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Your Cholesterol Matters: What Your Numbers Mean and How You Can Improve Them
A must-read for those on cholesterol lowering medication and those with stents in their hearts
When it comes to our health, what we don't know can harm us most. Eighty-five percent of people over the age of fifty have significant blockage in the arteries of their hearts without any symptoms. Two-thirds of the time, the initial symptom is a full-blown heart attack. Doctors tell patients to watch their diet, get regular exercise, and lose weight--but they also increasingly prescribe "cholesterol lowering" drugs that patients will take every day for the rest of their lives. The problem is that a daily pill only addresses one small part of the cholesterol problem.
Dr. Furman wants readers to understand what their cholesterol numbers mean, how best to change levels of both the "lethal" LDL cholesterol and "hero" HDL cholesterol, and how to adjust their lifestyles in order to stay off of expensive medications that don't address the whole problem (and often have negative health-impacting side effects). Not only will Dr. Furman's advice make them healthier in the short term, it will also enable them to have more control over the aging process, allowing them to live longer, better lives.
When it comes to our health, what we don't know can harm us most. Eighty-five percent of people over the age of fifty have significant blockage in the arteries of their hearts without any symptoms. Two-thirds of the time, the initial symptom is a full-blown heart attack. Doctors tell patients to watch their diet, get regular exercise, and lose weight--but they also increasingly prescribe "cholesterol lowering" drugs that patients will take every day for the rest of their lives. The problem is that a daily pill only addresses one small part of the cholesterol problem.
Dr. Furman wants readers to understand what their cholesterol numbers mean, how best to change levels of both the "lethal" LDL cholesterol and "hero" HDL cholesterol, and how to adjust their lifestyles in order to stay off of expensive medications that don't address the whole problem (and often have negative health-impacting side effects). Not only will Dr. Furman's advice make them healthier in the short term, it will also enable them to have more control over the aging process, allowing them to live longer, better lives.
- GenresHealthNonfiction
176 pages, Paperback
Published January 3, 2017
11 people are currently reading
441 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 4, 2017
This book had a lot of really good information in it. I have to admit that I already knew a lot of it, but don't always implement it. The author makes a case consistently throughout the book that there is nothing more important and I have to agree. However, I lack the self-discipline to be as stringent about it as he is.
The author connects medical literature to things you can actually do in your life to make healthy changes. He explains it very in a detailed manner and uses relatable metaphors. He explains how your body systems work and relates that information directly to the foods you eat and your exercise routine.
I believe I will try to make some of the changes suggested in this book. However, as I've stated in other reviews, I am not a person that will cut out a bunch of food groups all at once. There are quite a few things that you should not eat according to this book. The author makes a good case for all of them, but I think it would just be too much for me personally.
As I stated above this book had a lot of good information in it, but it got fairly repetitive, which bothers me. At a certain point, I felt like telling him that he already told me that...several times. I do not need to be beaten over the head with the information. I suppose he figured the repetition would help the information sink in and be retained, but it got a little annoying.
The only other thing I really didn't like about this book and will complain about is the epilogue. The epilogue tells of a visit he had with a man that he had installed a pacemaker for in India and how he tried to instill Christian values in that man and that he hopes everyone will spend time with the bible because it is "special literature that can change your spiritual life." I have no problem with the author preaching this message and I believe that spiritual health is important, but I don't feel that was the place for it. I almost felt as if I had been tricked into reading it because it was in this book. There are people of other religions that may not feel comfortable or be interested in reading about the author's religious views and I feel that it was out of place in a book about physical health.
Other than that, this is a book worth reading. If you have health issues or just want to get healthier so that you can feel good and live a long, healthy life, give it a try.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The author connects medical literature to things you can actually do in your life to make healthy changes. He explains it very in a detailed manner and uses relatable metaphors. He explains how your body systems work and relates that information directly to the foods you eat and your exercise routine.
I believe I will try to make some of the changes suggested in this book. However, as I've stated in other reviews, I am not a person that will cut out a bunch of food groups all at once. There are quite a few things that you should not eat according to this book. The author makes a good case for all of them, but I think it would just be too much for me personally.
As I stated above this book had a lot of good information in it, but it got fairly repetitive, which bothers me. At a certain point, I felt like telling him that he already told me that...several times. I do not need to be beaten over the head with the information. I suppose he figured the repetition would help the information sink in and be retained, but it got a little annoying.
The only other thing I really didn't like about this book and will complain about is the epilogue. The epilogue tells of a visit he had with a man that he had installed a pacemaker for in India and how he tried to instill Christian values in that man and that he hopes everyone will spend time with the bible because it is "special literature that can change your spiritual life." I have no problem with the author preaching this message and I believe that spiritual health is important, but I don't feel that was the place for it. I almost felt as if I had been tricked into reading it because it was in this book. There are people of other religions that may not feel comfortable or be interested in reading about the author's religious views and I feel that it was out of place in a book about physical health.
Other than that, this is a book worth reading. If you have health issues or just want to get healthier so that you can feel good and live a long, healthy life, give it a try.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 26, 2019
Pros:
He explains cholesterol, HDL and LDL, how food and exercise affects your cholesterol in a really easy to understand way. It makes you want to improve your health.
He gives you action items at the end of each chapter to work on, and being a list person, I really liked that.
It's not super long, so it's easy to get through and glean the valuable information.
I like that he included an epilogue sharing his testimony of Jesus Christ and the Bible.
Cons:
I get that he's passionate about helping people improve their health and thus their lives. I would have understood a plea to my better judgment at the beginning and the end (why wouldn't you eat better/exercise more if you knew how good it is for your health?), but not several times throughout the book. It felt kind of preachy.
While I get his point that never eating anything bad for you would mean that your health would be the best possible, I do not agree with his implication that moderation is impossible. His claim was that if you start eating bad things in moderation, you'll eventually just start eating them all the time. I think that trying to completely deprive yourself of things can eat to bad food relationships and dangerous eating habits. He and I will have to agree to disagree here.
The ideal weight he claims people should be at seems unattainable and unrealistic. He doesn't explain where he gets his numbers or formula from, so I'm not entirely convinced that I need to force myself down to a weight I haven't been since probably early middle school.
Overall, definitely a valuable resource if you want to learn about and improve your cholesterol levels. I probably would have given this a 3 1/2, but since it does its main job (teaching you about cholesterol) so well, I bumped it up to a 4.
He explains cholesterol, HDL and LDL, how food and exercise affects your cholesterol in a really easy to understand way. It makes you want to improve your health.
He gives you action items at the end of each chapter to work on, and being a list person, I really liked that.
It's not super long, so it's easy to get through and glean the valuable information.
I like that he included an epilogue sharing his testimony of Jesus Christ and the Bible.
Cons:
I get that he's passionate about helping people improve their health and thus their lives. I would have understood a plea to my better judgment at the beginning and the end (why wouldn't you eat better/exercise more if you knew how good it is for your health?), but not several times throughout the book. It felt kind of preachy.
While I get his point that never eating anything bad for you would mean that your health would be the best possible, I do not agree with his implication that moderation is impossible. His claim was that if you start eating bad things in moderation, you'll eventually just start eating them all the time. I think that trying to completely deprive yourself of things can eat to bad food relationships and dangerous eating habits. He and I will have to agree to disagree here.
The ideal weight he claims people should be at seems unattainable and unrealistic. He doesn't explain where he gets his numbers or formula from, so I'm not entirely convinced that I need to force myself down to a weight I haven't been since probably early middle school.
Overall, definitely a valuable resource if you want to learn about and improve your cholesterol levels. I probably would have given this a 3 1/2, but since it does its main job (teaching you about cholesterol) so well, I bumped it up to a 4.
February 6, 2017
No I don't have cholesterol if you want to know that. In my latest blood exam I complained because it was 156 so high to my point of view. My family doctor reassured me: "More than good." I think it's the Parmesan I add in a daily base in the pasta...It would be better to keep cholesterol under 100.
Said that: considering that I have seen the hell in terms of people with very big problems associated at bad customs and wrong life-style I picked up this book Your Cholesterol Matters What Your Numbers Mean and How You Can Improve Them by Richard Furman, MD, FACS published by Revell immediately after the festivities ;-) with great joy.
One day I was talking with a schoolmate. We were speaking about people and doctors and we agreed on a fact: that always more young people fall, and fall seriously ill, sometimes at a point of no return, for strokes or heart attacks, something never seen in the past decades, when strokes were associated to old people, at the end of their existence but not at people of 30-40-50 years or sometimes younger than that.
We concluded saying: "It's not normal at all!"
I hate to see dying very young people because of smoke, bad habits in terms of food. I hate to see sufferance because I have seen sufferance.
Written by a doctor who, for more than 30 years cleaned up the arteries of many patients, the book is plenty informative regarding our body, our car, let's put this comparison and how we can maintain it efficient, and cholesterol free.
Richard Furman add that keeping your weight ok, eating properly without exaggeration in terms of bad fat and doing some exercise you will be fine and... You will avoid the cholesterol pill plenty of collateral effects as also explained.
In the USA first of all before to prescribe the cholesterol pill doctors suggest these three things: losing weight, exercise and a good diet for bilancing cholesterol. Most people don't read what their physician say and they start to take this pill that in most cases can cause serious problems, muscular problems.
There are two kind of cholesterol: the one in our blood affecting directly the arteries and the other one of the food. This one will have the most important impact on our blood cholesterol.
Cholesterol is in good percentage a great allied of our body: it helps the assimilation of vit. A,D, E.
There are two kind of cholesterol: one is lethal for the health and another one considered by the doctor a real hero.
It is important to keep the bad one as low as possible and the hero one as high as possible.
It's important to use good sense affirms Richard Furman: first of all much more than a medication we must take care of ourselves. Silly to take the cholesterol pill and then eat all the food you were eating in the past because "I take the pill for the cholesterol."
Cholesterol will pass through a good life-style and three words: exercise, weight control/loss and food. In this way you won't take the cholesterol pill.
Exercise is tremendously important because a heart kept strong, the heart is a muscle, will be in grade to work much more efficiently and plus it will be possible to lose weight bad cholesterol.
This book will reveal to you how, in a society plenty of temptations (remember that all good food is bad food for your body!) in culinary term better to avoid to eat more than the necessary.
It's possible to change. It's possible to say: no I want to stay health!
Try it.
It will save your life.
Please: read this book and then spread the word and start to live a new chapter of your existence.
Said that: considering that I have seen the hell in terms of people with very big problems associated at bad customs and wrong life-style I picked up this book Your Cholesterol Matters What Your Numbers Mean and How You Can Improve Them by Richard Furman, MD, FACS published by Revell immediately after the festivities ;-) with great joy.
One day I was talking with a schoolmate. We were speaking about people and doctors and we agreed on a fact: that always more young people fall, and fall seriously ill, sometimes at a point of no return, for strokes or heart attacks, something never seen in the past decades, when strokes were associated to old people, at the end of their existence but not at people of 30-40-50 years or sometimes younger than that.
We concluded saying: "It's not normal at all!"
I hate to see dying very young people because of smoke, bad habits in terms of food. I hate to see sufferance because I have seen sufferance.
Written by a doctor who, for more than 30 years cleaned up the arteries of many patients, the book is plenty informative regarding our body, our car, let's put this comparison and how we can maintain it efficient, and cholesterol free.
Richard Furman add that keeping your weight ok, eating properly without exaggeration in terms of bad fat and doing some exercise you will be fine and... You will avoid the cholesterol pill plenty of collateral effects as also explained.
In the USA first of all before to prescribe the cholesterol pill doctors suggest these three things: losing weight, exercise and a good diet for bilancing cholesterol. Most people don't read what their physician say and they start to take this pill that in most cases can cause serious problems, muscular problems.
There are two kind of cholesterol: the one in our blood affecting directly the arteries and the other one of the food. This one will have the most important impact on our blood cholesterol.
Cholesterol is in good percentage a great allied of our body: it helps the assimilation of vit. A,D, E.
There are two kind of cholesterol: one is lethal for the health and another one considered by the doctor a real hero.
It is important to keep the bad one as low as possible and the hero one as high as possible.
It's important to use good sense affirms Richard Furman: first of all much more than a medication we must take care of ourselves. Silly to take the cholesterol pill and then eat all the food you were eating in the past because "I take the pill for the cholesterol."
Cholesterol will pass through a good life-style and three words: exercise, weight control/loss and food. In this way you won't take the cholesterol pill.
Exercise is tremendously important because a heart kept strong, the heart is a muscle, will be in grade to work much more efficiently and plus it will be possible to lose weight bad cholesterol.
This book will reveal to you how, in a society plenty of temptations (remember that all good food is bad food for your body!) in culinary term better to avoid to eat more than the necessary.
It's possible to change. It's possible to say: no I want to stay health!
Try it.
It will save your life.
Please: read this book and then spread the word and start to live a new chapter of your existence.
March 12, 2017
This book has some good points, but I didn't really like the writing style. I found Furman simplified things too much and came off a little condescending. I felt like he had a superior air about him when talking about people's choices and how he makes the correct one but most people make the wrong ones. He kept mentioning the medical research, but I found that he didn't give the medical research, instead he talked specifically about his practice and his experiences. Personally, I would have liked if he had actually used the research and maybe used his practice and experiences to further explain it.
May 4, 2024
I was very disappointed in this book. Apart from the patronizing tone throughout the book, it is based on a premise that anyone with high LDL is overweight, sedentary and has a poor diet. It makes no allowance for genetic makeup and even suggests that genetic tendency to high LDL can be overcome by good diet , exercise and ideal weight. He provides a bibliography but there are no footnotes or endnotes to direct the reader to the ‘medical proof’ of his assertions.
Whilst I totally agree that good weight, good diet and good exercise are essential to health, the way they are presented here will actually put a lot of people off. His assertion that you have to give up, eg, all cheese and all red meat forever otherwise you’ll relapse to having them every day does not account for those people who can actually moderate their behavior.
In summary, this wasn’t the medical book I thought it was going to be.
Whilst I totally agree that good weight, good diet and good exercise are essential to health, the way they are presented here will actually put a lot of people off. His assertion that you have to give up, eg, all cheese and all red meat forever otherwise you’ll relapse to having them every day does not account for those people who can actually moderate their behavior.
In summary, this wasn’t the medical book I thought it was going to be.
May 31, 2018
I found Dr. Furman's book to be very motivating and encouraging! Even though I already knew a lot of the information he shared, his book developed a new desire within me to do my daily "exercise medicine." It was an easy and enjoyable read yet based on medical research. If you want to be healthy and active for the rest of your life, I recommend this book.
June 26, 2019
Author claims to give readers a 'summary of all the medical literature' that he has gone through, but in reality, majority of the book is filled with personal anecdotes and stories.
I don't really care about what you've told whom in some restaurant; explain the science and give us the facts. That's what we bought the book for.
Disappointing.
I don't really care about what you've told whom in some restaurant; explain the science and give us the facts. That's what we bought the book for.
Disappointing.
August 12, 2018
Great information
I really love how simplistic this book breaks down the medical research and gives simple steps to follow. If there is not already, I would love a follow up with recipes.
I really love how simplistic this book breaks down the medical research and gives simple steps to follow. If there is not already, I would love a follow up with recipes.
June 30, 2023
I needed this book! After years of hearing lose weight and exercise, I now see the incredible importance in doing just that to prevent heart problems and dementia. Thinking seriously of changing my diet forever. I hope I can do it!!!
June 8, 2019
I really didn't appreciate the Christian proselytizing at the end. Otherwise an OK book with the same health advice you'd find in that China Study book.
February 28, 2020
Very good, fact-based information presented in a simple and easy to read fashion. I am doing some of the things advised - now to try for more!
March 23, 2024
Easy to read and understand. Convincing.
January 4, 2019
Thought I could follow every advice mentioned in this book, until I read the epilogue.
August 11, 2024
Super helpful and practical on getting your cholesterol under control.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews