Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014948558
ISBN 978-1-118- 94423-3 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118- 94424-0 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118- 94425-7
Manufactured in the United States of America
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As you read this book, your heart is beating away in your chest, sustaining your life. Although it’s about the size of a clenched adult fist and weighs less than a pound, your heart beats 40 million times a year and generates enough force to lift you 100 miles into the atmosphere. What an amazing – and absolutely essential – machine!
So consider these facts:
✔ One American dies of heart disease every 40 seconds – amounting to almost 600,000 deaths every year.
✔ Almost every American adult has at least one of these risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, high total cholesterol or LDL cholesterol, smoking, being overweight, diabetes, stress, physical inactivity, or nutrient-poor diet. Not one family in America is left untouched by heart disease.
But here’s the good news: Regardless of your age, sex, ethnicity, and current heart health, you can acquire the knowledge and take action to work toward a healthier heart and the benefits that go with it. This book will help.
About This Book
Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease For Dummies is a commonsense guide for everyone. It discusses simple things that you can do every day to maximize your cardiac health and prevent heart disease. You’ll also find some basic strategies and lifestyle practices to reduce and reverse the risk factors you may have for the major forms of heart disease.
If you (or a loved one) already have heart disease, you also have come to the right place. I explore some facts related to coronary heart disease, angina, heart attacks, hypertension, heart failure, and many other cardiac conditions. You’ll discover ways to work with your doctor to control these conditions and possibly to reverse many of their consequences. Lifestyle modifications provide the foundation for effective change.
