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A dear friend just had a heart attack. Had a stent put in. She's frightened and wants to re-vamp her life to prevent any more heart disease. Her diet was high fat, loves pizza, cheese, whipped cream, beer, etc. Is also under treatment for pre-diabetes. She could lose 30 pounds or so...
She turned to me because she knows I'm into healthy eating/exercise.
I lent her my copy of The End of Heart Disease: The Eat to Live Plan to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease (Eat for Life) by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I have high regard for Fuhrman's book and advice.
Wondering if anyone has a cookbook to recommend to her? Fuhrman's book has some recipes. She's not a big fan of spending a lot of time in the kitchen. So a cookbook with simple, heart-healthy recipes would be best for her.
Any recommendations?? There are so many to chose from...
I did suggest that she do an internet search for "heart-healthy" recipes and could download those. I also offered to grocery shop with her and show her my pantry and frig shelves if that would be helpful for her.
(I mostly cook by the seat of my pants after years of eating to help my high blood pressure get lower, so don't have many formal recipes to share with her. It's more intuitive for me at this point).
Dr. Michael Gregor has good cookbooks that should work.
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I changed my diet after I had a heart attack in September 2022 and had a pacemaker implanted. I eat no more meat, processed foods and no dairy products. I now eat lots of vegetables, fruit, berries, chick peas, beans etc. for protein, and a couple of meals a week with salmon or other fish. Have had no heart problems since.
I changed my diet after I had a heart attack in September 2022 and had a pacemaker implanted. I eat no more meat, processed foods and no dairy products. I now eat lots of vegetables, fruit, berries, chick peas, beans etc. for protein, and a couple of meals a week with salmon or other fish. Have had no heart problems since.
That's wonderful! Were you guided by your doctors, referred to a program or researched a heart healthy diet on your own??
Sounds like you care about your health and were willing to make the needed changes in your diet.
I sure hope my friend does the same. I know it's hard to change from your every day eating habits...but for those who want to become healthy, it seems the best way to go.
I'll continue to support my friend any way I can, but ultimately, it's up to her...
(the proverbial "you can lead a horse to water, but can't make them drink...")
I changed my diet after I had a heart attack in September 2022 and had a pacemaker implanted. I eat no more meat, processed foods and no dairy products. I now eat lots of vegetables, fruit, berries, chick peas, beans etc. for protein, and a couple of meals a week with salmon or other fish. Have had no heart problems since.
I went the other way.
I never had a heart attack, but I did have quadruple heart bypass in 2021. Age 75.
My diet is mostly meat-cheese-eggs and has been for about 18 months. Blood pressure is normal (120/70) all other blood tests and measurements are normal. Weight is down from 215 to 180. EKG perfect.
I exercise - really exercise! - 3X a week. About an hour at Planet Fitness. I'm not taking any medications and evidently have made a complete recovery.
The reason I went the other way is with diet is, I believe the Food Pyramid/My Plate is now being used by the food industry and politicians to promote what they want. I don't believe the cholesterol story any more, although I used to. I think the whole heart/artery problem is refined sugar, carbohydrates, and processed foods.
Does this look like the result of an FDA or food industry that really has your best interest in mind?...
I went the other way.
I never had a heart attack, but I did have quadruple heart bypass in 2021. Age 75.
My diet is mostly meat-cheese-eggs and has been for about 18 months. Blood pressure is normal (120/70) all other blood tests and measurements are normal. Weight is down from 215 to 180. EKG perfect.
I exercise - really exercise! - 3X a week. About an hour at Planet Fitness. I'm not taking any medications and evidently have made a complete recovery.
The reason I went the other way is with diet is, I believe the Food Pyramid/My Plate is now being used by the food industry and politicians to promote what they want. I don't believe the cholesterol story any more, although I used to. I think the whole heart/artery problem is refined sugar, carbohydrates, and processed foods.
Does this look like the result of an FDA or food industry that really has your best interest in mind?...
Yes, true about the food industry. They'd rather we were all at the Cardiologist as long as we eat their food. I've been listening to Dr. Ovadia, Cardiologist/Heart Surgeon who is a proponent of the carnivore diet. This is of course very controversial.
Yes, true about the food industry. They'd rather we were all at the Cardiologist as long as we eat their food. I've been listening to Dr. Ovadia, Cardiologist/Heart Surgeon who is a proponent of the carnivore diet. This is of course very controversial.
Yeah. People will fight you about that.
No cardiologist has ever asked about my diet. I've seen plenty of them, too. Before my bypass I started developing discomfort and there was a heart murmur, so I underwent almost every test I have ever heard of.
The murmur was a caseous mitral annulus calcification, which sounds a whole lot worse than it is. Then I went the usual routes of trying medication to alleviate the pain I felt when I worked in the yard, and then, after nuclear highlighted treadmill tests (which showed nothing) they tried a stent.
And that's when they found I was, like, 95% blocked. You would have though - or I would have, at least - that all those tests would have shown that!
The next day, they broke out the chainsaw and did it the hard way.
But, diet?.... No. No cardiologist, or any other doctor has ever asked me what I eat.
We are on our own, Folks. So I have bought into the "the cholesterol story is a myth" idea, discounted what it all says, started eating a lot more protein and started eating the common sense way that makes me feel good.
I really wish I had been a little more skeptical years ago and not wasted my time and health with all those chicken salads. I don't even like chicken. Or salads.
But I have to add for the benefit of anyone whose eye may fall on this message: I never drank, never smoked anything and have been active all my life.
I had to smile at your surgeon's comment that he was challenged years ago as people told him that the medical community had solved the heart disease problem and heart disease would be disappearing.
Last edited by Listener2307; 04-27-2024 at 12:23 PM..
Very glad you're getting good results. Most folks follow the American Heart
Association guidelines on diet to prevent--or even reverse--heart disease.
Their guidelines pretty much follow the diets of those populations with much lower heart disease/diabetes than we Americans.
From what I've been reading:
--foods with little/no saturated fats
--little red meat. Zero processed meat
--fruit and vegetable heavy
--whole grains instead of white flour
--healthy fats such as olive and nut oils
--fish several times a week
--white meat chicken with no skin
--increased bean/legume consumption
--nuts, especially walnuts and almonds
--greatly reduced processed sugar
--modest alcohol
--exercise 4-5 times/week. Walking/stretching are recommended.
Of course, we Americans are reluctant to give up our cheeseburgers, fries, chips, ice cream, sodas, pizza, donuts, hot dogs & sausage & bacon, and snack foods.
And we sure do pay the price. Heart disease is rising in our nation...
(doctors and cardiologists receive only one class on nutrition during their Western MD education. We need to educate ourselves and seek out experts on nutrition. I once had a cardiac work-up and the cardiologist was 50-75 pounds overweight. I wasn't given any diet/exercise advice from him).
That's wonderful! Were you guided by your doctors, referred to a program or researched a heart healthy diet on your own??
Sounds like you care about your health and were willing to make the needed changes in your diet.
I sure hope my friend does the same. I know it's hard to change from your every day eating habits...but for those who want to become healthy, it seems the best way to go.
I'll continue to support my friend any way I can, but ultimately, it's up to her...
(the proverbial "you can lead a horse to water, but can't make them drink...")
I had been under my doctors care for years, but still had very high blood pressure. After the heart attack the Cardiologist at the hospital put me on medication that actually helped, but I decided that more changes were needed so I adopted a diet much like what you suggested. I switched to multigrain bread and cereal, unsweetened almond milk, olive oil margarine. Pecans, pistachios and popcorn for snacks.
Last edited by sanspeur; 04-27-2024 at 05:42 PM..
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You would have though - or I would have, at least - that all those tests would have shown that!
