How Will Having Angioplasty Change What I Eat?

Having angioplasty August 13, 2012, has completely changed what I eat. It has made me a man on a restricted diet, cutting out fat, salt and sugar whenever possible. And it also has greatly changed me. In the four months since the surgery, I’ve lost 23 pounds and now weigh roughly 193 pounds.

In recent years, I’ve cut out or cut back on many of my favorite foods. Pizza and Chinese food, for example, which I once ate weekly, are now a rarity for me. The same can be said for one-pound T-bone steaks and many cheese-filled Italian dishes which I’ve reserved for only holidays. Potato chips and french fries, once daily items for me, also are mostly gone from my diet.

Days of eating giant meatball subs like this one are over for me.

But all of that was just phase one, it seems. Now, the junk food I’ve kept in my diet, M&Ms and other chocolate treats, giant Costco chocolate cakes and even Hostess HoHos, my snack of choice most weeks, have to be eliminated. It’s ironic that the last things I ate before going to the hospital were two packages of Hostess HoHos, about 800 calories. That was my farewell to my favorite comfort food. It’s also ironic that since then, Hostess has gone out of business. Friends joke that it was my change in eating habits that pushed them over the financial edge.

My monthly buffets, where I regularly consumed multiple orders of prime rib, also are history.

I’m also no longer planning to host the parties my wife and I have had in the past where I cook the types of dishes I can’t eat any longer, such as Italian sausages, cheese-filled lasagna and shells, hamburgers and hot dogs, etc. I’m really not up for cooking one set of dishes for guests and another for me.

I’ve also begun disassociating myself from people who gave me occasions to eat foods I can no longer enjoy.

In short, being on a restricted diet has changed virtually all aspects of my life. By starting this blog, I hope some of my experiences can help you handle this type of massive eating change. I am slowly building an entirely new menu of dishes to cook and to eat, so stay tuned for recipes you might enjoy too.
John