Help! What do I do . . .

[brewcat]

I am somewhat new to raw food. After my last fast I bought Alissa's book and began my first attempt to incorporate more raw food into my diet. I didn't do too badly, but would certainly like to do better. I am just now finishing another 10 day cleanse for the sole purpose of committing to 100% raw.

In the meanwhile - my DH suffered a heart attack last Friday and had an emergency angioplasty. It has given both of us an horrific scare and a HUGE incentive to commit to a raw WOL.

What would you all recommend to start feeding him to set him on the road to recovery? He asked me to be his cardiac rehab coach. In some ways it's like a dream come true because I've always wanted him to join me in my pursuit of health, on the other hand, I'm anxious and concerned I do the right things the right way. I am open to any and all suggestions.

Much thanks!

[StarFire]

So glad your dh is okay - I understand the scare - my dh went thru the same thing about 2 years ago :eek: Frightful. I'm a newbie - so I can't offer much advice. Other than perhaps following Alissa's initial 30 day plan in her book to get you both started, perhaps incorporating some green smoothies. I read a lot of people posting about those. Blessings on your journey - and good health to you and your husband!!

[lafsalot]

Green smoothies are a great place to start for someone on the road to recovery. Icey cold drinks are usally not given to cardiac patients, so would not recommend using frozen ingredients, at least not until you get clearance from his doctor. Sending tons of positive energy your way ~ Cathy

[brewcat]

Thanks Starfire and lafsalot. Those are great suggestions.

I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Holding down the office, the home and travelling back and forth to the hospital in downtown Chicago has kept me pretty busy. By the time I get home, I wash my face and go to sleep.

I've been doing the green smoothie thing off and on for about a month now. My DH actually tried one of them one time and enjoyed it. Then I'll move onto some of the easier recipes in Alissa's book. He loves guacamole and portobella mushrooms. . . now I don't feel so lost, thanks so much.:)

He finally came home today and is doing much better. It's going to be a bit of a change for both of us, he has to take it easy for a while and slow down. But he's alive and ready to make some of those changes, for that we're both unbelievably grateful!

[lafsalot]

So glad to hear he is home and out of the hosptial! Thanks for the update ~ Cathy

[tweety]

Green Juice.

I wouldnt do do green smoothies at the onset... he cant get enough nutrition assimilated in enough time with smoothies because he has to digest them and sort through the fiber. If he hates the taste, you can force him to drink the juice a lot faster. Smoothies require more time to consume.

Green Juice is like a blood transfusion in itself and will be assimilated by the body much faster and doesnt have high sugar content like the fruits in smoothies.

Cucumber
Carrots
Kale
Celery
Cabbage
Red or Green Chard
and a little apple to sweeten

my Dad has had almost 3-5 angioplastys and had his last surgery , an 8-way bypass about 5 years ago. i think he still smokes and yeah he hasnt changed his diet much. luckily my mom is being inspired by me to juice and is feeding him smoothies :D he hates them ;)

[brewcat]

my Dad has had almost 3-5 angioplastys and had his last surgery , an 8-way bypass about 5 years ago. i think he still smokes and yeah he hasnt changed his diet much. luckily my mom is being inspired by me to juice and is feeding him smoothies :D he hates them ;)

So much to look forward to Tweety! That's a good point about digesting and assimilating the fiber from a smoothie. We just splurged a couple of weeks ago and bought a new juicer. There's no time like the present to put it to good use. So long as the juice has some "sweet" taste to it, I believe he would buy into it. :cool:

Thanks again for the feedback. His first day home was a little rough. He took a nap in the middle of the afternoon, which he never does. He's also frustrated because he can't do everything he was used to doing before his heartattack. His body just rebels and tells him to rest. This will be an interesting journey . . .

[jeannieh99]

I'm too new to offer any words of advise to you. I can only offer prayers to you, your dh and your family that your husband have a speedy recovery. The only thing I do know is that I feel so blessed to have found this site and that if there is anything that will help to heal your husband and all of us a well, is the road/journey to raw. Those of us that have found this wonderful site are on that journey and on different points of that path. I feel this site with all the information, opinions, sharing has brought us together.In a way the sister/brotherhood within this site has alot of very healing properties in itself.
Again may all positive energies and well wishes go your way.
Regards,
Jeannie

[Eva]

This could be the best disguised blessing ever!

Have you read much about wheatgrass? I would highly recommend getting some to grow and throwing that in the juicer you got!

[Sunshine9]

In this situation, I would probably have a phone consultation with Dr. Gabriel Cousens or Dr. Ross at Tree of Life, or Dr. Fred Bisci. It's a fragile situation, and I imagine your husband would be pretty willing to follow the diet suggestions of an MD no matter what his personal beliefs. It's a couple hundred dollars, but better than messing around in the dark.

[tweety]

Brewcat
I also forgot....you could make up a V8 juice with fresh greens, beets, tomatoes and garlic and spice it up with tobasco or Cayenne pepper and even some salt and pepper. This would be a good alternate to a basic sweet green juice.

My Mom makes my Dad a fresh spicy V8 juice and he LOVES it. of course he has always enjoyed spicy foods. Cayenne is good for getting the blood moving too.
He is a typical male that usually has to have his meat and potatoes... the fact that he even drinks fresh V8 juice is a miracle in itself.

his last surgery was horrible. When they have a Bypass surgery they have to split open the sternum. he had so many tubes inside him, probably over 20 and i remember all the machines he was hooked up to... it was awful. :(
My Mom took photos of him while he was asleep. When she found out he didnt change his habits, she showed the pics to him to remind him.... he did not remember because he was on so many drugs.... he told her to delete them.
he still smokes but he tries to hide it from my Mom ... she can smell it a mile away.

You said he had a heart attack and had an angioplasty. What is his diagnosis? My Dad has artheriosclerosis which is a hardening of the arteries. He has had what is callled "angina" which is a different type of attack , not necessarily a heart attack. The angioplasty only blow out the cholestorol and hardening in certain parts, whereas I think the bypass is a lot more labor intensive around the heart.
if you find a support group elswhere for patient with his condition, that may be of some help for you as well and find out what they have done for lifestyle change.

good luck,
Tweety

[brewcat]

Everyone is so helpful on this board. You're right jeannieh99. Beautiful thoughts, thanks for the well wishes.

Wheatgrass, I've read a little about it, and actually tasted it at a juice bar in Seattle, EvaRB. Anne Wigmore is a strong proponent of it, isn't she? I'll do some more research on it. My DH doesn't like bitter tasting food or juice. If I could incorporate it into another juice without a lot of fuss and bother, maybe?

I didn't know that Dr. Cousens or Dr. Bisci did phone consults. $200 is a little rich for us right now. It certainly would be worth it. Thanks Sunshine9.

tweety - He loves tomato juice, and he can handle it a little hot. I love that idea of a V-8 juice. He definitely had a heart attack. I used to sell angioplasty, so the Dr. showed me his pics. His left coronary artery (LAD) was totally occluded with a long, tough lesion. Interestingly, he doesn't have the 2 or 3 other vessels the rest of us have coming off is LAD, so there was absolutely no flow to that part of the heart. It would have been impossible for them to do open heart, so the Dr. says. We were both very fortunate that he landed at a hospital with an excellent cardiologist!

Surprisingly his heart didn't suffer any lasting damage. The Dr. told him as long as he takes it easy these next few weeks and changes his diet and lifestyle, he should be on the road to recovery.

So far he's been doing pretty good with his eating habits. He loves the raw food dishes I fix for him. Last night I made a spinach and pear salad I downloaded from Woody Harrelson's site. It was yummy, with raw pecans, cilantro, parsley, green onions, spinach and pears. Today he's going to try a kale salad I made with pine nuts and dried cranberries.

I love the raw food WOL. Thanks again everyone! :)