'Heart Care for Life' advocates personal heart care program

Author Barry Zaret, MD, sees the title as a counter to fad diet books that lead to failure in most patients.

Patients with heart disease are different from each other, and a new book by a Yale cardiologist encourages each patient to design a prevention program specifically for them.

“The only plan that will work for a patient is one that is sustainable. Patients need to understand for themselves what the issues of sustainability are for them,” Barry Zaret, MD, a cardiologist at Yale University School of Medicine. Zaret is a member of Cardiology Today's Editorial Board on the Noninvasive Imaging section and is the author of “Heart Care for Life: Developing the Program that Works Best for You,” published this year by Yale University Press.

“The goal of this book is to empower patients to have a greater understanding of their condition, to feel that they are a part of the process and to understand that to be successful they have to stay a part of that process,” Zaret said.

Zaret, who collaborated with communications specialist Genell J. Subak-Sharpe, MS, on the development and production of the book, said it is designed for patients as a counter to the current popular literature on fad diets.

“Part of this book is a reaction to the books that get a lot of headlines but do not do a lot of good. We’re going for that audience,” Zaret said.

Physician recommendation

“Heart Care for Life” does not contain any new information for physicians, Zaret said, but the book “could take a lot of heat off of physicians with certain kinds of patients. I have found when I recommend the book to my own patients that they say it clears up many issues for them,” he said.

The book includes several case histories to enhance its reader-friendly format, Zaret said. He recommends that patients begin with Chapter 1, “A Personalized Plan: The Key to a Lifelong Heart Program,” which outlines the different risk factors for cardiac disease.

“This first chapter is particularly important for the patient who perhaps does not have manifest heart disease yet,” Zaret said.

There are also chapters on diagnostic testing, diet, smoking, experimental therapies and special population concerns for women, the elderly, athletes, patients with congenital heart disease and travelers.

“Hopefully everyone will take a close look at chapter eight, the alternative and complementary medicine chapter, because people are using these therapies more and more without realizing the consequences,” Zaret said.

Zaret said the title of the book has a double meaning. Not only can heart care improve life, but also a plan for heart care should last a lifetime. “My goal was for patients to understand that when you are in a plan for the rest of your life, if you go off your diet for a couple of days, it does not mean it’s all over,” Zaret said. – by Jeremy Moore