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.

RR, I know several people who lost weight on Weight Watchers but I'm not one of them. I also stayed the same on the first two weeks of that South Beach atrocity that Amanda wanted me to try with her. As someone who lost a LOT of weight and has managed to keep it off so far, the only way I found to lose weight and keep it off was to eat anything I want. I just eat half of it. Since our American portions are so over-sized, it got me into the habit of just eating less. At Christmas I baked cookies with the grandkids. I ate them too, but just one that day they were freshly baked with a cup of tea and I kept a couple for snacks the next couple of days. I still eat anything I want, including pancakes or bread or dessert, but I only eat half. I have one of those contentious personalities that require me to always want what I'm told I CANNOT have. If I can have anything I want, I can practice enough restraint to just eat enough to satisfy me. I also have to point out that we take in a lot of calories in drinks. Wine has about 100 calories per 5 ounce glass, that's not very much wine. Beer is about the same and a 3 ounce margarita has 170. Have one glass of wine every day and you'll gain a pound a month without doing anything else differently. Fortunately I like vegetables and I love beans, so I eat a lot of those. I eat whole grain bread and pasta occasionally. I don't care much for fruit, so I'll eat apples, pears, occasionally oranges and tangerines, sometimes grapes, but I can't count on those as an afternoon snack, it's more likely hummus and celery for dipping. Eating out adds a LOT of calories, but I'm sure you knew that! Here's one of my favorite recipes, from Cooking Light (who has a great website with lots of recipes, BTW). The same brine works well for chicken too: APPLE CIDER BRINED PORK ROAST 3 cups apple cider 3 cups water 1 bay leaf ¼ cup salt 1 tbls black peppercorns 1 tbls coriander seeds 1 2 lb. Pork loin, trimmed 2 cups cider 1 ½ tsp chopped fresh rosemary 1 ½ tsp chopped fresh sage 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper Combine the first 6 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until salt dissolves. Remove from heat, cool, and pour into a Ziploc bag or container big enough to hold the pork loin. Add pork, seal and let marinate 8 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350, bring 2 cups cider to a boil over medium high heat. Boil until cider is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 15 minutes. Set aside. Remove pork from bag or container and discard brine. Place pork on broiler pan or baking dish and lightly coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining herbs and bake about 1 hour, until pork is done, basting twice with the reduced cider in the last 20 minutes of baking. Remove from oven, baste with remaining cider reduction. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Serves 8 200 calories per 4 oz. Serving, 6 grams fat Good luck, I want to lose a couple of pounds in the next 6 weeks too, I'll have to wear shorts in Texas.... Annie

Have you ever made and canned homeade applesauce? My folks are in the "needing heart healthy" treats category and they both love applesauce. I make it in half pint jars so it is good for just one or two servings. I make varieties too, like cranberry applesauce and blueberry applesace, and even strawberry applesauce. You can find gazillions of recipes on the web, I just wing it. To can, just ladle into sterlized canning jars, leave a half inch of air space, top with sterilized canning lids, and then put in a boiling water bath with water covering the tops of the jars over an inch, and boil for ten minutes to create a seal. Let cool for ten minutes more and then take out of the bath. Applesauce is one of the easiest things to can, because even with or without sugar, it is safe to can in a boiling water bath because apples are an acid fruit. That said, I always add a pinch of orange juice or lemon juice to my applesauce, I like the flavor better that way. I use and swear by golden delicious for applesauce, but I also like Empire and Cortland. Any kind of apple can make good sauce, some are just better than others. I often go to the "Eating Well" web site for ideas of healthy holiday gifts. I linked it below. You could probably find some applesauce recipes on that site too! Here is a link that might be useful: Healthy Holiday Gifts Eating Well

I hope you're feeling better! I don't know if this book is still available, but "Live Longer and Better" is a good resource for not only recipes but also for making good lifestyle choices. It was put out by the editors of Consumer Guide. My copy is 1994, I don't know if it's been updated, but if not check used book resources- it should be cheap. The South Beach diet is good for you too, as long as you stick to mostly fish and veggie meals. Too much cholesterol from meats, even lean meats, will not help your heart. I also have "Protein Power" by Eades and Eades which has many good recipes. It also has information about how your diet affects your health. The only other thing I would suggest is to ask your doctor about an exercise program if you don't already exercise regularly. Happy healing!