76 years old post triple bypass

[stumble]

My husband is 76 and is still recovering from triple bypass surgery with value replacemnt in his aorta. He is on Lopressor to lower his blood pressure, Lipitor to lower his cholestrol, Plavix to help prevent a stroke, and amitriptyline to help with is leg pains. He is also overweight.

I ordered two Protein Power books, have read one and am waiting for Amazon to send the other. I did not find any advice for applying this technique with elderly overweight people. I didcussed the low carb diet with his doctor and the doctor told me to stick to low calorie and exercise. He said low carb was dangerous. The doctor moved, and now he has no doctor. I want to eventually decrease his medicine, starting with the lopressor since we have a blood pressure cuff and can test that. If that goes well, we'll find another doctor and test the cholesterol.

We have been living on salads - egg ,crab, chicken and tuna, and hot dogs and turkey. He has a hard time giving up bread and crackers, and I keep telling him Wasa is for maintenance, not induction.

Well, he's 250 and wants to be 200. He was 169 when we met 30 years ago. I am 144 and want to be at least 130.

I would like to find another "old" person doing the protein diet that he could share emails.

Sandy :paranoid:

[mcsblues]

Welcome Sandy. Low carb is not just for young people! (if it were some of us would have to leave!!) Also, particularly once you have read PPLP you will appreciate that total cholesterol numbers tell you very little, but if anything higher numbers are protective for those of us who are not exactly spring chickens any more:eek::).

By all means post a thread with details of your diet (lets face it your doctor is plain wrong so it is a good thing he moved - you would be looking for a new one anyway!) You will get lots of helpful suggestions here - no need for email.

There is no need to live on salad - check the recipe section here. Hot dogs tend to be quite high carb (the filler apart from the meat will have a lot of flour etc in it). A lot of people think they will struggle to give up bread and crackers - while there are low carb equivalents - you will be amazed how little you miss that stuff after a while.

[Mitra]

Welcome, Sandy :).

Do you know how many grams of carb are in the bread and crackers that your husband eats? If he can accept eating very small quantities, and you don't mind shopping around to find the lowest carb options (Americans will be able to offer you more advice on what's available) then you may be able to find some compromise that he can live with.

[Belfrybat]

Welcome. :) I'm glad you found us -- this is a great place to come for support.

Wasa crackers are definitely not just for maintenance. They along, with Nature's Own Wheat and Fiber bread, have been on my menu all along (both are 5 ECC per slice). In PPLP, the Eades recommend staying below 40 ECC until weight and health markers are in the normal range, with no more than 10 ECC per meal. If you make wise vegetable choices, you can still eat a slice or two of a low carb bread. If you live in or near a large city, you can probably find other low carb breads, perhaps less than Nature's Own. Also, don't forget low carb tortillas/ wraps. Some have as little as 3 ECC a piece. One of my favourite breakfasts is two taquitos -- scrambled eggs and bacon in a LC flour tortilla with hot sauce. I can have two and come in just under 10 ECC.

Now, this being said, some people have problems with grains and find they don't lose if they eat LC bread products. Your husband will need to experiment to find if this is true for him.

Good luck on your journey!