DH has plaque in his coronary arteries - now what? UPDATE #26 - Page 3

[wendinbill]

I've got to be completely honest, his labwork isn't all that bad. I know this is from last year, but I wanted to respond. I'm a phlebotomist/medical assistant and I've seen WAY worse. I know that's not a consolation when it's your own loved one we're talking about. His numbers are easy enough to change, without medications. Diet, exercise, increase whole grains, take supplements, basically everything already mentioned above. This should be a wake-up call for him, though.

Hope all is well!

[momofmine]

Originally Posted by PaulaJoAnne

Anytime he is consuming vege oils, he is adding to the plaque as well.
A good way to relate that, follows.
Go to any restaurant or home that uses vege oils for cooking. What will you see?
Vents and stove tops that are covered in a VERY hard to remove layer of grease.
Its doing the same thing inside the body

Eeek, that's a good point! So, what do you think about olive oil? Light olive oil is the only I have found to make mayo with. Is there a better choice? I tried it with coconut oil, and it turned hard in the fridge! Didn't taste very good either, TBH.

Originally Posted by Metasequoia

Actually, for insulin resistance, anaerobic exercise is preferable. Cardio exercise isn't all its cracked up to be. Building muscle by either weight lifting or resistance training increases insulin sensitivity.

So what are some examples of anaerobic exercise? I was trying to read about it, and the definition I read said anaerobic builds muscle too.


My FIL recently started two medications, one to lower blood pressure and one for cholesterol, and a few weeks ago, he had some tingling and numbness on the left side of his body. All the tests came back normal, and no signs of anything, so maybe he just had a mini-stroke. I am thinking, what if those meds caused it? They are not very open to alternative stuff, they are pretty mainstream, they eat sugar and donuts but think he should just eat less beef and fat and more chicken and fish instead. I would like to give them some information, just not sure where to direct them. If I could buy one book, which would you buy for them?

[New_Natural_Mom]

Sorry it took me so long to get back here....I know how some people feel about Mercola, but here is a link to articles on his site about aspirin therapy being bad. http://search.mercola.com/Results.as...irin%20therapy

A tiny snippet of one article:

#

The series of meta-analyses on the antiplatelet activity of aspirin overvalues aspirin's effectiveness and safety
#

All the large long term trials of aspirin after myocardial infarction show no effect on mortality
#

Aspirin may change the way vascular events present rather than prevent them
#

This may lead to a "cosmetic" reduction in non-fatal events and an increase in sudden death
#

Data on the safety and cost-benefit of aspirin are inadequate
#

Advocating the use of aspirin for preventing atherosclerotic events diverts attention from other, more effective, drugs

From all my research, not nearly as well organized or structured as Wu Wei's, we have decided not to use statins or aspirin for my DH. And you know what, we are controlling his cholesterol just through diet! We eat real meat, real butter, olive oil, coconut oil, organic whole grains, veggies, etc. We cut out artificial or processed foods as much as possible.

Hopefully if you can get your DH to really stick to a healthy eating plan you will see results. TBH, I changed my diet and started sharing with my DH why I was making the choices I was making, sharing links, literature, etc. He came around on his own and now (incredibly) makes mostly good choices even when I am not looking over his shoulder (now if we could address portion control we would be set!)

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by momofmine

I tried it with coconut oil, and it turned hard in the fridge! Didn't taste very good either, TBH.

You don't store coconut oil in the fridge. It will also turn hard on the countertop (unless you live without air conditioning in Arizona, maybe - I think it liquifies around 80 or 90 F) but I would imagine putting it in the fridge would have hardened it to the point it was hard to work with. And maybe changed the flavor, I don't know.

About the taste, that's subjective. You might have tried some highly refined stuff and maybe it doesn't taste good. Or maybe you just don't like coconut oil. There's also some extremely UNrefined stuff you can buy, and I hear it has a strong taste. The stuff I have is unrefined (but not to an extreme) and the taste is very mild and pleasant imho.

[momofmine]

Originally Posted by laohaire

You don't store coconut oil in the fridge. It will also turn hard on the countertop (unless you live without air conditioning in Arizona, maybe - I think it liquifies around 80 or 90 F) but I would imagine putting it in the fridge would have hardened it to the point it was hard to work with. And maybe changed the flavor, I don't know.

About the taste, that's subjective. You might have tried some highly refined stuff and maybe it doesn't taste good. Or maybe you just don't like coconut oil. There's also some extremely UNrefined stuff you can buy, and I hear it has a strong taste. The stuff I have is unrefined (but not to an extreme) and the taste is very mild and pleasant imho.

Yes, that's why it turned hard, because I had to put it in the fridge. I was talking about making mayo with it, which has raw egg, so it needed to be refrigerated, and I wasn't thinking about how it would turn hard in the fridge, but it wasn't usable.

I do use coconut oil a lot, and I buy both types, the kind that has the coconut taste and the kind that doesn't.

I was just asking about making mayo specifically, because olive oil is the only thing I can come up with for making that.

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by momofmine

Yes, that's why it turned hard, because I had to put it in the fridge. I was talking about making mayo with it, which has raw egg, so it needed to be refrigerated, and I wasn't thinking about how it would turn hard in the fridge, but it wasn't usable.

I do use coconut oil a lot, and I buy both types, the kind that has the coconut taste and the kind that doesn't.

I was just asking about making mayo specifically, because olive oil is the only thing I can come up with for making that.

Oh, I see, I didn't get that. I've not made mayo before but definitely CO couldn't be used for that. Heck, even olive oil solidifies somewhat in the fridge. And butter too. But maybe the small amount of solidification is preferred for mayo? Dunno. I use olive oil for some things, just not for as many things as I used to. Salad dressing, for instance, is olive oil and vinegar for me

[momofmine]

Yeah, the olive oil, I guess it just doesn't solidify as much as the CO does, but it does really well in the mayo, and the light olive oil has a mild taste. But, I was just wondering if there was a better alternative. We don't eat a tone of it, but homemade mayo delish!

[Periwinkle]

Update!

Sorry it's been so long - I'm almost never on MDC anymore. Can you tell my youngest is 5 now?! lol (p.s. hi Lesley! )

DH decided to go on the statin - lowest possible dose and his doctor redid his bloodwork in Feb., which was about 3 months later. His total cholesterol is now 152, and HDL is up to 84. (Some statins actually do RAISE hdl apparently, which is part of why his doctor wanted him to go on it.) He has made some changes in his diet, following what I like to call "TF lite" - switched to Ezekial bread products and a big bowl of soaked/steel cut oatmeal in the morning. He eats fish all the time now. He also takes fish oil, Vitamin C, B complex daily. (I am SO not a supplement person for various reasons but his doc wanted him on these - the fish oil has been shown to help scrub the plaque and raise HDL and the B vitamins do likewise. And since he cut out his daily O.J. and doesn't eat much fruit anymore, he added the C as a just-in-case measure). Oh and his fasting blood sugar was 94. Better.

His sugar consumption is WAY down, but he likes a bowl of ice cream every now and again (ok, weekly) and he still goes occasionally for his comfort foods such as Amy's frozen pizzas and tortilla chips/salsa. My mantra with him has been similar to my own mantra for health and weight maintenance, namely, it's not the one meal or dessert you eat once in a while that's bad for you, it's how you eat every single day. No one gets sick (or overfat) from the 15 days a year they're on vacation or whatever and eat poorly, it's how you're eating the other 350 days a year that really matters.

Metasequoia I showed him your links and he got 4 major things out of them: 1.) he doesn't drink juice anymore, 2.) he doesn't drink beer anymore, 3.) he joined a gym and now lifts weights regularly, and 4.) he eats only 3 meals a day now. Thank you thank you thank you.

He's lost a bit of weight though he wasn't particularly overweight to begin with (he's 5'10", medium frame, and went from 170 to 160). I look at his diet and think, man, we could make it better, but he's also so averse to - as he delicately puts it - "eating cardboard for the rest of my life" that I don't really want to force changes down his throat when he'll just get sick of eating like that and go back to his old dietary habits.

Basically it's as good as it could get and now the sticky wicket is going to be making these changes permanent. As someone who has not eaten sugar, tropical fruits, or refined/non-TF carbs (except when I'm a guest in someone's house or at a wedding or something!) in 3.5 years, I know a little about this. It's TOUGH.

Thank you everyone for your advice. It's been really helpful. I wish I could be posting that dh didn't have to take the statin and we still got all these great results, but for now at least I think he's going to stay on it.

One quick question - how low is TOO low (re: total cholesterol)? I know something like 120 would be disasterous health-wise, but I'm interested in knowing at what point we should be looking to taper back on the statin. His doc of course wants him basically on it for life, but since dh is only 40, I'm not too keen on that, nor his he. And if the total choelsterol drops too low, it might be the impetus to go back to a 1/2 dose or something or taper off altogether (provided the #s stay good).

[serenbat]

His doc of course wants him basically on it for life, but since dh is only 40,

I would demand blood work every six months to check on his liver- don't let the Dr. blow this off-these drugs work on other organs as well-check!

[Lousli]

I'm pm'ing you, Peri.

[Periwinkle]

Originally Posted by serenbat

I would demand blood work every six months to check on his liver- don't let the Dr. blow this off-these drugs work on other organs as well-check!

will do. thanks!

[Periwinkle]

Originally Posted by Lousli

I'm pm'ing you, Peri.