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dr. karp NO-NONSENSE NUTRITION ADVICE
Marion, an AskDrKarp Facebook friend, asks…
What should I eat after open-heart surgery? Thanks for asking this important question, Marion. First, let’s clarify why a person has open-heart surgery. The most common reason to have coronary artery bypass grafting is because of a diseased and blocked coronary artery. This means that healthy arteries or veins are taken from another part of the body and used to go around (bypass) blocked heart arteries. This relieves chest pain and reduces the risk of a heart attack. For the sake of answering your question, I am assuming that this is the reason you had your open-heart surgery and your surgery was not to correct a structural defect in your heart, or to repair a heart valve damaged by an infection or another reason. When you talk about developing hardening of the arteries, diseased or blocked arteries, or high blood cholesterol, lifestyle behavior becomes extremely important. How did you live your life before the surgery? Did you smoke? Did you have a regular, daily exercise routine? Did you have your diabetes, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol under control, with medications, if necessary? Did you eat high fat, fried or high calorie foods? It is true that the genes you inherited from your parents can influence whether you develop heart disease or diabetes as an adult. However, today, we know that how you live your life is more important than your genetic risk; this is especially true since there are medications around that can effectively help control blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. Nowadays, it is a CHOICE that you make to either lower your risk of heart disease or not. The fact is: If your will is strong enough to change your life after a heart attack or bypass surgery, you can lead a long, healthy, and happy life. But, if you choose not to make important changes, then you are putting yourself at greatly increased risk of further disease. You know, Marion, there are many people in the world who have diseases and conditions that are beyond their ability to affect. Diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, lung cancer – these are diseases in which voluntary CHOICES become very important, but you have to make the right choices. So, there are some important things you must do after open heart surgery, such as getting your blood pressure, blood cholesterol and diabetes under control, not smoking and increasing your physical activity. If I were in your situation, I would enroll in a cardiac rehabilitation program and consider a lifelong maintenance program, especially if you are having difficulty making the important lifestyle changes that you need to make. Speak to your physician about this. While you are enrolled in the cardiac rehabilitation program, you need to have consults with a registered dietitian who will help you and your family figure out the types of foods which are both healthy and ones that you and your family LIKE. No sense telling you about foods you won’t eat, is there? However, you and your family will need to make an effort to develop tastes for healthier foods; that is not the dietitian’s job. Notice, I talk about your family, not just about you. You live and eat with your family and, if you have had open heart surgery, I am willing to bet you that your children are at risk for this as they get older. Heart disease must be approached as a family matter. I would say that the No. 1 thing about eating after open-heart surgery is choosing lower fat, calorie, salt and sugar foods. It means forgetting about soft drinks, hamburger joints, fried chicken places, etc. It also means that you will not, necessarily, be eating less food, just different food. It is amazing how much you can actually eat, if you choose the right foods. You need to eat fruits and veggies: The fruits need to be fresh fruit and the veggies need to be steamed or microwaved, not boiled or fried, and they need to be seasoned with herbs and spices, not fatback, bacon, butter or salt. Avoid high saturated fat cheeses and milk (skim milk is preferred), whole eggs (use egg substitutes), high fat meats, such as chopped meat (choose lean ground meat), chicken wings (eat baked chicken, with the skin removed), and high fat luncheon meats. When you want to eat fast food, go to Subway instead of a burger joint and order the healthy subs on the menu. Cut down on eating high salty snacks (which are usually high in fat and calories, too). You need to eat foods that are rich in fiber and whole grains, such as red beans, black beans, pinto beans and whole grain breads and cereals. So, the no-nonsense nutrition advice today is this: you can lower your risk of having more blocked arteries, more open heart surgery or a heart attack or stroke or diabetes or high blood pressure by the CHOICES you make. So, CHOOSE not to smoke, CHOOSE to take your blood pressure and cholesterol medications as directed by your physician, CHOOSE to get into a maintenance cardiac rehabilitation program, CHOOSE to lose weight, and CHOOSE to eat healthier foods. You will feel alive, less fearful of the future and you will increase your chances of living a long, happy, and healthy life. Ask Dr. Karp focuses on food, diet and nutrition. Dr. Warren Karp is a professor emeritus at Georgia Health Sciences University. If you have a question you would like answered in this column, email him at DrKarp@ vergelive.com, or visit his Facebook page, facebook.com/AskDrKarp or website at sites.google.com/site/drkarpverge.
32 January 18, 2012 | community driven news | vergelive.com