Forums: April 2012 Kickstart Forum: Hospital served me a cheeseburger
Created on: 04/07/12 09:33 AM Views: 311 Replies: 4
julie Joined: 04/07/12 Posts: 3	Hospital served me a cheeseburger Posted Saturday, April 7, 2012 at 9:33 AM I have been on a almost entire vegan diet for a year. Yet, in January, i had a heart attack (very much stress-induced). I had a cardiac cath, prior to which I had to fast, and when I was done, my lunch arrived. My cardiac lunch was a cheeseburger!!!! I requested something else and got a feeble replacement. The dietary head was apologetic that I got the non-veg menu. But why would a cheeseburger be on the menu at all. I was sent home with lots of good information about cardiac care and the nutrition info is straight out of the american heart association handbook. Any nutrition advice for a post heart attack vegan who would like to lose a few pounds? And would like to change the hospital menu?
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Susan Levin Joined: 12/26/09 Posts: 1191	RE: Hospital served me a cheeseburger Posted Saturday, April 7, 2012 at 9:46 AM A common hospital story unfortunately. You should definitely be in touch with the food service management/director and complain. But also offer some ideas of what would be nice to have on the menu, like vegie chili, vegie burgers, red beans and rice, pretty much anything besides meat and dairy! Secondly, for you, I'm glad you have gotten the vegan part down. But do think about fat sources in your vegan diet, especially because of your medical history. Keeping the fats down to 10% of calories is going to be key. That means eliminating added oils and analyzing packaged foods very carefully. Susan Levin, MS, RD PCRM Director of Nutrition Education
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julie Joined: 04/07/12 Posts: 3	RE: Hospital served me a cheeseburger Posted Saturday, April 7, 2012 at 10:02 AM I'm already there with your first suggestions. Thanks. I have been reading labels for salt. I do think I need to reduce fats though. We eat very little processed food but must be adding too much fat in stirfries, etc.
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gryphonpro Joined: 01/30/11 Location: Cape Breton, NS, Canada Posts: 239	RE: Hospital served me a cheeseburger Posted Saturday, April 7, 2012 at 10:46 AM I am having a difficult time with the local nutritionists, and the hospital. I have been branded as a lunatic, so I will have to leave that for others. Take it easy so you can have some results. Here they seem to be married to the Canada Food Guide, and are blind to reading ingredients, a bad combination. They think that reading ingredients means reading the nutritional content. They grab a serving of juice... tick the box by fruit servings, and it doesn't occur to them to verify that the contents are actually fruit. They will come around, so positive, with suggestions, is a better idea than how I approached it. Good luck! - madeline madeline yakimchuk Director: MEET IRENE - An Unlikely Vegan GRYPHON media productions www
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Dontx Joined: 04/01/11 Posts: 51	RE: Hospital served me a cheeseburger Posted Saturday, April 7, 2012 at 8:28 PM I had my heart attack a year ago and had the same problem, I had just gone vegan 3 months prior (with the help of the 21 day kickstart). There was no vegan menu at The "Heart" Hospital. They improvised for me. My plaque broke loose while running uphill, in a small town with no hospital. Luckily I was with a group and they got me an ambulance. 3 hours later the stent placement relieved the chest pain and I could breath better. Vegan is not enough for those of us with heart disease. Susan Levine gave you good information. The 10% fat rule is a must. Since both you and I turned vegan before our heart attacks we are way ahead of the pack. However we do need to tweak our diet even more if we want to reverse out heart disease. (85% of people with heart attacks do not adjust their diet sufficiently.) Some of the vegan foods that add too much fat are nuts, some seeds, avocados, coconut, olives, and all oils. You will loose weight with a no-fat added vegan diet. I also recently found out that just a few sweets will up the triglycerides, so they have to be kept in check also. I wish I had a reliable home cholesterol testing machine. It is nice that Walgreens now does a Cholesterol test for $35 so you can see how you are doing in-between the regular check-up and labs. I exercise my heart every day and it is getting stronger. I'm running 100 miles a month. I've reduced my meds and discontinued some. My ejection fraction is back to normal. The one book that put everything together was: Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
	Edited 04/07/12 8:32 PM Quote | Send PM | Link | Top | Bottom

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