Michael Ozner - Heart Attack Proof: A Six-Week Cardiac Makeover for a Lifetime of Optimal Health

PRAISE FOR HEART ATTACK PROOF

Dr. Michael Ozner has written another splendid book! If all of us heeded to his recommendations, atherosclerotic plaques (blockages, hardening of the arteries) would be prevented or shrink, and heart attacks and brain attacks would occur far less commonly. We have the power to prevent the most common cause of death in the Western world, and Dr. Ozner shows us step-by-step just how to do it. Thank you, Dr. O!

WILLIAM C. ROBERTS, MD, Editor in Chief, The American Journal of Cardiology, and Medical Director, Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Baylor University Medical Center

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Read and become Heart Attack Proofthe essential guide to achieving immunity from Americas number one killer. And, after you finish the book, pass it on to save even more lives!

PHILIP SMITH, Editor in Chief, Life Extension Magazine

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In his book, Heart Attack Proof, Dr. Michael Ozner takes the reader on a six-week journey that leads to a cardiac makeover and a lifetime of optimal heart-health. What distinguishes Heart Attack Proof from similar works in this field is Dr. Ozners ability to translate sound principles of preventive cardiology into simple, practical, sustainable changes that lead readers to a new normal way of living. Rather than a program built on rigid dietary restrictions and aggressive no pain, no gain exercise recommendations, this book meets individuals where they are and provides step-wise options to facilitate successful change. It is my pleasure to recommend Heart Attack Proof for anyone looking for a real world approach to achieving a sustainable heart healthy lifestyle.

WILLIAM CROMWELL, MD, FAHA, FNLA, Chief, Lipoprotein and Metabolic Disorders Institute, Wake Forest University School of Medicine

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Dr. Ozners new book, Heart Attack Proof, is a must-read for all health-conscious individuals interested in information to help reduce the risk of heart disease or stroke. Dr. Ozner represents the best in modern medicine, a compassionate and highly respected cardiologist, intimately familiar with subtle and complex medical science, yet able to distill down and communicate critical information in an understandable way to his patients. If you want to know how to prevent a heart attack, read this book now!

STEVEN V. JOYAL, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Life Extension, Inc.

BENBELLA BOOKS, INC.
Dallas, Texas

This book is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice. A healthcare professional should be consulted regarding your specific medical situation. The author and publisher specifically disclaim any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from the use of any information contained in this book. The mention of a product or entity in this book does not imply endorsement of said product or entity by the author or publisher. Finally, medicine is not an exact science, and the author and publisher do not offer any assurances that the information contained herein will cure or prevent any medical condition.

Copyright 2012 by Michael Ozner, MD

Color lab reports used with permission from HDL, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title.

Second e-book edition: July 2013

978-1-936661-88-6

Copyediting by Oriana Leckert

Proofreading by Michael Fedison

Cover design by Faceout Studio

Text design and composition by John Reinhardt Book Design

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To my wife Christine and my children Jennifer and Jonathan:

You are my heart and soul.

HEART DISEASE is the number-one killer in the world, and in the United States cardiovascular disease deaths nearly outnumber deaths from all other causes combined. This, however, does not have to be the case. Evidence now demonstrates that atherosclerosis the process that leads to heart attack and stroke can be halted and even reversed, suggesting that heart disease can be beaten!

The notion that we can beat heart disease is supported by the fact that in recent years significant progress has been made in diagnosis and treatment, resulting in a decline in the percentage of cardiovascular events (heart attacks, strokes, etc.) per capita. This success can be attributed to the development of new drugs, like statins, which lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and new antihypertensive agents, which decrease blood pressure, in addition to educational programs promoting smoking cessation and a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, this progress has been counteracted by even more insidious disorders: diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, the prevalence of which has been significantly increasing over the past several years. Since individuals with diabetes have an equivalent risk of future cardiovascular events as individuals diagnosed with heart disease, our net progress in the fight against heart disease may actually be nil, or even negative.

With all of our increasing knowledge, why are we continuing to lose the battle against heart disease? To better understand this, it is important to realize that heart disease does not have a single cause. Rather, it is a multifactorial disorder with many contributing factors stemming from environmental, biochemical, socioeconomic, stress-related, and genetic causes. Therefore, we cannot simply focus just on our cholesterol levels, but need to consider other quantifiable contributors influenced both by genetics and by individual behavior. The Mayo Brothers, who founded the Mayo Clinic where I had the distinguished pleasure to train and practice for fourteen years, were truly visionaries in this regard. They developed the idea of group practice, in which several physicians with expertise in different areas work as a team to identify and appropriately address multiple, often interrelated disease processes occurring in each individual patient. This visionary approach changed the field of medical practice in the United States and propelled the Mayo Clinic, which started as a small practice in rural Minnesota, to become the most renowned medical institution in the world.

Dr. Michael Ozner continues to further the advancement of this same idea in this book, by addressing the numerous contributing causes of heart disease. What separates Dr. Ozners approach from the other heart disease prevention books on the market is that, rather than focusing only on one element just on diet or just on cholesterol he shows you how to address the full range of lifestyle and metabolic factors essential to heart disease, using the most up-to-date medical tests available.