Heal Your Heart: How You Can Prevent or Reverse Heart Disease (Paperback)

by K. Lance Gould (Author) "The first step toward taking charge of your heart's health is to learn how the heart functions normally and what happens in coronary heart disease..." (more)
Key Phrases: vigorous cholesterol, percent diameter narrowing, diffuse cholesterol, United States, Initial Nonsurgical Treatment, Journal of the American Medical Association (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Here, two cardiologists analyze current treatment strategies for heart disease and offer prescriptions for improving heart health. In Heal Your Heart, an authority on coronary artery narrowing advocates early diagnosis to minimize risk, a very low-fat diet, moderate exercise, and the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs. Unfortunately, the many current references to the clinical literature with which Gould supports his regimen require considerable effort to locate and then interpret. His recommendation of reducing daily consumption of dietary fat to no more than ten percent of calories is significantly lower than what is currently recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the National Cholesterol Education Program. In addition, the text could have benefited from the inclusion of tables and illustrations more accessible to a general audience. Nevertheless, his book is a worthwhile selection because it provides the sophisticated lay reader with detailed information on how the heart functions and the cause and course of atherosclerosis (coronary artery narrowing) as well as a program for taking control of heart disease that can be modified to suit a wide variety of needs. Recommended for large consumer health collections. Living Longer with Heart Disease poses more questions than it ultimately answers. Authored by the director of the Noninvasive Heart Center, San Diego, it largely serves to question traditional medical practice and much of the current medical establishment, leaving the reader stuck in a maze of medical confusion. For example, Wayne's discussion of the "Cholesterol Myth" may well lead readers to conclude that taking a "statin" (a specific class of drug designed to lower cholesterol levels) may be medically unnecessary. While blaming the pharmaceutical industry's greed for spawning a deceptive mass-marketing campaign concerning the drug's benefits, Wayne fails to inform readers about current AHA guidelines for prescribing these drugs, which clearly state the medical necessity for such therapy as well as recommended dosages and adverse effects. Given Wayne's failure to provide consumers with clear and impartial answers to their medical questions, this book is not recommended.?Gail Hendler, New York Acad. of Medicine
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Gould writes well for both lay readers and his peers but does not see himself as a not-to-be-questioned authority, for "medicine is not the same as business," he says; "it is a mutual effort to improve life and survival." After several decades of practice, close familiarity with the medical literature, and research on and clinical use of positron emission tomography (PET), Gould feels justified in declaring that heart bypass operations and balloon dilations are not as effective as their proponents have claimed and that coronary angiograms, another favorite of those proponents, can produce misleading results. Although Gould's lucid style (bespeaking, it seems, obvious skill for listening to patients) makes things easy for the reader, the uncluttered, well-labeled illustrations help substantially, too. The big concluding chapter of "Gould Guidelines to Prevent or Reverse Vascular and Coronary Heart Disease," which differ from those promulgated by the American Heart Association and others, gives practical advice to those who have had heart problems and those who want to avoid them. William Beatty --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 274 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; 1 edition (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813528968
• ISBN-13: 978-0813528960
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #137,318 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is great guidelines for heart patients, May 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Heal Your Heart: How You Can Prevent or Reverse Heart Disease (Hardcover)

My cardiologist recommended Heal Your Heart to me, and it is an invaluable tool. I have 70% blockage in my right artery, and this book answers a lot of questions. This is an excellent book. It gives a definitive explanation of his reversal program for cardiovascular patients.

Not only does Dr Gould explain how we can opt to reverse the progression of heart disease, he also gives sample menus and goes into detail explaining waht effect cholesteral lowering medications have on the heart.

Thumbs up to the author for his extensive research and detailed explanations. This book will certainly be my reference book and diet guide for many years to come

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential book for patients with coronary heart disease., December 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Heal Your Heart: How You Can Prevent or Reverse Heart Disease (Hardcover)

Dr. Gould has been 20 years ahead of his time in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary heart disease. I am one of his grateful patients. His logical program of low fat diet, exercise, and necessary medication has led to significant reversal of my coronary disease. His program works. Unfortunately, too few physicians-even cardiologists-believe in the fact that coronary disease can be halted and even reversed. Many double-blind placebo controlled trials have proved that lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol reduces risk of heart attacks and the need for bypass surgery, angioplasty, etc. Newer studies are looking at the role of triglycerides and HDL (the good cholesterol) in disease prevention. Gould discusses this all in detail but from a lay person's perspective. Yet, physicians need to be familiar with this book. It is lifesaving! Anyone can follow this program. Dr. Dean Ornish was one of Gould's students. Buy this book if you have heart disease, have a friend with heart disease, or have a family history of coronary events or strokes. Or if your cholesterol is over 150, triglycerides are over 100, or HDL is below 45-55. Or, if you have diabetes mellitus.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Guide, February 15, 2002

By	Stefano Sdringola, MD (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

Dr. Gould's book is a guide for everybody with coronary disease and everybody interested on coronary disease.It is an eye opening book that give hope against the number one killer of the modern era. Being an interventional cardiologist myself I realized the lack of cure achieved with angioplasty or by-pass surgery. An extensive medical literature shows that reduction on cardiac mortality or heart attack can only be achieved with a long term medical therapy and lifestyle changes.
The explanation is amazingly simple: it is necessary to fight the disease if we want to cure it, not the coronary blockages.The cure in this disease cannot be achieved with the "quick fix" of the angioplasty. This book is a Guide, an eye opening for patients who instantly are on charge of their own health and not passive bodies, hoping for the best while awaiting for the next attack. This Guide is based on sound scientific data, not on personal experience. How many times have you seen a list of scientific references in a popular "health" book? I strongly suggest you take advantage of this chance, I doubt your doctor will ever have the time (and may be knowledge?) to explain to you the true. Your future is now, do the right thing.