| View Larger Image | The Cure for Heart Disease: Truth Will Save a Nation | Hardcoverby Dwight Lundell (Author), Todd R. Nordstrom (Editor), Sarah Loukota (Editor)
| List Price: | $24.95 | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Heart Surgeons Health Plan | | Edition: | 1stst Edition | | Page Count: | 234 Pages | | Publication Date: | July 10, 2007 | | Sales Rank: | 122,633nd |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
The Cure for Heart Disease, although written in everyday language, is different than every other book exploring the number one killer of Americans. A riveting yet straight forward discussion that challenges public consensus, explains the reasons for the epidemic of heart disease, and provides an easy to follow guide to eliminate heart disease. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 12 reviews)
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Serious work and recommendations by Dr. Lundell (writing style and lack of organization makes it somewhat difficult to read) by J. Al-hashimi  4 Stars
October 03, 2009
Dr. Lundell is a cardiac surgeon and a scientist with 5,000 cardiac surgeries under his belt. He is trying to get a message, (with a lot of science behind it) out there. While this message has been "out there" for some time, he makes a more specific case in regards to cardiac health and disease and brings his personal experience and perspective to it. In short, he says that inflammation is the main cause of cardiac disease and that our focus should be on that. In order to reduce inflammation he says everyone should:
1.) Consume more essential free fatty acids, particularly omega 3 fatty acids. He states that there are 4,500 articles that come to this conclusion about the benefits of omega 3 and that some countries like Japan have taken this seriously. The main type of omega 3 we need is EPA and DHA and both come from fish and marine algae, and he suggests only using high concentration purified fish oil with atl ealst 500 mg EPA and DHA. You can test it by putting it in the freezer. If it gets cloudy it has too many impurities. Dr. Barry Sears says the same thing (and sells it on his website).
2. Add CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) to your diet. The body cannot synthesize it so you need to get it from dairy products and meat. CLA has shown to be: a significant antioxidant, increases energy, improve insulin sensitivity, anti-inflammatory (a natural Cox 2 inhibitor that may increase the synthesis of the anti-inflammatory prostaglandins), reduces the production of cytokines, reduces abdominal fat and preserves muscle mass. It has also been shown to be anti-atherogenic. CLA works better when there is adequate omega 3 in our system and vice versa. The benefit of having both is synergistic.
3. Take a baby aspirin (81 mg) once a day. Studies show benefit against chronic low-grade inflammation (it is a non-steroidal anti-inflammation drug).
4. Consume a lot of anti-oxidants.
5. Lower your sugar and carbohydrate consumption
6. Reduce stress to reduce hormone production by adrenal glands. (Exercise, meditation, reading, taking a drive... whatever works)
7. Eliminate transfats completely, which includes hydrongenated vegetable oil (totally or partially) margarine, commercial baked goods, restaurant fried foods. They interfere with normal metabolism of omega 3. Transfats replace normal fats in the cell wall and interfere with function. Other fats, including animal fats, olive oil and coconut oil are healthful in small quantities.
8. Go on a high protein, low carb, med fat diet, but make sure it is the right fat, like olive oil or coconut oil. He sees sugar and refined carbs as a large cause of inflammation.
9. Lose weight if you need to, quit if you are smoking.
10. Exercise daily. Start slow and don't stop.
11. He recommends lots of vegetables, fruit and protein (meat and dairy is fine) but his emphasis is on avoiding the carbohydrates and the wrong fats.
This advice is for everyone, not just people with coronary disease. Everyone has damage already.
He recommends health screening options so that you know your status, get motivated and stay motivated:
1. Test your CRP (C-reactive protein) The lowest risk is 1.0 or below. Above 3.0 and you are in sig. risk category for coronary disease. You can ask your doctor to measure it. Soon it will become standard because it is a better predictor than LDL.
2. Test your homocysteine levels. High leveles indicate low levels of critical B vitamins esp. B12 adn B9 (folic acid). A lot of vegetarians are low in B12; this could be a bigger risk factor than previously realized.
3. Test your omega 3 index, which measures the amount of omega 3 in the cell walls of your red blood cells. Dr. Lundell offers for you to contact him at his website and he will arrange for it for you as it is not common yet.
4. Have a stress echo and stress nuclear scan performed. You can request these tests.
5. Get a CT or MRI scan of your coronary arteries (MRI is better).
6. Have a carotid ultrasound performed. It is also a surrogate marker for coronary disease. It measures the thickness of your artery wall and the ratio of the intima to the media. It is referred to as CIMT (carotid intimal to medial thickness).
It was a mistake to present this book with the paid writer playing the curmudgeon arguing with Dr. Lundell throughout... I think it got in the way of the material. In my opinion, this book should have been put together with a professional writing style, like most books on disease are nowadays and it should have been organized... it doesn't have an index and takes forever to find something or find if something is missing. Actually, what seemed to be missing was a clear framework or list of what dietary recommendations Dr. Lundell has in mind. He talks about diet, but it is scattered here and there and I had to go over and over it to pick up his points on diet to make sure I understood him.
I don't know if I missed it but I don't think there was anything about CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) supplements. He talked about the importance of CLA and that with a diet of dairy and meat we do get CLA, but he didn't say anything about supplementation. That would be important for vegetarians and vegans. There has been some research on high inflammation in vegetarians, which would have helped to make his case. Actually, it would depend on what they actually ate... probably most vegetarians are on a high-carb low-protein diet (even if they don't think about that way); very few are on a low-carb diet because that would be another restriction of a restricted choice diet... and it would be difficult to be on a vegetarian high-protein diet (that would probably entail consuming 1 1/2 12-ounce blocks of tofu or more per day... which would total 75 gm of protein). I would have been interested in Dr. Lundell's opinions and I believe it would be extremely relevant as a lot of people are leaning towards vegetarianism nowadays for a lot of reasons. As I mentioned before, vegetarians are often B12 deficient which he mentions as another risk in regards to cardiovascular health.
It would have been interesting to know Dr. Lundell's opinion suggested supplements for people with heart disease recommended by Dr. Sinatra, a cardiologist (not a cardiac surgeon).
I think his observations and synthesis of medicine and science in regards to cardiac health and disease are pretty profound and should be taken seriously.
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Needed Information by Eleanor A. Miller (Tulare, CA USA)  5 Stars
June 22, 2009
Information in this book should be read by everyone and heeded. I am already feeling better. Have more energy, move and walk faster and I have only been heeding the advice about a month. Every one needs to know this information now. The food industry is slowly killing us little by little. The food pyramid is all wrong and the low fat diet and high cholesterol is all a sham. They do not cause heart disease, inflammation does. Read the book.
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Very Good Book, (Arguably, Slightly Flawed Though) by P. Langenfeld (Tucson Arizona) 4 Stars
June 22, 2009
This is a very good book dealing with the latest theories for treatment and prevention of heart disease. Most of the information presented is based on studies and of course, Dr. Lundells own personal beliefs extrapolated from those studes and his experience. Although it is not quit as well organized or chock-full of details as many other books, Dr. Lundells strengh is in presenting the information in an easy to digest manner. Although he does make reference to diet and its importance, I found this book slightly lacking in dealing with the root cause of heart disease related to bad dietary habits.
The format is a mix of study references, theory, and an informative narrative in question and answer format between Dr. Lundell and co-writer Todd Nordstrom.
I have read at least a half dozen plus books on heart disease and the information presented in this book closely matches conventional wisdom from most the others fairly well as to the latest theory based on studies, markers, and deduction as to the root cause and treatment of heart disease. He explains things in a strait forward easy to understand manner.
Dr Lundell like most others partly blames an imbalance of Omega 6 over Omega 3 fatty acids in the diet as one of factors inducing inflammation which leads to heart disease. He deviates from others dramatically, and perhaps recklessly however on one point, and that is when he suggests that saturated fats such as butter, etc. would be a good replacement for Omega 6 vegetable oils. This flies in the face of substantial studies, and most other medical professionals in my opinion. From my research, both excessive Omega6 and saturated fats are thought by most to be contributers to heart disease.
Except for the above arguable flaw (the hole in the donut, if you will), Dr. Lundell presents a convincing body of evidence and a quality treatment plan for controlling and reversing hear disease. To his credit also, is one fact that I gleaned from his book that I hadn't found in many others, which is how an antioxidant called CLA may be helpful in reducing plaque and body fat.
Other books that I liked and found helpful with similar and contrasting insights that I recommend buying for anyone wanting to make a wise investment in their health and longevity (and their childrens!) include (listed in order of preference, all very good though):
'Track Your Plaque', by William Davis, MD,
'Cholestral Progection for Life' & 'Eat to Live' both by Joel Fuhrman MD,
'Reverse Heart Disease Now', by Stephen Sinatra, MD
'The Miracle Heart', by Jean Carper.
'The Cure for Heart Disease', by Dwight Lundell, MD
'Track Your Plaque', aside from recommending noninvasive CT Scans to determine accurately the level of heart disease, recommends some very informative blood tests that can be perfomed (such as detailed lipid analysis), and how you can tailor your diet and heart disease reversal plan based on them. A break-away prior follower of Dr. Dean Ornish's low fat diet, Dr. Davis believes in low fat/ good fat. He feels that as long as weight gain is not an issue while doing it, certain fats in the proper proportion are actually helpful in reversing heart disease. My favorite. Highly recommended.
Dr. Fuhrman in 'Eat to Live' explores a little more deeply and holistically than many others in regard to dietary causes of heart disease, especially other books which rely heavily upon supplements. He also references convincing work such as the 'China Study'. His take on treatment is very similar to Dr. Dean Ornish with some variations though. Although I don't necessarily accept everything he recommends either, he presents a convincing body of recent evidence and references to extensive studies for a predominately vegetarian low fat/ low animal protein diet plan. The information provided, however, gives some important alternative viewpoints in contrast to many other authorities who would lean more heavily in their heart treatment plans toward using supplements. Dr. Fuhrman's books are also highly recommended.
Overall, I strongly recommend buying all of the above books, indluding 'The Cure for Heart Disease' as a relatively cheap and effective way of designing and implementing an effective and livable plan for preventing and treating heart disease. If you have already read others, 'The Cure for Heart Disease' will probably not add much and it is also a bit on the expensive side for its content. However, it is worth its price if put into practice, with strong warning against accepting his speculative theory that saturated fats are not harmful.
However, after reading the above, you will come away with a treatment plan and knowlege that will immediately make you want to change not only your diet, but your children, mate, and friends as you quicly realize that you get heart disease largely from your eating habits when you are young, and that it just 'catches up' with you later in life.
After reading several books, one comes away with the notion that the doctors have a good idea of the most common causational factors for heart disease, which in a nutshell are related to deviating from foods in quality and quantity that your body has evolved to have such as (list from Dr. Fuhrman's books) unprocessed whole food including: green vegetables, starchy and non-starchy vegetables, beans/legumes, fresh fruits, avacados, nuts, and seeds, and whole grains, and in addition to that limiting animal products, processed grains, and sweeteners.
Personally, I think stress may be a larger factor than most give credit for, as hormones released such as cortisol may be a major catalyst for heart disease, especially when present with the heart disease building blocks of excessive calories & associated obesity, high hydrogenated or saturated/animal fat consumption, and excessive and refined carbohydrate consumption causing a blood sugar imbalance, etc.
I think any good program for reversing heart disease should include stress reduction techniques (exercise, mediation, yoga, good sleep habits, etc) and perhaps should also include some cortisol controlling supplements as well.
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Not so sure this is the truthq by EV (USA)  1 Stars
October 22, 2008
I prefer to stick to diets that have been proven through long-term peer reviewed active studies. The only ones out there--the only ones--that show regression over the long term are Ornish and Esselstyn (20 years), both of whom recommend diets significantly different than this. I'm especially wary of any diet that focuses so much on individual supplements as it is extremely difficult to isolate cause and effect when looking at retrospective studies of supplement intake. There is also the possibility that things like fish oil may be beneficial simply because they mitigate the caustic effects of other parts of the diet, such as meat. Maybe I'll believe this when there is a 20 year study to prove it eliminates heart disease, but for now, I'll stick with Esselstyn's program since he's the only one who's proven anything with actual reduction of disease, not just disease markers.
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Life Changing by PJSChico (Chico, CA) 5 Stars
April 06, 2008
This book is absolutely life changing. I remember when eggs, butter, and meat (saturated fat and cholesterol) were blamed for heart disease. Now the truth is slowly coming out. Years ago I tried Atkins and lowered my cholesterol and triglycerides. My good cholesterol even increased. I confirmed in my own body that Atkins was right. Eating a high protein, animal based diet was a healthier choice. Well, Dr. Lundell takes over where Atkins left off, with the addition of fresh fruits as well. Read this book and share a copy with everyone you love. Its gonna be a long time (due to the profits of the statin drug companies) before you'll ever see any front page news that tells the truth about the cholesterol myth and its association with heart disease. Listen to Dr. Lundell. Enjoy!
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