A relative of a friend of mine had to have 3 stints last week. He was given the choice of open heart surgery or the stints .... For me that would have been a no-brainer and I think he must have felt the same way. Without hesitation he decided upon the stints and is doing very well and feeling MUCH better right now.

Anywhoo....As my friend was giving me the details of his surgery and recovery, she mentioned that he is on a low fat diet now. I mentioned to her about the study that was reported not long ago about how low fat diets were not shown to prevent heart disease and so on and that it is being recommended to follow a healthy eating plan which includes lots of fruits & veggies, whole grains, lean meats and GOOD fats (portion controlled).

Obviously she had not heard about the study. Obviously the man who just had the stints had not heard about the study. Obviously THE DOCTOR had not heard about the study.

The idea of including a certain amount of "good fats" (fish like salmon & tuna, walnuts, almonds and certain other nuts, olive oil and so on) has been around for a while.

I had to wonder why this particular doctor was still pushing "low-fat". However, I also had to wonder if maybe the man just "understood" the doctor to suggest low-fat because it has been the most common way of thinking for so long.

I know a link to the study was posted on here and I am going to search for it and send it by email to my friend. There is also a great article in a past issue of Prevention that I will send and post here as well.

I'm going to tell her that I am just wanting to share information with her about what we were talking about yesterday and that it might not hurt if "T" asked his doctor about this when he goes for the first check-up.

quote:

Originally posted by Lori4squaremom:
our local hospital here in the town that I live in owns it's own fitness center--Ithink that this is where Denise's mom works out at

Yup! My mom isn't a cardiac patient, but she's met with the dietician there several times and is very happy with their approach.

It is a very moderate, common sense plan that my mom finds pretty easy to stay with.

quote:

Originally posted by TriGirl:
It's not necessarily either/or. Lowfat diets could still include healthy fats like nuts and olive oil. You just eat fairly low fat, and then you use healthy fats when you have fat.

I am guessing that low fat is better than "all fried, all the time," or a diet heavy in red meat and other saturated fats.

That is pretty much what I meant when I said "Good fats (Portion controlled)."

I don't think you have to suffer through your food intake. I think that is why so many folks fail even when their lives are at stake.

I remember seeing a "60 Minutes" episode quite a few years ago. A man with clogged arteries was put on a TOTALLY fat free diet. NO meat, poltry or fish of any kind. He suffered though it and followed it to a letter. (This wasn't a good idea any way because of current reports that you need a little bit of fat to be able to absorb the vitamins in your foods).

When he went back for his check-up, not only was there NO improvement in his condition but his arteries were clogged worse. He had to have surgery to clean his arteries after being miserable food-wise all that time.

It's not necessarily either/or. Lowfat diets could still include healthy fats like nuts and olive oil. You just eat fairly low fat, and then you use healthy fats when you have fat.

I am guessing that low fat is better than "all fried, all the time," or a diet heavy in red meat and other saturated fats.

Here in our local hospitals (all of the hospitals that I know of in the local 5 county area (which covers most of the San Joaquin Valley of California)) ALL heart surgery patients are required to go through "Heart patient rehab" which includes working with a personal trainer (all of the hospitals have cardiac units that include some cardio equipment and at least one personal trainer....our local hospital here in the town that I live in owns it's own fitness center--Ithink that this is where Denise's mom works out at) to get an exercise program going, nutritional re-training and follow ups with pharmacists, dieticians, trainers, and the medical staff. I know that more and more hospitals and medical centers are moving towards this education based treatment of things like heart disease, cancer and diabetes. You may have your friend check with the local hospitals to see if any of them offer the "heart patient retraining programs".

I'm getting them downloaded right now. I'll have the files at home if you want to email me and I'll send them.

Peg

I would imagine that his insurance would also allow him a nutritionist visit or 2 if they wanted to get some additional professional advice.

Peg