Food glorious food!  The good ol’ slogan from “Oliver Twist‘.  And here’s a little clip to remind you about the struggles 🙂

Well, food is obviously very important for us all, and it helps us get stronger, but can also fight against us.  Too much of one kind can negatively impact you, and overindulgence of other foods can result in obesity.

The challenge for me is that I love to cook food, love to try different foods and love to have nice food with the family.  I do want to inform you that my heart failure was not a result of poor lifestyle, and the cardio cath confirmed this.  The heart was fine 🙂

My biggest challenges, in regards to food, were too large portions and probably too much red meat.  But the biggest killer for me appears to have been sodium intake.

Everybody eats salt.  If you look at your daily salt intake, it will scare you.  It scared me.

We eat salt with everything, it’s in everything and we sprinkle most foods with salt during cooking and while eating.  It may not be large quantities at each meal, but it all adds up.

My dietician visited me a few days after I was discharged, and she gave me another grim verdict.  I had to change my lifestyle by eating no or little salt, not exceeding 2000mg daily. Eat loads of vegetables, no processed food, no red meat, no pork, no caffeine, no sugars, no bread, no bacon … yes, no bacon!  Do you know how hard that is for a Danish guy?

I just stared in despair out the window as she went on with all the stuff I could no longer enjoy.  It was a death sentence.  She might as well put me in the ground now.  How could I leave like a semi-vegan?  She took away all the fun foods.

But, I was determined to change and beat this and committed to the new lifestyle. So, my journey began and I have to admit, it works.

I lost 45lbs (20.5kg) in three months, and feel great.  I only have to drop another 3lbs to reach the goal my dietician gave me.  And of course, I’ll share my food plans, food advice, and tips on this site.  Just give me some time.

The advice from me, free of charge, listen to the doctors and change your lifestyle.  They know what’s best for you and it will help you.  This comes from a guy who loves food and can validate that there are plenty of fantastic food on the other side 🙂