The McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart: A Life-Saving Approach to Preventing and Treating Heart Disease

What's the number one killer in America? AIDS? Diabetes? Cancer? America's big killer is heart disease. In the United States, over 1.25 million heart attacks occur each year. To make matters worse many of those who suffer such attacks die before they reach a hospital. According to McDougall, "The cause of the most common form of heart disease is blockage of the arteries that supply the heart muscle. The blockages, results of the condition known as atherosclerosis, are caused by plaques forming along the internal walls of the arteries. Eating rich foods loaded with cholesterol and fats leads to the formation of these plaques. Heredity is also a factor, but should not be over emphasized because at least half the American population is susceptible. Besides, you can do nothing about changing your heredity."But there is a lot you can change--and McDougall shows you what and how. He answers all your questions, and most importantly, he backs up his statements with a stack of references to the medical literature. And unlike angioplasty and bypass surgery which are temporary, short-term relief measures (at best), McDougall provides long-terms solutions that remove the cause allowing your body to reverse blockages, and for those without blockages--how to prevent them. His primary emphasis is on a zero cholesterol, very low fat, plant based diet. The book is fairly complete, includes answers to all your frequently asked questions, includes an abundance of tasty recipes, and explains many things your doctor hasn't told you (in most cases because he does not know). As a former professor in Internal Medicine at Univ. Hawaii Medical School Dr. McDougall does.If Americans followed the advice in this book there would be little or no heart disease in this country. Best of all if you follow McDougall's advice and follow his dietary advice you will find that the "drugs that were intended to reduce chest pain should be decreased gradually in dosage and then discontinued entirely as soon as possible." This of course should ONLY be done under the supervision of a doctor.I would buy three copies of this book. One for yourself, one for your loved one, and one for your doctor. What your doctor does not know may kill you--and many cardiologists sadly are ignorant of the information provided in this book--though thanks in part to the efforts of doctors like McDougall, Ornish, Fuhrman ..., and others, many of them are learning.