congrats on the grandson! usually pain that coincides with when you eat is not typically from the heart, however eating a lot of fatty foods and smoking is in itself an increased risk for the heart (as are age, sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, diabetes...). pain from the heart is typically worse with any kind of excercise and exertion and gets better with rest. it can come with shortness of breath, sweating and nausea, it can be in the middle of your chest or on the left side, and the pain can radiate to both arms or towards your jaw. it is often a pressure-like pain, or felt as heaviness or tightness, it s usually not stabbing or pinprick like. in people with diabetes or in the elderly among others this is not always true and there can be a heart problem even without any pain, and there are people who don t experience heart pain in the classical way described. i think it s great that you want to change your lifestyle/eating habits, and what i can recommend is: -as far as oils - olive oils are better than corn oils -avoid corn syrup - look at the labels of food, corn syrup is EVERYWHERE (it s a cheap sweetener, with no nutrional value other than calories)- even where you wouldn t expect it (what business does corn syrup have in chocolate? - you ll never find corn syrup in Swiss or German chocolate!) -anything with UNsaturated fats, omega 3 and omega 6 fats is good -look for SMART BALANCE BUTTERy spread in your supermarket which has been proven to lower bad fats and cholesterol. -saturated fats and trans fats are not good -in general small amounts of cholesterol or fats are not bad in themselves, cholesterol is a vital part of the body/nervous system, and if you don t eat any, your body will build it itself to survive, the problem is usually that people eat too much of these fats and cholesterol, and then they deposit everywhere. -lean pork is usually not a problem, cut away all the fat from meats -fish has omega fats and unsaturated fats -avoid fried foods -if you cook vegetables buy them fresh or frozen, don t use the canned veggies, they ve already lost most of their vitamins. -excercise! ... keep the appointment with your doctor and ask him/her for additional advice. you can also always go to the ER if you need to - remember better safe than sorry is true!