50 Ways to a Healthy Heart - Prof. Christiaan Barnard

50 Ways to a Healthy Heart - Christiaan Barnard - Th0rsons - 2001 - 285pp, index, paperback in good condition - Internally clean and tightly bound.

Barnard, the surgeon who performed the world's first heart transplant, offers realistic common-sense advice. He recommends the old stalwarts regular exercise, eating a Mediterranean-style diet, not smoking and so on, but adds his own ideas as well. These not-so-obvious (and really quite fun) ideas include: enjoying regular sex, taking a three-week vacation every year, and getting a grip on one's emotional life. A German who resides in South Africa, Barnard also believes in herbs and mineral supplements as heart health boosters, supplements Americans have been slower to recognize. But while many of Barnard's tips may be helpful for everyone, the book is aimed primarily at men even though heart disease is a mjor killer of American women. For example, there's an entire chapter about male potency issues entitled, "Take Viagra." Female sexual issues are addressed only peripherally. Likewise, there's a chapter on the benefits of drinking two glasses of red wine each day never mentioning recent findings linking alcohol with an increase in breast cancer in women. While it's certainly not Barnard's fault that most medical studies are performed with men as subjects, he does owe his female readers information as well. Still, his tips are direct and positive, and are generally easy enough to integrate into one's life.