I'm supposed to eat what???

So, I want to say first and foremost, the staff at the hospital was beyond great!.  So nice, so helpful, so considerate.  I have no complaints at all with their care.  But as the stay progressed, what was apparent were the contradictions between what we're told to eat for health, and what was available.  Not just with what I was given, but what was available.  This is a hospital!  I mean really?  There is a popular restaurant in this hospital, and though the same restaurants in public have healthy alternatives, this one did not!  You'd think they would have made a point of this one having more healthy alternatives than the public ones.  Just my opinion.

The day I was admitted I did get a dinner; baked chicken, green beans, and brown rice; all with no salt.  UGH!  I got really sweet tea cause it is the south, and i'm not diabetic soo..., a dinner roll (made with white flour)and MARGARINE, and lemon pudding made with lord knows what.  So I can't have salt, but I can have margarine, and highly processed other foods.  The chicken, rice, and beans were fine, but I would rather have the salt and get rid of the margarine.  Full disclosure, I ate the pudding.  I mean why not?  I was starving!  Past midnight I was to eat nothing til I had my heart cath the next day.  The nurses were great in allowing me a late night snack prior to midnight; boxedcereal with skim milk, or peanut butter graham crackers.  I figured the lesser of two evils was the peanut butter and graham crackers.  My cath was supposed to be in the morning, but it got bumped to afternoon.  They gave me a snack, and again I had to choose graham crackers and peanut butter (you know the processed kind with hydrogenated oil).  I was hungry though, so I took what I could and was grateful for it.  I had my heart cath and it was clean, no blockages.  Yay!  I can have what I want to eat!

"NO!"  I'm told. I'm told I'm still on the cardiac diet.  I did still have a heart attack.  So my dinner when it came that night was....wait for it.... baked chicken, brown rice, and just to change things up, carrots!  Again, no salt, again, margarine and sweet tea.  The day I was discharged was the first day I ate breakfast.  Eggs (good), cantaloupe (also good), then it went down hill from there.  There was the ever present margarine; two of them actually.  I had white grits, white french toast, skim milk, pancake syrup (which was High fructose corn syrup mixed with various chemicals, and , oh yea, salt), and coffee with soy creamer.   I ate the eggs and the cantaloupe.  Just about everything else I had been actively avoiding for years.  Check out this article with Health line.  See if the list doesn't look familiar.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/6-foods-that-cause-inflammation#section6


We are told by the medical powers that be, not to eat hydrogenated foods, but given margarine.  We are told to eat whole grains, but given refined flours.  We are told to avoid High Fructose corn syrup/ highly processed foods, but there they are!  BUT NO SALT!  Can't have that.  You're heart attack has now relegated you to a life of tasteless food.

Now they were consistent putting skim milk on my plate.  This is where what they recommend and what I believe part company.  I stopped eating low fat a long time ago.  I eat full fat cheeses, yogurt, milk.  I just eat less!  Check out this article in Medical News Today.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322452.php

In fact, full disclosure, we've begun to drink and use Raw milk and/or non-homogenized milk.  It's what we choose to do.  We buy local and know our farmer. We had a friend that recommended the raw milk because of it's cholesterol lowering properties.  Ironic huh.

The very nice cardiac rehab counselor was in the room that morning when my breakfast came.  She appreciated my dilemma.  With a chuckle she said "unfortunately, dietary guidelines haven't caught up with current info".  In some ways I agree,  but looking at my tray that morning I thought "some of these dietary guidelines haven't kept up with dietary guidelines"!  I assured her that though I ate full fat, I ate less and kept my fat intake under a certain range.  She was fine with that.  So that is what I'll continue to do.

This is what we choose to do.  You have to do what works for you, but be informed about what plan you are going to follow.