Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure

I actually ordered this after watching Forks Over Knives as a follow up refresher kind of thing. I figure we always have more to learn. Now I will start by saying I think America as a whole would benefit from watching Forks Over Knives. This books goes into detail about Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. and his research and conclusions about today's main killers in America and boy is it a wake up call. If you are like me we grew up being told to always eat that meat and boy was it the main part of the meal. Now somewhere in my mind I always knew I should be eating the vegetables more and the meat less. I knew that meat and oil wasn't all that healthy just by how I felt when I ate it compared to when I ate something healthy like a salad or some other ruffage. What I want to know is why it was never totally clicking that food that made me feel like crap after I ate it probably did the same thing to my organs but big duh to me. I mean we all hear about all of this healthy Vegan like food habits that save lives now but we were blind to it for so long and it is so much easier to order a pizza than cook right? I was the type that made dinner for my family I got rid of most of the red meat when my dad had his first heart attack but I always thought fish and chicken were healthy for us. Now don't get me wrong I do believe fish has its place even now but I am able to see where I was wrong and that was the whole mindset that the veggies were a SIDE. I have rethought all of this since watching Forks Over Knives as I said that was the real wake up call for me and this was like follow up homework. Now I thought this book was easy to read he has a good personality and is not condescending in the least but if you are like me and have health paranoia at all this may not be for you. I say that only because it does go into a lot of detail about heart attacks and symptoms. I admit I am a hypochondriac. And no I am not just exaggerating, I am not ashamed I am beating such an awful disease. But as a fair warning to those out there like me this may go too into detail and cause some what of a scare. I was glued to the pages none the less and finished the whole book and am o.k. now that I really sorted it out in my head but just wanted to put that in there. Now I have made the lifestyle change personally and so far have lost 11 lbs and 5 inches on my waist. I read a couple other supportive books as well. This one has great recipes in it and there is a common sense education on cooking etc in it that I find to be awesome and ever so helpful for someone like me that is learning a whole new way to cook. I thought I knew how to read a label but sadly no I didn't. So if you want to enrich the health of yourself and family this is a great read and it does go into detail on the studies and science, there is no doubt in my mind that this just makes sense. This book also shows you how to do it and believe me you will feel and see the difference. I am even more emotionally stable since starting the Forks Over Knives Diet. It helps in all areas of your life and if you think it costs too much to eat healthy think again what is the cost of not??? How much does a heart attack cost you and I do not mean in money so think it over how much does a good steak honestly cost you? Then if you say a cheeseburger at oh McDonald's is cheap so I cannot afford to switch to veggies. Well if you live off of McDonald's you cannot afford to not switch unless you like committing slow suicide. Sorry if this is blunt but America we need to wake up! I know that if you are reading this review you get what I am saying anyhow so do yourself a favor and just go for it get the book and make that change. You wont regret it and this is not coming from someone that loves to choke down salad trust me it was a shock for me but if I can do it why cant you?

This book was recommended to me to read by my PCP! Anyone with high blood pressure or heart disease should get this book read it and implement it into their cooking habits. I admit I still eat beef steak, butterfly pork chops and some chicken. It is a life changing book and a life saving book!

This is THE book to read if you want to prevent and/or reverse heart disease. It's all about changing your lifestyle and most importantly the food you eat in order to clear those arteries. I'm not going to have a cardiologist insert a stent and keep me on a lifetime of medications when I can heal myself by eating the way Dr. Esselstyn recommends.

This book saved my life. The diet advice and tremendous insight shared really changed my life overnight. After applying the dietary advice, I lost 16 pounds in four weeks. The diet is viewed as draconian by some, but I applied the diet after having my first and only heart attack. I have more energy, incur no carb urges, and feel 15-20 years younger than when I ate my 70% vegetarian and 30% chicken and fish news.

Hitting the 40s was a time of reflection. I had worked out extensively in my 20s and 30s while following the high protein low carb diets of the past. I considered veganism a thing for rabbits and small furry insects. But, I wanted to try something different and see how my body would react. I stumbled upon the book at the bottom of an article on heart disease and decided to check it out. I have no known problems with heart disease, diabetes, or really anything. I am literally built for sex and combat. In fact, besides ice cream, and scantily clad woman I have pretty good discipline. So I embarked on this journey and I followed it to the upmost instruction. It’s a pretty hardcore diet and you will be surprised to learn just how much oil is in everything we consume. I did it mainly to assist in my goal to complete a marathon so keep in mind the weigh loss is probably a factor of both running and diet. Positives : I started at a sturdy 220lbs. I have been on the diet now for about 3 months and currently I weight 189. The first thing I noticed is you have tons of energy, you don’t have the bloated feeling anymore after a big meal, and my digestion is better than it has been in a long time. My resting heart rate dropped 10 points. Typically I would never tan, but on this diet it seems the sun browns me quicker. It could be my imagination or could be my body trying to pick up some extra vitamin D. I am no scientist so just bare with me. My skin is clearer and my teeth don’t seem to produce as much plaque (silly but I am trying to give you the full scoop). My runs dramatically improved. It was no longer a case of if I was going to have a good run or a bad run, but rather did I want to run fast or slow. I saved money on not eating out although food and such is more expensive. There are some good meals to eat. Don’t get discouraged at the taste right off. You will adjust. Negatives: The first few weeks are really tough. You don’t realize just how much joy you get off meats, cheeses, and even oils. I also had trouble sleeping. I don’t know if this was due to the extra energy or the fact I found I was more sensitive to caffeine. Moreover, I found I didn’t need or want as much caffeine. The sleep issue is now back to normal so don’t worry too much. Social situations can be awkward. “Hey you want to go have dinner with us on Friday?” “Um I going to sit at home and eat this piece of lettuce instead…”. I just tried to eat before I went out and relied on fruit when I was away from home and could not get anything like good since fast food was no longer an option. Mentally although I felt clear headed it seemed like some of my skills such as spelling were not as fluid. This too seemed to improve or I just adapted to not spelling as well pre-meat; I am not really sure which. I lost a lot of muscle. In the past, I did diets high in protein (meat, chicken, & fish) and was able to get down to 8% to 10& body fat and keep lots of muscle. That is hard to do on this diet. Of course, I am not lifting weights as much and since I am running which doesn’t help, but I know my body and I can tell a difference. Supplementation is one thing I am not crazy about on this diet as well. You have to supplement vitamin B12 and although it’s not that big a deal I still feel like that should not be necessary if the diet was 100 percent the answer for our problems. The verdict: I actually have enjoyed the challenge of the diet. I do feel better on this diet and feel that it’s good for your health. I am going to continue on it. I don’t know if I am going to do it forever, but I feel like my body needed a break from the garbage that I have put into it over the years. I recommend you give it a shot and see how it works for you. It’s pretty amazing how fast you feel so much better. One word of caution though, I can’t cook cereal so make sure you have someone who can cook or you will starve to death!

Bought it for my brother because he was diagnosed with CAD, but then bought one for myself because of the great recipes. Awesome book! Highly recommend!

I am a complete science dork. My favorite course in undergrad (just last year!) was biochemistry where we learned about how food is broken down and used up in our bodies, to put it very simply. Anyway, I actually became no-added-fat vegetarian on the weekdays while in undergrad just because it made sense due to the basic science principles. I didn't need to read studies to figure that one out...which is comforting because it makes the claims by this book easily understood and accepted. Anyway, I read several books before this one that recounted research from the 1970's and earlier that all suggested the same dietary approach for several significant reasons. The thing is, I was still eating my pizza, ice creams, etc Friday - Sunday. I eventually came across this book which has transformed me completely. The book is written so well--very easy and entertaining read. Somthing I could not put down the 1st time and then read for a second time. The information is well explained for non-science geeks without being too elementary for us science folk. Whats especially nice is that the recipes are amazing and that there are many other recipe books out there for further support. I use the recipes in here on a daily basis (please try the black bean & corn salad...way more yummy than you would assume by just reading the ingredients!) and I retire to the Almost No-fat books by Bryanna Clark Grogan. Look her up--O-M-G. Good tasting comforting food...great holiday food too. Anyway, it's just nice that changing your entire dietary approach is not as hard as it may seem due to all the great CHEAP resources available out there. Please do not read the rules of the book and think its too complicated. Please give it a good honest try. For me, trying out some nonfat vegan junk food helped. I still eat it very sparingly due to habit, but it helped me out mentally to know that I could have anything I wanted with the promise of a fruitful future. Best of luck. Read the book--it's fun, enlightening and it challenges you to become the best person you can be for yourself. If you have high self worth and self respect, the first step to prevention or reverese should come easy. If you love to cook and enjoy experimentation in the kitchen like I do, then you're going to have a ball--just make sure to buy some recipe books out there because learning how to do many of these things out of theblue is a bit frustrating otherwise and the most important thing here is our compliance to the diet rather than our pride. You learn many new techniques and learn a lot about the vast array of foods around you that you may have not appreciated nearly as much. =) UPDATE: I am now writing as a medical student. I still stand by this book--it is a phenominal resource for all those lookingto avoid the many heart wrenching diseases that slowly torture it's victims. I don't mean to sound so artsy in that sentance but what I forgot to mention before in writing this review is that I spent 6 months as an intern for the social security disability service in my area where I spoke to hundreds of people who were seeing their last days of life approaching within a 12 month span....the majority of these disability benefit seekers were suffering from cardiac disease and it was so sad to know that they couldn't even walk to the mail box, play with their kids/grandkids or have intercourse with their partner--all of these "exertional" activities would be far too overwhelming for their frail hearts to handle. One man was in his later 40's without any symptoms of heart disease who, thanks to some routine medical care, found out that he had less than 8 months to live. He was to be wed that year. He was also not the first in his condition. I even had a marathon runner apply for the same reasons. Remember 2 things: 1. Heart attack / death may be your very first symptom that anything is wrong. 2. A good BMI does not mean "healthy." I've been super thin my whole life--always maintained a slim figure with pizza, hamburgers and ice cream. While I only ate each of these items "on occasion" I now realize, in retrospect, that I ate these things (considering you consolodate all the junk food into 1 general category) preettttyyyy frequently. Anyway, just some food for thought. You are what you eat....just beacuse you look one way on the outside doesn't mean everything. ALSO....my great grandmother lived to be 101 with PHENOMINAL health and died of a freak non-health-related accident. Mind you, her daughter has diabetes and is struggling with her health. Some of her grandchildren and great grandchildren are also in pretty bad health conditions. So don't do yourself the diservice of comparing your super healthy grandparent to the rest of society and brushing off health concerns as a concern merely for the masses and not for you or else you might end up in a very poor place. I'm just really happy to have been exposed to the things that I've seen and heard while working with the disability service. It SCARED me. I cried for the people over the phone and was motivated to never be in their shoes. If you're in the same boat, I urge you to read this book for enjoyment, education and for learning proactive measures to better your health. =)

Today is day 7 of starting this diet. I've lost 7 lbs in those 7 days. Not sure if that rate of weight loss will continue but I'm sure I will continue to lose weight. I don't have any heart disease or heart associated conditions that led me to this book but was attracted by the thought of "PREVENTION" of heart disease. My mother had atrial fibrillation which led to a stroke later and left her paralyzed on one half of her body. The last 7 years of her life were not pleasant. My father died from heart disease but that was caused by living with diabetes since age 17. I became a fish & dairy eating vegetarian 8 years ago which resulted in a weight GAIN of about 30 lbs. Cutting meat out of my diet made me far more dependent on breads, eggs, cheese and other dairy and of course nuts. I didn't consume enough fish to reduce my reliance on those products so that was a big reason for the weight gain. After hearing Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN) story on this diet, I decided to give it a try. After all, if Clinton could do it surely I could! I never chowed down on Big Macks like he did. But this diet is NOT easy. But given that I've lost about a pound a day so far - even with a little cheating, I'm going to stick with it. I did have a thin crust pizza about day 4. So not sure if I'll adhere to the diet strictly for an entire month since I don't really need to. But I will continue to keep this as the main part of my diet since the weight is coming off. And I'm glad I learned that Olive oil is NOT heart healthy as I had been led to believe by the "Mediterranean diet". After the first month, I do plan however to continue to eat wild caught Pacific Red Salmon at least once every one or two weeks as I am not convinced that it isn't a healthy source of protein and fish oil. And I do have walnuts with my whole grain cereal in the morning. (He says a little walnuts are OK if you don't have heart disease). But the most exciting thing I have noticed after only 7 days (besides the weight loss), is the reduction in asthma symptoms. I developed asthma about age 7 and suffered with it my entire life, nearly 50 years! I have resisted/refused steroids, relying on over-the-counter rescue inhalers which have now been outlawed, effective 12/31/11. Since starting this diet, my need for the inhaler has gone from one to two puffs per hour to maybe one to puffs per 6 hours!! And this after only 7 days! I may not have to use it at all after a few more weeks or get the prescription medications after all as I had dreaded and expected. From what i have Googled, milk and dairy (& some nuts) can be a cause of asthma and asthma can possibly be cured by cutting out milk and dairy. So dropping the dairy from my diet must be the reason for that improvement. For that reason alone, I am thrilled I discovered this book, even though I will not follow it strictly. I will keep off the dairy and oils however. Will post an update if the asthma goes away completely and when I reach my weight loss goal (60 lbs). So bottom line, this diet is healthy, helpful, but some people may struggle with it. Definitely give it a try if you have asthma! I'm breathing better than I have in years! UPDATE 10/27/2017: I wrote the above in 2011. Unfortunately, I did not stick with the diet because my husband wanted no part of it. So I only stayed with the diet in 2011 for about a month and went back to eating same old diet. I also did not do the diet 100% back then. However, recently he started the diet with me. And we are nearly 100% true to the diet in that we eat NO animal protein (no dairy), use no oil in cooking and really watch what we buy and read ingredients to avoid too much fat/oil. Its so much easier when everyone in the home is eating same diet/dishes. This is our about our 2nd month on this diet this year:. Started again 8/25/2017. My husband's cholesterol was 152 at start of diet (8/25/2017). Today, we just got back his new test results from yesterday (10/26/2017) : Total cholesterol now 116 ! His doctor was amazed! (update on me: I had gained back the weight I had lost in 2011 but now I'm now down 20 Lbs! :) Will have my lipids done again next year sometime. They were already good but will be interesting to see what changed.