Diet for Heart Bypass Patient

We all know that it’s not easy to deal with heart problems. Sometimes, heart patients have to stretch out in a hospital bed for a surgery that will cost them thousands of dollars. If you are about to witness such a surgery, or have just come out of a surgery, then it’s obvious that health care would be your priority at the moment. Committing to a surgery is never easy, but it’s a compulsive decision we have to take for a better life or at times for our survival. After all, we all love our "Dear life".


Heart surgery can be a lifesaver. But, it is usually something that requires good care during the recovery period.

If you are facing heart surgery or have just emerge from surgery, you are going to need to balance many physical and emotional needs at once. Obviously, you will want to have a speedy, healthy recovery as you minimize any pain or discomfort you really feel.

At the same time, you will need to attend to any medications your doctor prescribes. And, there is a all-important issue of maintaining a heart-healthy diet. In the end, it is highly likely that poor diet plan got you into this mess.

After heart surgery, you will need to have the right diet. Meaning knowing which foods to eat and which to prevent. This lens explores diet tricks for heart surgery patients so that you can choose the foods that will get you back to health more quickly.

The Importance of a Heart Healthy Diet
According to the American Heart Association, over 448,000 Americans had cardio-arterial bypass surgery last year. The key reason why most people have bypass surgery is usually to replace coronary arteries which are today clogged with calcified plaque which includes developed as a result of numerous years of high cholesterol intake, using tobacco, diabetes or other risk factors for heart disease. Bypass surgery carries a very high success rate, while using artery grafts lasting 10 to 15 years. But, it is not a miracle cure. After surgery, patients are expected to follow a heart-healthy diet that emphasizes low cholesterol, sodium and fat intake to prevent having the bypass grafts close prematurely.

Specific Diet Recommendations
A heart-healthy diet is made up of a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods from six different food groups: grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, meats & bean and oils. To the average healthy adult male consuming 2,000 calories each day, this includes six to eight daily areas of grains, four to five daily parts of vegetables, four to five daily servings of fruits, two to three daily areas of fat-free or low fat products, less than six ounces of lean meat, poultry or seafood daily, two to three daily servings of fats and oils and 4 to 5 servings of nuts, seeds or legumes a week.

The Cleveland Clinic recommends that bypass patients restrict their diet to lower than 7% of total daily calories from unhealthy fat, less than one percent from tans fats and limit their cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg each day. In addition, bypass patients should eat fish two times a week, favor wholegrain, high fiber foods over junk foods, eat more fruits and vegetables, limit sodium intake to less than 1500 mg every day and avoid foods and beverages that includes added sugar.

Bypass patients also needs to avoid fad diets, like Atkins or South Beach, that replace carbohydrates rich in intakes of protein. These diets typically replace starches, fruits and vegetables with high-fat meats, eggs and also other dairy products that can raise levels of cholesterol.

Adjusting to Real Life
Changing to a new diet can be challenging at first, but it doesn't have to be. Bypass patients should begin with following the general dietary guidelines outlined above, limiting total calories, cholesterol, fat and sodium intake. After a few weeks, they should seek out additional ways to replace calorie-dense foods with healthier alternatives. When dining out or at friends' homes, it is advisable to take control by seeking healthier substitutions like non-fat yogurt as an alternative to butter and sour cream on baked potatoes. When ordering in restaurants, it's a wise decision to ask for the condiments privately instead of having them added from the kitchen.

Finally, don't forget about exercise. Adding Twenty to thirty minutes of daily exercising aerobically can help expend calories, elevate high density lipoproteins (the great type of cholesterol) and gaze after higher metabolic rates from the day. Diet and exercise work together for healthy living.