In my last letter I talked about sudden death because of heart attack and how I almost died while doing a Jive. If you would recall my rather unusual back pain and how I underwent bypass surgery (letter #29), I want to tell you what happened after that! You have heard it all. You must change your life style. A good Diet and Exercise, if you are at risk for heart attack. Even being a doctor myself I have been telling this to my patients for last 30 years, but low and behold, did I know what I was talking about? I will honestly say NO. As I left the hospital after bypass surgery 6 years ago, my dancing buddy, Tom called me and told me Max! You come to Studio as soon as you can, I want to talk to you. I thought, that was nice but I really didn't understand what is it he would tell me. He was sincere and told me that he had heart problems himself and if he wasn't smart he would wouldn't be here today, dancing. He said Doctors don't tell you all that and Dietitians are ignorant. I kind of smiled in my heart and said what a "smartass." (oops, sorry). During this time I was eating refined meats, chicken, Ice cream, cheese and of course vegetables, all the good things. This was the same type of diet they were feeding me at the hospital. As I was confronted by Tom, the first thing he asked me was ...how many grams of fat I am eating in a day?..I was dumbfounded and I thought what is he talking about? I didn't know if anybody counts grams and I told him I was really eating healthy. He insisted on How many Grams of Fat?. I was a little annoyed but he was quite insistent and after a brief argument he said "Max, if you really want my advise, don't eat more than 20 Grams of fat a day." His wife was also insistent and told me that doctors and nurses and dietitians don't tell you that, neither they know. Tom and Nancy had learned it the hard way, by personal experience. Next day I was talking to my son Arif, who is an orthopedic resident at University of Chicago and he asked me the same question "Dad how many Grams of Fat?..I have had it with these guys and thought they were cynical. Low and Behold (again), I was really stupid to question their interrogations. I don't want to beleaguer that too much, but let me tell you, that the only way to clean up your coronary arteries is Low Fat Diet. All right we can't get into the details at this time. The holiday season is here and one of my dancing friends Susan told me, "Max, let's talk this over after the holidays." OK..Let's make a deal, You think about Fat Grams and how to count them and come with an estimate of how many grams of Fat you are ingesting in a day. I am serious and I am not just saying it as a doctor but I can almost guarantee if people could change their diets, they will not get a heart attack or stroke. This is common knowledge but very poorly understood. In next few letters we will talk what is a good diet. Yes, It is low fat but I will give you nitty gritty what that means and how to do it. Those of you who are serious about it please get a book from the store or library and start studying, basically how to count grams of fat. Best wishes... Max Questions and comments to Dancemax@aol.com, thank you.