If you'd had a heart attack before the age of 50, allegedly from a bad smoking habit, and as a result of it, quit smoking, would eating the following per day be asking for trouble?

Up to 6 packets of crisps.
Maccies (usually 2 cheeseburgers, nuggets + apple pie)
or bag of chips or
portion of chicken or other meat for lunch
At least one pack of sarnies.
Up to 6 fruit pies (Mr Kiplings)
Bar of chocolate.

This is all during the working day of 9-5 (!!), so I have no idea of what else is consumed.

Surely the type of food being consumed will raise cholesterol levels, thus asking for another attack? Or do the drugs aimed to prevent another attack reduce levels so much, one can get away with eating like this?

Before anyone starts... no, this isn't about me... and yes, the person concerned is definitely overweight.

 

Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back ?

 

Sounds like someone with a deathwish .

The diet alone would be enough to kill you beofre you got to 50 never mind the already poor state of health through smoking

 

Not 'if' but 'when'. Is your friend tired of living?

Cheers
Kav

 

He drinks Diet Coke too, like that's going to make it all better...

 

Tell him to take 5 portions of fruit to work for snacking !

 

5 wheelbarrows more like.

 

are you his mother?

 

Does he have time to work while eating all that?

 

No, which does beg the question as to why I'm concerned for his welfare...

 

Smoking, from hand to mouth.
Eating, ditto.
Simple substitution?

 

Cut off his hands?

 

mmmm, aspartame....

 

Some people never learn. I once knew someone who had a stroke at the age of 32. The docs said that 97% of people who'd had that type of stroke never woke up again - and this person not only woke up, but had practically no after effects.

Prior to the stroke they smoked 30 red Malborough a day - plus regular spliffs, lived on fast food, did zero exercise and drank several beers every single night (more at weekends) and were seriously overweight. (All of which contributed to the stroke) After the stroke? They didn't change a single thing.

 

Duck,we had a news in our local paper that some lady at 39 ended up having heart attack even when she was leading very active life,regular swimmer,non-smoker,rare drinker etc. Blocked artery caused it.
However,life style plays a big part in keeping good health.That person you know needs to make revolutionary changes in his eating and leasurely activities.Or,future will bring more ill-health for him/her

 

i'd be more worried about him farting in the workplace

 

Shsssssh, otherwise, anti farting policies, anti farting coordinators, anti farting workshops.
"I will stamp out the menace of public farting" said some politician somewhere.

 

You don't have a heart attack as a result of a smoking habit - you have a heart attack because you get a build up of cholesterol in the walls of the coronary arteries, which, one day, breaks through into the inside of the arteries, blocking them and cutting off the blood flow to the heart muscles.

Smoking just contributes to the build up of cholesterol, as does the wrong sort of food, lack of exercise, stress, genetic/family background etc etc

All this person is doing is building his cholesterol back up with the food - and probably lack of exercise - so he's just asking for it to happen again. If he's lucky, he'll survive and need stents/bypass surgery, if he's unlucky it will be the Big Sleep. If he went to his rehab classes after his event, and listened, then he is a fool.

...MartinM speaks from experience of having a heart attack at 47, with stress being the main contributing factor, having never smoked in his life, only a little overweight (like most of us), having normal cholestrol, no particularly relevant family history etc etc and considers that sort of food intake to be a recipe for not seeing next Christmas...and you can tell him what I've said

 

...oh yeah, he's probaly taking a statin to keep his cholestrol low (and a few other things as well) , but that's zero excuse to eat like that.

 

I remember something about 60% of crisps consumed in Europe being in the UK. Snack foods in general, I believe the UK is massive in consumption compared with the rest of Europe.
Why?

 

Cos that fella lives here !

Must admint to being partial to a bag of crisps but I am weaning myself off them by taking unsalted nuts, seeds and dried fruit instead, few thrown in a Yoghurt is lovely, also take fruit, Tomatoes and in six weeks of working at my new place I have only secumbed to the little shop thing twice for a bag of crisps and a chccy bar, second time being today.

Guy I work with eats 2, 3 or even 4 full sized bars of chocolate a day, white bread processed butty, Muller Corner and a gallon of full sugar Fanta, its not a treat if you do it all day !

My theory is that if eat eat carrot sticks, pumpkin seeds, grapes, apples and bananas during the day I can have the odd treat and not suffer.

It is amazing what becomes normal for people to consume, lady at work has two white bread processed egg buttys every day, she cant have had a poo this year !

 

He should be prescribed Statins to reduce his cholesterol count and it is vital to take them. However they won't necessarily protect him from a bad diet. His heart will have been damaged during the heart attack too.

Les

 

How does stress affect your chances of a heart attack? I know people say it does but is there any truth in it?

 

It increases your blood pressure, putting more cumulative strain on your heart.

Iwan
(Who has just been started on ACE inhibitors this week at age 32 to reduce high BP brought on by stress and lack of fitness ).

 

MartinM's post is spot on.

When I was 35, two years ago, I had a heart attack.

I was a couple of stone over my ideal weight, didn't do much exercise and had loads of stress.

But, I didn't smoke, my cholestoral was OK and I didn't have any family history.

I'm now my ideal weight, eat a healthy diet, exercise at the gym and mountain bike and take a bucket full of tablets a day.

I can't believe how people go through a heart attack experience and then still lead an unhealthy life style. It scared the crap out of me.

And a thought for the smokers, my rehabilitation group had 45 members who had all suffered MI's/Strokes/Bypass ops etc and I was the only one who had not smoked.

Cheers
Lee

 

Thanks folks (seriously) I just got worried enough to start the regime I've been promising myself after reading this thread.

39, already had time off work for stress, little to no exercise, snack like buggery, and am 2 stone overweight.

Where's the bike?

 

This thread is scary.

 

Yep, you are all going to die !

 

Good question!

Heart attacks are usually the result of coronary arteries being narrowed by a gradual build up of fatty material ('atheroma') in the walls. The walls of the arteries can then crack, and blood platelets become attracted to the damaged areas, clot, and block the arteries. The heart muscle then stops receiving its blood supply, so slows down and/or stops. This is a heart attack.

My cardiac consultant gave me an analogy - imagine a slightly rusty pipe that you paint with Hammerite. At first it seems fine, but after a few years the rust, which has been building up un-noticed, eventually pushes so hard on the Hammerite that it splits it and leaks out. Imagine this 'inside-out' ie the rust breaks through on the inside, and as the coronary arteries are so small, they get blocked.

The major risk factors that lead to excess atheroma in the coronary arteries, which therefore increase the chance of a heart attack are:
- family history
- smoking
- high blood pressure
- high blood cholesterol
- physical inactivity
- being diabetic

Other lifestyle factors also play a part:
- drinking
- too much salt
- being overweight/obese
- being physically or emotionally stressed

I *think* stress is some way down the list of contributing factors, and while it doesn't directly lead to coronary arteries cracking, it is generally considered that someone under a lot of stress will have a lifestyle that makes them more susceptible to atheroma build-up.

In my case, stress was the first (and probably only) risk factor that I could identify with....

...sleep tight

 

What MartinM says is correct. I was lucky enough to be diagnosed before I had a heart attack. I was getting angina pains and was found to have partial blockages in three coronary arteries. I had a quad bypass, they did the fourth artery for luck, and I have now got a blood pressure of 115/79 and cholesterol level of 3.5. I am now down to a good weight too.

If you do have an attack the area of the heart fed by that artery will be irreversably damaged. So its a good thing to avoid at all costs!

The operation feels as though it takes 10 years off your age. Afterwards that is.

Les