Not to sound melodramatic but if there was one post of mine that you should read it is this one. As part of my recovery I have been focusing on a heart healthy diet. Although my disease was not caused by diet it is important for all heart patients to eat and live healthy. In fact it is important for all people to eat and live healthy. Unless you don't want to then I guess you get what you get. One of the major aspects of a heart healthy diet that Kellie and I have been following is limiting our sodium intake. Before my surgery I never paid much attention to sodium or how much I was putting into my body on any given day. All I thought about was fat and calorie intake. Those are the two things we read and hear about all the time. It turns out that limiting one's sodium intake is equally important to overall heart health. Here goes!
According to the American Heart Association a heart healthy diet includes no more than 2300mg of sodium per day. Each food item should not include more than 230mg of sodium per serving. How much is 2300mg of salt? It is equal to 1 teaspoon. Crazy, huh? That doesn't seem like very much of the crystal goodness many of us depend on for flavor. How much sodium does the average American eat a day? Try over 5,000mg on for size. That is according to various reports I've read but my Cardiologist says it's more like 8,000 to 10,000mg a day. Are you kidding me? Did you know you were killing yourself? I didn't. This type of salt intake can and will lead to high blood pressure, increase chance of heart disease, stroke and kidney damage. If you already have heart disease eating too much sodium will make it worse.
The good news is that the average person has 5 pounds of extra weight due to high sodium intake. Water retention ain't just for the pregnant people. If you cut back on salt those extra 5 pounds you've been trying to lose might just drop right off!
Here are a few pointers on how to keep too much sodium out of your diet. First read your food labels. Trader Joe's has a lot of low sodium products. They take some getting used to but after a month or so the pallet adapts. Try and eat at home using fresh ingredients. Each Sunday I cook a lunch meat for the week. Packaged lunch meat and canned soups are filled with salt
For those that eat out all the time you are getting absolutely hosed by sodium. Restaurants are havens for food that are high in fat and sodium. Don't kid yourself and think their salads are any better. They put just as much garbage in those as they do their burgers. Here are a few examples from restaurants that are convenient and for all you parents out there they claim to be "family friendly". Remember 2300mg of sodium per day....
Red Robin
Children's Grilled Cheesewhich: 29g fat, 1604mg sodium. (Are we sure there isn't a steak inside that sandwich? Remember this is on the children's menu. The other options are equally as bad. This doesn't include a side.)
Garden Burger w/out Fries: 18g fat, 1748 mg sodium, 517 Calories. (This is off the "lite" menu. Really...lite? I think not.)
Apple Harvest Chicken Salad: 35g fat, 1366 mg sodium.(YUUMMMMY...lettuce, apples, salt and fat and fat and salt and fat with salt!)
Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Wrap(my old favorite): 81g Fat, 2972mg Sodium....Yes, this is accurate. I wrote an email to Red Robin complaining of their lack of heart healthy options. They replied by telling me that all menu items could be made to order. Therefore I should take an active role in my nutrition. I couldn't agree more. On their website is an option to add and subtract ingredients from each menu item to make them more healthy...so I gave it a try with the old Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Wrap.
Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Wrap w/out cheese, ranch, fried tortilla strips and BBQ sauce: 1331mg sodium.....still ridiculous. I'll try again.(no cheese, no sauce....just chicken, lettuce and a tortilla.)
Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Wrap w/out cheese, ranch, fried tortilla strips, BBQ sauce and chicken. In other words, their tortilla with lettuce and a side of melon: 812mg sodium....over 1/4 of my daily allowance per the American Heart Association. And I get a tortilla, lettuce and 2 slices of melon all for $10...sweet deal. Thanks for the healthy options Red Robin!
According to "Parents Magazine", Red Robin was said to be one of the "10 Best Family Restaurants". I guess if you want your children to eat unhealthy, become overweight, incur high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney failure and die at a young age then this is the place for you.
This is upsetting....so I tried to make myself feel better by looking at the nutritional values of my old staple and healthy option....Subway. I knew in my heart this would be the place to go.
These nutritional values include only bread, meat and assorted vegetables. No sauces, cheese, salt or pepper.
Subway
6" Turkey Breast: 4.5g fat, 1000mg Sodium
6" Veggie Delight: 3 g fat, 500 mg sodium
6" Club: 6g fat, 1290mg Sodium
6" BMT: 21g fat, 1770mg Sodium
Subway is a lot better on the fat and calories but still brutal on the sodium intake. I guess Subway is no longer the healthy option for me. Last of all I looked at McDonald's figuring it would be the worst of the bunch.
Mc'Donalds
Hamburger: 9g fat, 520mg sodium.
Cheeseburger: 12g fat, 760mg sodium
Big Mac: 29g fat, 1040mg Sodium
Ranch Snack Wrap w/Grilled Chicken: 10g fat, 830mg Sodium.
Asian Chicken Salad w/out dressing: 10g fat, 890mg sodium
w/low fat sesame ginger dressing: 12.5g fat, 1630 mg sodium.
McDonald's isn't good but it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. The point isn't to keep all of you from enjoying a meal out from time to time but be careful. Restaurants are sneaky with their salt. Establishments that market to our children (a big red and yellow bird, golden arches..come on) are indeed killing them. The larger chains have nutritional information at their locations as well as on their websites. Check it out. I bet you will be shocked by what you find. I was!
If you decide to actively lower your sodium intake at first your food will taste bland and in some instances brutal. Stick with it and incorporate various spices and other healthy ingredients to fill up your food with flavor. You'll get used to it and soon too much salt will seem harsh. Trust me I LOVE to eat and I need me some flavor. It took some time but I am now enjoying my new "salt lite" lifestyle. Remember you've got an easy 5 pounds to lose.....maybe more.!!!!
I'm doing great and start working again on Monday.
Take care all,
Steve
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
MYBPC3=Good News
So we had some great news this past Friday. I will share with you but have to add a little background first. I'm attempting to do this while watching football so bear with me. I have explained in the past that Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is a genetic condition (most of the time) passed on through family members. If you can identify which genetic mutation you have then the rest of your family (present and future) can be tested for that mutation. So everyone can be ruled in or out for HCM. It is important to note that not everybody that has the mutation will express it with symptoms of HCM but one can still pass the gene on to their children. These children may then express it with HCM and possible instant death. Point being if you know the mutation you can rule people "in" or "out" which makes the course of action definite. The problem is that although science knows some of these genetic mutations there are invariably thousands more that they don't know of. So it's really a flip of the coin if the genetic test will amount to an answer.
According to our cardiologist at Mayo Clinic there was a 70% chance they would discover my genetic mutation with a blood test because of the shape of my septum. Kellie and I chose to see a genetic councilor while at Mayo with the decent odds of finding an answer. These tests are rarely covered my insurance and are quite expensive. Again this is where our luck took a real nice turn. One of the genetic testing companies was having a special that would cover the remaining expense of the test after we paid the balance of our deductible. LUCKY for us I had reached our deductible a loooooooong time ago. So the test was free. No brainer, right? Take more blood please! They told us we'd hear of results in 8-10 weeks.
So I forgot about the test until last Friday when I received a call from the genetic councilor at Mayo and she told me they had identified the genetic mutation associated with my HCM. For all you science nerds (my lovely wife included) the genetic mutation is MYBPC3. Yep wrap your brain around that fellas....if you google it (as I did) there are many scientific papers on the subject. Most of them seem to be written in Chinese but one of them did state it's the mutation that is associated with HCM in cats. I'm pretty sure that another paper will tell me it's also associated with people....at least I hope so. If not I got bigger problems than I thought!
Now we can rule in or out my entire family. This will allow Kellie and I to test any future children we might have. This really makes a HUGE difference. This test could save someone in my family's life and that is a very reassuring thought. Science is a crazy beast...that is for sure. Sorry for the long, drawn out explanation. I am fairly confident that I explained this correctly. I'd say about 70% confident. OK back to football!!!!! Philly's on the comeback. Word!
Have a great rest of your weekend people. Lots of love,
Steve
According to our cardiologist at Mayo Clinic there was a 70% chance they would discover my genetic mutation with a blood test because of the shape of my septum. Kellie and I chose to see a genetic councilor while at Mayo with the decent odds of finding an answer. These tests are rarely covered my insurance and are quite expensive. Again this is where our luck took a real nice turn. One of the genetic testing companies was having a special that would cover the remaining expense of the test after we paid the balance of our deductible. LUCKY for us I had reached our deductible a loooooooong time ago. So the test was free. No brainer, right? Take more blood please! They told us we'd hear of results in 8-10 weeks.
So I forgot about the test until last Friday when I received a call from the genetic councilor at Mayo and she told me they had identified the genetic mutation associated with my HCM. For all you science nerds (my lovely wife included) the genetic mutation is MYBPC3. Yep wrap your brain around that fellas....if you google it (as I did) there are many scientific papers on the subject. Most of them seem to be written in Chinese but one of them did state it's the mutation that is associated with HCM in cats. I'm pretty sure that another paper will tell me it's also associated with people....at least I hope so. If not I got bigger problems than I thought!
Now we can rule in or out my entire family. This will allow Kellie and I to test any future children we might have. This really makes a HUGE difference. This test could save someone in my family's life and that is a very reassuring thought. Science is a crazy beast...that is for sure. Sorry for the long, drawn out explanation. I am fairly confident that I explained this correctly. I'd say about 70% confident. OK back to football!!!!! Philly's on the comeback. Word!
Have a great rest of your weekend people. Lots of love,
Steve
Thursday, January 15, 2009
ECHO...ECho....echo....
Yesterday I had an echocardiogram(a sonogram for the heart) to see how the old ticker is doing. I met with my doctors today and found that everything is going well so far. I was able to see a pre-op echo of my heart next to a post-op echo of my heart and it was cool. The doctor showed me where they shaved off the heart wall and how the mitral-valve was functioning after surgery. Before surgery it was smacking into the my thickened wall. Yesterday when I was having my echo done I was thinking it would be cool to see a before and after image of my heart. Then today without asking my doctor showed me the EXACT thing I wanted to see yesterday. It's like they were reading my mind......whoa trippy man!
So the next step is to continue my cardiac rehab....and yes I am starting to overtake some of the 80 year olds in my conditioning class. Although it's safe to say a few of them are still lapping me. Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day. At the end of February I have a stress test to check out a few glitches that occurred with my blood pressure during exercise pre-op. If that is fixed then I will only have to see the doctors once a year. If the blood pressure deal is still there then they will install a defibrillator. Which is a minor procedure. Either way I will be on the downhill slope of this thing and I can finally move forward with my life.
Most importantly things are going well. I'm feeling good and see the light at the end of the tunnel.....not the proverbial bright light I might add. Thanks to all for your support and I continue to feel lucky everyday.
Take care,
Steve
So the next step is to continue my cardiac rehab....and yes I am starting to overtake some of the 80 year olds in my conditioning class. Although it's safe to say a few of them are still lapping me. Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day. At the end of February I have a stress test to check out a few glitches that occurred with my blood pressure during exercise pre-op. If that is fixed then I will only have to see the doctors once a year. If the blood pressure deal is still there then they will install a defibrillator. Which is a minor procedure. Either way I will be on the downhill slope of this thing and I can finally move forward with my life.
Most importantly things are going well. I'm feeling good and see the light at the end of the tunnel.....not the proverbial bright light I might add. Thanks to all for your support and I continue to feel lucky everyday.
Take care,
Steve
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Sweatin' with the Oldies!!!!!
It's official, I am now part of the cardiac rehab class. Let it be known that I am by far the youngest person in room. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad. I'll go with a good but it's really up to you to interpret. There was a little concern that my older brethren would initiate me with some sort of hazing ritual. Thankfully they accepted me with just a handshake and a smile. Having a bunch of 70 and 80 year old men and women run laps around me was punishment enough.....only half kidding.
The past two days I have been riding the stationary bike for 15 minutes and walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes, working my heart rate to about 110. I clicked the machine up a few notches today and got my heart up to 120 beats per minute but was quickly chastised by the rehab professionals....that damn EKG machine gets me caught every time. So I had to back my heart rate down to 110. That's OK I have been able to work up a sweat for the first time since pre-surgery(apparently night sweats don't count as exercise....who knew?) and it felt good.
The staff monitors each heartbeat through our individual EKG machines so they are able to share with us what our heart is doing. We looked at an EKG from before my surgery and you can already see a difference in the way my heart is behaving. Kathy(my cardiac councilor) explained it to me but I didn't really understand except that it is a good thing......something about it taking less time for my heart to do something. That's a pretty cool thing to see....the actually healing of your heart documented right in front of your face. I guess it was money well spent. So no skipped beats so far, no pounding heart and no lightheadedness. Right on.
Hope all is well with all of you.
Steve
The past two days I have been riding the stationary bike for 15 minutes and walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes, working my heart rate to about 110. I clicked the machine up a few notches today and got my heart up to 120 beats per minute but was quickly chastised by the rehab professionals....that damn EKG machine gets me caught every time. So I had to back my heart rate down to 110. That's OK I have been able to work up a sweat for the first time since pre-surgery(apparently night sweats don't count as exercise....who knew?) and it felt good.
The staff monitors each heartbeat through our individual EKG machines so they are able to share with us what our heart is doing. We looked at an EKG from before my surgery and you can already see a difference in the way my heart is behaving. Kathy(my cardiac councilor) explained it to me but I didn't really understand except that it is a good thing......something about it taking less time for my heart to do something. That's a pretty cool thing to see....the actually healing of your heart documented right in front of your face. I guess it was money well spent. So no skipped beats so far, no pounding heart and no lightheadedness. Right on.
Hope all is well with all of you.
Steve
Monday, January 5, 2009
2009....It's time for rehab!
Three weeks after I was supposed to start my "official" Cardiac Rehab I have finally begun. This was postponed due to WINTER STORM 2008. I use quotation marks because I've implemented my own pseudo rehab plan which basically involves walking my dog around the dog park twice a day. However, it was nice to see the professionals and get hooked up to all the machines. It's better to be safe than sorry. Seven weeks ago I was in ICU and now I am on a treadmill. Dudes and Dudettes I'd say that's pretty 'effen good.
Today I learned that just because I feel good doesn't necessarily mean all is well inside the old chest. So it is important to monitor what happens to my ticker while I restart aerobic exercise. Meaning I will go to cardiac rehab three times a week for around a month. During this time I'll be hooked up to an EKG while I walk the treadmill and ride the bike so they can make sure my heart is working as it's supposed to.
On a personal note Kellie and myself rang in the New Year on our couch. We were all yawning around 11:30pm and as the ball dropped at midnight we were on our way to bed. That was a celebration my heart could definitely handle. Next year I will let it loose a little more....we'll give my ticker a test run in 2010. We hope you all had a great New Years and hopefully we'll be seeing many of you soon.
Take care,
Steve and Kellie
Today I learned that just because I feel good doesn't necessarily mean all is well inside the old chest. So it is important to monitor what happens to my ticker while I restart aerobic exercise. Meaning I will go to cardiac rehab three times a week for around a month. During this time I'll be hooked up to an EKG while I walk the treadmill and ride the bike so they can make sure my heart is working as it's supposed to.
On a personal note Kellie and myself rang in the New Year on our couch. We were all yawning around 11:30pm and as the ball dropped at midnight we were on our way to bed. That was a celebration my heart could definitely handle. Next year I will let it loose a little more....we'll give my ticker a test run in 2010. We hope you all had a great New Years and hopefully we'll be seeing many of you soon.
Take care,
Steve and Kellie
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