My husband had a heart attack so I now need to change our eating habits. I need some help.

A

agm_cape_cod

Well-known member
My husband is a skinny guy who has never had to watch what he eats. Due to that he has no idea of what is good or bad for him to eat. We eat fairly healthy (with the exception of those days I have ice cream parties) but I haven't had to concern myself with butter or fat.

Specifically what I need is where to get good information about what he can have. Are shrimps good or bad?

Places where I can convert some of his favorite recipes- mostly cookies, brownies & such like.

I hesitant to use some of the substitutions but does anyone have personal suggestions for butter substitutes and fat free mayo? We love fresh corn on the cob but I don't want him to feel deprived without the butter.

TIA

 
Have you had a chance to talk to a nutritionist?

We met with one a couple of years ago for my son's blood pressure and cholesterol (he was 16 & has always been on the thin side as well).

High energy drinks were immediately banned by both his cardiologist and the nutritionist. BAD BAD BAD.

Most of what we were told were common sense things but the one thing that surprised us was that many fat free items (even catsup) use high fructose corn syrup which can affect triglycerides.


Another thing is that if it says Trans Fat Free it can still contain up to .5 per listed serving size and most things, ie, chips, are not eaten per the listed serving size.

The american heart association has several helpful links.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200000

 
Rinchard got me hooked on "Nourishing Traditions" & it has some interesting

information on how a lot of what we think is wrong. I know some of this is 'radical' thinking but I like it and have been gradually incorporating more of it into our diet.

 
AGM, was the heart attack due to clogged arteries or flawed mechanics? Shrimp, surprisingly,

is high in cholesterol when you think of most fish as being "healthy".

I think jean's suggestion is really good. A nutritionalist can stir you around all the potholes.

From what I've read, diet isn't always the major cause of cholesterol plaque build-up. Smoking can damage the heart, genetics can predispose certain people to hold onto every scrap of cholesterol they eat, etc.

Exercise seems to help lower the number. But you want to be sure he is allowed that.

Soluable bran will help to clear out cholesterol (think oat bran) while insoluable bran (wheat bran) will help to clear out the intestines/colon.

Best of luck to both of you!

 
check out the AHA and CHSF websites - lots of info, answers and recipes. you should be able to

access a dietician or nurse through your family doc who can give you some one on one teaching regarding cholesterol and blood pressure targets, as well as heart healthy diets (ie - not just watching fat but increasing fibre and healthy fats)

 
and the AHA has a good cookbook too. His doc should have a nutritionist he could recommend and most

hospitals put on heart healthy seminars.

 
Sorry to hear that AGM. Molly McButter is fat free with only 5% sodium. I like to

sprinkle it on scrambled eggs. You might want to switch to those "healthy" eggs such as Egg Beaters though. I'm sure it would be very tasty on corn on the cob as well.

 
Glad you knew who you were since I can't spell today.....

I am loving it. Finally found a source for my raw milk and butter although it has people wondering about me when they see my containers that say 'Pet Milk, Not for Human Consumption' and I drink it. DD & DH say they are waiting for me to start making animal noises.

I tried her sauerkraut recipe and it didn't work so I have got to try again. I am DYING for unpasteurized sauerkraut - they sell it at one store - $13 for a LITTLE jar like Tostito's salsa comes in. I love sauerkraut and I can't wait - want it nice and sour! It was real pretty until it started to mold - I used both purple and green cabbage so it was a pretty shade of pinkish purplish kraut.

 
I am also worried about keeping his weight up on this low everything diet. He has already lost

almost ten pounds in the hospital which on anyone else would be good. He is 5'10" and went into the hospital at about 155-160 and came out at 147. He would like to build some muscle mass but is unsure how to do that with this new diet. I told him to make a list of questions for the nutritionist. One thing I would like to know is a daily nutrition plan (ie how many calories, how many milligrams of sodium etc) so I can evaluate recipes to see if they fit his (really our!) new diet.

 
I know what you mean...

Sometimes when I mix up the boys' food I will just have a bowl of it for my dinner. Once someone asked me what I was eating for dinner, and without thinking I said "a bowl of dog food". They were aghast. LOL

Bummer about the sauerkraut. Did you have it weighted and fully submerged? I think that's the key (just as it is in rumtopf). The veggies need to be in the liquid (salty brine or alcohol and sugar) and if they get exposed to air, they're eventually going to succomb to evolutionary science.

Have you been trying any new grains? I've been going at a lot of them, and the soaking is such a time saver as well as healthy. And I love millet. I sometimes toast it before cooking and it "pops" like popcorn. Also having fun making wild "Richard versions" of Taboulleh. Perfect for the summer. Too fun.

I found a 100% sprouted whole grain pasta at Trader Joe's that is really wonderful if you haven't tried it yet.

Another thing I discovered this year. I think you mentioned you were doing veggie co-op. Hope that's working out for you. Last year I had a bad experience with the farm I subscribed to. But in talking with my beef, lamb, and pork farmer, she told me that she had a football field sized area with veggies and she was told to keep her veggies out of the market where I normally meet her (the nerve!). She said she had more than enough after supplying her family and canning. So now, she just gets a big box of whatever she has that week together and has it waiting for me when I pick up my meat and it's less than half of what they're charging at the market (whose prices went through the roof this year). So now, I talk to everyone and find out what they're doing. You can find good suppliers in unexpected places.

 
PS: More thoughts on sauerkraut...

I just remembered an earlier post about too much salt in a recipe and cutting back, you can't cut back on the salt in the kraut. That said, when you use it, you will soak and rinse and soak and rinse and remove all that salt, so it's really not an issue with kraut about the high salt content to preserve it.

 
A tip for corn on the cob: Squeeze over lime or lemon juice, then sprinkle with chaat masala, an

Indian blend that's more puckery than spicy. It's incredibly good, and butter and salt seem ho-hum in comparison.

 
Sauerkraut issues...

Her 'recipe' is in a jar which was perfect for me because I still haven't ordered a crock (it's on my never ending to do list). Her recipe has a little bit - can't remember but it was something like just a few tablespoons of whey and then salt and i didn't think it was very much salt. And then pounding the cabbage until it made a lot of liquid. Well let me tell you, I was stressed and PO'd that day after spending 5 hours in the drivers license testing station with my daughter trying to get her the driving test to get her permit into a license before school started the next week. So I pounded it and then came back and pounded it again. Over and over and I used everything I could find. I would bruise and get 'moist' but no real liquid to speak of. So I finally gave up and put it in the jar pounding it yet again as I went. She said let it sit out for 3 days (I think) and then refrigerate. Well at three days I tasted it and it just tasted like salted cabbage. So I kept it out tasting it every few days for the first week and it never got a taste even close to kraut. Kept tasting like cabbage. So I just let it sit because by now there was some liquid and I had kept it pushed down but there wasn't anything forming on the top to skim. Then all of a sudden I looked and I had a nice mold going. So I gave in and dumped it in the compost earlier this week.

Going to order a crock and try it the way you all say to do.

Grains - yes, we went and got a BUNCH of grains and beans. I had Nourishing Traditions with me at the Drivers's station so DD got bored and took it from me and put together some things. The next week we hit a new to us whole foods market when we went to get tomatoes to send to Marilyn from the farmers market on the lot next to them. DD spent almost $100 mainly on grains and beans and noodles.

My meat guy is bringing me the 'whey' or 'buttermilk' that is left from when he makes the raw butter. I still haven't made my own whey because I can't figure out what to do with the rest of it just to get the whey. She said it's like cream cheese and I don't use tha tmuch cream cheese. What are you doing to get whey that hasn't been cooked?

As for my CSA share - I LOVE my farmer!!! I think the prices are fair and they are always throwing in extras and the box is already overflowing - I've started grabbing my shopping bag to unload some of it before I move it so I don't drop it and ruin it on the way to the car. A half bushel is costing me around $30 a week I think is what I calculated. And most of it practical stuff. I think that my biggest complaint has been that I seem to have a cantelope and small watermelon EVERY week and there is only so much of it you can eat when no one else in your family will touch it. But I have more than enough tomatoes, peppers, greens, squash, onions, garlic, corn, tomatillos, etc. They throw in nice bunches of fresh basil, sunflowers, etc. But I've converted DH & DD into liking things they swore they wouldn't touch - DH now likes eggplant so when I said something to Hank Sr, he made sure I had 3 different varieties and all pretty big before I left at no charge. DD loves the fresh small potatoes (new, reds, golds, etc.) so he throws in ones that have 'shovel' marks as if they were defects - heck I grew up eating from the family farm and we ate it all, shovel marks, bruised, you name it.

There is another place that does more unusual stuff - think I might try doing a half share with them along with my full share from this farmer next year.

 
AGM, gently asking: didn't the dr. TELL you what he can have and what he can't have? In your post,

it sounds like you are guessing. My son's been on a low sodium and low protein diet for a while...we had to PRESS the dr. to tell us how much per day is allowed? Otherwise, we're guessing, you know? And I know how that feels, it's terrible. I mean, did the dr. advise low-fat, low-sodium, and low-sugar? I agree with desertjean that the dr.'s SPECIFIC orders PLUS talking to a nutritionist would be the way to go. Good luck and I hope he is doing better. I'm thinking, though, that fresh everything is best, fresh fruits, fresh veggies and not too much sat fat (red meats) would be best but then again, we're guessing, right? All I do know is that processed foods are really making Americans very sick and that includes tons of sodium and HFCS in so many things.

 
Sounds like the trip to the nutritionist will give you more options...

but the underlying cause - high blood pressure, high colestrol (ratio not total number), etc are treated differently food wise. Once you identify that you'll have a better idea of what he can/can't eat. For example my cholestrol is off the charts but lowering my fat intake didn't lower it one point - cutting out suger seemed to help though. They are finding more of a diabetic/heart diease connection every day though this is a bit cutting edge and not all agree yet (btw, I'm not diabetic # wise at all). Your nutritionist should be able to help but go in armed with full blood tests from his dr.

 
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