Sorry to hear that , hope he is well on the mend.

I think Ann Lindsay's books are the best. "The Light Hearted Cookbook" is especially good. All her books are endorsed by the Canadian Heart Foundation.

She is Canadian but I did a quick look at Amazon and , her books are available in the US.

Check your local library for heart-healthy cookbooks and information. Many books from the 1990's focused on it more than now, it seems. These are some of my favorites. -Grainlady

-Betty Crocker's NEW CHOICES COOKBOOK (copyright 1993)

-American Heart Association LOW-FAT, LOW-CHOLESTEROL COOKBOOK (second addition copyright 1997)

- Better Homes and Gardens NEW DIETER'S COOK BOOK (this is a favorite book of mine) copyright 1992

I'm sorry to hear about your husband, I hope he is feeling well now. Is he home already or still in hospital?

First I would suggest meeting with a nutritionist if possible. Most hospitals offer this for free or a small fee for heart patients. Ask your doctor. Next, you don't mention anything specific. When my FIL had a heart attack (mild) several years ago, they found some blockages and did a double bypass, also for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. He went in for a checkup every couple years and none of this had ever shown up before. Once you are sure about what you are working with, you can go to the library and thumb through books to find what fits your needs. Some that I have purchased that have tasty recipes are:
The Best of Cooking Light
Cooking Lights Five Star Recipes
Cooking Healthy Across America by The American Dietetic Association
Good Housekeeping Light and Healthy Cookbook
The Healthy Slow-cooker
and
A Guy's Guide to Good Eating

If cholesterol is an issue, Red Rice Yeast pills have performed miracles on my FIL's cholesterol level, same for my uncle (who does not even try to eat healthy). And my FIL has become a huge fan of Sugar Free Jello and Pudding.

A nutritionist is your best first step since they can tell you how you can adjust favorite recipes to meet your husbands new nutritional needs. Some things are easy, like cutting back on fat, using heart healthy oils in place of unhealthy fats (butter, lard, shortening), eating more fruits and vegetables, and cutting out high fat meats, or using lower fat cuts of meat.

Tonight's dinner is an example of adjusting an old favorite to be healthier. Meatloaf made with 96% ground beef (ground turkey is not going to happen), plenty of onion, whole wheat bread (made into crumbs), egg beaters, low fat milk, garlic, minimal salt, pepper, Worcestershire, and sage, served with roasted potatoes, onions, and carrots tossed with a small amount of olive oil, garlic, pepper, and a bit of salt, rolls with Promise spread. As long as the buttery spread is kept to a minimum, the whole meal comes out under 10 grams of fat.

Donna, hope your husband is doing better.

I have the "Count out Cholesterol Cookbook" 250 Gourmet Recipes by Dr. Art Ulene and Dr. Val Ulene.

I probably should make more of these :)

Here's a good site with heart friendly recipes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation Recipes

Hi Donna,

Sorry about your husband's heart attack at age 50, that is really young. I imagine he will spend this week having tests to sort things out and clarify his diagnosis. I am a nutritionist (registered, licensed dietitian)and I must say that the first thing I would do is gather all the information about what happened to your husband, get your doctor's advice about ALL of the lifestyle changes your husband needs to make and then move forward one step at a time. In order to be effective, whatever lifestyle changes he makes must be those he is willing & ready to do. One of the first place I would go is the NIH website to the NHLBI institute. I've listed the link. Click on the heart/vascular link and then look for the link to the TLC program - Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes. Start there. There are zillions of books out there, but first, arm yourself and your husband with the correct, most up to date research-based information.

I have to say, it sounds like your husband may not be a willing partner in your endeavors to improve his health & eating habits. That's not your responsibility. Most of the work is up to him, you are his support and liekly the food gatekeeper in terms of shopping & cooking, etc., but he has to be ready to accept what's happened to him and want to change before he can change long-ingrained habits. I agree, get some help. See a good nutritionist if you can, or check into cardiovascular education programs through a local hospital with a cardiac center.

Healthy eating doesn't mean tasteless eating, it means healthy eating. But if your husband is overweight, eats a lot fast food meals or big meals out, lots of processed and packaged foods, high fat dairy products, snacks and fried things, doesn't like fruits & veggies, whole grains, leaner meats, etc. then it will likely be a challenging transition if he chooses to make it. Cooking Light and Eating Well are my personal favorites for "healthy cooking" magazines. I have to say that I personally prefer to modify recipes in regular cookbooks or from this site.

Good luck!

Rose

Here is a link that might be useful: National Heart, Lung & Blood Insitute of the NIH

Donna, I am so sorry to hear about your husbands heart attack. My BIL had a significant heart attack in September at age 56. He HAD to make life style changes, he didn't have a choice if he wanted to avoid another attack. My SIL was overwhelmed by all the info she had been given. She lives in Pa. and I'm in NC and I wanted to help her but felt helpless. I compiled a recipe book for her of some favorite family recipes (revamped to be made healthier)and also found some good new heart healthy recipes that she could use. I remember her telling me she went to the grocery store and became so overwhelmed and distraught with what to buy. I'd be happy to share these recipes with you if you would like. Is he going to have cardiac rehab? They are also a very good resource for diet etc. information. Good luck! Gina

You're already received some very sound advice...

While I can't suggest any cookbooks, I can offer some of the tips I've learned since hubby had his heart attack and strokes ( high blood pressure and high cholesterol )...

First things first... If he's unable to go back to work you are going to be under a LOT of stress... Try to finds ways to cope... You won't be much help to him if you get sick too... (ask me how I know)

What I found to be the most valuable was keeping track of every thing he ate for a week or two... Every slice of bread, every sip of pop, everything... I made up a chart and kept track of the sodium and fats... ( I used a booklet called Nutritive Value of Foods from the U.S. Publishing Office that I picked up years ago. )

It wasn't all that hard, since he's home all the time, and I found out that I was actually keeping him below his limits ( had him down to 500 mg of sodium and 15 to 20 g of fat a day, way too low for a man )... Check with your hubby's doctor or a good nutritionist to find out his limits... After you find out his limits and total up what he eats you'll be able to cook healthy for him...

Try not to refer to it as a diet.... It's best if you think about it as healthy eating, cutting back on the bad stuff and increasing the good stuff... Cut back to 3 or 4 oz, total, of meat a day and double up on veggies & fruits... If he has favorite foods that he says he can't live without, that are bad for him, just limit the amounts or how often he has them... Totally eliminating something will only make him want it more and create more problems, mainly resentment and anger towards you.

Keep plenty of fruits on hand for snacking, cut it up if you have to... Within a few weeks he'll head for the fruit instead of looking for the chips... Fruit juice, with all its calories, is better than pop or coffee ( a lot of caffeine is bad for heart patients )....

Only buy frozen or canned veggies without any added salt... My hubby will only eat canned and I was lucky enough to find a Save-A-Lot store that carries them, for a lot less than the regular chain stores and the quality is just as good or better... Hunt's sells a lot of tomato products without salt, including ketchup... Herb-Ox Low Sodium beef bullion is passable but the chicken is lacking...

Read the labels of everything you buy, twice... Read it the first time to check the fat and sodium content then read it again for the serving size, low fat - low salt isn't necessarily so... Take the cooking sprays for example, a serving is a 3 SECOND blast, by the time you say it you're already over the 3 second limit... ( I dab a paper towel with canola oil and wipe the pans with that )... Healthy breads aren't all that healthy for heart patients, the mushy white stuff only has 135 mg of sodium per slice and I've seen 'healthy' bread with as much as 450 mg per slice... You have to really read the labels!

You can 'fry' healthy with water... I buy pork loins and beef roasts, trim off the fat and grind it up for patties and 'fry' them with a bit of water... Cover the meat, let the steam do its thing and cook a bit more with the cover off to brown... For 'fried' potatoes I parboil them in the microwave then brown in a frying pan with 2 teaspoons of canola... You have to keep turning or flipping them so they brown evenly but most of the time they look like real fried potatoes... French fries don't work as well...

I stay away from prepared foods, as much as possible, because of the fats and sodium... But making everything from scratch can truly be a huge pain, especially when things go wrong from lack of salt or are too dry because you've cut the fats too much... Look for recipes that don't call for much of either ( there's 2,132 mg of sodium in 1 teaspoon of salt, it doesn't matter which kind.. watch out for baking soda, baking powder, MSG, soy sauce, anything that has sodium in the word )... Some times you can substitute apple sauce for some of the fats but don't try removing all of it...

MAKE SURE HE TAKES HIS ALL HIS MEDICATIONS!

If all your efforts fail to get him on the right track ask him if he'd like to have another heart attack or perhaps a stroke and become totally depend on you for all his daily needs.

Rita

Above all cultivate your sense of humor, you'll need it to get you through the tough times.

Rita, great advice! Thank you.

As others recommended, it is a good idea to see a nutritionist. As for the Red Yeast Rice pills - I bought a bottle of those, thinking that they would help lower my cholesterol, but I noticed that there was a warning on the bottle - California residents warning, which indicated that the benefits of the red yeast rice and been removed (by law) and that they pills would have no benefit. The pharmaceuticals pushed to have the beneficial pills removed from the market by labeling them as drugs/controlled substances, and so the only red yeast rice pills that can be sold must have the beneficial substances removed, since those can only be sold by drug companies. The possible harmful effects of the pills remain, however.

I haven't had my cholestrol rechecked since my doctor recommended medication for it, but I have revised my diet to restrict eggs, add omega 3 oils (such as flax seed), and whole grains to replace refined grains as much as possible.

It can't hurt to add more fresh fruit and vegetables to your diet as well, and raw if possible. Try making fruit salads for dessert - or sorbets made with frozen fruit. Increasing salads with raw vegetables will help also, and try to use healthy oils in the dressing.

Lars

Wow! This is great advice, and really goes along with all the stuff that the nutritionist and post-cardiac-care nurse had passed along before he was discharged today.

His heart attack was labeled "mild", but it took us awhile to realize what it was. So we didn't get him to the hospital as fast as we might have. Someone mentioned all the tests he's had, and yes, that's true. They're still assessing if any damage was done in the time we waited. (We honestly thought he was having a bad attack of the flu.) He has a stent and is on about 5 types of meds. He'll be on the low dose aspirin and the cholesterol meds for life, probably. The rest, maybe not.

Rose, you're right - he's got to WANT to change the lifestyle. He seems willing to try to eat a little healthier, though there are things he doesn't want to give up very easily. I made some suggestions based on my own changes to diet over the past year (by a threat that I was leaning towards Type 2 Diabetes), how difficult it is to change but now I don't think I could stand regular cottage cheese after switching to nonfat cottage cheese, etc. I bought a can of Healthy Request soup today for him, in one that he likes, and he's willing to give it a try.

The only thing he doesn't seem really willing to give up is his pipe. The good thing about that - it's not nearly as bad as those d*** cigarettes.

I'm going to try some of these things when I'm cooking for him at home. I can't control what he eats when he's away from me, but I can sure help serve something healthy. Tonight I'm making a chicken and vegie stir-fry. About the only thing I should probably change is white rice to brown rice. But I've switched already (YEARS ago) to canola oil and I don't use much, and we keep soy sauce to a minimum too.

I'll be going to the library to look at cookbooks this weekend. Funny, I usually think of the library first. But this threw me for a loop and I just didn't think of it!

DonnaR/CA

Donna

Your post had me trying one of the heart healthy recipes from the Count out Cholesterol Cookbook. I did make a couple of changes.

The original calls for honey, I used brown sugar. It also called for 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, I did a half and half with whole wheat. I also used buttermilk instead of skim. Plus I tossed in raisins.

The bread is moist and full of flavor ... and if you follow their recipe, there is NO cholesterol.

As I stated in my blog, I would buy egg beaters instead of tossing and/or freezing egg yolks. As you probably know, the yolk contains a great deal of sat-fat.

Original Recipe:

Apple Oat Bread Recipe

1 1/2 cups whole oats
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 egg whites
3 medium granny smith apples, unpeeled and diced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Blend oil, egg whites, milk and sugar. Combine dry ingredients, add to egg mixture and mix well. Batter will be lumpy. Fold in apples and raising. Pour mixture into loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Here is a link that might be useful: Apple Oat Bread

Donna, I'm sorry to hear about your husband, I hope his recovery is fast and complete.

I have high cholesterol and Dad has already had half a dozen heart attacks and a quadruple bypass. He is diabetic and had a leg amputated and that's when I started raising grass fed beef and decided to get healthy while there was still time to do it.

I really like the Cooking Light cookbooks and I find a lot of good recipes and information on the Eating Well.com website.

It's definitely a change, but the health benefits are worth it.

As for the red rice yeast extract, it works for some but not everyone. As the former owner of a health food store, I gave up my Lipitor and tried the red rice yeast. My cholesterol levels went up nearly 60 points in a single month. I also tried the apple pectin, the niacin and a LOT of oat bran, plus metamucil. None worked well for me. So, go ahead and try what suits your husband but be certain to have his levels checked regularly to see what works and what doesn't.

Annie

My husband had a heart attack in 2000 (2 years before we got married.) He didn't change his diet because they told him the magic word is "moderation" and so he continued to eat cheesecake, steak, fried and processed foods, "in moderation." He made it clear he wasn't interested in making any changes or eating rabbit food.

Naturally 5 years later he has another heart attack, only this time they had to do a triple bypass. That was the luckiest day of his life because finally it scared him into being proactive with his health for the first time. He got a second chance and he grabbed it.

He got informed about exactly what the meds were doing to him and quit all but one, he started exercising, he started eating healthy, and 6 months later he had lost 60 lbs and was fit and healthy. Now (2 years later) at age 63 his cholesterol, blood pressure and sugar levels are normal, he has more energy and vigor than he can remember and he feels fantastic. He walks 5 miles a day, takes no meds, gets plenty of sunshine and eats a healthy diet.

His ace in the hole was that (coincidentally?) I had spent the last 5 years actively studying disease prevention and health and had a good head start. He drastically cut down on meat. I would make chicken soup with just a little bit of chicken and then after a while I'd make it the Campbells way (just wave a chicken over the pot.) We found a source for grassfed meats and raw dairy. For a while we cut out grains. I didn't realize he was so overweight until he lost 60 lbs and I saw that he wasn't big boned like I always thought, he was medium size with 60 pounds of lard :)

My standard book recommendation for people starting down this path are The South Beach Diet and The No Grain Diet books. They're easy to read and do a good job explaining the why of heart disease. The low fat mantra that is spouted mindlessly is outdated and untrue. It's brought to you courtesy of the same people who gave us Agent Orange, the Tuskegee Experiment, and the infamous Food Pyramid. Before you blindly accept it do some serious research.
For recipes I really liked Suzanne Somers diet books(surprising yes, but the recipes are really great.) The recipes were easy and good and focused on whole, healthy foods. I acquired all of them through the library or used on amazon.

We ate a lot of vegetable quiches (thank you Ann T for your basic quiche recipe!!) I found quiches, soups and casseroles got him over the idea that a "meal" consisted of a large piece of meat, starch and 2 small vegetable side dishes.

Overall, we mainly cut out factory farmed meats, dairy and eggs and replaced them with small amounts of grassfed meats, raw dairy, and farm eggs. We cut out refined processed fats and oils and replaced them with healthy raw or unprocessed oils. We cut out white flour, sugar and rice and made healthy substitutes. We start each day with a big bowl of fresh raw fruit.

Lastly, (if anyone is still reading this) life is the sum of the choices we make. We made the choice to live a long and healthy life together. I'm not his mama or the food police and it's not my job to force him to eat healthy. If he chooses a short and happy life eating fried twinkies that's cool too. I'm not going to waste our time together trying to change him or resenting that he won't do what I think best for him. But I choose to be old, wrinkled, slim and healthy and doing yoga when I'm 100 just like my grandma did.

She said, "You dig your grave one forkful at a time. The good thing is you get choose which forkfuls are worth it."

I realize the irony of posting this stuff on the cooking forum and I know I'll probably get flamed, but I'm wearing my asbestos drawers today so bring it on!

Donna, how cool is it that this happened at the time of the new year!?! A time for reflecting and improving on the previous year. I wish you and your husband the best health ever this year. Hopefully his heart attack is the motivation he needs to make positive changes in his life and next year you'll both be saying it was the best thing that ever happened to you.

Well, I don't think you can expect a person to change habits of a lifetime suddenly. It takes time, and small changes can lead to larger ones if you keep at it.

It really is important to watch his medications, if nothing else. Heart medications have serious side effects that need to be monitored. HCTZ, for instance, seriously dehydrates a person. My husband found this VERY hard to remember, to drink water constantly all day long! He still does, in fact, especially if we're traveling. He suffered heat exhaustion a couple of times in the car before I was able to get him into the habit of carrying a water bottle EVERYWHERE. I'm so thankful we put in a filtered water system - it's saved us $$$$.

Also, if he's on something like Atenolol, or certain blood pressure medications, you shouldn't take it if you have a severe cold, or stomach flu. Otherwise it depresses the system even further and can bring on fainting. Make sure you understand which OTC (over the counter) medications are allowed and which are not recommended! Even certain vitamins will sometimes interact with prescription medications - be sure to talk to your pharmacist about this.

Like it or not, the medications are forever - a lot of people have trouble with this concept and resist it. My BIL is a vegetarian, eats healthily, gets lots of exercise - and suffered a heart attack anyway, a few months ago. He had statin medication that he wasn't taking, so the heart attack made him realize even lifestyle changes sometimes won't do the trick. They do help - he might not even have made it to 60 without them! His own father died at 56 of an MI.

The easiest changes to make right away are:
1) use polyunsatured fats as much as possible - I even use olive oil to make my white sauces!
2) anything he likes to eat that's high-fat, high-sodium; see if you can find an acceptable replacement instead.
3) start working more fiber gradually into the diet. Don't go overboard; it's hard to digest at first if you're not used to it. This can include everything from more stews and soups (easy to hide more vegetables in them!) to an occasional vegetarian, or mostly vegetarian, meal at least once a week.
4) if your favorite recipes have high-fat ingredients like cheese, etc., cut down those ingredients by 1/4 or 1/3. Increase the spices - fresh herbs can be wonderful for this - to compensate. Be careful in baking desserts, though - altering those types of recipes takes some experimenting. As is often said, cooking is art, but baking is chemistry! You can't fool around too much with the chemical interactions unless you've got more time and patience than I do. Better to just start off with buying a new dessert cookbook and letting the pros do the research work for you.

Begin dinner with a pureed vegetable soup, for instance, and you can usually serve less meat in the second course. Add complex carbohydrates, or expand your cooking repertoire. I never make baked potatoes at home, for instance - my DH likes them drowned in butter! He can have country mashed yellow potatoes (most of the skin, mashed but still a bit lumpy, with very little butter and salt - amazing how tasty less than 1 Tblsp of butter can be for 6 medium potatoes!). Or roasted, with olive oil and fresh rosemary.

I never make traditional gravy - I defat chicken and beef broths overnight, then thicken with cornstarch instead. Saute some mushrooms to throw in, and nobody will complain they're missing anything! Use evap low-fat milk instead of cream in your cooking - works very well.

Remember portion control counts. Sometimes it's better to offer someone a single really luscious chocolate truffle, instead of having an entire cake around just begging to be eaten!

Jkmom, sounds as if you've been dealing with this for a while and have a very good handle on it... You've covered important things that I missed...

And may I say WAY TO GO for hanging in there as well as you have!

Socks, your welcome.

As to the red rice yeast don't take it while taking your cholesterol medication unless you talk to your doctor and pharmacist FIRST... Same goes for any herbal supplements...

Donna, there's a lot of great advice posted here BUT before you take ANY of it as gospel consult your hubby's doctor to see if it's right for him.

Here's hoping things go well for you and you don't end up as a caregiver.

Rita