Eat carefully, take your meds and keep your fingers crossed

 

My nephew is not fifty-years-old. But the other day he had a heart attack. Is he overweight? No. Does he not get enough exercise. Hell no! Then why? Genes. He has bad genes. His grandfather died from a heart attack and two of his grandfather's brothers died from heart as well: one at only 39 and the other in his early 40s.

Canadians are lucky. We have good health care with which to deal with medical emergencies. As soon as the doctors had his heart stabilized, my nephew had two stents inserted into his plugged arteries. He was then put on some drugs to fight the future build-up of plaque. 

As his uncle with the same family history, I have a good idea what his doctors are going to ask him to do. Watch the diet. Slash the amount of cholesterol consumed.

Our bodies make most of the cholesterol found in our blood. Only about 20% comes from the food we eat. For that reason statins are often prescribed to those who arteries are plugging. Statins help to block the body's production of cholesterol. 

So, why watch one's diet? Why cutback on the cholesterol we consume? Simple: with healthy folk, the 20% does not cause problems. With those with heart disease, cutting the amount of cholesterol found in the blood, even cutting this by a small amount, is important. There is even a class of drugs to help prevent the body from absorbing cholesterol from food. Ezetimibe 10mg is the cholesterol absorption inhibitor that I take. I believe there are number of choices here as well as different statins from which  to choose. 

But that does not mean I don't watch my diet. I do. 

• First rule: only eat red meat, if at all, once a month. Go for fish first, then chicken or turkey and only have these every other day. One become an every-second-day vegetarian.
• Second: eat lots of veggies every day. 
• Third: give fried foods a wide berth and when using an oil for cooking, lean towards olive oil. 
• Fourth: no eggs. Period. I aim to consume no more than 100gm of dietary cholesterol a day. Two large eggs can have five to six times my daily limit. Replace eggs in recipes with something like Egg Creations.
• Last rule: enjoy your food. If you like nuts, have some. Don't overdo but nuts can be part of a balanced, healthy diet. Be creative in the kitchen and you will enjoy dining. In fact, one's heart-healthy diet may turnout to be more delicious than your old plug-your-arteries diet.