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每每看到带有感叹号的书名，我总是唯恐避之不及，但梅奥诊所（Mayo Clinic）编撰的《健康心脏好生活！》（Healthy Heart For Life!）一书却有许多值得称道之处。首先，这是一部真正让人感受良好的著作，其厚重、富有光泽的纸张不仅手感非常舒服，更让四色图表和照片显得栩栩如生。 其二，每个篇章都介绍了一些与主题相关的鲜活个体，他们听从作者的意见，并最终从严重的心脏疾病中康复过来。最重要的是，这本书流淌着优良的血统。我曾经两度接受《财富》杂志（Fortune）安排，访问梅奥诊所【成果是《我和梅奥》（Me & The Mayo）和《检查，第二部分》（The Checkup, Part II）这两篇分别刊发于1997年7月21日和1998年10月26日的文章】。我的背部、关节和整体健康是这两次访问的主要受益者。当我从明尼苏达州罗切斯特市返回时，我确信梅奥诊所的医生们知道自己在做什么。从这本书来判断，他们现在依然如此。 《健康心脏好生活！》用一个朗朗上口的标题（“食5动10睡8”）提供了一项强制性快速启动方案，接着解释为什么每天要吃5种以上的蔬菜，每天锻炼10分钟以上，每晚睡足8小时是着手对抗心脏病这个美国头号致死病因的绝佳策略。 这本书的精华在于：近80%的心脏病例都是可预防的，生活方式哪怕非常细微的改变都有可能产生很大的影响。这本书的主编，梅奥诊所心脏病专家玛莎•格罗根博士这样说道：“对于一直久坐的人来说，每天活动10分钟就可以将罹患心脏病的风险降低50%。” 格罗根博士在书中还抛出了另一个引人关注的数据：“由于更多人能够识别并应对自己身上的风险因素，因心脏病死亡人数在过去30年间下降了50%。” 当然，心脏仅仅是一个庞大系统中的一个组成部分而已，但它相当重要。这本书告诉我们，如果一个人降低了患心脏病的风险，他也就降低了罹患从老年痴呆症、癌症、糖尿病到肾病、勃起功能障碍和失明等各种疾病的风险。 本书提供的有用建议使得遵循正确的饮食和生活之道不再是件苦差事。比如，就饮食而言，我们没有必要非得成为一位素食主义者，也无需食用所有的农产品。只要找到自己喜欢的蔬菜和水果，坚持食用即可。另一条建议：为了让自己健康饮食之旅更容易些，读者可以选择只需稍微准备或无需准备的食物，比如小胡萝卜、樱桃番茄、葡萄、香蕉和苹果等等。
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I usually go out of my way to avoid books with exclamation points in their titles, but Mayo Clinic Healthy Heart For Life! has a lot going for it. For one thing, it's a feel-good book in the true sense of the word, printed on heavy, glossy stock that's nice to the touch and brings the four-color diagrams and photos to life. For another, each chapter features individuals we can relate to who followed the authors' advice and bounced back from serious heart conditions. Most important, the book has outstanding bloodlines. I visited the Mayo Clinic twice on assignments for Fortune ("Me & The Mayo," July 21, 1997 and "The Checkup, Part II," October 26, 1998), and my back, joints and overall health were prime beneficiaries. I came away from my trips to Rochester, Minnesota convinced that Mayo doctors knew what they were doing. Judging from this book, they still do. Healthy Heart For Life! Delivers the obligatory quick-start program with a catchy title ("Eat 5, Move 10, Sleep 8"). It goes on to explain why eating five or more veggies a day, exercising for 10 or more minutes daily and getting eight hours of sleep a night are good ways to begin the battle against the leading cause of death in the U.S. Major takeaways: Close to 80% of heart disease cases are preventable, and even small lifestyle changes can make a big difference. Dr. Martha Grogan, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist who served as the book's editor-in-chief, puts it this way: "Moving even 10 minutes a day for someone who's been sedentary can reduce the risk of heart disease by 50%." Along the way, Dr. Grogan throws out another factoid that resonates: "Because more people have been able to identify and treat their risk factors, deaths from heart disease have fallen 50% in the last 30 years." The heart is just one part of a very large story, of course, but it's key. When you lower your risk for heart disease, the book tells us, you lower your risk for everything from dementia, cancer, and diabetes to kidney disease, erectile dysfunction, and blindness. The authors offer useful tips to take the drudgery out of eating and living right. When it comes to diet, for example, there's no need to become a vegetarian or embrace everything in the produce department. Simply find the vegetables and fruit you like and stick to them. Another: Make it easier on yourself by going for food that requires little or no preparation, things like baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, grapes, bananas and apples. |
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