Posted: May 22, 2024
Introduction: This is a story of how Walter Sorochan adapted to life after a heart attack.
His health April 24, 2024: Age 95+ years; weight = 155 lbs, 12.8 oz; BMR = 23.01; Blood Pressure = 104/55; Pulse = 64
Heart attack & survival: Most persons get a heart attack from being overweight, choosing a bad diet and/or not exercising. These were not the cause of my heart attack.
In 2023, one year ago, I tried to swim extra laps when I was not physically fit. Doing so caused my heart to pump more blood than it could. Hence, the heart muscle activated the respiratory system into rapid, deep breathing. I felt a heavy chest, shortness of breath and pain in my left shoulder and arm. I was rushed to the Emergency Room where cardiologists rescued me.
Now .... I listen to my body for distress signals such a deep and rapid breathing. These signals tell me to slow down, rest and try to sleep. Yes, it is during sleep that the human body heals. Healing the body has not changed after the heart attack.
Seeing my cardiologist one year later, he said that he never saw anyone looking better at my age of 95. How are you feeling? My answer: " I am feeling good!"
What have I been doing to feel good again?
I have successfully adapted to a new life at age 95: changing from repetitive stress strength exercises to focus on coordination and flexibility activities, making better food choices and understanding body stress alarm signals from the brain. I try to get infrequent sunshine on my skin for hormone D.
Time out: There are five important ways to live longer and avoid a heart attack:
Selecting the good foods [dietary choices] is the most important of these five recommendations. We learn how to eat from our parents and flavor foods by adding sugar, salt and fat to make foods taste better. We need to avoid eating addictive sweets, animal meats, and dairy products like cream and cheese.
I eat two meals a day consisting of no snacks, a breakfast and an afternoon meal. The foods were selected on the basis of ANDI scores Fuhrman: Eat For Life 2020 being high in nutrients but low on calories. Based on this ANDI concept, the afternoon meal can consisted of 12 possible vegetables, fruit and nuts. It was assumed to be based upon the standard food intake of 2000 calories per person per day. But I ingested beans, spinach, beets, avocados, sunflower seeds, fruit and nuts as the main afternoon meal and had a breakfast consisting of almond butter spread over one slice of bread covered with ground flax seeds, and warm water with lemon juice. As you can surmise from the table below, these foods add up to much less than 2000 calories per day!
We have a problem with the phrase: "2000 calories per day!" In 1990, the US government passed the Nutritional Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), which revised the regulations pertaining to the nutritional labeling of foods, and made it mandatory for almost all food products to have standardized nutrition labels. An example of a nutritional label is the image on the right side. This calorie standard was not validated for accuracy. Duker Freuman: 2,000 calorie diet 2016 At the bottom of the image label, Nutrition Facts, is the information in small print: "2000 calories per day is used for general nutrition advice."
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So how many calories would be adequate for a 95 year old? This 95 year old used the above table to illustrate 11 foods that are high as ANDI scores. [ANDI scores are nutrient dense but low in calories] Tomato cherry and onions are alternate foods. Avocado and Almond butter have low ANDI scores, but are rich in nutrients.
The total number of calories ingested by Sorochan for one day is 1441.6 calories; a number much lower than 2000 calorie standard. Referring to Malia Frey's estimates of the number of calories burnt by activities for one day, Frey: Calculate calories burnt per day 2023 I calculated the number of calories burnt when I am sedentary as 1600 calories and slightly active as 1833 calories. These estimates are a little high, as my body weight is constant at 156 pounds. With these estimates in mind, I would estimate my body burned approximately close to 1500 calories per day. This estimate is close to the total calories of 1441.6 that I ingested as food.
Armed with this information, I adapted this daily diet to prevent another heart attack. I do not ingest daily products like fats, excess salt, meats, sweets or snacks. This diet works for me as I have not had a second heart attack and feel good! When my heart signals that the it is under stress by rapid and deep inhalations, I slow down, rest and go to sleep.
I also listen to the messages my body sends when it is deficient in key nutrients: bleeding gums, brittle hair or hair loss, red skin, constipation or bloating and cuts that are slow to heal. Kirkpatrick: Body sends messages about missing nutrients 2021 The veggies, fruit and nuts that I eat each day keep my heart and body well.
Like other seniors, I have lost most of my youthful strength. So I adapted to doing less strength callisthenic warm up activities every day. I have a broken hip joint that limits walking distances and is slightly painful. I usually walk from about 700 to 800 feet every second day. I listen to my body, rest and sleep a lot.
The big challenger was finding foods in local food markets that were locally accessible, fresh and organically grown.
I became a Mediterranean vegetarian a long time ago and avoided sweets, snacks and animal meat products. On occasion, I ate sweets and pizza. But in the past few years, I became a strict vegetarian by adding fruit and nuts. Adopting a strict veggie diet requires nutrient density foods [foods high in vitamins, minerals and amino acids] low in calories. Using this eating format as a priority, I narrowed my veggies to twelve vegetables that I could rotate every few days.
But there was a catch in selecting the best vegetables. I discovered that vegetables were easier to select when ranked from best to worst. ANDI scores were most helpful in this regard.
ANDI scores, originated by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, are rich in nutrients but low in calories. Fuhrman: Eat For Life 2020
ANDI scores range from a best food high of 100 to a low bad food of 4 to zero.
The table below classifies foods based on ANDI score values:
Now, let's explore eating vegetables that can be high in carbohydrate calories. The table below displays the nutrient content and ANDI scores for 13 selected foods. Foods high in calories are avocados=218 cals, beans=254 cals and sunflower seeds=175 cals. These foods may be high in calories but they contain a lot of essential vitamins, minerals and amino acids [nutrient dense]. By eating smaller portions, you can lower your calorie intake. For example, eat just half an avocado.
Table legend: C = vitamin C; thiam = thiamin; ribo = Riboflavin; niacin = Niacin; pant =Pantothenic acid; B6 =B6; folate =Folate; folic =Folic acid; choline = Choline; A =A; E =E; K =K; D =D; B12 =B12; IU = International Units; IU mass : gm=1 gram; mg= milligram or 1/1000 of gram; ug= microgram or 1/1,000,000 gram. Eating more than one or two vegetables at one setting is important as the nutrition values of foods can be added up or totaled as intake, and compared to the Recommended Daily Index for each day. In the table above, for example, the total for vitamin C per day is 155 mgs compared to the recommended 90 mg. Although the totals for niacin and choline for all recommended foods is less than the RDI; both nutrients still supply adequate amounts for body functions. But when a vegetable is ingested by itself, then the vegetarian diet and body will be deficient in niacin or choline. These vegetables were selected, over others, for a meal, because these foods are ANDI high, foods are super rich in specific nutrients and low in calories:
There are a few exceptions to this recommendation. For example, avocados have a low ANDI score of 21 and 218 calories per serving, but are super rich in nutrients. Another food is sunflower seeds with an ANDI score of 34 and 174 calories per serving but is nutrient dense.
The top six veggies in the plate, above, should be first choice vegetables as these cumulatively provide a good balance of nutrients. These six .... avocado, spinach, broccoli, beets, beans and carrots, contain a balance of vitamins, minerals and amino acids that compliment each other. Onions should be added about three times a week. Unfortunately, it is difficult to serve and eat all nine foods each day as finding foods in local food markets that are locally accessible and organically grown are often difficult to find. So from a practical point of view, I try to eat avocados, spinach, beets, beans, and sunflower [as well as fruit and nuts] each day. There is a hidden secret in making this diet choice. The nutrient content of these foods, when added up, provides minerals, vitamins and amino acids that meet Required Daily Index recommendations. Another way of saying this is that these are the nutrients that your body needs. I try to eat the same foods consistently each day so the bacteria in my colon adapt to a balance of bad and good bacteria. I try to keep a ratio of 70 percent good bacteria to 30 percent bad bacteria; thereby having a soft stool and avoiding constipation. It is the good bacteria that prevent chronic diseases. These top six foods can be rotated for other vegetables. For example: Spinach can be substituted for other green plants like, romaine lettuce, kale; broccoli for cauliflower; carrots for dell peppers or sweet potato; and black beans for pinto beans. In spite of its high ANDI score, kale is not recommended. It has a high fiber amount. More important, kale has an insoluble carbon, raffinose, that passes through the GI tract where bacteria begin fermentation and convert raffinose into acids, gases and alcohols. If one eats too much kale, then one gets a real loose stool. Dove: Kale make you gassy There are other vegetables that can be substituted for the above, but you get the 'biggest bang' for your dollar from the top rainbow colored veggies. A major advantage of the above veggie diet is that you are no longer eating addictive sweets, snacks and processed foods. No addictive food means that you no longer feel hungry most of the time. Reason: a balanced nutrient diet eaten regularly gives your body what it needs .... balanced nutrition. In summary, I have adapted stressful physical activities [no heavy lifting activities] and best food choices for my heart attacked body. We all need a meaningful purpose in life although my purpose at my age is weaning. I also heed body stress alarm signals like deep and frequent breathing with lots of rest and sleep. But my body is starving for sunlight, as San Diego has many cloudy days. References Dove Laurie L., "Why does kale make you gassy?" HowStuffWorks. Dove: Kale make you gassy Cassetty Samantha, "Is a 1,200-calorie diet a healthy way to lose weight?" Today, Nov. 30, 2023. Cassetty: Weight loss on 1200 calorie diet 2023 Duker Freuman Tamara, "Who Actually Needs a 2,000-Calorie Diet?" US News, June 14, 2016. Duker Freuman: 2,000 calorie diet 2016 Frey Malia, "How Many Calories Do You Burn Every Day?" Very Well Fit, November 02, 2023. Frey: Calculate calories burnt per day 2023 Fuhrman Joel, Eat For Life, Harper One, 2020. Fuhrman: Eat For Life 2020 Kirkpatrick kristin, "5 signs your body is missing key nutrients," Today, March 5, 2021. Kirkpatrick: Body sends messages about missing nutrients 2021 Sobel Ashley, "A 2,000-Calorie Diet: Food Lists and Meal Plan," Healthline, October 25, 2023. Sobel: 2,000 calorie diet 2023 |
