New here and 1week in. Heart attack survivor

(Will Butler) #1

Hi all
My wife and I started this past weekend. So far it seem to be going well. We have lived off of low fat high carbs for the last ten years. In 2016 I had a heart attack at the age of 37 in the middle of a Crossfit Bear cycle. While I was thinking I was in the best shape ever I ended up having 2 main artery 100% blocked and 90% widow maker blocked. I received 3 stents. So I tried following doctors order on diet and just got depressed and have gained 60 lbs from 225 to 286.

Anyway one week in I am down 12 pounds by following my macros and exercising every day. I pissed on strip and it’s not showing any ketones. I am a little worried about that but feel better and losing weight so something is working.

So I would really like to hear if anyone else with heart issues are having success with this diet as far as lowering cholesterol and how visits with doctor have been after doing diet for a while.

(Tom Seest) #2

I have not had a heart attack but I have persistent Atrial Fibrillation with Rapid Ventricular Response and I had Congestive Heart Failure. While cholesterol is important to the body and the heart, you really want to watch markers of inflammation like hsCRP, BNP, etc. And, this diet does an excellent job of keeping those markers low for me.

I wish you well…

(jay) #3

I feel you. I had a a bad case of “indigestion” (heart attack )at an old college buddies house after a huge pasta meal. Even though he had gone to sleep his wife insisted we wake him (he is a cardiovascular surgeon and had cases early the next day) Lucky for me she forced the issue. After an asprine and a pepto-bismol cocktail did nothing to relieve my “indigestion” he took me to his hospital, you know…“Just in case” . We walked in and went to the cardiology wing where he introduced me to his cardiologist buddy, they then conferred and visited while a tech hooked me up to the electrodes to rule out a heart attack, it was all very collegial until the tech turned on the machine. I will never forget the look on her face. I thought holy sh*t here we go. As a funny aside,within 5 mins they had me striped, shaved, needled up and on the way to surgery when we were met by a horrified admissions clerk. I had never even been admitted to the hospital, my buddy and I had gone in the back way. She was so distraught I felt bad for her and told her about my blue cross card in my wallet. I will swear to this day I saw her shed tears of relief.
I dont know if keto will make a huge difference mitigating my heart disease, but I do know my previous diet certainly didn’t work. My cardiologist knows i do keto, and he is supportive but concerned about my cholesterol and maybe i should be too, but for the life of me i just can’t bring my self to care much about my cholesterol levels either way.