Heal Your Heart
pages, 9 3/10 x 6 3/10
Paperback
Release Date:01 Oct 1998
ISBN:9780813528960
Heal Your Heart
How You Can Prevent or Reverse Heart Disease
Rutgers University Press
In Heal Your Heart, Dr. K. Lance Gould’s goals are better survival and improved health through the prevention and reversal of heart and vascular disease. His program provides practical, do-it-yourself steps and explores options beyond traditional invasive medical procedures for more definitive solutions. Designed for the general reader, Heal Your Heart can be used by anyone. Scientific information and practical guidelines are presented in simple, full-color illustrations, summary graphs or tables with brief, nontechnical text that incorporate the most recent medical knowledge. Dr. Gould introduces readers to new non-invasive medical imaging technologies such as cardiac PET that may potentially provide early diagnoses for people who may be at risk. Dr. Gould demonstrates how patients and physicians can work together to conquer one of the relentless causes of disability and death. He outlines what questions to ask medical staff and how to manage your own reversal program including your doctors, whether specialists or general practitioners. The principles of reversing cardiovascular disease in this program may be adapted to various lifestyles, habits, tastes, time constraints, and personalities. Dr. Gould’s program avoids multiple medical consultations and special facilities or equipment. The essentials are healthy living habits combined with medical management at home and work. This reversal program may replace surgical or catheter procedures for treating cardiovascular disease in most patients. In some specific cases, some people may also need balloon dilation or bypass surgery. Dr. Gould furnishes the criteria used to identify the minority of patients who need them. For this minority, Dr. Gould’s reversal program in addition to surgical treatment will provide optimal outcome by dramatically lowering further risk. For most people, this program produces a sense of well-being and reduces or eliminates symptoms.
Although Gould's lucid style makes things easy for the reader, the uncluttered, well-labeled illustrations help substantially, too. The concluding chapter of 'Gould Guidelines to Prevent or Reverse Vascular and Coronary Heart Disease'... gives practical advise to those who have had heart problems and those who want to avoid them.
K. Lance Gould began his research on coronary artery disease in 1969. He is professor and founding director of the Weatherhead PET Imaging Center for Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease and has served as director of the Division of Cardiology at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston. Dr. Gould is the author of the first textbook on quantifying coronary artery narrowing, coronary blood flow, and cardiac PET imaging.
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
How to Use This Book
PART 1 Understanding the Heart and the Dangers of Coronary Heart Disease
The Heartbeat of Life
The Pumping Heart
The Coronary Arteries
Blood Pressure and the Heartbeat
Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease
The Damaged Heart
Heart Failure
The Electrocardiogram and the Heartbeat
Sudden Death
Dysfunctional Coronary Arteries---A Time Bomb
The Silver Lining
Blood Clots in Coronary Arteries
Narrowed Arteries and Swirling Flow
The Give-and-Take of the Heartbeat
Narrowed Arteries and the Pumping Heart
Growing New Blood Vessels---Collaterals
Blue Clues to Finding the Silent Killer
Rainbow Clues
Early Clues
Progression---The Killer Stalks
Regression---You Win
PART 2 Who Gets Coronary Heart Disease? Why? How Can It Be Prevented or Reversed?
How Prevalent Is Coronary Atherosclerosis?
Risk Factors and Coronary Artery Disease
Women and Heart Disease
Cholesterol Lowering---Does It Work?
Cholesterol-lowering Drugs Plus Very Low-Fat Food
How Much Should Cholesterol Be Lowered?
Can Cholesterol Levels Be Too Low?
Smoking and Death
Excess Body Weight and Survival
Physical Fitness and Survival
PART 3 Steering through the Medical Maze
The Importance of a Definitive Diagnosis
Standard Exercise Stress Tests---True or False Answers?
Other Noninvasive Tests for Atherosclerosis
How Accurate Is the Coronary Arteriogram?
Percent Narrowing---An Inaccurate Measurement of Severity
High Tech for the Heart
Accuracy of Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Blood Flow in Heart Muscle after Reversal Treatment
Two People, Two Outcomes---Real-Life Examples
Other Tests---What Do They Show?
Does Coronary Bypass Surgery Prolong Your Life?
PET for Determining Who Needs Bypass Surgery or Balloon Dilation
Balloon Dilation of Narrowed Coronary Arteries
Chest Pain Reversal? Balloon? Bypass?
Costs of Reversal Treatment, Balloon Dilation, and Bypass Surgery
Economics, Ethics, and Politics of Cardiovascular Disease
Managing Your Physician
PART 4 The Gould Guidelines to Prevent or Reverse Vascular and Coronary Heart Disease
The Gould Guidelines---What's New and Different?
Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease---A Review
Goals of Reversal Treatment 133 (4) Fat-Free Foods---Pleasure and Utility
Types of Food---Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrate
Fats, Oils, and Cholesterol
Protein
Carbohydrates
Overall Guidelines for a Food Plan of Less Than 10 Percent Fat
Weight and Hunger
Essential Fatty Acids
Food Labels
Food ``Zigzags,'' ``Food Breaks,'' and ``Average'' Cholesterol/Fat Consumption
Food ``Substitutes'' and Processed Foods
Menus
Antioxidant Vitamins and Aspirin
Types of Cholesterol-lowering Drugs
Special Problems and Combinations of Cholesterol-lowering Drugs
Angina, or Chest Pain, Due to Coronary Heart Disease
Estrogens and Coronary Heart Disease
Daily Workout Routines
Stress Management
Who Needs Reversal Treatment?
Common Problems and Their Solutions
Limitations of Reversal Treatment
Weighing the Alternatives
How Dr. Gould Implements His Program for Preventing or Reversing Vascular Disease
Glossary
Clinical PET Facilities
Sources of Information and Bibliography
Index
Preface
How to Use This Book
PART 1 Understanding the Heart and the Dangers of Coronary Heart Disease
The Heartbeat of Life
The Pumping Heart
The Coronary Arteries
Blood Pressure and the Heartbeat
Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease
The Damaged Heart
Heart Failure
The Electrocardiogram and the Heartbeat
Sudden Death
Dysfunctional Coronary Arteries---A Time Bomb
The Silver Lining
Blood Clots in Coronary Arteries
Narrowed Arteries and Swirling Flow
The Give-and-Take of the Heartbeat
Narrowed Arteries and the Pumping Heart
Growing New Blood Vessels---Collaterals
Blue Clues to Finding the Silent Killer
Rainbow Clues
Early Clues
Progression---The Killer Stalks
Regression---You Win
PART 2 Who Gets Coronary Heart Disease? Why? How Can It Be Prevented or Reversed?
How Prevalent Is Coronary Atherosclerosis?
Risk Factors and Coronary Artery Disease
Women and Heart Disease
Cholesterol Lowering---Does It Work?
Cholesterol-lowering Drugs Plus Very Low-Fat Food
How Much Should Cholesterol Be Lowered?
Can Cholesterol Levels Be Too Low?
Smoking and Death
Excess Body Weight and Survival
Physical Fitness and Survival
PART 3 Steering through the Medical Maze
The Importance of a Definitive Diagnosis
Standard Exercise Stress Tests---True or False Answers?
Other Noninvasive Tests for Atherosclerosis
How Accurate Is the Coronary Arteriogram?
Percent Narrowing---An Inaccurate Measurement of Severity
High Tech for the Heart
Accuracy of Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Blood Flow in Heart Muscle after Reversal Treatment
Two People, Two Outcomes---Real-Life Examples
Other Tests---What Do They Show?
Does Coronary Bypass Surgery Prolong Your Life?
PET for Determining Who Needs Bypass Surgery or Balloon Dilation
Balloon Dilation of Narrowed Coronary Arteries
Chest Pain Reversal? Balloon? Bypass?
Costs of Reversal Treatment, Balloon Dilation, and Bypass Surgery
Economics, Ethics, and Politics of Cardiovascular Disease
Managing Your Physician
PART 4 The Gould Guidelines to Prevent or Reverse Vascular and Coronary Heart Disease
The Gould Guidelines---What's New and Different?
Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease---A Review
Goals of Reversal Treatment 133 (4) Fat-Free Foods---Pleasure and Utility
Types of Food---Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrate
Fats, Oils, and Cholesterol
Protein
Carbohydrates
Overall Guidelines for a Food Plan of Less Than 10 Percent Fat
Weight and Hunger
Essential Fatty Acids
Food Labels
Food ``Zigzags,'' ``Food Breaks,'' and ``Average'' Cholesterol/Fat Consumption
Food ``Substitutes'' and Processed Foods
Menus
Antioxidant Vitamins and Aspirin
Types of Cholesterol-lowering Drugs
Special Problems and Combinations of Cholesterol-lowering Drugs
Angina, or Chest Pain, Due to Coronary Heart Disease
Estrogens and Coronary Heart Disease
Daily Workout Routines
Stress Management
Who Needs Reversal Treatment?
Common Problems and Their Solutions
Limitations of Reversal Treatment
Weighing the Alternatives
How Dr. Gould Implements His Program for Preventing or Reversing Vascular Disease
Glossary
Clinical PET Facilities
Sources of Information and Bibliography
Index
