Overwhelmed...health Crisis etc....you Name It.

First sit back, take a breath, and things will get better. People think that eating healthy means chicken, fish, veggies and that's it. You can pretty much make about anything more healthy if you stop and think about it. Just change up recipes that you usually do. Instead of cooking with oil in a pan, use cooking spray like Pam. Don't use butter and salt on everything, look at the spice aisle there are a ton out there, play around a little. I use alot of garlic and herb by Mrs. Dash (it's not a strong garlic) and there's alot of others out there as well. Same with hamburger, don't use the full on fat content one, use 93/7 or 85/15. You can do any frozen veggies, you don't have to cook all fresh ones.

A favorite site of mine is allrecipes.com, if it calls for alot of unhealthy things I just change it up a bit. And of course cut out the fast food and pop, the two worse things in the world. Obviously you work, so find crockpot recipes and put it in there in the morning and there it is ready to go when you get home. Marinade's are a great thing too. Pork isn't as bad as what you think, don't get the fatty looking bone-in ones, get the boneless ones, there's different ones out there. Like I said, it's really not that hard if you just think about it.

The Mayo clinic has heart healthy recipes. Here's the link. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-healthy-recipes/RE...

Don't go nuts making changes in your diet. It's easier to stick with things if make smaller changes. I totally changed the way I eat by making one positive change every 2 weeks. After 2 weeks my one change was now a part of my usual routine and I'd add a new thing. Cholesteral went from 180 to 90 and I never felt like I was suffering because it was all small little changes.

Can I make you a drink? You sound like you need a drink... My grandmother is in Tampa, I'll have her make you something.... ;)

LORD WOMAN, BREATHE!! Just keep rolling with the punches... you're doing great so far!! When all else fails, wave your little white flag and wait for the rain to stop... there's always a rainbow in there somewhere ;)

Out of everything you just named, prioritize it. Obviously, your husband's health comes first. I truly hope he feels better soon. Have the ER doc call the insurance company (this will take forever, but it's worth it) to say they approved the RX. You'll be reimbursed, minus your deductible.

Cavities, better to get them taken care of now, then have the kids with life long dental problems! You're doing the right thing!!

Everything else... let it slide. Car's come and go (pets too, as much as I hate to say it)... the AC will get fixed before summer... in the meantime, focus on the positives... you have your family! A roof over your head! You have a car (even if it's a hunk of junk!)... Think of all the GOOD things!! There's always a silver lining, and I hope yo can focus on all of yours :)

Now, how's about that drink dear? ;)

Can I say for the cholesterol issue, oatmeal, grapefruit, and of course the foods you already mentioned.

For the rest...one issue at a time. You won't likely be chased down by dog catchers if you don't get their tags renewed right away. If they are indoor dogs and only let out when walked, I'd put that on the back burner.

The cavaties...of course you need to take care of them. But if you increase their teeth brushing, time them, have them use rinses, you could wait a couple months to do that.

The cat?? Pray LOL. I know it all sounds way overwhelming. But it sounds to me like it's all doable.

Also, don't take on your husbands care and food all on your own. If that man is not truly ready to do this for the family, you'll be beating your head against the wall trying to get him to do it. Pray he has the desire to be here for you all.

Yes!!! TONS of recipes. And all with flavor-flavor-flavor!!!

I hear ya. I'm having my own Christmas Keel Hauling as we speak. BIG hugs.
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But I'll give you a few tricks, instead of outright recipes... because change is usually easier when it's not "I HATE that!!!".

Sammies

Need to toss mayo? Mayo's primary purpose is to make sammies moist and to add a little bit of a zip.
- pesto
- red pepper pesto
- roasted red peppers (personally, I use a jar from trader joes for $2)
- tomatoes WITH pepper. It brings out the tomato flavor, and "tastes" like salt to most people
- salsa or pico de gailo (make your own with a blender or food processor on the lowest setting and pulse it... you control all the salt that goes into it)

Lower cholestrol and salt? Make your own lunch meat AND use less meat by piling on the "Umph". Turkey is my fav because it's sooooooo cheap / easy. But roast beef is another one. It's easiest to slice them thin if after you cook them, you freeze them. Not frozen solid, but just "lightly" frozen. And quite frankly... if you don't want to bake a turkey breast or low fat roast... just go with store bought sammie meat, but stick to 1 or 2 slices MAX. Fill out the rest with tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled peppers, spinach (or lettuce), tomatoes.
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I NEED MEAT!!!

This happens, period. Allow it. But alter it as much as possible.

Half the craving is usually CHEWING (so buy the more expensive bread that is all crusty when making sammies, like baguettes... and make sure to make things like burritos, tacos, toasted sammies... things that require BITES. Biting and chewing is something that feels good... and decades of chewing lots of meat grind that feeling in)...

...and the other half is craving complete proteins. Complete proteins come from VERY FEW sources. Meats, eggs, nuts, milk/dairy, and legume+grain.

I'm going to focus on the legume+grain for a minute. You know how FULL you feel after mexican food? That's the rice and beans. The rice is the grain, the beans are the legumes. You can make your husband feel STUFFED with very very healthy rice and beans in things OR ANY grain+legume. Including pita and hummus, chili and cornbread, split pea and cornbread... pick a legume+grain, andy legume+grain combo and he's going to feel sated as steak.

But when you need to add meat... try doing it in a way that makes it seem like there's more meat in there than there is. Sammies above is a good example. Burritos/tacos is another. Don't use ground anything. Use some shredded or chopped meat. One ends up eating about 1/10th the amount of meat. And make that meat flavorful. Spices. Not heat, necessarily, but spices. A MONDO burrito only need about 2 table spoons of chopped meat (spiced pork, or cuban pork, or carne asada, or grilled chicken) to get the meat fix, when it also has the grain+legume combo in it, and tomatoes, onions, peppers. Nearly no fat and button popping can't eat another bite.

((Carne asade super easy recipe = lime juice, purple onion, garlic, cillantro, pepper... marinate and broil. Cuban = 2 orange: 1 lemon : 1 lime... cups, half cups whatever... the ratio holds... + garlic + oregano. Marinate your meats, broil it up, chop, and you get away with HUGE meat flavor/fix, with very little actual meat))

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A few other Carnivore-no-notice Subs:

Need to nix bacon from any recipe (the chili reminded me of that)... try a few drops - a teaspoon of liquid smoke.

For butter... olive oil

For eggs... EGGS. Just use the meat trick and use less egg by using more of everything else. Like a 1 egg omelette (super thin) wrapped around crazy fillings... or baked jalepeno poppers

Oh yeah... baking. So you can get deep fried flavor by baking with tempura batter and panko... or just a TINY bit of olive oil and sauteeing.

Anyhow... sorry this is scattered... like I said... I've got my own xmas mayhem going on, if anything is confusing... or if you'd like more... Just PM me.

I try to use a lot of chicken breasts and beans. I grew up on dark meat (chicken thighs/drumsticks)...when I first tried switching to breasts for the health benefits...I found them terribly dry...but I find that if I put them in soups or in the crock pot...then I'm fine with it :). My husband has a congenital heart defect...so we tend to watch what we eat. We do a lot of soups...I cube up chicken breasts, saute them in a bit of olive oil, then add chicken broth, some frozen corn, beans (you can cook them yourself or get low sodium and rinse them real well), and any other vegi I have laying around. I took a nutrition class in college and when I did my diet analysis I remember being shocked at how much sodium was there...I realized that even tho' I didn't think I was eating high sodium things...any prepared foods are WAY high in sodium...like...crazy high. Chicken breasts in the crockpot are good as well (My favorite is chicken breasts in the crockpot with chopped olives, onions, and zucchini - served over polenta)...we had a family friend that had diabetes, kidney/liver problems, heart problems...you name it...it was sure an adventure finding stuff to eat when he came over! It will probably be hard at first...you'll feel like you're food is lacking (it is...it'll be lacking salt and fat)...but after awhile your body gets used to it...and you really start feeling great! I really hope things start looking up for you guys...My husband had heart surgery last year (followed with unemployment and medical bills)...and looking back I can see how it brought our family closer together. Take care!!

First of all - sit back, take a breath and be thankful for all you have. Not saying you are not but it's obvious how stressed (totally understandable!) that you are right now. Prioritize!! Can the dogs tags wait? Not trying to be mean here, but if money becomes an issue, do you have to keep the dogs? You may need to cut them out and give them to someone if your health insurance is starting to eat up more of your monthly budget.

Thankfully your hubby didn't have a heart attack but I would see what you can do to get cheaper meds! Yikes!!

Healty recipes - mostly anything with chicken, fish and/or veggies. Get some low sodium soy sauce and marinate everything in that and throw it on the grill. You can even add italian dressing to the soy sauce for a delicious marinade! Grill as much as you can since it's so low in fat and fast and doesn't require much cleanup. Make kabobs out of chicken, veggies (peppers, mushrooms, etc).

So sorry you are having to deal with this right now but thankful for you that you have your in laws!!

About your child's cavity, you said you 'failed at that too'. Do not take the blame for that. You can only do so much in reminding or even helping children brush their teeth. Some are just more prone to cavities.

Make a new years resolution to eat healthier and work out as a family (that is what we are doing!) Let your kids choose the 'exercise' once a week! Cut out soda and coffee if you can.

I wish you a Happy Christmas and less stressful New Years!!!!

All recipes has a search feature that allows you to search low sodium, low cholesterol.
http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes-Advanced.aspx

Sounds like you've had a needed wakeup call regarding the lifestyle you and your DH have maintained. He doesn't need drugs like Lipitor as cholesterol itself is not the problem and those medicines cause more problems by depleting coenzyme Q10 from the body which can over time cause muscle damage, memory loss, and heart failure. Best to cut out dairy and refined carbohydrates from his diet - actually eliminate processed foods as much as possible and cook fresh vegetables, use whole fruits, whole grains, and seafood, with some organic eggs being OK. Cut out oils except for raw virgin olive oil, coconut oil, flax seed and hemp seed oil. Use green superfoods - you can get capsules or powders of superfood supplements, that will help cleanse his arteries and balance his system. Things like wheat grass, spirulina, chlorella, kelp, sprouts, etc, help supply needed minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids. Use a little genuine sea salt instead of regular table salt. You can find plenty of vegan cookbooks that will provide recipe ideas, while having some raw salads is important and doesn't require cooking. Taking positive steps now will save time and money in the future - even kids cavities go away with a proper diet that supplies minerals and doesn't rely on processed foods - so the things burdening you currently arose from lack of awareness in the past, which you can remedy now. Be grateful that things didn't get worse than they did - you can remedy things, some people find out the damage done when it's too late.

I can only say some of these things can be taken care of slowly and others you need to work on now so decide which is the most urgent. As far as the diet for your husband I would work on one for him but FOR him as it's up to him to eat it or not and to not add to it when not home, etc. It's also up to him to exercise and not your problem if he does or doesn't. This may sound harsh but it's true and doctors have told me this in front of my husband and so you have time to work out a diet plan and then do your part and leave his part up to him.
So is it: Car
AC repair
Dentist
Animals
Diet plan
Etc. Make a list and relax until then.

I just wanted to say that I wish you lived close by. Strangers or not, I would help you in a heartbeat. You have way too much on your plate, and I certainly hope that your husband changes his lifestyle and returns to health soon, and that you are able to slow down and find some peaceful moments as well. ((hugs))

My husband has been trying to eat healthier for awhile now, and has lowered his cholesterol considerably. He makes pasta and soup every Sunday so that he can eat those for lunch throughout the week. He buys whole grain pasta (or sometimes gluten-free - long story), then adds pasta sauce from Target. He doctors it up with fresh garlic, onions, and red/green peppers or jalepenos. Sometimes he adds chicken, sometimes not. It's fantastic!

For soup, he makes several varieties. Just start with vegetable or chicken stock (he prefers veggie; I prefer chicken). Add whatever sounds good. Beans are so good for you. Black beans are great in soup, and canned work well. Our favorite soup has black beans, black-eyed peas (frozen), corn (frozen), rotel (original - the hot is too hot), diced potatoes (canned are fine), jalepenos, and for seasonings I add salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and oregano. My husband likes to add diced chicken; I prefer it without chicken. After serving, add corn chips and cheese.

Oatmeal is a great breakfast for the heart!

Good luck, and take care of yourself, too. :)

Go to Whole Foods and buy what is offered there. You can't really make a bad choice. You can control his cholestorol with diet alone. Those statin drugs cause ALS in so many people I personally know or knew. ALS is always fatal. Research it, juice, supplement, be aware, throw everything in your pantry out, nothing in a package will serve him (or you guys) well. When we switched to organic, my hubs lost 32 pounds and I lost 9 doing NOTHING else but eating organic over 9 months time. We have lived this way for over two yrs now and we love it. We are mid to uppwr 40's and see all our friends dying or being on 9 different meds. Pull up youtube videos on how to live and cook through natural means. You can get Facebook postings everyday for mind body living ideas. Find them, they are out there. Traditional drs cannot help much. Seek chiropractic care as well. They know sooo much about this issue. Good luck to your family because I am assuming you all are young and should not be dealing with this.

I'm with Casey C. sending you well wishes but I just wanted to make sure you (and Live Bold) know that you can NOT eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice while on cholesterol lowering meds.

Sending you good vibes!!

Wow! Too much, too quickly! I know you didn't ask for advice. Because I've been there I want to make a couple of suggestions, anyway. I find that making a list and then listing them in order of most important to least helps me. Yes, they're all important but some just don't have to be done right now. For example: you've been leading a sedentary lifestyle and eating in an unhealthy way. You can not change that over night. Choose one small thing, such as you've done, with buying vegetables, chicken and fish. Cook them without a lot of fat. Carrie is right. Eating healthy really is quite simple and doesn't mean you have to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

In a couple of weeks or more, after the holiday rush is over, find books to read. Look up recipes on sites such as Allrecipes. Then take your time reading and learning. It doesn't have to all be done right now. Your local hospital probably has a course in nutrition or eating for heart health. Take that course later so that you'll know whats what and won't feel so overwhelmed. For now, let go of the need to make a major adjustment to your diet.

The dogs can wait. I'm sure your in-laws will love you in a messy house. Work at letting go of perfection.

When I make a list, I can let go of remembering what I have to do. I put the tasks on my calendar, spreading them out based on their importance. The night before I look at the calendar and prepare for the next day.

Of course you're overwhelmed. Let yourself accept the feeling. Then give yourself affirmative statements to calm your self down with. For example: I can do this, one baby step at a time. Repeat as often as needed.

I think you have the perfect excuse for having a messy house and dog that has out-of-date tags. If anyone asks, you don't even have to "play it up" you really do sound frazzled, but milk the situation for all it's worth. Tell everyone that this has been too emotional and draining for you, and everyone needs to pitch in with whatever they can do. Kids can help tidy if not truly clean. Hubbie can decide what he needs to eat from now in. I would opt to go to the in-laws house and have them cook for you, do not have them at your house. Then it is time to have a good long talk with hubbie since he is a big boy and you do not have to baby him, he can decide what is best for him now. We have a grocery list on the fridge and anyone can add to it - have him add what he wants after HE talks to the doc and gets advice on how to proceed - you are not HIS mommy. You got a lot of good advice below. Mostly, just give yourself a break and realize you are doing the best you can. I am wishing you some down time and a break from the insane worry and stress you have been under. Consider yourself hugged.

T. check out the book or DVD, Forks over Knives. There is lots of great info on Dr. Oz's website. Your husband's conditions is 100 % reversible, but he is the one who has to be accountable.
If it make you feel any better, we had a much worse year. Cannot wait for 1/1/12!
Good luck and God bless.
Keep posting as you need help.

Good for you trying to learn to eat healthy when all this is happening at once.

There are some amazing books by Dr Neal Barnard, Dr Esselstyn (http://www.heartattackproof.com/) among others on reversing all of these ailments through diet.
Now, chicken is NOT a healthy alternative in protein. Chicken has the same amount of fat as cow flesh. Fish is loaded with all sorts of toxins from the sea too.
Check out the books by the people mentioned above. You'll get recipes and all sorts of suggestions. Dr Barnard has been head of Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine for something like 20 years.

Good luck!

I like to get cookbooks from the library, since I can try out a few recipes and see if they're any good. If you go to your county's library website, you can do a search for the kind of cookbooks you're looking for. I am sure there a ton of them! Then, you can place a hold and they will send the book to your library if it's at a different one. They'll just email you when it's in. Very easy and free!

I dont really have any recipes just a comment on the vcug for your little girl. If shes never had one before please please please insist that they use an infant tube for the procedure. Trust me it will be less traumatic for both of you. I hope things get easier for you & the family

I am at a loss of words right now...trying to figure out what I'd do...you have so much going on. I am just sending my "well wishes" your way and hope everything turns out for the better.