Q: My 54 years old uncle weighs 60 kg and is 160 cm tall. He has undergone a bypass surgery a month back. Please suggest a diet chart for him. Could you let us know the do's and don'ts for him to lead a normal life?

A:Since your uncle has an ideal body weight according to his height, he is advised to have normal balanced diet. His diet should contain complex carbohydrates like oats, brown rice, barley, whole wheat, bajra and jawar. He is advised to have proteins in every meal for e.g. lean meat, egg whites, dairy products (made from low fat milk), fish, soya, whole grain and pulses. Being diabetic, he should avoid simple sugar, desserts, puddings and fruit juices. Oil intake should not exceed 1 to 2 teaspoon full in a day. He should consume lots of salads and include more of fruits (exclude high carb fruits) and steamed vegetables in diet. He should drink plenty of water (if he is not in heart failure – Please check with y our cardiologist) and try to be physically active. His diet should be: Early morning:

• Tea with 2 Marrie or cream cracker biscuits

Breakfast:

• Oats with milk (1 cup/muesli/wheat flakes)
• 1 egg white, 2 slice of brown or whole wheat bread

Mid morning:

• 2 permitted fruits (150 grams) / lemon water / tender coconut water

Lunch:

• 2 Chapattis with one small bowl boiled rice with a bowl of cooked seasonal vegetable, curd, salad
• or 3 Chapattis with 1 medium bowl boiled Dal/Chicken/Fish with a bowl of cooked seasonal vegetable, curd, salad

Evening tea: Tea + 2 biscuits Dinner: Same as lunch Post dinner: 1 cup fat free milk For most of Do’s and Don’ts, one has to use basic common sense. He should do any and every activity that he is comfortable with and any activity that brings exhaustion, breathlessness or chest pain should be avoided, till such time the wounds are healed and sternum is totally united. For first 6-12 weeks after surgery, driving and lifting of heavy weights should be avoided. Thereafter all kinds of physical activities can be resumed. One should keep the weight under check and avoid potbelly or visceral obesity. Transcendental meditation and Yoga plays a singular role in stress relief and should be engaged in. The diet should be taken care of and all the known risk factors like increased body weight, blood pressure, diabetes etc should be attended to. Smoking is a big ‘No’. One can take up to 30-60ml of alcohol per day but is not recommended as a preventive measure. It is just that in case, you are used to taking alcohol, then you can safely take up to that level.