Author Description

ABOUT THE BOOK Most medical experts agree that there is a well-established connection between excessive body weight and disorders that affect the heart and blood vessels. Besides preventing heart disease, weight loss lowers your chances of developing diabetes and joint problems. Dr. Dean Ornish, an experienced cardiologist and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, is famous for trying to raise awareness about the dangers that cardiovascular diseases pose to public health in the United States. In a 2006 TED video presentation, Dr. Ornish explained that cardiovascular disease kills significantly more people than cancer and AIDS combined. The best approach to this growing health problem is prevention. Every doctor knows that preventing a disease is significantly easier, cheaper and more effective than treatment. This is why Dr. Ornish elaborated a comprehensive diet program that incorporates the latest nutritional trends and well-researched medical facts that will enable people to lose weight in a safe and effective way. Dr. Ornish believes that losing weight and preventing cardiovascular disease go hand in hand because proper weight management directly improves the health of your heart and blood vessels. Weight loss also prevents diabetes and improves the health of your bones and joints by reducing the pressure applied to them. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK The second principle of the Ornish diet involves a dramatic reduction of sugar consumption. Instead, complex carbohydrates contained in whole-grain foods, cereals, rice, soy, beans and starchy fruits and vegetables are preferred. Complex carbohydrates end up being broken down to simple sugar molecules; however, unlike simple sugar, this is a gradual, slow process. In other words, complex carbohydrates are excellent sources of slow-release sugar, which prevents a sharp elevation of blood sugar levels. The Ornish diet involves strictly reducing th