Story update about Walter adapting to heart attack 

Posted May 22, 2024

The previous story was about how Walter Sorochan adapted to having a heart attack. The main story focused on one dietary meal.

Most diets assume that most persons will eat about 2000 calories per day, regardless of their height and weight. In other words, one size fits all persons. Although this obviously is a false assumption, I inadvertently overlooked it.

This article is an update.

I eat two meals a day consisting of no snacks, a breakfast and an afternoon meal. The foods were selected on the 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!
Table 1: High ANDI Foods and their Vitamins
Food ANDI ServAmt Cals Fat Fiber C Thiam Ribo Niacin Pant B6 Folate Folic Choline A E K D B12
Units Cals gmgm mg mg mgmg mg mgug ug mg IUug ugIUug
Spinach raw 64 1 cup 14   .3 28.0 .06 .11 .3 .15 .14   .106   4460 1.25   0 0
Avocado Cal,raw 23 1 218 21.0 9.2 12.0 .102 .194 2.60 1.99 .390 121.04 0.00 19.3 199.92 2.68 26.6 0 0
Tomato cherry 60 5 items 15.5 0.0 3.30 11.5 .08 .505 .075 .070 10.25 0.00 5.5 708.05 0.45 6.5 0.00 0.00
SunFlower seeds 34 1 tbsp 175 16.0 3.15 0.04 .092 .081 1.190 2.00 .228 67.47 0.00   0.00   0.00 0.00 0.00
Beans Pinto boiled 52 1 cup 245 1.1 15.0 1.4 .330 .106 .544 0.359 .392 294.12 0.00 60.4 0.00 1.61 6.0 0.00 0.00
Onions med 30 1slice 5.6 0.0 0.20 1.0 .006 .004 .016 .017 .017 2.66 0.00 .90 0.28 0.00 .01 0.00 0.00
Beets boil 45 2 bulbs 44 0.2 2.0 3.6 .027 0.04 .331 .145 .067 80.0 0.00 6.3 35.00 0.04 0.2 0.00 0.00
Blueberries 45 50 39 0.2 1.6 6.60 .025 .028 0.284 0.084 .035 4.08 0.00 4.10 36.72 0.39 13.1 0.00 0.00
Flax seeds ground 41 1 tbsp 534     0.6 1.64 0.161 3.08 0.985 0.73 87 0 78.7 0 0.31 4.3 0 0
Almonds butter 13 5 tbsp 70 6.0 1.0 0.0 .010 0.10 0.43 0.06 0.02 5.3 0.00 6.0 0.20 3.10 0.00 0.00 0.00
Bread whole wheat 0 1 slice 81.5 1.14 0 0.126 0.053 1.42 0.209 0.069 13.5 0.0 8.73 0 0 0 0 0
Total     1441.6 46.6 142 155 1.856 1.693 14.1 5.919 1.869 792.4 0.106 157.0 23613 9.48 186 0.00 0.00
RDI       78 28 90 1.2 1.3 16.0 5.0 1.3 400   558.73 900 15 120 800 2.4

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.

The above table identifies the vitamin amount for each of the 12 foods and the total calories ingested for one 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." 

Label food
This statement assumed that 2000 calories per person per day was what everyone consumed. Although "2000 calories" became an eating standard for everyone, it is invalid as everyone is different.

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.

I ingest the following prescribed medications each day: baby aspirin 81 mg, rosuvastatin crestor 20, famotidine [pepcid ac]20, isosorbide 30 mg, and a multivitamin tablet.

References:

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