Kevin Smith recovering from massive heart attack (1 Viewer)

[Wayne_j]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/26/entertainment/kevin-smith-heart-attack/index.html

(CNN)Kevin Smith says he's lucky to be alive right now.
The director tweeted a selfie in a hospital gown late Sunday night, saying he had suffered a major health crisis.
"After the first show this evening, I had a massive heart attack," he wrote. "The Doctor who saved my life told me I had 100% blockage of my LAD artery (aka "the Widow-Maker").


The "Jay and Silent Bob" star added that if he "hadn't canceled show 2 to go to the hospital," he would have died.
"But for now, I'm still above ground!"

 

[TravisR]

When I look back on my high school and college years, I remember how much time me and my friends spent being entertained by Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy so I'm gonna love that guy forever. To say nothing of his other movies and free podcasts and comic books and TV shows. Best of luck and stay healthy, Kevin!

 

[Walter Kittel]

Pretty much what Travis said. Kevin Smith has brought me a lot of entertainment over the years and I wish him well.

- Walter.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Besides his movies, I felt like I got my San Diego Comicon badge's worth of value from just his Saturday night panel in Hall H (and this was probably in 2013, my last year I made that trip to pop cultural mecca). The guy's ernestness is very winning. Hope he makes a speedy recovery.

On his facebook photo/post he made this morning about his situation, an odd thing happened that could have been a discussion amongst his characters in his movies, but Kevin suggest he'll have to look into a vegan diet after this heart attack, and one of his fan offered that the switch to a vegan diet helped him lose a lot of weight and get healthier. Count to 3, and the anti-vegan posts came out of the wood works. It was rather comical if you took a macroscopic view of the thread.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

My two cents... and hopefully I don’t inadvertently offend anyone.

There’s plenty of lean protein to be found in vegetarian and vegan diets, as well as traditional animal-based diets (avoiding saturated fat-filled steaks, of course). Vegetarian diets can be surprisingly high in natural carbs, though, which he’ll need to avoid for awhile since that can cause unwanted weight gain (or a frustrating “plateau”). Focusing on protein first should help with calorie loads and satiety. When the weight comes off, adding back more complex carbs will allow sustainable dietary maintenance.

But first and foremost, he’ll need a therapeutic lifestyle change, not another crash diet. With portion control dictated not by some nut’s book, or somebody yelling, or a deck of flash cards, but by mindful awareness and knowledge of nutrition and hormonal balance. So when temptation comes, a better choice can be made in that moment instead of the old, blissfully zombie-like nom-nom.

Part of that kind of permanent change is learning to replace flawed, calorie-based reward systems with more meaningful ones. What kid hasn’t been rewarded with food instead of actual, character-building praise? How many of us have trudged through life with low self-esteem and turned to food for a drug fix? How many of us sexualize food?

Think it’s easy undoing that? It’s not... but like any noble endeavor, it is worth the effort you put in. If you can get in touch with yourself, you can discover which rewards fill your heart that do not also involve calories (or cash).

Veganism is admirable, and extremely healthy, but requires unlearning a lifetime of believing an almost completely opposing philosophy (thus the arguments). That process alone could take years, but it sounds like he may be on the right path. I wish him well.

Oh, and exercise!

Speaking from experience, it’s shocking the benefits that it brings. Besides the obvious pluses (stronger heart, better sense of well-being), a modest increase in muscle mass improves resting metabolism. I’ve personally found that physical gains dissuade me from choosing food poorly and sabotaging all that hard work.

Full-disclosure: Type 1 diabetic. Currently neither vegan nor vegetarian, but slowly giving up most animal proteins and fat just because it makes sense to me now. Watching my health and blood-work turn completely around for the better as a direct result. Able to run half-marathons now at 50+ whereas before, I couldn’t huff my weak butt down a short street at half that age.

 

[Sam Posten]

Very concerned about this, and am glad to hear he is doing ok. @Vincent_P has been in touch with him via text the last day or two. Vincent, if you read this, please send the best wishes from all of us at HTF!

 

[TravisR]

Kevin posted a nearly 20 minute video on Facebook today and he was sitting up in a chair, was in good spirits and said he felt good. He said he was already going home today too. I'm no doctor but that seems like all good news.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I do everything the doctors tell you to do, and I still have high cholesterol. Lifestyle choices can definitely move the needle, but if you have bad genes for heart disease, you have bad genes for heart disease.

Glad he listened to his body and went to the hospital, and glad he was performing in a major metro area with decent heart surgeons.