u/Traditional_Fail_612

I haven’t posted before in this forum but have been lurking and getting some good tips from those of you who have shared your ideas and recipes. Hoping you can help me with my dilemma.

I am a nearly 70 year old male, very much overweight, living a sedentary lifestyle. To add to that, I am plagued by various ailments including Type 2 Diabetes, arthritis, and now atherosclerosis to name a few. All my life I have been food-centric and thrived on red meat, creamy sauces, hot sauces, and salty foods. In fact, I used to travel with my own salt grinder in my computer bag so I could over salt my food everywhere I went. At one point, I was on a quest to find the World’s best steak! I am a bonafide carnivore who used to swear by the mantra “vegetables are not food. They are what food eats.”

Not a very healthy lifestyle I know.

Fast forward to Christmas time this past year and I started getting chest pains with minimal exertion. A few trips to a cardiologist and after some testing he informs me I have 4 arteries to my heart with >70% blockage. This really should not have come as a surprise to me but quite alarming nonetheless to hear confirmed by my doctor. I was popping nitro pills each time I went upstairs or walked any kind of medium distances. I am scheduled for a heart catheterization later this month.

In the meantime, I freaked out and immediately cut out all added salts from my food and went on a fairly strict Mediterranean diet coupled with Lasix prescribed to remove excess fluids from my body. Guys, I’ve lost 35 pounds in 5 weeks and I quit having to take any nitro pills immediately after starting the diet. The chest pains (stable angina) has gone away.

So far so good, right? Now my dilemma.

While there is no doubt that the MD is providing me with great benefits, coming from my previous lifestyle as a carnivorous, salt addicted, spiceaholic, I am finding this diet too bland to sustain and am craving more flavor in my foods.

Has anyone else encountered this and what can I do to overcome? At this point, I am not sure which would be worse, dying from going back to my previous bad eating habits or dying from the boredom of eating nothing but salads, vegetables and healthy proteins that taste like cardboard. I am somewhat joking but the thought is there. I need some healthy but ZESTY options to add to my meal plan that are low calorie and MD friendly.

Thanks in advance.