 40 .

two additional video's that every human should watch --- Food Inc and Forks Over Knives . It will make you think twice about what you buy and eat

My Dad had it. And yes, unfortunately, that's just the way it is. Best advice is to monitor fluid intake, watch your salt intake, and take diuretics. If caught early, there is much more that can be done. My Dad went to the V.A. for most of his life, and all they would do was throw Lasix at him. They never did any testing or even offered to check for CHF. When he started going to a real care facility, and got a proper diagnosis, he started seeing marked improvement. On initial treatment, he had a spell where the Lasix pills basically did nothing, and he thought he was about 30 pounds overweight. They took him in and gave him intravenous Lasix, and it worked like a champ. Come to find out he had so much excess fluid on him that it would absorb the Lasix before it got to his stomach lining. He was in the hospital 10 days, and lost 27 lbs of fluid. He was peeing 2 to 3 liters of fluid a day early on. If the Lasix isn't working, I would suggest your problem may be similar. The breathing treatments won't really do much, as that is actually intended for people with airway obstruction of some sort. Not for overabundance of fluids.

One thing to watch on the diuretics though, they are hard on your kidneys, and will eventually (long term) cause renal problems. That's usually the main problem with CHF, starving the oxygenation out of your blood causing damage to other organs, usually the kidneys. It's pretty common to have kidney failure, when diagnosed with CHF. Like I said though, catching it early, and having proper care is key to it not beating you down.

Dr. Ken Berry on YouTube. I was amazed at what I learned from his hundreds of videos.

If you are seeking an excellent cardiologist in Tyler, Tx I recommend Dr. Alexandre A. Petrakian, MD.

sorry anyone has to go through this
prayers to all

I would suggest anyone going through this to also speak with a dietician...not a nutritionist, an actual dietician and add them to your medical team. One of the things I have noticed since I started eating clean, is cucumbers, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and some other vegetables, are natural diuretics. I urinate a LOT when I eat a cucumber at lunch. it actually helps reduce water retention. Speak with your doctor before adding it to your diet, but cucumbers are freaking awesome. I am thankful to not have any heart issues, but I do have some swelling in my left leg due to varicose veins that were damaged almost 6 years ago. The cucumber a day has drastically cut this down for me.

I have had CHF for 5 years, mine is pretty caused by my A-fib according to the 2 cardiologist I am seeing. You didn’t say what your CHF number is but after having a Cardio-Version to get me out of A-fib mine is down to 150. My Dr.said 100 is normal.

Agree 100%