Diet and Fitness Plan to Follow Post Cardiac Bypass Surgery

Cardiac bypass surgery is commonly known as open heart surgery and according to medical terms it’s called as Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG). This surgery involves the sternum and the heart completely opened up to conclude the correction procedure. The procedure takes 3-4 hours to complete and might sound scary, however it is progressively common these days with such surge in obesity and cardiovascular diseases globally. The recovering procedure of CABG generally takes 6-12 weeks or 4 months before declaring the patient fit to get back to his normal routines. However, doctors and experts clearly mention that CABG or cardiac bypass surgery isn’t a cure for the patient’s heart disease which makes it very crucial to adopt healthy lifestyle that includes healthy diet and proper fitness plan along with prescribed medication by the doctors post the surgery to minimize the risk of getting heart problems in future. Diet and fitness plan to follow post cardiac bypass surgery are as follows:

Healthy Diet Plan

A part of healthy lifestyle changes, after having CABG is healthy diet. Diet plays a great role for your overall health regulation. Unhealthy diet can increase the risk of developing heart diseases and clogged arteries, even after the bypass surgery. Before hitting the complete list of healthy food and habits to include in diet for healthy heart down the road in future, lets take a quick look on the foods to completely avoid forever after open heart surgery.

• Meat pies
• High fat meat, sausages
• Butter, ghee, cream
• Refined oil, deep fried foods, 
• High calorie foods such as pasta, burgers, takeaway pizza, soda
• Cakes, cookies, donuts, croissants, biscuits, ice cream, milk chocolates
• High fat dairy foods
• Salts and sodium to avoid water retention in body and blood vessels
• High sugar content foods

A healthy diet with heart nourishing nutrients such antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids and dietary fiber helps in keeping your heart disease free in the long run. Here is the diet plan to follow post cardiac bypass surgery:

• Wholegrains such as wholegrain breads, crackers, brown rice, quinoa, rolled oatmeal, whole meal pasta, barley, lentils, ragi
• Lean meat for protein or meat alternatives such as tofu, egg white, legumes, nuts, lentils and sprouts.
• Fish for healthy fats especially omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for heart health. Salmon, tuna, mackerel, lake trout, sardines are some healthy fat loaded fishes to add in your diet twice a week.
• Nuts and seeds such as sunflower seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, almonds are great source of monounsaturated fats and omega 6 and omega 3 polyunsaturated fats. Nuts and seeds are loaded with vitamins, minerals including magnesium and vitamin E that are beneficial for heart health.
• Fruits are great source of vitamins and minerals that boost heart health and can be easily incorporated in your regular diet. Moreover, fruits can also help in reducing weight in the long run to avoid obesity and high blood pressure to keep your heart active.
• Berries such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries are fully enriched with important nutrients that play a crucial role in heart health. Berries are filled with antioxidants especially anthocyanins that are as protective against oxidative stress and inflammation that contribute in development of heart diseases.
• Vegetables such as spinach, kale, and gourd veggies are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are proven superfoods for healthy heart. Veggies rich in vitamin K help protecting arteries from clogging and promote healthy blood clotting. Veggies are also rich in dietary nitrates that are known to minimize blood pressure, arterial stiffness improving the function of cell lining of the blood vessels.

Fitness Plan

After coronary artery bypass graft, doctors usually restrict unnecessary body movements for the patients. It takes the patient complete 3-4 months to heal and recover from the surgery and the post traumatic symptoms. However, soon after the discharge of the patient in the initial months of recovery, the experts allow few common activities to carry on with a limited time, effort and weight, such as driving, few easy household chores such as dusting, washing dishes, cooking, rearranging stuffs and flowers which takes less effort and gardening that involves watering plants, weeding, pruning and trimming. 

Once the patient is fully recovered, they are advised to get active and involved in a proper fitness plan post their cardiac bypass surgery. According to the advice and guidance by the doctors, a recovered patient should do at least 160 minutes (2 hours 40 minutes) of moderate intensity of aerobic workouts every week. Moderate-intensity workouts are strenuous enough to leave you a little breathless. Some of the workouts in moderate intensity aerobic are:

• Fast walking outdoors
• Walk on treadmills
• Double tennis
• Pushing lawn mower
• Cycling 
• Badminton
• Hiking
• Power yoga or vinyasa yoga that focus on building strength and burning calories

You can also opt for high intensity cardio exercises under the strict guidelines of your doctor or physician that would help you losing extra weight for overall healthy lifestyle.

Do’s and Don’ts Activities

• Do consume 4 liters of water every day because staying properly hydrated helps your heart to do its job well. Even drinking a glass of water before going to bed can also reduce the risk of getting heart attacks.
• Do exercise regularly for 15 minutes every day. Sweating a little can be very helpful to keep your heart active.
• Do sleep well because ample sleep reduces stress levels that contributes in developing obesity, hypertension and heart diseases. Sleep deprivation also increases the risk of getting heart attacks.
• Don’t climb steps and stairs unless your doctor advises you to do so.
• Don’t add too much sugar and salt to your diet because that contributes in developing water retention, inflammation in your body leading to heart diseases.
• Don’t be a smoker when you’ve a bypass surgery history, it only worsens your heart and blood vessels condition. 
• Do consume alcohol in moderation because wine is proven as beneficial for heart health. But too much consumption of alcohol can be harmful for heart health and other body organs.
• Do not lead a sedentary lifestyle because being active and engaging in physical activities helps keeping your heart active and disease free.