Prevent, halt and reverse heart disease

Email

Print

A book by Jospeh C. Piscatella and Barry A. Franklin, Ph.D.
The first thoughts that came into my mind when I began reading this book on the 109 things you can do to prevent, halt and reverse heart disease, was "that's exactly what I say to people when I am giving heart healthy talks!" My first impressions of the authors, is then credible, because I know the sources of where I get my information to increase awareness and educate the general public. As I read through this book, I noted it was very well referenced with many reliable sources and credits found through out the book as well as listed at the end. Ok good. The information I am going to find in this book, is valuable, evidenced-based, and the recommendations are based on the most current literature.

Based on my first thoughts above, I highly recommend to you, if you are interested in improving your overall heart health and the health of your loved ones, to purchase this book and read it through. There is a wealth of information in the 382 pages. I am going to point out a few of the highlights for you.
As an overview, Mr. Piscatella breaks the book up into 4 steps.
Step 1: Assess Your Risk
Step 2: Manage Daily Stress
Step 3: Make exercise a habit
Step 4: Balance your diet
Assessing your risk is so important! Your probably thinking "I'm not really at risk for heart disease." But guess what? Let's review a few little bullets points about Americans today, as pointed out in this book:

• the fat a calorie content of our diet is too high
• half the population has high cholesterol
• approximately 2/3rds of the population is overweight or obese
• diabetes is skyrocketing
• cigarette smoking remains prevalent amoung younger females, minorities and blue-collar workers
• stress is a chronic problem
• adults and children are leading increasingly sedentary, inactive lives

Are you managing your stress levels? Is your work situation stressful? Is your family life or a family loss causing you a lot of stress? Did you know that stress can increase your blood pressure and cause arterial inflammation? A little bit of stress, our bodies are made to handle. But constant, relentless stress is quite another story. The most important thing you can do today, to impact your stress level, is take a moment to relax. Learn some other stress reducing tips in this chapter of the book.
Exercise. What ever you are doing right now for exercise, be it nothing at all or regular trips to the gym, I encourage you to do a little more. Only 30% of the US adult population gets the recommended level of daily physical activity according to Piscatella. There are so many heart healthy benefits to being active. Simply taking a walk a couple times a week can show heart health benefit. A couple of the 109 tips out of this book specific to exercise include: starting slow and steady, have fun, work towards a goal and learn to get the most out of your walk.
And finally, balance. Balance what you are eating and know what you are eating. Learn to eat less and to eat smart. Remember the basics: less of the bad stuff more of the good. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, good oils and fats. It's all spelled out for you in here.
A little bit about the authors:
Joseph C. Piscatella is a well respected expert on how to live a healthy lifestyle in the real world. He is a visionary who has improved the lives of millions of people through his books, live presentations and PBS television shows. Feel free to visit www.joepiscatella.com for more information.
Barry A. Franklin, Ph.D is a director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Laboratories at William Beaumont Hopsital. He has proven successful with his cardiac rehab program and stress testing laboratories by achieving national and international recognition in the treatment and evaluation of coronary artery disease.
Both authors are well published and recognized in the Cardiovascular Medical World.
I encourage you to read more about them and this book: 109 things you can do Prevent, Halt & Reverse Heart Disease.
And thank-you for sharing this great book with me. My approach to tackling heart disease, is to make it real. To understand what the disease is, why its important to you, and give you all the tips I can, to help you make some changes. This book absolutely reinforces my current approach and has given me more tools to share.

Read Full Entry | Add Your Comments