I'm glad to hear there's no damage to the heart, askye!

My dad was in a support group/research program for people with heart disease after his surgery, and he was impressed by how much there seemed to be a type among them (including himself) - people who didn't like to relax and wanted to be in charge of everything. My dad channeled his Type A-ness into being very focussed on his diet and getting exercize and forcing himself to do his meditation and relaxation. I hope yours can find a way to be healthy, too.

Also, that drug coated stent thing sounds really cool.

wrod. (And I don't eat like that. Much. But people have been trying to Make it Better my whole stupid life. Hate it muchly.)

Dad likes oatmeal, so that's good.

But he really likes eggs and bacon for lunch. I'm trying really hard not to be lecture-y, but I also feel kind of pissed off at him for other things. I've always felt that Dad is extremely uncomfortable with anyone who is overweight, he's always made comments about how there shouldn't be two starchy things at dinner and that fast food is poison that he doesn't understand why anyone touches it and soda just rots your gut out.

And in our recent discussions I found out that not only does he eat deep fried greasy "home cooking" every day at lunch but he also has gone from eating 2-3 Big Kats a day to just 1.

It's a sort of headdesk situation. However, I've resolved just to cook better while I live there and hopefully when I move out he'll make some changes.

And in our recent discussions I found out that not only does he eat deep fried greasy "home cooking" every day at lunch but he also has gone from eating 2-3 Big Kats a day to just 1.

If we're talking Southern home cooking, there are some interesting options. Places that do "meat and 3 veg" will often have a "3 veg" plate; my mother-in-law sometimes orders pintos, collards, and coleslaw, for instance.

This isn't a Perfect Healthy Heart Meal, but it's a big step ahead of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

It's a sort of headdesk situation. However, I've resolved just to cook better while I live there and hopefully when I move out he'll make some changes.

I know it is frustrating, but it is not really possible to dictate behavior to adults. You can present the healthful information. You can tell him how important it is to you that he live a long and healthy life. Then you have to let him make his own decisions. Let's hope he disliked being sick enough to want to change.

Greasy, fried food, he thinks it should be okay for him to eat.

Welcome to the club -- I call it Daughters Whose Heart-Patient Fathers Are Stubborn About Their Diet.

I think we need a better name.

My dad is fond of White Castles. Sack O' ten sliders with cheese.

All but one of my dad's 7 brothers and sisters have been hospitalized (or died from, in the case of 2 brothers) for heart disease-related trauma.

True story: when my Uncle Eddie had a bypass last year, I went to visit him. His wife was there, along with my Uncle Steve and his wife. The hospital Uncle Eddie was in has a Wendy's in the lobby. Because, you know, healthy. (This is the hospital that is consistently ranked as the best heart hospital in the region -- and they have a WENDY'S in their lobby.)

So Uncle Steve and the 2 aunts go down to Wendy's to get lunch, refusing Uncle Eddie's request for a burger. They come back up to eat in the room, and start pulling food out. The aunts both got taco salads. Uncle Steve had a cheeseburger and biggie fries. I teased Uncle Steve about it, asking him when his last hospital visit was, and he just laughed and said "I haven't had a burger in 3 years!" (A line my dad uses all the time, also.)

So he finishes his cheeseburger, reaches in the Wendy's bag -- and pulls out a second cheeseburger.

The fact that they ALL haven't died from cheese-filled arteries is a freaking miracle, I tell you what.

After my FiL had his heart surgery, MiL pretty much forced him to eat healthily. And that worked fine a long as he was with her, but whenever he was on his own he'd have a steak, or maybe a rich dessert or something he shouldn't have. Not big time binges, but cheating on his diet, certainly.

Of course, after he died of malaria, MiL was full of regrets that she didn't let him eat more of the foods that he really enjoyed, since that wasn't what killed him.

You just never know, and you can't make people do what they should, even if you did know.

Welcome to the club -- I call it Daughters Whose Heart-Patient Fathers Are Stubborn About Their Diet.

Can I join this club? And then club my father who denies that his heart attack a few years ago was really a heart attack or that it had anything to do with the fact that he:
1. eats like crap
2. smokes a pack of cigs a day
3. used to WEAR A NICOTENE PATCH during the day and then SMOKE at night

Argh.

I hope he dislikes the feeling of a heart attack and the prospect of dying enough to change his habits.

This is frustrating because I've always felt unspoken disapproval over my eating habits and weight and now I find out that in some ways he's eating habits are worse than mine.

I'm trying very hard to nag and be grateful he wasn't out on one of his solo kayaking/fishing trips when this happened.

As the doctor told my mom when she tried to get my dad to quit smoking after his heart attack--"The more you mention it, the more you make it a problem he has with YOU, rather than his problem which he has to figure out for himself."