The South Beach Heart Program by Arthur Agatston (2006, Hardcover)

The market is flooded with books, DVDs and other items that promote diets and losing weight! Sadly the bulk of the material available focuses on aesthetics - looking better and getting into those skinny jeans - yes, a motivation, but these materials really skirt around the real issue that weight impacts - our health!!
The nations number one preventable killer is heart disease - with stokes also being a major killer; this is partly due to our lifestyle but also as this book explains - the way these diseases are treated: "The shocking fact is that the majority of heart attacks and strokes can be prevented with the medical knowledge we already possess. Yet this isn’t happening. Why? Because doctors and hospitals are paid more to treat disease with invasive techniques like angioplasty and bypass surgery than to prevent its - due to the way the medical industry treats these types of diseases".
This books examines health - and how our lifestyles and eating habits can impact our risk of stokes and heart disease; how our health care providers can help. It looks at warning signs - for example, how a higher BMI or more fat around the middle of the body can be a indicator of increased risk of more health issues!
Then, and only then having examined these health issues, does the book look at ways we can prevent health risks - from medical tests, to the importance of exercise and of course diet! It offers a 4 step program that the author - a Cardiologist - uses with his patients to impressive results!
This is an excellent book - heart disease is such a huge killer and to see a book that addresses this disease from a both a medical point of view and looking at how people of the nation are putting themselves at risk through unhealthy lifestyle practices - is eye opening and should be good grounds to motivate a person needing to change - to adopt a complete lifestyle overall!
An excellent book that explores true facts and no fiction to help our nation change!