I’ve always liked cooking, but we used to eat crap a lot — like buttery mashed potatoes, and creamy sauces and rich desserts. Then, my husband had a heart attack at age 38, and it was a terrifying wake-up call! Not wanting to leave our children fatherless, we knew we had to make a major change. Following his heart attack, we needed to cut sodium, sugar, saturated fats (you know, most of our favorite foods!)
These new dietary restrictions could’ve been extremely depressing, but it was literally a life-or-death choice. I’ve always thrived on novelty, so I asked my husband to get me The American Heart Association Cookbook for Christmas, and I promptly began cooking my way through it, one recipe at a time! Now I’m almost done with it, and I’ve learned a lot about how to health-ify our family’s favorite foods in the process.
My Food Philosophy
Food should taste good, and it’s very important to enjoy the food you’re eating. Sticking to a heart-healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to be depressing or complicated, and it shouldn’t be about deprivation. You don’t need to eat weird “health” foods, and you don’t need to cut out entire food groups. We still eat all our favorite foods, and we still have dessert most nights. That’s a point I really want to drive home: Being healthy isn’t about sadness and deprivation.
Cooking dinner at home every night is very important for good health, but cooking dinner at home every night doesn’t need to be a big, time-consuming hassle. I have two small children, and my life is extremely hectic. People ask me all the time, “How do you do this? Every night?” and I want you to know that this isn’t that hard. I don’t spend a tremendous amount of time and effort cooking dinner every night, and much of what I cook can be thrown together quickly. This is just what I eat on a daily basis, and it’s entirely do-able.
(Another key point: Cooking dinner at home every night is far less expensive than ordering takeout all the time.)
Why I Made This Blog
People ask me for recipes that don’t exist anywhere but inside my own head. I log everything in the LoseIt app, but this is more share-able. I like keeping a record of meals I’ve eaten and enjoyed.
If you’re trying to eat a more heart-healthy diet, if you’ve recently been diagnosed with heart disease and are feeling depressed about all your new dietary restrictions, if you feel like your life is too hectic for cooking-at-home to be a realistic option for you, then I hope my blog will help!
I’m still learning a lot about heart-healthy eating and cooking, and I invite you to come along on the journey with me!
More About Emily
I was born and raised in Connecticut, and currently live on the CT shoreline with my aforementioned husband, two kids almost 4 and 6 (how did that happen so quickly?) and my magnificent cat, Isaac.
Behold!
