“For Super Bowl 2025 it was wings, ribs and nachos topped with a hearty helping of ground beef; next week for Super Bowl 2026 it will be turkey chili!” declares South Leasider Todd Godin.
His about-face isn’t just culinary but also lifestyle based. And that is all on account of the massive heart attack he experienced just nine months ago. “I have learned a lot since last May, and one thing is that low sodium and low-fat dishes score high in taste and heart health.”
The chest pains he experienced that Friday night nine months ago changed his life but could just as easily have ended it. And while the pangs were intense, he didn’t even realize he was having a heart attack. After all, he was fit, didn’t smoke and never missed his annual physical. It was his partner Gieselle who recognized the signs and called 911.
“The paramedics calmly told me I was having a heart attack, to which I said, ‘No I’m not!’” “I expected them to administer some sort of complex antidote but to my surprise they gave me two aspirins!” They swiftly got Todd to Sunnybrook where the medical team quickly prepped him for surgery. “It was 20 minutes from calling 911 to being on the operating table – a mild miracle,” says Todd. The two-hour surgery that placed a stent in one of his arteries was through his wrist using a technique called the trans-radial approach.
Todd was fortunate to live so close to Sunnybrook and to have been brought in when a cardiac surgeon was available in emergency, not to mention to have a partner who made the right call. The cause of the heart attack was unfortunate – a fluke even – and one that no doctor could foresee: the collapse of plaque that had built up in one of his arteries, which then clumped and blocked 90 per cent of the blood flow.
Todd’s recent retirement has been a big help. “It means I have time in the day to meal plan and prep as well as work out; I can also research heart-smart recipes on websites such as www.heartandstroke.ca,” Todd explains.
“Neighbours have been great and very supportive – they invite me to dinner and inevitably ask ‘can you eat this?’ to which I say yes!” Having had a heart attack doesn’t necessarily prevent me from eating what I like; it has, however, made me aware of what I should avoid and what I need to promote.”
The turkey chili is a case in point. He eliminates salt and ground beef. His use of chili powder, cumin, oregano and garlic gives it all the taste you’d expect from the dish and his substitution of ground turkey for beef means it is flavourful and loaded with “good” protein. The chili I sampled was made with fresh lean ground turkey bought from a farm in Keene, a small town south of Peterborough, but you can find ground turkey in any supermarket.
The last nine months for Todd have been instructive, to say the least. Two takeaways? “It’s easy to substitute ingredients – turkey for beef, for example – in a favourite recipe, which totally changes what you put inside yourself, and another thing? Carry two aspirins with you at all times; I don’t leave home without them.”
This year’s Super Bowl promises to be super in more ways than one.
To get the full Turkey Chili recipe with nutritionals visit the Heart and Stroke webpage here.
