Food for thought

[Tom-Brown1111]

I am getting totally confused as to what I need to eat!!

Whilst on my way to work at 05:30 on radio 4 they mentioned that cheese is good for the heart???

Not sure I have got my diet totally wrong?

I have a nutra bullet and blend fruit; eat makeral and salmon regularly along with veg etc.

I would like to know from an expert what I should be eating to improve my heart health.

All the best,

Tommy

[Hidden]

Can we start from the beginning and make a statement about weight and the need to down size. No one is responsible for weight gain which actually occurs (99% of the time) when you eat too much. It's an unpleasant thought, however to get the point across I can categorically say that there were no fat people when they were saved from concentration camps after the war. There was no one with layers or rolls of skin, no matter how fat they were in the beginning.....................

Last April my type 2 blood sugar levels was difficult to control and was taking 180+ units of Humalog Mix 25 to maintain being within the HBA1C average blood sugar level of 6.0. All this time the insulin rose, so did the weight and even though I was on a sort of diet , my weight had crept up to 17 stone and as a vertically challenged male at 5'7" I was beginning to loose shape. I never thought I was fat and thought I was fit, having given up 50 cigarettes a day four years before.

In April 2017 I had to have a procedure to a benign cancer on the top of my right ear, probably due to sunburn. It was cut out and checked and nothing left behind - however, the operation site was so painful I felt sick and wanted nothing to eat that night. Next morning I had the usual low cal breakfast biscuit, just a yogurt at lunch and a mushroom omelette for tea - all because I still felt sick. When planning the next days meal, I asked for the same. After three days of this I realised I was loosing weight and with some internet research, found that there was evidence that a diet of a maximum of 600 calories a day, COULD revert a diabetic, if they lost weight, to a state that they no longer needed insulin or Metformin or anything else. So I decided to have a go.

By April of 2018 I had reduced my weight to 11 stone and no longer needed any medication for diabetes and felt fit as a flea. However, on the bank holiday in May I had a small heart attack and was taken to hospital - 13 days later I had a triple heart bypass - CABG. What a shock - thought I was fit but the damage to a lifetime of smoking had caused the damage. The positive about this is the specialist told me that had I not lost the weight, I would not have survived.

The long point of this is:- It's your life, your body and your responsibility to get well again and you should be listening to your hospital about diet and not radio 4! Having said that, both my wife and I went on "our" diet and she also lost over 7 stone and have been constantly asked whose diet we used - no plan, just sensible eating. As I said, a packet of Belvita whole oats breakfast biscuits, a Taste the Difference pot of yogurt and a omelette in the evening, filled with tomatoes or ham or chicken or prawns or Matthews smoked sausage - on Sundays we had a treat and had a grilled steak or even an oily fish!. To vary this, the same meat range with salad, including onions, beetroot, a boiled egg and as much salad as you want. M&S do a range of pasta meals that are only 300 calories and they are very tasty. Prawn or vegetable brown rice was also nice.and

Now my wife is an excellent cook and makes scones to die for - sorry - but now makes them with granulated Sucron. Same for custard with diet or diabetic jam tart using Sucron. All this and at least six pieces of fruit - not slices but whole apples, pears, plums, nectarines, apricots or 1/2 a small melon.

So there is no sugar, no bread, no potatoes and no sweets or chocolate - and no suggestions from Radio 4

We are both still on this regime but now include low cal Perky Whites sausages and liver for the iron, but there are now the odd cheat when out for a meal. My wife is hovering on 9 stone and I am 10.12, a weight I had not seen since I was 21. We are both 68 and feeling as fit as ever and the CABG, now three months old is healing well with just one week left of rehabilitation.

A wish you the best of luck with your health and recovery and as for the diet - I can say that when I hear people say "I can't" about any goal - I only hear "I won't try". Some people faced with illness give up and others fight for life and a future. It is up to you but please just say to yourself - If I really want this I will do it, nothing is impossible! Just do it healthily.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Forgot to say and every conceivable vegetable you can, except potatoes. I di hear that as a yard stick, the darker the fruit or the vegetable the better - for it is those that will have the most goodness and soaked up the sun to store the suns energy.........I have no clue whether that is true or not, but it does sound logical......a bit

[bee2]

My weight was fine for my height and my diet is sensible with the odd treat. Unfortunately it has started to climb though eating the same so I am thinking its a side effect of heart meds. That annoys me as we are told to lose weight to help our hearts yet the medication in that respect is counter-productive 😕

[anke123]

Hi, I know it is confusing when you hear things on the radio or read the papers. Some now say we do not need to eat low fat yoghurt or cheese or milk and carbs are bad.I still have cereal and toast for breakfast, often a sandwich at lunchtime and in the evening potatoes, meat or fish with vegetables and I am just under 9 stone.

I have lost some weight since I first had angina, as I do eat less cheese, puddings and biscuits and eat fish 2 or 3 times a week.

It would help if the medical profession could agree on what is best and gave out the same advice.

Anyway all the best.

[gal4God]

I always thought it was. It’s non natural foods that aren’t.