Rating: 4 stars
Cover synopsis: Your doctor just gave you the news: It's time to get serious about your heart and your cholesterol, and that means eating right. Starting now. This is your cookbook. it saved Joe Piscatella's life. it could save yours.
I've got bad genes. I come from a long line of heart trouble on both sides of my family. My dad had his first heart procedure in his 40s, and just had open-heart surgery in December (in his 60s). He (and we) are not heavy people. In fact, we're what most people would call SKINNY.
So with genetics against me, I've decided to get more serious about eating healthy. But I was in need of some new heart-friendly recipes, so I picked up this book. It's half-cookbook-half-textbook on heart disease and nutrition. The author had a close call in the 1970s, back before doctors really understood the link between what we eat and its effect on our heart. So he started digging around, talking to doctors, looking up studies, etc. Fascinating stuff.
He came up with a modified Mediterranean diet. He shows us how to eating the right kinds of fats and avoid the bad ones. And he gives helpful tips on how to navigate a restaurant menu, too. The cookbook section is intriguing (yes, I read that part too). I flagged about 25 recipes to try. I made the lower-fat macaroni and cheese last night for dinner. My husband said it tasted better than my usual full-fat version. Not a bad start!
