Reviewed by Dr. Steven Acocella (September 23, 2004)

Once again Dr. Fuhrman raises the bar on health and health care with his slim book, Cholesterol Protection for Life, which outlines the cause and effect relationship between lifestyle, diet and developing diseases associated with high cholesterol. Flying yet again in the face of the medical masses, Fuhrman clearly explains the dangers and shortcomings of the standard medical cookbook approach to heart disease and cholesterol lowering drugs. More importantly, through sound science and an excellent review of the most credible cholesterol and heart health studies, coupled with his own years of clinical experience and results, Fuhrman clearly demonstrates how his intelligent natural approach is not only without dangerous drug side effects, but actually more effective than taking medication to lower cholesterol.

Dr. Fuhrman makes complicated medical research studies understandable, and combined with his knowledge of natural cholesterol substances and his experience in treating thousands of patients with heart disease and high cholesterol, Fuhrman has developed highly effective and totally safe regimes for reducing and maintaining healthy (low) cholesterol levels. Using a “one-two punch,” the method Fuhrman outlines in this book combines nutritional excellence with a few natural cholesterol lowing substances to give people who desire freedom from heart disease the opportunity to take control of their health destiny.

In an impressive head-to-head comparison study, Fuhrman’s vegetable-based dietary approach steps up to the plate and was shown in scientific studies to lower cholesterol levels more powerfully than any dietary program ever studied in history. It even beat cholesterol-lowering drugs. Dr. Fuhrman also gives us a chapter he could have called “Nutrition 101;” here he further defines terms and educates us on which foods move those all-important cholesterol numbers up or down and how they do so. He even demonstrates an inherent danger to some popular vegetarian diets (often perceived as completely heart-healthy). It is also interesting to note that Dr. Fuhrman’s cholesterol book (as in his other works) is not based upon the dogma of a “vegetarian agenda” but on a health and wellness agenda.

But Cholesterol Protection for Life is not just about the hard medical science, facts and figures. What makes this book really shine are the later chapters where Fuhrman takes the fundamentals he teaches and brings it into our kitchens, onto our dinner plates and into our lives. This book is packed with practical “real world” guidance that all but guarantees your success. And, saving the best part for last, Dr. Fuhrman and his wife, Lisa, showcase 25 of his most delicious heart-healthy recipes. From salad dressings and dips to entrГ©es and desserts, these unique, green-heavy recipes will leave you satisfied and a lot healthier! You should buy the book for the recipes alone, even if you have no interest in lowering your cholesterol naturally.

Fuhrman doesn’t want us to settle for merely “reducing risk factors” or token, marginal improvements in health. In the pages of Cholesterol Protection for Life, as reflected in all of his growing body of work, you’ll find a higher standard of health and health care. There is no doubt that those who follow Fuhrman’s aggressive yet practical approach to dietary excellence and cholesterol reduction as outlined in Cholesterol Protection for Life will enjoy significant health improvements well beyond anything the pharmacy can offer us.

As a chiropractic physician and clinical nutritionist, I am grateful to have Dr. Fuhrman’s books to give to my friends, patients and loved ones. It’s like giving my patients the owner’s manual to their heart. Now they have the chance to make a real choice as to their health future. I can say to them, “Take a stand. Do you want to die of a heart attack or don’t you? If you don’t, do you want to drop your risk a little bit, or do you want to eliminate it totally?” Say “No” to heart disease, and let’s take this war against the leading killer of Americans to the masses.

Other books by Dr. Fuhrman: (1995) Fasting and Eating for Health; (2003) Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss; (Coming April 2005) Disease-Proof Your Child.

Dr. Acocella is a chiropractic physician with a degree in clinical nutrition from the University of Bridgeport.