How about Some Heart Healthy Recipes!

Founding a great web site for my appetite & heart!  Eating Well, has a lot of great stuff to put in your mouth!  My wife & I both like salmon & I found this interesting recipe for salmon! 

Grilled Salmon Soft Tacos

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon ancho or New Mexico chile powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 4-ounce wild salmon fillets, about 1-inch thick, skin on
• 8 6-inch corn or flour tortillas, warmed
• Cabbage Slaw, (recipe follows)
• Citrus Salsa, (recipe follows)
• Cilantro Crema, (recipe follows)

Preparation

1. Preheat grill to medium-high.
2. Combine oil, chile powder, lime juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the spice mixture liberally over salmon. Grill the salmon, skin-side down, until it is just cooked through, about 8 minutes. Cut each fillet lengthwise into 2 pieces and remove the skin.
3. To serve, place 2 tortillas on each plate. Evenly divide the fish, Cabbage Slaw, Citrus Salsa and Cilantro Crema among the tortillas.

Nutrition

Per serving: 567 calories; 30 g fat ( 6 g sat , 17 g mono ); 83 mg cholesterol; 45 g carbohydrates; 32 g protein; 9 g fiber; 481 mg sodium; 1151 mg potassium.
Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (170% daily value), Selenium (74% dv), Potassium (33% dv), Folate (23% dv), Calcium (15% dv), excellent source of omega-3s.
Carbohydrate Servings: 2 1/2

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READER'S COMMENT:

"Fantastic! Made these tonight and my hubby raved. Made all the accompaniments and enjoyed them as well. We eat salmon once a week and am always looking for new recipes, I will definitely be making this again. "

It even looks good - SEE BELOW!

The plan is to give it a try this week!

Another "Heart" Blog

The stories about heart patients & their battles are inspirational!  I found "My Mended Heart" today and found the story VERY inspiring!  Gena Ramsey has a story to tell!  Her story is VERY different then my story & truly amazing!    Here is a little segment from her profile:

I have Ventricular Septal Defect with Situs Inveris, which is the short of it. I had the Fontan procedure in 1992, stent placement in 2001, Pacemaker placement in 2002, AV Valve replacement in 2009, and the Maze procedure in 2010. So, here’s my story... even when it is really hard my life is worth fighting for everyday.

 She has had over 30 surgeries!  Three of them Open Heart!  I HAD ONE!  Gena, "You are amazing"

More on Heat & Heart Patients

Since we are still in the "hot streak", I thought I would continue my research on heat & heart patients!  It is crazy hot out there!  I just finished walking the dog around the block at 10 PM & it was still very hot & humid outside!

This article, "Caution! Summer Heat Can Be Harmful for Heart Patients", again stresses some main points for heart patients.

In order to stay healthy in hot weather, people with heart disease should:

• Stay inside during the hottest part of the day;
  
• Try to stay in an air conditioned environment;
  
• Limit strenuous outdoor activities;
  
• Wear loose-fitting, light clothing;
  
• Stay hydrated and avoid caffeine and alcohol; and,
  
• Carry a cell phone and call for help immediately if stranded in the heat. 

A lot of this is common sense, but for people like me that forgets that I had issues - A GOOD REMINDER!  Also, this article stressed the medications that people take, with a focus on beta-blockers!

He adds that some medications taken by heart patients could also cause problems in extreme heat. "Beta-blockers, which are commonly prescribed to people with heart conditions, can prevent the heart from beating as rapidly as it needs to during hot weather, thereby limiting the body's ability to cool down," he says.
 
In my case, because of the meds, my heart cannot work as hard to cool me down.  And with my PVC's, the blood also will have trouble circulating throughout my body.  So, I did a lot of inside work & did not do my outdoor exercise routine.

Extreme Heat & Heart Issues

With this heat wave I thought I would research heat & the problems for people with heart issues.  I found some interesting things:


This article, Heat Waves and Heart Disease, deals with many issues, what caught my eye was the connection to medications I am taking!

Unfortunately, the drugs that are often used in treating heart disease can make it more difficult for your body to dissipate excess heat when temperatures are very high, and thus, may make heat illness more likely. Almost any cardiovascular medication can make you more prone to heat illness, but this is especially true with beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, and diuretics.

 Of course, I take a bunch of these and need to be aware of the heat when I do my workouts!

Found another good article that focused of beta-blockers:
Medications and Summertime Heat

Beta blockers are used to regulate high blood pressure by keeping the heart rate low. These drugs don't allow the small blood vessels in the skin to dilate. That reduces blood
flow to the skin  and impedes sweat production and causes the body temperature
to rise.

The human body needs to respond to heat stress by elevating heart rate and dissipating the heat. Beta blockers work against that system and predispose people working in heat to heat-related emergencies. Diuretics and calcium channel blockers have similar effects by working against the body's protective systems.

 The fact that the beta-blockers "impede sweat production" is NOT GOOD.

Therefore, I need to be very careful on the hot & humid days!  I will either skip my workout or get started earlier.

Sunday, Family & Heart Healing

More time to heal a heart!  Back in December I had a lot of reasons to repair the old heart & recover!  Of course one BIG reason is family!  Sue & I are blessed with two great sons - Jared & Josh.  Both also have great women in their lives & Jared, the oldest, had his new wife at our house, for the past two weekends!  To make a long story short, here we go:

Jared is in his 10th year in the army!  The first time in Iraq, the driver of his tank was from the Philippines & they were a great team!  His driver, invited him to vacation in the Philippines.  Jared vacationed there three or four times, met a great lady from the Philippines, fell in love, got married in Austrailia this spring, and will be getting married here November 11, 2011!  She is an awesome lady!

As many of us do at this age & in retirement, we want to spend time with the family!  Before & after the surgery, a lot of my focus was on my great wife & sons.  Recovering & spending time with the family!  It was a great reason to have the surgery & recover from the surgery!

So, a great weekend with my older boy Jared and wife, and the next two days in Ocean City, Maryland with my younger son Josh & his future wife!  Great STUFF!