Women-and-Heart-Disease Books

I had open heart surgery at 47 years of age and never had a heart attack. With my head spinning I entered cardiac rehab where I was introduced to "From the Heart." Kathy shares her personal journey with heart disease and snippets of the journeys traveled by other women of all ages, races and cultures. The reader can truly relate to the triumphs and challenges women with heart disease face each and every day. Filled with emotion, truth, struggles, options and resources this is a must read for all women living with heart disease, as well as those around them. The psychological benefits are truly therapeutic for the reader and the educational information is empowering. Written in understandable language this book will help you to live a healthy, happy and productive life with heart disease. Heart disease is a women's disease and you are not alone.

This book is a must read for those travelling the heart journey - meaning both the survivor and the caregiver. Heart disease never goes into remission and the roller coaster ride this #1 killer of women in this country plays, needs to be understood. This book brings knowledge, understanding and compassion to the reader. Although this book is great to keep for reference and re-read, DON'T pass it along to everyone you know and make this a chain-book - a must read!

Kathy Kastan's, From the Heart: A Guide to Living Well with Heart Disease,
brings awareness and understanding to women who are facing emotional challenges AND living well while in the process.

I wish this book had been available to me after my heart attack. I also live with the aftermath of 16 coronary artery stents and a quadruple bypass surgery. This book gives women with heart disease "peace of mind" and validates that you are not alone. While reading this book, you will catch yourself nodding and thinking, "This happened to me. That is where that feeling came from! Now I understand."

One of many messages emanating from this book is to take care of the mind-body-spirit connection: that it will promote healing and assist in living a healthy life. Every woman should be given this book before any heart procedure or surgery, to better understand what to expect emotionally and how to deal with their challenges.

Thank you, Kathy Kastan, for this wonderful book!

Heart disease is the number one killer of women. If you are a "survivor" like me or someone wanting/needing to provide compassionate support to a family member or friend, you want this book. Ms. Kastan provides facts, practical advice and emotional support. I constantly recommend this book to other survivors and health care professionals.

This book what not what I felt was a guide to living with heart disease. It gave me much more to worry about which I didn't need. And alot of the helpful information that is in this book you can get on the American Heart Association website. If you really want a great guide, read "TAKE A LOAD OFF YOUR HEART: 109 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT, HALT AND REVERSE HEART DISEASE by Joseph C. Piscatella. This books is Great! and has just about everything you need to know to help empower you and take control of your health and life.

Anyone dealing with heart disease, either themselves or a family member would benefit greatly from the information in this cookbook. The information is well laid out in a very easy to understand format and the recipes are easy and 'doable'.

WomenHeart's All Heart Family Cookbook

After my husband had triple pass surgery I wanted to start cooking "heart healthy", so I purchased this cookbook...and I am so glad I did. I use it everyday and have not found a recipe that isn't delicious and easy. I highly recommend it to everyone!

This cookbook contains so much good information about heart healthy foods-I learned a lot! And the recipes are wonderful. You will love this book whether you are trying to eat healthy, lose weight, or just enjoy a good meal. I plan to buy copies for Mother's Day and holiday gifts.

A friend gave me this book and it is just fabulous. The receipes are wonderful - love the Tandoori Chicken and Cilantro Broiled Chicken Breasts, Flourless Choc. Cake, Rich Tomato Soup and Beef Tenderloin with Port Cranberry Sauce, ---BUT--- it is the precise, clear, beautifully written and presented discussion of the 40 heart healthy foods that brings me to open this book several times a week. It is just such a valuable source of nutritional information. This book is not just for those who have heart disease (I, thank goodness, do not), but for every person who is alive in the 21st century and trying to eat a healthy diet.

Both of my parents have undergone bypass surgery within the past 8 months. It has been very intimidating to read all the information of how to prevent heart disease, especially having to relay the information to my parents. I came across this book last week and love it. Coming from a family that loves to ask questions this book has a lot of answers. I love that the first part of this book thoroughly explains heart disease, prevention, and how certain foods can be beneficial to your heart. It was also a great idea to list the recipes (w/ page numbers) at the end of each 'Heart Healthy Food' description. This book is well organized and makes cooking their recipes along with other heart healthy recipes more attainable.

An excellent book with good advice. Makes a wonderful gift to lady friends. Enjoyable and fun to read.

This little book packs a powerful punch of must know information. Heart disease is the #1 killer of women. Prevent or delay being a statistic. Have a glass of red wine, munch on some dark chocolate while enjoying this great book. Buy several and give as gifts to the special women in your life. Of course, don't forget to include a bottle of wine and chocolate!

I have spoken to many women who are ready to make changes in their lives, but need a strategy, and Deborah gives us a road map. Uncomplicated and fits in to most lifestyles.

I love this book because it is full of helpful information but is also well-organized and easy to read. It is organized into 100 practical tips that are easy to understand and implement. It is full of good advice, written by a woman to address the unique health issues of women.

As a heart patient and coordinator of support groups for other female heart patients, I love this book! Instead of dwelling on what we CAN'T have and what we MUST do, Debora Yost presents her 101 tips as gifts we can give to ourselves. Also, her research is sound and up-to-date, and I like the idea of incorporating one new tip into my life each week. If you have heart disease, get this book as a gift to yourself. If you know a woman with heart disease, buy it for her!

excellent book for sharing problems, solutions, experiences and prayers when dealing with all kinds of cancer.

I highly recommend this book for any woman going through a cancer diagnosis. Each daily devotional, written from a solid christian perspective by women who have undergone treatment for cancer, starts with a daily entry about living with a cancer diagnosis, a prayer, a daily tip and scriptural references.

This book has been an anchor and comfort for me during my treatments of two cancer diagnosis'. It is my "desert island" cancer book.

Cancer is an insidious disease, But God is greater than that.

Get this book! It will ease your suffering greatly and keep you in the word of God where there is healing.

I purchased this book for a dear friend who is undergoing cancer treatments and she has called me numerous times just to say thank you!!!! She says it is so good it is hard to put down! She has read many other books dealing with cancer but said this is the absolute BEST!!! She has been so inspired and encouraged by this book she has purchased several copies to give to others! I will definitely give this book again as a gift. I am grateful to have found something that has brought such comfort and encouragement to a cancer patient!

One day, my "regular" devotional urged me not to be a "recliner" Christian. But my devotional in Praying Through Cancer shared how another woman just like me couldn't get out of bed, and just laid there and praised God. So I renamed myself "Recliner Christian" and I laugh now every day I'm again stuck in that chair. God loves me even there, and He knows the way I take, just like the women who wrote this devotional. Again and again, their writings validated what I was feeling and experiencing. I bought two and gave one away. Now another woman needs this book -- but I'm not giving up mine! So I'm ordering more.

This book will be a wonderful aid in helping all of us with any form of cancer to get us through those long wakeful hours of the night. Read a chapter (only a couple of pages) and think of what God is telling us from both His word and people's testimonies. He can help you too!

I think this book is very informative and I recommend this to anyone. I'm still reading it, when I'm done, I'll be passing it along to relatives.

This is a very excellent book. I found it very informative and inspiring. I enjoyed the fact that it covered not only physical issues but emotional and spiritual issues as well. It made for a very good read because I felt the author really knew her subjects and what things might be underlying causes for ill health. I would recommend this book to all women who are on a quest to feel better physically and emotionally.

This was a refreshing look into not only how to achieve and maintain a healthy heart but also the interesting facts that surround the history of black women and their cultural differences. However I would recommend this book to all women, not just black women, as there is a lot of beneficial information for all of us here.

Dr. Yates has a wonderful gift of not only talking in laymen's terms so that a larger audience can make use of this important information, but she also breaks down the facts that lie around the issues of heart health in a way that allows you to retain the facts.

The chapter on Estrogen Replacement Therapy was particularly helpful. With a sea of information on this issue, most of which is either scientific garble to me or that of pharmaceutical representation skewed toward profit margins, I was relieved to get clear information here that any reader will be able to make sense of. I walked away understanding much more about my own body and the natural resources that lie within me. Thus allowing me to make better decisions about how I will proceed when I am at the age of menopause.

I commend Dr. Yates on a job well done and I look forward to more information on other topics by her in the future.

Finally there's an author who speaks my language! I happy to say reading this book has helped me turn some things around for myself. I realize no one's going to take care of me but me, and this author speaks to me in a way that's inspiring. And she knows what I'm dealing with. Sisters, this one is worth your $.

My name is Aliou Ayaba a physician from Benin in West-Africa.I have practiced in rural hospital in Benin for almost ten years now.I met Dr Yates by chance because she was willing to donnate medical equipments and supplies to rural hospitals in Benin after an ad I placed in a local newspaper. If I saw her book on stack in a library I would not have paid attention to it because like all today modern physicians alternative/traditional/ natural medicine is secondary, imprecise and sometimes not important. It is sad because everytime we want to make a prescription about High blood pressure, diabete, sickle-cell anemia, depression etc, we start with :" hygienic and dietetic counseling" even though we do not have time to explain all this section to the patient..But this is rather a big issue about the place of alternative medicine today. The book written by Dr.Yates impress me a lot for it reveals in a very simple language the hidden part of our health.It has more effect on me probably because I practice in a rural hospital in Benin where I cross every day in the hospital traditional healers giving secret care to their hospitalized patients just because unlike we modern physicians busy with "mathmatical medicine" they take time to listen to patients, their recipes are natural, cheaper easy to use and with less side effects...they care not only for the body but also the mind and the patient's environment as well. Cardiovascular diseases CVD are the first killer worlwide and as Dr.Yates indicates there is a single chance: they are preventable, their prevention is cheaper or only costs a little change in our lifestyle.For everyone and particularly black women all over the world I recommend this book because if today we cannot change our socioeconomic status which put us at higher risk of dying for CVD at least we can modifies slightly our lifestyle by following the simple receipes of Dr.Yates in order to enjoy this life that never rewind...

During my battle with breast cancer, this became the most important book in my struggle with my diagnosis and treatment. It was sitting quietly on a bookshelf at the chemo infusion room. What a beautiful, beautiful, uplifting, empowering book! It was hard to find during that time, but I am pleased to see that Amazon has it available now. Highly recommended to anyone who has been touched by breast cancer, personally or thru someone you love. The photographer captures the spirit of the women perfectly, and their stories are well written. It touched the depths of my soul.

This is the best book I have ever read. It is not only beautiful but also wonderfully written. I suggest this book for anyone battling cancer.

I know many of the women in this book. They are, or were, indeed warrior women. I have reassessed my opinion of the tenacity of the human spirit after knowing them. Springer catches the essence of these women in her inimitable way.

This book is one of the most beautiful and inspiring books that I have read. The photography is spectacular!!! If you know someone who has just been diagnosed with Breast Cancer, give this book to them. It will give them hope for the future and help them realize that they are not alone.

Incredible photographs and prosen are contained in this book. A moving, sensitive chronicle of cancer survivorship that changed my perceptions forever. I recommend it unreservedly. I can't wait until Springer's next book!

For 20 years now, heart disease has killed more women each year than men. Statistically, 40 percent of women will have a cardiovascular problem in her lifetime, and heart disease kills more women than every type of cancer combined. Women have different heart symptoms than men, and yet most of us, including physicians, do not know this.

"It's shocking!" is the first sentence of Mellanie True Hills' A Woman's Guide to Saving Her Own Life. Hills learned the hard way, undergoing a heart attack and a stroke very close together. As she had none of the obvious risk factors (she was young, didn't smoke, had low cholesterol and blood pressure, and was not diabetic), she thought she was safe. What she was, however, was overweight and overstressed, and that in itself is enough.

It also didn't help that it was hard to recognize her heart attack symptoms - shortness of breath, fatigue, mild nausea and heartburn, and a bit of left shoulder and jaw pain. The acronym to remember here is LIFE: Left side pain in shoulder, neck, or jaw, Indigestion, nausea, Fatigue often accompanied by sleeplessness, and Exertion that seems more severe than normal. As it turns out, most women do not experience the crushing chest pains that most male heart attack victims experience. Women have subtle symptoms, but the same deadly outcome.

The HEART plan has five components: Healthy Eating, Exercise Daily, Attitude Toward Stress, Rest, Relaxation, and Rejuvenation, and Take Proactive Control of Your Health. Hills presents checklists, quizzes, and easy to follow and understand programs to help women move forward in all five areas.

Hills' book is very clear, easy to follow, and to the point. It is a quick read, but encourages readers to take the time to really look at their own lives and make positive healthy lifestyle changes. There is good advice on diet, exercise, stress reduction, hormones, and how to recognize a heart attack or stroke when it's happening. Even if you think you are healthy, you should read this book.

A Woman's Guide To Saving Her Own Life by Mellanie True Hills is one EVERY woman must read and take "to heart." It is Mellanie's story of nearly dying of heart disease. Few women realize that in the United States one woman dies every minute of heart disease, 10 times as many as die of breast cancer and 5 times as many as from all cancers! Heart disease and stroke are responsible for 40% of women's deaths, even young women and those who don't smoke and are without history of high cholesterol or high blood pressure. Heart disease kills more women than men, and yet we don't hear about it. This book details the warning signs and has excellent instructions for changing our lifestyles to prevent heart disease. This is a MUST for all women and men who love them

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.

The price tag is hefty for a standard-sized 8.5x11 paperback workbook, but any concerned about women's health and heart disease must take a look. It identifies the different risk factors and symptoms involved in women's heart health, packs in tips on how to lose weight (tested tips: the author lost 85 pounds with these secrets), and reveals how to get the tests and treatments unique to the female body. Charts and case histories appear in boxed, easily-noted pages of detail which succeed in breaking up test and enhancing visuals. A 'must' for any woman concerned about heart health.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

Reviewed by Beverly Pechin for Reader Views (4/06)

Coming from a family with a long history of heart disease you'd think I'd jump at the chance to read something that can help me. I wasn't all that thrilled. I kept telling myself, oh come on, I'm fine. Heart like a mule. I'm not really at risk. Who cares that family history, being overweight and not eating properly are my biggest factors... I can ignore them. But can I?

Reading this book truly could save your life. I'm one to ignore the bad things in life. I figure if I don't acknowledge it, it goes away. Unfortunately that's not true. I've learned that through many trials and tribulations. This book enhances the fact.

Mellanie is a heart surgery survivor. What makes her story somewhat different is that she's not a 'typical' heart disease candidate. She had hidden risks, which many of us can have and probably do have along with a few obvious factors that she ignored. This book will walk with you, step by step and show you what you can do, what to look for and how to prevent being like Mellanie - an emergency heart surgery patient.

Heart disease actually kills more women then men, yet all the most books and media stress heart disease in men. Mellanie is on the forefront of changing this, thankfully. Nearly 1,400 women die every day from heart disease. That's 10 times more than breast cancer and 5 times more than all cancers combined. Yet we still remain oblivious for the most part. We have rallies and walks for breast cancer. How many times have you seen the pink ribbons out there for various fundraisers? What have you seen for Women's Heart Disease? Can you even say what the "promotional gimmick" is for women's heart disease? My guess is no. In case you wonder, it's a red dress.

The book begins by sharing Mellanie's story. It's fairly frightening to read as she's not a typical candidate and if you were to think long and hard many of us are typical candidates. If SHE could have this happen, what are OUR chances as high risk? If SHE could have this happen, what are our chances even as low risk? Are you truly low risk? Her book helps you find out.

She breaks the book up in sections - Sharing risk factors, stories of heart disease and most of all a wonderful area to begin your plan to change your lifestyle and risk factor. The book is made as a workbook. Take the time to write down your thoughts, ideas and most of all your goals. Mellanie encourages a proactive approach. She doesn't try to scare you into suddenly changing. Jumping off the bridge quickly only leads to landing hard. Instead she gives you a realistic approach to take daily. She doesn't want to scare you into changing; she wants to show you the benefits.

I really would highly recommend this book to every woman out there. It's not something we tend to think about, talk about or even read about. Change that. Make the changes Mellanie gives you and take that proactive approach to NOT becoming a statistic. It's well worth the price to save your life. When you put the cards on the table, there's a choice that can be made and you can make it. Have the chance of dying before your time or take the road to freedom and change your life for you and your family. You are worth it and I'm certain your family would agree.

The story of the two sisters' Libby and Sam seemed very real and as we grow up we do grow apart. I found myself not liking Libby very much, especially at the beginning of the story. I thought the end was rushed, and more of the story of why Libby's daughter wanted to leave college should have been talked about more. It is an easy read and worth reading just not as good as it could have been.

The Law Of Bound Hearts: Separate them and only one - at most - would survive.

That statement sums up how Libby and Sam felt about each other as children...they were inseparable. All that changed one day when Libby did something to Sam that was unforgivable. Now, six years later, Libby is suffering from kidney failure and needs to find a donor and does not want to ask her sister Sam for help. As the story unfolds, we gradually learn a bit about each woman, where they are in their lives now, and what they are thinking and feeling. We also discover what transpired to bring them to this point in their strained relationship.

Once again Anne LeClaire has woven a story that takes you on a magical journey to the heart of the family where no one is perfect and forgiveness is possible.

What a wonderful love story. This is a story about true love, the kind you feel unconditionally. This book was filled with all kind of emotions. Definetly a page turner.

Anne LeClaire writes compellingly and engages our empathy and curiosity about two estranged sisters who are faced with a life-changing decision. I became so involved with the characters, I didn't want the story to end.

Two years younger than her sister, Sam is a pastry chef living on the coast of Massachusetts designing wedding cakes that are a work of art. Libby, the free spirit of their childhood is living in the Midwest, near Chicago, having turned into a control freak of sorts. They haven't spoken in six years even though as children they were closer than twins. Now, Libby must go through dialysis and needs a donor to give her a kidney. Can she ask Sam?

But this story is much deeper than that. It's a lyrical and poetic story about sisterhood, love, betrayal, forgiveness, and hope. It's a story about families and friendships and marriage. Anne LeClaire has created a landscape of words that capture your interest and surround you with the spirit of giving without being predictable or ordinary.

Better than her other books (which were pretty darn good), you'll be glad you chose THE LAW OF BOUND HEARTS and look forward to LeClaire's future books.

Holler for Your Health: Be the Key to a Healthy Family is a wealth of wonderful, in-depth knowledge that everyone needs to arm themselves with in order to live a healthy, happy life. Author, Teresa Holler is a Physician Assistant with a masters degree in Primary Care Medicine. Within the pages of this book you will discover interesting facts about every day house hold items and how they can affect the human body and not for the best. Mrs. Holler helps explain how just changing simple habits can ensure you can decrease doctor's visits.

Even wonder what all those words on food and product labels mean and I don't mean just counting calories or carbohydrates. Well now you will be able to speak this new foreign language. In Holler for Your Health: Be the Key to a Healthy Family, you will not only know what you are reading but also what your food is actually made of. You will never look at a label the same way again. I was aware of some of the topics discussed in this book but there was still a lot that I was surprised to discover that I didn't know. You can bet I will put what I learned about to good use in my every day life.

Many diseases are not inevitable, but rather preventable. "Holler for Your Health: Be the Key to a Healthy Family" is a family-oriented guide about maintaining good mental and physical health, from nursing infants to preventing obesity to tips on buying safe and proper toys. Scientific evidence supports the recommendations of this seminal guide to promoting health within one's own immediate family. "Holler for Your Health" should be read by anyone in charge of younger people's health, as well as those who are planning to be.

When I picked this up, I wasn't sure what to expect so I thought I'd write a few lines here... This book is very informative- lots of simple but effective strategies to help protect yourself and your family from disease by avoiding toxic chemicals and getting proper nutrients. I was surprised to read how many products that I thought were safe are really dangerous to my health. I'm still amazed at how hard it is to find this kind of information and how uninformed most doctors are about environmental causes of disease. Holler for Your Health: Be the Key to a Healthy Family, contains information that everyone needs.

The author has done a very good job at explaining the strong links between diet and our environment and various ailments including stress and diabetes that makes for very interesting reading. I always felt the genetic link to obesity to be hogwash, but the author did a good job at convincing me the biological reason for the linkage. After reading this book I was sufficiently convinced to buy hormone free milk for my children and certain organic produce for the family, utilize a water filter for the home, and cease applying traditional lawn fertilizers on my lawn in favor of more natural, organic alternatives.

Nance is unbelievably honest in sharing her innermost feelings and thoughts throughout this book. She shows us that through faith, family and friends there is always a "light at the end of the tunnel". Her poetry adds a special touch to her story. I was especially moved by "Last Kiss". This book will be an inspiration for anyone facing a medical crisis.

Life In Limbo is a priceless gift for anyone going through a transplant with a loved one and a touching story for anyone that's not. Through Lisa Nance's intimate account of what she and her family endured we learn what it takes to survive a catastrophic life changing event. Life In Limbo will touch your heart in such a true and honest way that you should give this book to everyone you care about.

Lisa Stiles Nance has had the courage, tenacity, and faith to survive one of life's more terrifying experiences -- and the talent and artistry to share with us the wisdom that she gained from her family's ordeal. Life in Limbo provides a practical, sensitive, life-saving guide for people who've been swept into the strange and difficult world of catastrophic illness. With the book, both patient and family will find the entire exhausting process less frightening and, miraculously, more hopeful. Life in Limbo is a wondrous revelation. My gratitude and continuing encouragement to Ms. Nance.

Not only does this book appeal to readers who are not in a crisis situation, it is insightful and honest in it's approach to what a family goes through waiting for a loved one to recieve an organ, specifically a heart. The writer immediately pulled me into her circumstances. It is written in a way that I understood what she was going through as a wife, living through this experience her husband was having. I see through her eyes the fear and the hope, the pain and the sorrow, and her faith in the Lord to pull her together to take care of her husband and their children, her home and their life. I honestly recommend this valuable and insightful tool for anyone involved in waiting for a transplant, or anyone involved in this process.