“I almost died of a ‘widower’s’ heart attack. As a chef, I had to change my approach to food.”

Chef Sat Bains has always known how important it is to stay fit and eat healthily, especially considering the health problems that people of his ethnicity are prone to. As a Punjabi of Indian descent and a man in his 50s, Bains knew he had all the hallmarks of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes.

Therefore, the priority has always been to take care of his health. Bains, whose restaurant in Nottingham boasts two Michelin stars, tells Yahoo UK he has been training since he was 15, from weightlifting to martial arts.

So it came as a complete surprise when he suffered a massive “widowmaker” heart attack in 2021 that almost killed him. Bains said he first felt chest pain while exercising with a personal trainer, but dismissed it as a muscle strain.

But when the pain spread to his jaw and eye socket and he felt short of breath while walking with his wife, Amanda, in the park, Bains realized something was wrong – they called 111. On his fitness tracker, his heart rate appeared to be “all over the place.” “.

An angiogram showed he had a large blood clot in his left artery. “There was a narrowing of the artery that had probably been going on for some time, and as a result, the blood being pushed through it caused it to rupture and eventually form a clot,” Bains explains. “I came very, very close to dying from a heart attack and didn’t even know it.”

A widow’s heart attack is known as such because it can have serious consequences. This is caused by a complete blockage of the left anterior descending artery (LAD), which transports large amounts of blood to the heart. If blocked, the heart can quickly run out of oxygen and stop beating.

Bains was put on medication and later underwent triple heart bypass. He ended up in the hospital for almost two weeks, and recovery took about six months. “For several months I was very short of breath and very weak, I felt dizzy all the time. I couldn’t even walk 10 meters.”

He credits his initial level of fitness with helping him recover from the attack. However, Bains has also come to terms with the fact that he must now take care of his health in various ways to avoid another heart attack.

He began learning about nutrition from his friend and nutritional scientist, Dr. Neil Williams, to learn what foods could help him manage his cholesterol levels and heart health. Before the attack, Bains was on a high-fat, low-carb keto diet.

“I ate a lot of fat, so that probably didn’t help,” he reflects. “Since then, I have learned and understood Neil’s philosophy of eating a wide range of biodiverse vegetables, fruits, nuts, meat and fish.”

Bains began creating recipes on his own, using his newfound knowledge, and thus published his and Neil’s collaborative cookbook, Eat Your Filled.

“I am by no means a health expert, but I can talk about my journey and talk about the ingredients I choose and Neil will explain all the benefits that come with them,” he says of the cookbook.

“As a chef, I can tell you how to make them delicious. I think that’s what most people are afraid of the most at home and that’s why they don’t cook, everything is pre-processed these days and that’s where a lot of our problems come from.”

The chef’s observations about people finding it difficult to give up their favorite foods in favor of a heart-healthy diet because they fear losing taste were echoed by Jeremy Clarkson, who recently suffered from heart problems caused by blocked arteries.

In a recent article in The Sun, the Top Gear star said she had to “completely cut out everything I like” to lower her cholesterol levels, including “bacon, sausages, beef, lamb, pork, butter, chops, proper milk, chocolate bars fruit and nut Cadbury and an interesting piece in the egg.

But this it doesn’t have to be this way– emphasizes Bains. His recipes include dishes such as chicken meatballs, butter beans and lemon, and lamb chops with harissa – meals full of flavor and vitality.

Bains prioritized available ingredients, saying: “There’s nothing there that would make people think, ‘Oh, it’s won a whole Michelin star’,” so anyone can buy them at the supermarket or from local butchers and fishmongers.

“My main advice is to always choose wholesome food,” she adds. “Choose really good dairy products and oils, i.e. ingredients that you cook from scratch. Try to eliminate as many processed foods as possible, stay away from anything with labels such as “diet”, “light”, “sugar-free”, “fat-free” – many of these products are ultra-processed.

“We need to get back to the basics of nutrition. That is the whole journey of this book, and it is an ongoing process.”

Sat Bains and Dr. Neil Williams’ cookbook Eat to Your Heart reads can be ordered on Amazon.

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