I have been told by my cardiologist to eat a Mediterranean diet , but the book UnDo it that you all kindly suggested I read say no fat no fish ,no olive oil , no nuts , all which appear regular in Mediterranean diets ,
I must say the Mediterranean diet is much easier to stick to , but the UnDo book says that the Mediterranean diet has no evidence
to support a reduction in heart attacks or stroke
What do you all follow and what are your views on this
Thanks
Philippa
My view is, if you wanna suck the soul out of your life then do the 'undo diet' I'm sure the 'author has made a lot of money out his diet & of course to make that money it would make sense to say the Mediterranean diet doesn't work!!
Or you could listen to your cardiologist who only has your best interest at heart (pun intended!) My husband has been following the 'mediterrean' diet for over 25 years after a massive heart attack & cardiac arrest, and whilst he may now have other serious health issues he's never had another heart attack & a recent MIBI hasn't thrown up any further issues with his arteries!
Did you find a good book on the diet when you started him on it? I keep looking
We were given a diet sheet by the hospital, good foods, bad food, every day foods, occasional foods & no no foods, although even with those very occasional use isn't gonna hurt too much. We adapted our diet & recipes, we use a lot of herbs & spices in our cooking to beef up the flavours. The BHf site have some very good recipes, have a look at their site
bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...
Please can you share your diet sheet information? Many thanks 😊
We were given the list 25 years ago, although we were given another copy about 10 years ago, sadly after 3 house moves (1 not that long ago) if I've still got it (and I probably have) it's still packed away somewhere waiting to be unpacked. I'm sure if you ask at your surgery, cardiology dept, cardiac rehab or cardiac nurses they'll be able to supply you with a copy. If/when I've completely unpacked I'll be very happy to post it.
Meanwhile the BHf site is excellent for low fat healthy diet & recipes
" if you wanna suck the soul out of your life then do the 'undo diet' " oooooh I love this line so much so consider it stolen, now someone invite me to dinner so I can use it ! x
Harsh words but true. I personally think its all about balance, I truly cannot see the point of restricting yourself so much that 'living' becomes a challenge. If you lived nearer I'd invite you to dinner, but you'd have to leave the bunny costume behind!😱
I really agree, I think humans have only a certain longevity , some a little longer than others and most of those without any fault of themselves , life is a great lottery, can you help along the way? sure you can, but just living will bring up its own problems.
Enjoy each moment, love and live as hard as you want to and help those that need help in any form you can.
The costume has been returned , lost my deposit due to the fluffy tail being missing, expect a knock, the boys will be around later to get it back !
Great advice. The greatest gift you can give to yourself & to those who love & care for you is to enjoy life, it sadly has the ability to pull the rug out from under your feet at any time!Ps: I'm not saying I know anything about it but you might want to look under the bushes for the fluffy tail, just saying!! (a phrase that I completely hate! Along with being called 'hun' 🤣🤣)
I hope you find the previous wise responses helpful, a few regulars have chipped in who have always inspired me. Personally after 8 years on the journey post ACS and stent and having flop flopped between the Mediterranean and zero oils approach I now only have two rules: no processed food and a time limited eating window of 8 hours.
Interesting sensible advice, thank you
This sounds very much what Tim Spector is preaching. I have great respect for him and the message he is trying to convey that every body is different. I signed up for the Zoe program that measures your body’s reaction to different foods with regard to glucose (carbs) and fat. Glucose is the substance that causes inflammation in the body and when having a lot of spikes or continuous high blood sugar the inflammation becomes chronic. It appears that my body reacts violently to any carb intake, but when taken with a little ‘good’ fat the uptake is slower, so I eat my oats with some yoghurt, my craving of chocolate is balanced with some nuts.
Your body needs fat to function properly, the question is which kind of fat…… HDL is the good fat that is mostly in fish and vegetables. Unfortunately, my body does not metabolise fat very well, so I should be very careful how much I take in.
I am mostly vegetarian using olive oil for cooking and eat fish sparingly. I now am able to feel when I have taken in too much fat, because I am more tuned in with my body. It has been 2.5 years since my CABG x4 and a subsequent heart attack, because one of the bypasses had blocked. I am working out regularly and am ready to travel again with confidence.
Yes, I slip once in a while with my food choices, but life is for the living and I want to make the most of it. I hope you can find your balance soon as well!
Ever since adding more 'mediterranean-style' foods to my diet after my HA & bypasses last year, I've discovered quite a few physical advantages. I've had diverticular disease for donkey's years and have found flare-ups to be a lot less frequent and they don't last half as long either. My skin seems to be more robust, my eyes are brighter, I'm sleeping better and just feel generally more 'awake' than I did before. A lot of that could be due to taking more walks and spending more time in the fresh air too though. I'd go with what your cardiologist and medical teams have suggested - there's been a heck of a lot of research put into diet/health over the years.
Many great thoughts above that I ditto. As I have not seen Dr Aseem Malhotra (the fat fix documentary and propping diet) or Ivor Cummins (fantastic YouTube library on heart health) mentioned I thought I would if anyone wanted to explore more avenues as to heart health and nutrition.
Sound like a bit of an Atkins diet spoof where eat as much fat as you can to lose weight (don’t think of the arteries your blocking up by doing that ) the proof said about him was “Atkins weighed in at 258 pounds at the time of his death, obese for a six-foot-tall man. And the notes listed a surprise history of serious heart problems including myocardial infarction (a heart attack), congestive heart failure and hypertension.20 Feb 2004”
This is just one of many that state Mediterranean is best - I’m not preaching here or forcing it upon you but if interested
hsph.harvard.edu/nutritions...
At the end of the day we all have choices but longevity isn’t guaranteed and health isn’t guaranteed to anyone but just do your own research and listen to others then choose - hope you stay well
It sounds totally unsatisfying and is basically a high carb low fat diet. Which would be a nightmare for blood sugar levels. Plus they eliminate essential DHA fats from fish ( called essential for a reason) . And all other protein other than tofu. And fat is down to like 1 walnut or 5 almonds a day .Maybe they can give good results , I dont know but it will leave you malnourished. (some of those drs look ill) I have high cholesterol so maybe cant talk but I think healthy fats in fish and nuts and avocado eggs are good for managing blood sugar, good for the brain , and for good cholesterol. And decreasing the amount of meat like in the mediterranean diet is also a good thing. In fact I think the japanese diet is also healthy . Basically a diet high in life force ( fruit and vegetables) and low in dead denatured food . Live food for alive people dead food if you want to feel dead. And healthy food should not be a deprivation. It can be colourful flavourful and pleasurable. With plenty of dark chocolate for good measure.
Dr Eric Bergs Mediterranean farce.
Mediterranean Diet
Mediterranean Diet...
Diet
