"Mary [log in to unmask] XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" wrote:
>
> If you had had a heart attack what would you do?

I *have* had a heart attack (4 actually), and I am trying to be as paleo
as I can.

> My (non paleo, low fat  SAD -diet) husband had one and also had a hole
> between the ventricles which they patched with  a teflon patch during the
> surgery.
>
> He also had a double bypass.
>
> Then he was put on a "low fat' diet by the dr. (altho he'd already been on
> one!)
>
> He was told  to have no more than 3 ounces of 'red' meat twice a week.

I think there is enough evidence to warrant caution with saturated fat.
However, even the American Heart Association are recommending that we
eat one or two fatty fish meals per week. The benefits of fatty fish and
the omega-3 they contain are very clear.

> But, is supposed to eat oatmeal every day??

I presume he has high cholesterol also?
(Some believe oatmeal to lower serum cholesterol.)

Some people claim that the paleo diet will lower cholesterol - it
apparently has for some - it hasn't for me.

> Anyway, if it was me, I'd go immediately on paleo.

Agreed... but I think that should be the "prescription" even without
heart disease! :)

> He tells me that paleo is not going to cure a hole in the heart.

He is correct, but it may help with other issues.
(Coronary artery disease, myopathy, ischemia, etc.)

> (The patch did not "take" and they're scheduling him for another open heart
> possible transplant)

Bummer.
Best wishes for both of you.

> He's also on too many prescriptions to even count.

Yup, been there done that.
While he needs them he should take them.

> If it was YOUR body what would you do?

In a way it *is* my body, and I went paleo after nearly 10 years of
searching.

Basically I believe our bodies are self repairing. Given the appropriate
building blocks (nutrition) our bodies know automatically what to do
with them and will heal as best they can. I believe we can derail this
self healing process by inappropriate nutrition. Ingesting too little of
the important building blocks and/or excess toxins, foreign proteins,
allergens etc. I think this can keep the body too busy "cleaning house"
to get the repair work done.

I spent nearly 10 years trying to research primitive diets in my own
personal attempt to provide biologically appropriate food for my body.
Although I did as I was told (ate lots of bread etc.), I could never
quite come to terms with the concept of eating lots of grains. I just
couldn't accept that primitive peoples would have consumed the amount
current dieticians were insisting was my best "healthiest" diet. It
followed, that it could not be what our species have been eating for
most of our evolution.

I then stumbled upon the "paleo diet" concept and found it mirrored my
preconceived (intuitive?) notions. After 8 years of chronic *very*
severe angina, I noticed a dramatic reduction of my angina pain within 4
days of starting paleo. Within a month I had stopped taking 3
medications, and halved the last one. The reduction of angina, and
medication continues to today. When I explained this to my cardiologist
he raised his eyebrows and proceeded to check me over. He was very happy
with my condition. He found my blood pressure to be 120/80 (the pressure
of a 20 yo) (on my *reduced* medication) and told me to keep doing it
(the diet) because it is working! His words in a letter to my General
Practitioner... "I find this man remarkably better today."

I would not recommend anyone reduce medication without supervision. I am
very familiar with the medications involved, and only reduced
medications with my cardiologists prior knowledge. I basically reduced
medications when my blood pressure dropped to the point that dizziness
became a problem.

I would urge you husband to do some research into hunter gatherer diets,
and heart disease in hunter gatherer groups. If he is going to change,
he will have to understand and believe it himself. It is his heart, he
must be driven to find the truth by his will to live.

If we accept the 'diet causes heart disease' hypothesis, we must
conclude that the diet of heart healthy hunter gatherers must be a heart
healthy diet. Not too many hunter gatherers eat large quantities of
grains.



Jim Walsh
(Hoping I haven't rambled on too much!)  ;)