If you want to manage your Vitamin K intake, lose weight, lower your cholesterol or just learn how to eat healthy, you've found the right place. My free, interactive diet planner, My eatTHISdiet, will help you create weekly meal plans - complete with recipes and shopping lists - to make eating better easy for you and your entire family.
My eatTHISdiet is perfect for those with food allergies or health issues like GERD / acid reflux, lactose intolerance, and those who use Coumadin® (warfarin).
Why Should I Use My eatTHISdiet? »
About Coumadin® (warfarin)
The main dietary concern of taking warfarin (common brand name: Coumadin) has to do with the amount of vitamin K in your diet. Vitamin K changes the way warfarin affects the blood. When you eat foods that are high in vitamin K, you can decrease the effect of warfarin. Likewise, eating less vitamin K can increase the effect of the medication.
The key is to try to eat a similar amount of foods that contain vitamin
K each day. Don’t make any major changes to your diet without speaking
with your doctor. If you want to lose weight, eat a lower fat diet or
become a vegetarian, your doctor would want to know about these changes
to help manage your warfarin.
Leafy green vegetables tend to contain higher amounts of vitamin K and one rule of thumb is to suspect that green veggies, cabbages and lettuces are high in Vitamin K. Also certain legumes like peanuts and peas might cause problems. Certain vegetable oils have high amounts of vitamin K.
Foods that are low in vitamin K include roots, bulbs, tubers, some fruits and fruit juices. Cereals, grains and other milled products are also low in vitamin K.
Keep
in mind that the amount of foods you eat with vitamin K add up. So if you
eat more foods that contain medium amounts of vitamin K in a particular
day, your vitamin K intake will be high for that day.
What about alcohol?
You should avoid drinking alcohol while taking warfarin because alcohol can change the way your body responds to the medicine. Talk with your doctor about this. He or she may tell you that it’s fine to drink alcohol but may want you to have a similar amount of alcohol each day so that your blood levels of warfarin remain stable.
Ask Dr. Gourmet About Coumadin®
Should you avoid cranberry
juice on Coumadin (warfarin)?
Interestingly, a cup of cranberry juice cocktail has only 2.5 micrograms
(mcg) of Vitamin K. There have been some case reports that
cranberry juice can have an effect on INR levels, however.
More....
How many micrograms
of Vitamin K can I have in one day?
The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for Vitamin K is 85
micrograms (mcg) per day. Most physicians recommend trying to keep
levels no higher than this as a consequence of the effect that higher
doses can have on INR levels. More....
My husband has
diabetes and is on Coumadin (warfarin). How can I help him eat healthy?
The first step is for you and your husband to speak with
your physician about the number of calories he should be
eating each
day. Many physicians have a dietitian available to their
patients. Such referrals are especially helpful and if possible,
you
should go to the appointment with your husband. More....
Can I use these nutritional supplements while
on Coumadin?
You should absolutely avoid such supplements while taking
warfarin. There is very little solid research done on supplements
and you are putting yourself at very high risk by taking
them along with your Coumadin®. There is with the other medications
you are taking as well. More....
Read all Ask Dr. Gourmet
About Coumadin Questions
Coumadin-Safe Recipes
The recipes on the Dr. Gourmet website are individually labeled for their appropriateness for Coumadin (warfarin) users. These are some of the top-rated recipes that are safe for Coumadin users. View the Full List of Coumadin-Safe Recipes
Breakfast Soups
and Salads |
Main Course Extras and Side Dishes |
Get the Book!
Many of our readers have written to ask about a book on Coumadin use, and we're pleased to announce that eatTHISdiet for Coumadin Users is now available for purchase in spiral-bound softcover for just $27.95 - $14.95 for PDF format. More information»
Order Yours Now!
What foods can I eat?
The lists of foods below will give you more information on the Vitamin K levels in various foods. Print them out and use them as a handy guide to what you can eat!
Brief : A short list
of commonly-used foods with their relative Vitamin K
levels (Low, Medium, High)
Medium : A much longer
list of foods, with their relative Vitamin K
levels (Low, Medium, High)
Extensive : The same longer
list as the Medium document, but with exact
levels of Vitamin K in mcgs.
These documents are in PDF Format.
Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader.
View the Brief list online:
Beverages
Condiments
Dairy
Desserts
Eggs
Fats, Oils, and Dressings
Fruit
Legumes
Meat
Seafood
Snacks
Starches
Vegetables
There's an easy way to find out about the nutrition content of any food. Just use the USDA National Nutrient Database.
By entering an ingredient and following the steps this website will report the complete nutritional values of any ingredient and many prepared foods. The Vitamin K content is the last listing at the bottom of the Vitamins section. If it is not there, the food or ingredient that you searched on doesn't contain enough Vitamin K to be reported.
Looking for the Six-Week eatTHISdiet Plan for Coumadin Users?
On Coumadin? This meal plan was created to keep your Vitamin K intake low and stable. Doctor-recommended! eatTHISdiet for Coumadin Users
This version of eatTHISdiet works just like the Original and Comfort Food Diet plans, but the menu has been specifically designed to help you manage your intake of Vitamin K.
Step One is to determine your ideal weight so that we can provide
you with the correct caloric intake:
I am Male | I am Female
News Bites
How well is Vitamin K absorbed?
Recent studies suggest that the average American diet does not contain enough Vitamin K, which contributes to proper blood coagulation. Since phylloquinone, the primary source of Vitamin K in plants and plant oils, is soluble in fat, researchers have long assumed that phylloquinone would be more easily absorbed from an oil than from a vegetable source. Further, indicators of Vitamin K status in the blood or urine are different in younger adults than in older adults. More....
American Ginseng Can Reduce the Effects of Warfarin
Ginseng is felt by some to help with energy and vitality, especially during stress. Some feel it can improve memory and "brain power." There has been little solid evidence to support this, however. In a paper published in The Annals of Internal Medicine (2004; 141:23-27) Dr. Yuan and his study team had twenty patients take warfarin. In the first week the medication was given and the INR checked. In the second week, 12 of the participants began also taking American ginseng, while 8 began taking a placebo. More....
More News Bites
