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Book Reviews

The following books have been evaluated and reviewed by health educators at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. All are available at the Prevention and Wellness Centre library.

30 Minutes a Day to a Healthy Heart

Author: Canadian Medical Association, with Andrew Pipe, CM, MD
ISBN: 0-88850-806-9

This book provides a common sense, no gimmick description of the factors that cause heart disease and the simple approaches that we can take to lower our risk. The introduction is written by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute's own Dr. Andrew Pipe, who also served as a consulting physician and contributing author. In keeping with Dr. Pipe's style, each chapter is simple, practical, easy to follow, and flows like an interesting conversation.

The Canadian Medical Association's involvement ensures that the information presented is sound and based on the latest research, and with the backing of a publisher like Reader's Digest Books, you know that the illustrations, format, and overall presentation will be a visual delight. This book swiftly guides readers to the conclusion that being healthy and caring for our hearts is neither dramatic nor complicated-in fact, it couldn't be easier to make healthy choices.

Complete Canadian Diabetes Cookbook

Edited by Katherine E. Younker, MBA, RD, Certified Diabetes Educator
ISBN: 077880108X

More and more people are being diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes every day. In fact, more than 2 million Canadians presently live with diabetes. This invaluable cookbook demonstrates that healthy and careful meal planning and portion control, the keys to managing this disease, can be both easy and delicious.

The Complete Canadian Diabetes Cookbook offers more than 250 flavourful and healthy recipes accompanied by complete nutritional information. Each recipe features tips and complete meal suggestions to help you create nutritious and balanced meals. Also included is comprehensive diabetes management advice based on the most up-to-date Canadian Diabetes Association meal planning resource: Beyond the Basics Meal Planning Guide. Healthy cooking and eating can be simple and appetizing, you just need the right tools. And this great cookbook is one of the most important tools you can have in your arsenal.

Eating Thin for Life

Author: Anne M. Fletcher, MS, RD
ISBN-10: 1576300625

In Eating Thin for Life, Anne Fletcher tells the story of individuals who have been able to lose weight and maintain their weight loss. As in her previous book, Thin for Life, she refers to these individuals as "masters" of weight control. The new book starts off by describing the five food secrets of these successful losers-from day-to-day eating, to dining out at restaurants or parties and also handling the tough times. Fletcher then goes on to present a variety of meal ideas, finishing off with many delicious low-fat recipes from the masters themselves.

Readers will find practical inspiration and a true motivational tool in the success stories of these masters, who have taken charge of their health for life.

Fitness Walking for Dummies

Author: Liz Neporent, MA
ISBN: 978-0-7645-5192-5

Walking is one of the healthiest and most rewarding forms of exercise available to all people, young and old. It is the most adaptable workout activity around. You can walk a full hour nonstop to make your walking program effective and to achieve your goals, or you can accumulate this hour over the course of a day. Whether your goal is to improve your health or your appearance, get stronger, feel good about yourself, or all of the above, walking can help you get to where you want to go.

Fitness Walking for Dummies is not just for dummies, but its straightforward style makes it perfect for fitness walkers of all levels, from those who want to stroll around the block to those who want to do high-intensity walk training. This easy-to-understand guide is also for those who may not have the knowledge or motivation but are seeking to lose weight, decrease blood pressure, control cholesterol, relieve stress, prevent heart disease, or deal with depression.

Fitness Walking for Dummies can help you achieve your goal by showing you everything you need to know about starting and maintaining a personalized walking program. It covers topics such as warm-up and cool-down routines; the four levels of walking (Lifestyle, Fitness, High-Energy, Walk-Run); weight-training routines and stretches that add variety; buying and using a treadmill; and dealing with pain and injuries.

This book is one of the best all-around fitness walking books on the market and an essential reference for any fitness walker.

Fitting in Fitness

Author: American Heart Association
ISBN: 0-8129-2911-X

Finding time for fitness can be tough. If you're like most people, your days are a blur of work, household chores, errands, and time with family and friends. Life can be so hectic that it's hard to imagine squeezing in time for daily exercise. Setting aside enough time for sleep-let alone physical activity-can be tough.

The good news is that you can get fit without an expensive gym membership or rigorous workout schedule. New research proves that you can sneak up on fitness by grabbing a little time here and there throughout the day so that you get a total of at least 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days. The key is to make it convenient.

The American Heart Association's Fitting in Fitness guide will show you how to work spurts of activity into the way you live right now. Those few minutes can add up to huge rewards, including a stronger heart and bones, higher energy levels, better weight control, and more.

This fun and inspiring pocket guide throws all those excuses for not exercising out the window. It tells you how to fit exercise into your daily schedule without making your day even longer. And calorie charts and a month-long activity diary help you chart your progress.

You'll find hundreds of tips for fitting in fitness in this easy-to-use guide. You'll even learn how to bring your kids into the act and design a lifestyle program that works for all of you.

Heart Smart: A Cardiologist's 5-step Plan for Detecting, Preventing, and Even Reversing Heart Disease

Author: Matthew S. DeVane, MD
ISBN: 0471746924

Whether you have heart problems, a family history of heart problems, or are simply interested in taking control of your health, this book is a good source for heart-healthy information. The author is a cardiologist who combines his enthusiasm for heart disease prevention with an easy, interactive writing style. The result is a resource that is well organized and simple to use.

The book is divided into five sections, each one covering a "step" for preventing and managing heart disease. The entire first section is devoted to recognizing the signs and symptoms of heart disease, including a particularly good chapter on recognizing and dealing with chest pain. The second section is all about risk factors, and the third section follows up nicely with a comprehensive look at diagnosing cardiac disease in today's high-tech age. The last two sections focus on helping individuals identify their own risk factors and ways to make changes in their lives. Overall, this book is focused on empowering each one of us to take charge of our health and, in that way, is very much in keeping with the trend of health care today.

The Harvard Medical School Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure

Authors: Aggie Casey, RN, MS, and Herbert Benson, MD
ISBN: 0071448012

According to the Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP), hypertension, or high blood pressure, is one of the leading causes of death in Canada. The condition can lead to stroke, heart attack, and heart and kidney failure. High blood pressure is related to dementia and sexual problems in Canadian adults. Hypertension is known as a silent killer because it wreaks havoc on the body often without any obvious symptoms.

The Harvard Medical School Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure is an important resource for people who are interested in learning how to lower their blood pressure and maintain it at healthy levels. The authors present a total approach to lowering blood pressure that includes stress management, nutrition, and physical activity. The book's lifestyle approach is balanced with sensible and scientifically sound information, including guidance around the appropriateness of medication for getting blood pressure under control. The use of personal stories throughout makes the guide easy to understand and an enjoyable read.

At 150 pages, it is not an overwhelming amount of information, and yet it offers many useful and science-based tips on what we can do to take control of our overall health.

The Healing Power of Exercise

Authors: Linn Goldberg, MD, and Dr. Diane L. Elliot, MD
ISBN-10: 0471348007

There is now very solid scientific evidence telling us that exercise lowers your risk for many diseases and unpleasant disease symptoms. Drs. Linn Goldberg and Diane Elliot, specialists in sports medicine, focus on what is traditionally considered "exercise": aerobic activities and strength training in combination. They link exercise to increased bone health, arthritis pain relief, lower levels of back pain, as well as the prevention and management of heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Exercise also slows the aging process, burns fat, builds muscle, boosts energy levels, and fights depression.

The authors describe in detail the mechanisms and effects of the various diseases and recommend levels of aerobic activity combined with strength training for building a healthy body and a healthy mind. Packed with remarkable medical information, true-life stories, detailed advice, numerous photographs, and simple writing, The Healing Power of Exercise makes it clear why "exercise is the best medicine."

Mayo Clinic on Healthy Weight

Author: Donald D. Hensrud, MD (Editor in Chief)
ISBN: 1-893005-05-4

Have you been fighting excess weight all your life and want to improve your health? The comprehensive Mayo Clinic on Healthy Weight provides practical methods for changing attitudes and actions, guidance on healthy eating, and realistic counselling about physical exercise. Every point is explained simply and clearly in an easy-to-read and enjoyable style and format.

The book is divided into three parts: "Getting Motivated," "How to Lose Weight," and "When You Need More Help," including medication and surgery options. The information is highly tailored, encouraging you to identify your unique challenges, eliminate your overeating triggers, and try new foods and exercises.

Author Dr. Donald Hensrud and the book's contributing health care professionals sets the record straight about low-carb diets and low-fat diets. Rather than dieting, readers are encouraged to control portions and seek a variety of lower-calorie foods that encourage a feeling of fullness because they contain fibre and/or water.

The book has plenty of extras that make it both interesting and educational, including: how to read a food label; recipe-ingredient substitutions; eight luscious-looking illustrated recipes; the number of calories burned during various exercises; and tricks for changing bad habits.

Mayo Clinic on Healthy Weight will help you achieve and maintain the weight that's healthiest for you and reduce your risk for weight-related diseases.

Meals for Good Health

Author: Karen Graham, RD, Certified Diabetes Educator
ISBN: 0969677022

Meals for Good Health is a colourful cookbook that's designed to help people lose weight, manage diabetes, and maintain a healthy heart. Author Karen Graham starts by listing her top 10 recommendations for good health, including tips on how to make her recommended changes.

She also provides daily meal plans, including their calorie counts, all in the range of 1,200 to 2,200 each. Numerous recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are offered up, with the option of a smaller or larger version of each to cater to everyone's meal-plan goals. Many healthy snack ideas are illustrated, and the nutritional information is available for each recipe.

The real highlight of this cookbook is the beautiful full-colour images that accompany each recipe. This makes it a breeze for people to see how much food they should be eating at each meal, allowing them to better control their portion sizes. Meals for Good Health proves healthy eating can be both simple and delicious.

Quitting Smoking for Dummies

David A. Brizer, MD
ISBN: 0-7645-2629-4

Of all the self-help books out there that aspire to get smokers to quit, this one tops the list. Author and physician, Dr. David Brizer combines good medicine with his own personal quitting experience to deliver an empathetic and insightful approach to smoking cessation. Nicotine addiction is a complex mix of physical, psychological, social, and behavioural dependencies.

This book provides comprehensive tips in all four areas to help the smoker deal with assorted challenges along the way. It also provides the reader with a summary of the current available quitting approaches-whether evidenced-based or not, and clearly points out both the pros and cons of each method. Throughout the book, Dr. Brizer injects a gentle touch of humor, which makes for an easy and entertaining read. Regardless of where you are in the quitting process (not ready, thinking about it, ready, or recently quit), this book has something that can help make the road a little smoother.

Sleep: Your Questions Answered

Author: Renata L. Riha, MD
ISBN: 978-0-7566-2618-1

Although we spend about one-third of our lives sleeping, we still do not really know why we sleep. Dr. Renata Riha is a sleep medicine specialist who works through the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom and is very active in the field of sleep research. In this book, she discusses the current definition of sleep, what it means to sleep well, some of the common sleep disorders throughout the life span, as well as some of the medical tests and treatments currently used for this all too common problem.

This is an extremely practical book that uses the question-and-answer format throughout. It is very easy to directly access the information you need, and it is written using engaging everyday language. Dr. Riha addresses many of the common myths about sleep, such as whether there is such a thing as night owls versus early birds, as well as some of the common remedies often prescribed for sleeplessness; yes, melatonin does seem to help jetlag.

There is a particularly useful section on sleep and aging, including information about menopause that not only debunks some common misconceptions but also offers some realistic and practical help. This book has the kind of answers that will speak to just about everyone.

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