Educational, well-organized, required reading
Readers Preference
by Harold McFarland
Also appears in Midwest Book Review, July, 2005 and at Amazon (Top 50 Reviewer)
Many women are surprised to find that heart disease kills more women each year than breast cancer. Another surprise is the fact that each year heart disease kills more women than men. When Mellanie True Hills had a close call with a coronary artery 95% blocked and nearing a heart attack she decided to do something about her situation. How she saved her life and changed the heart disease scenario is what this book is about.
The author provides extensive educational material on risk factors and what to do about them. She also includes an excellent section on heart attack and stroke symptoms and how the symptoms of a man and of a woman may be quite different as well as how it is diagnosed and why it is often harder to diagnose in women than men.
After discussing how she was able to change her health she provides a how-to guide on developing your own plan to stave off or recover from heart disease. The book ends with an appendix containing multiple forms you can use to help develop your plan.
This is an excellent resource full of information covering the complete spectrum of heart disease. While it is written for women and has a lot of information specific to women, the method of developing a plan that you can use to ward off heart disease is useful for everyone. As such, A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life is a recommended read for everyone.
Review: A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life
Breakthrough Digest
by Sandra Koopman-Bryant
It doesn't matter what age, race, class or size you are, A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life is a must read. Author Mellanie True Hills teaches us, through her own experience and calling upon current medical research, that even though heart disease is the #1 killer of women in the US, we can control our risk factors and possibly save our lives.
Mellanie True Hills was a hard-charging consultant for a high-tech firm when she found herself in the airport experiencing shortness of breath and an aching left shoulder. She saw her doctor and was sent to the Emergency Department with an abnormal EKG. She continued to answer business calls and plan her next trip from her hospital bed, even as the cardiologist made arrangements for an invasive study to look at her heart vessels. When the doctor found a blockage in her heart and had difficulty placing a stent to open the blockage, the author was stunned to learn how close she had been to death. Realizing she had to make significant changes in her life to prevent a heart attack or stroke, Hills conducted extensive medical research and developed the HEART program for women, using herself as the first subject.
In her straightforward, easy-going narrative, Hills discusses changes she made in the areas of diet, exercise and stress management to control her risk of heart attack. She then shares current medical research in an easy-to-understand manner to explain women-specific risks for heart attacks and strokes and the current recommendations for reducing those risks and maintaining heart health. Throughout the book, Hills provides numerous websites to guide the reader to further information in specific areas.
Finally, Hills guides the reader through the process of creating one's own HEART program in a workbook format that evaluates risks (smoking, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, family history, weight/shape, activity level and stress) and builds an action plan for risk reduction (diet, exercise, stress control, rest and taking control of one's health issues).
Throughout the book, Hills shares her own journey to heart health with tips she developed along the way. Her "real woman" examples of on-the-go diet strategies (she lost 85 pounds!) and stress control techniques are particularly helpful for women busy with careers and family. Here's a little secret: the title of this book may be A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life, but every man should read it too, since the program will work for either sex to be heart healthy!
Sandra Koopman-Bryant,RN,CCRN,JD has been a critical care nurse for more than twenty years. She has specialized in the care of cardiac and neurosurgical patients, as well as trauma patients. She is currently a flight nurse and emergency department nurse in Seattle, Washington.
Life-saving information every woman should know about!
Armchair Interviews
by Erica Marston
Also appears at Amazon
Forty percent of women die of heart disease and stroke--more than ten times the number of women who die from breast cancer--according to Mellanie True Hills in her book, A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life: The HEART Program for Health and Longevity. These and other little-known facts about the causes and effects of heart disease in women make this guide a must-read for women of all ages.
A heart survivor herself, Hills tells her own story and uses an informal woman-to-woman style to educate women about heart health. Her book offers easy-to-follow advice on nutrition, exercise, stress, sleep, and identifying the symptoms of heart disease in women. The guide also includes a step-by-step workbook for building a customized plan for heart disease prevention.
Mellanie True Hills is the Founder and CEO of the American Foundation for Women's Health. She provides lifestyle coaching and speaks extensively to spread awareness of heart disease and prevention.
Armchair Interviews says: Life-saving information every woman should know.
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