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The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight, and Gain Health | 
 enlarge | Author: Dean Ornish
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy Used: $2.88
You Save: $24.12 (89%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 20850
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.7
ISBN: 0345496302
Dewey Decimal Number: 613.2
EAN: 9780345496300
ASIN: 0345496302
Publication Date: December 26, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Recycled Library Edition
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Product Description
In THE SPECTRUM, Dr. Ornish shows us how to personalize a way of eating and a way of living based on your own health goals, needs, and preferences. Here’s how it works:
Since THE SPECTRUM is about freedom of choice, there is no diet to get on and no diet to get off. Nothing is forbidden. No guilt, no shame, no pressure. THE SPECTRUM is based on love– joyof living, not fear of dying. Feeling better, not denying yourself pleasure.
First, determine your health and wellness goals. Do you want to lose weight? Do you have high cholesterol? Is diabetes a problem in your family? Based on your individual needs and goals, THESPECTRUM has examples of six individually-tailored lifestyle programs ideally suited for you: loweringcholesterol, losing weight, lowering blood pressure, preventing/reversing diabetes, preventing/reversing certain types of prostate and breast cancer, preventing/reversing heart disease.
Each personalized plan in THE SPECTRUM has 3 components: Nutrition, Stress Management, andExercise.
The Nutrition Spectrum
The Nutrition Spectrum consists of five groups. Group 1 is the healthiest end of the spectrum and Group 5 is the least healthful end. To determine your current place on the Nutrition Spectrum, find the group that contains the foods you tend to eat most of the time. Then, according to your needs, preferences, and goals, decide how far and how quickly you want to move in a more healthful direction. For example, if you typically eat predominantly foods in Group 4 and you want to lower your cholesterol 50 points, begin by incorporating more foods from Groups 2 and 3. If that’s sufficient to achieve your goal, great; if not, you can move more towards the healthier end of THESPECTRUM by consuming more foods from Groups 1 and 2.
In general, the closer you move towards Group 1, the more benefits you’re likely to gain and the more quickly you’ll experience them. If you’re healthy, you many not need or want to make very many changes at all–the “ounce of prevention.” On the other hand, if you are trying to reverse heart disease or diabetes, you’ll probably need to make bigger changes–the “pound of cure.”
The recipes by Art Smith for THE SPECTRUM are designed so that each base recipe is in Group 1. Depending on your health and wellness goals, each recipe offers healthy variations. For example, the Vegetable Chili recipe is a delicious version of a classic recipe that begins in Group 1 with predominantly plant-based whole foods that are very low in fat, sugar, salt, and calories. Variations listed at the end of the recipe include adding a cup of pitted higher-fat black olives (which moves this recipe to a Group 2 dish) and/or adding one pound of turkey breast sausage to the recipe (which moves this recipe to a Group 4 dish).
The Stress Management Spectrum
Stress can have a negative impact on just about every part of your body. It can suppress your immune function, cause a heart attack or stroke, increase your risk of cancer, delay wound healing, promote inflammation, cause you to gain weight, impair your memory, cause depression, exacerbate diabetes, and worsen sexual function. Justfor starters. Stress also makes you age faster even at a genetic and cellular level.
(over)
Some people thrive on stress, and it doesn’t cause them to get sick. Studies have found that they can turn it on when needed, but they can also turn it off.
They have appropriately elevated levels of stress hormones at work during the day, but their stress hormones drop sharply at night. In other words, they can turn it off. In contrast, people who feel chronically stressed and anxious have stress hormones that remain elevated, and this predisposes them to a wide variety of illnesses.
Stress-management techniques can help you turn it off. They are not about withdrawing from the world; rather, they enable you to embrace it more fully and effectively. When you're feeling less stressed, you can think more clearly and creatively, making it easier to find constructive solutions. When you’re less stressed, you’re more empowered.
THE SPECTRUM provides you with the fundamental tools for stress management. These include:
• Breathing• Enhancement of social support
• Yoga & Meditation• Reduction of stimulants (both physical and mental)
• Exercise• Practicing forgiveness, altruism, compassion, service
A DVD of inspiring, beautiful, and peaceful guided meditations by Anne Ornish is included with every copy of THE SPECTRUM. Anne is Vice President of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute where she directs all activities related to stress management training and psychosocial support. She has advanced training in yoga and meditation and was featured on the cover of the August 2006 issue of Yoga Journal magazine.
This DVD has guided meditations of different lengths depending on where you are on the StressManagement Spectrum. Even one minute a day has value; those who would benefit from doing more are given the tools and resources enabling them to do so.
The Exercise Spectrum
You already know that exercise is good for you and that regular, moderate exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health and well-being. What you may not know is that new research is showing that exercise beneficially affects your genes, helps reverse the aging process at a cellular level, gives you more energy, makes you smarter, and may even help you grow so many new brain cells (a process called neurogenesis) that your brain actually gets bigger. Really.
Here again is another demonstration of the theme of THE SPECTRUM: your genes are not your fate. The choices you make each day in your diet and lifestyle have a direct influence on how your genetic predisposition is expressed–for better and for worse. You’re only as old as your genes, but how your genes are expressed may be modified by exercise, diet and lifestyle choices much more than had previously been believed–and more quickly.
To gain all the health benefits of regular exercise, you don’t have to join a gym, hire a personal trainer, or organize your life around 10K’s. For example, in the Women’s Health Study, a major ongoing research project involving tens of thousands of women, those who walked briskly for just 60 to 90 minutes a week–just 15 minutes a day–cut their risk of death from heart attack and stroke in half.
Do what you enjoy, make it fun, and do it regularly. That’s it. THE SPECTRUM shows you how.
FOODS IN THE NUTRITION SPECTRUM
Here is a basic breakdown of the foods in each group of the Nutrition Spectrum:
Group 1
These are the most healthful foods, predominantly fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, soy products, nonfat dairy, and egg whites in their natural forms, as well as some good fats that contain omega‑3 fatty acids. These are foods that are rich in good carbs, good fats, good proteins and other protective substances. There are at least 100,000 substances in these foods that have powerful anti‑cancer, anti-heart-disease and anti-aging properties.
Group 2
These are also predominantly plant-based but somewhat higher in fat (predominantly monosaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat) such as avocadoes, seeds, nuts. Oils are included but in small amounts, since they are so dense in calories. Group2 also includes foods canned in water (rather than sugary syrup or oil), canned vegetables (ifsodium is not too high), low-fat dairy products (1%), decaffeinated beverages, low-sodium soy sauce, and so on.
Group 3:
These foods include some seafood, some refined carbohydrates and concentrated sweeteners (in moderation), some oils that are higher in saturated fat, some reduced fat (2%) dairy products, margarines free of trans fatty acids, sweeteners containing high fructose corn syrup, and higher sodium.
Group 4
In this group foods contain additional fat, higher animal protein and fewer protective nutrients. These include poultry, fish that are higher in mercury, whole milk/dairy products, margarine, mayonnaise, pastries, cakes, cookies, and pies.
Group 5
In general, these foods are considered the least healthful. They are the lowest in protective substances and are highest in “bad fats.” Some food included in this group are red meat, egg yolks, fried poultry, fried fish, hot dogs, organ meats, butter, cream, and tropical oils.
We all need to find our place on the Nutrition Spectrum that’s comfortable and congruent with our own personal values as well as with our health needs. And it may evolve over time. Thepoint of THE SPECTRUM is to provide you information that you can use to make informed and intelligent choices. Only you can decide what’s right for you, for only then is it sustainable.
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFESTYLE AND YOUR LIFE
1)You have a full spectrum of nutrition and lifestyle choices.
2)Even more than feeling healthy, most people want to feel free and in control.
3)Eating bad food does not make you a bad person.
4)How you eat is as important as what you eat.
5)Joy of living is a much better motivator than fear of dying.
6)It's important to address the deeper issues that underlie our behaviors.
7)There’s no point in giving up something you enjoy unless you get something back that’s even better–and quickly.
8)Make small gradual changes or big rapid changes to create sustainable transformations in your diet and lifestyle.
9)How we approach food is how we approa...
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| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
 Ornish made easy October 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've read all of Dean Ornish's books, and feel this is the best of the lot. It's relatively easy to follow and covers the whole "spectrum" of the factors he feels are necessary components for good health. I was very motivated to follow his advice upon completion of the book.
My only complaints about this book include the inclusion of some fairly complex vegetarian recipes (but I happen to prefer very simple, minimal ingredient recipes). And secondly, I would have preferred that some extended meditation exercises be included in the dvd that comes with this book, rather than having the many very short guided imageries that are done by his wife. Although I find her voice very soothing, I just begin to relax when the exercise is over and louder music comes on. I would love to have the couple make a DVD with several 10-20 minute meditation exercises included.
 The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight and Gain Health by Dean Ornish, MD October 18, 2008
I've read the book and within a week and although it has been a short time I've felt increased energy and increased focus following the doctors advice on nutrition, exercise, ways to destress your life as well as making positive lifestyle choices. I highly recommend it.
Your Health: Physical & Mental September 8, 2008
This is a very informative book for referring to for inspiration. To get yourself off the couch & keep moving. To eat consciously to guard your health. I am glad I purchased this book.
 Interesting, but Disappointing September 4, 2008
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
I just got the shock of my life at a routine check up when my doctor told me I had very high LDL. With a new-found interest in diet, I picked up "The Spectrum", a book I had been meaning to take a look at anyway.
I found the book to be interesting in the way it categorizes food from Most Healthful (Category 1) to Least Healthful (Category 5).
I would have to say, though, that I do not find this book all that helpful when it comes to the task of putting together a diet. Here are the reasons:
1) It doesn't say so on the cover, but he basically advocates a vegetarian diet. There are almost NO "most healthful" sources of protein except for garbonzos and soy (I think.) There is ONE Level 2 source of protein, which I believe is wild salmon. I'll just go down to the wild salmon store after work and prepare myself a wild-salmon meatloaf. What would we do without health food stores? Die? How are those realistic sources of protein? Another thing, there isn't even an entry for "protein" in the index, nor did I find information on how to ensure I get enough protein. Perhaps these issues are beyond the scope of the book, or I missed them.
Yesterday, I had a grilled chicken and spinach salad and thought I was doing okay. That was before I found out that chicken is only one level better than donuts.
2) This whole business of "it's not all or nothing" is, I think, a bit of a cop-out and a way to claim his is not the "no fat" diet. His repeated advice to make an individualized selection of what level to eat at is not helpful to me. What is the rational amount of "least healthful" food to eat, after reading about how it will kill me?
3)The recipes did not seem like something a person with a real life and kids would be able to put on the table. (Many of them do not seem to provide much protein, but maybe I'm wrong on that.)
Anyway, if you are looking to put together a diet, I don't think this book will be all that helpful.
The Ornish diet is great for many, but would it work for Eskimos? August 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Ornish diet is great for many, but I wonder would it work for Eskimos?
Seven years ago a doctor told my husband he had prostrate cancer and should have his prostrate removed. My husband went to a second doctor for a second opinion. The second doctor wanted to use radioactive pellets to stop the cancer. My husband decided to follow the diet Doctor Ornish had a group of prostrate cancer patients using. After following the diet and a "watchful waiting" process for seven years, my husband's health is even better than when he started the program. I think "The Spectrum" can help almost anyone who reads and follows it. Both my husband and I follow it.
I only gave the book 4 stars for two reasons:
-1. The structure of the book is not user friendly. I believe that for the first chapter of the book, Ornish should provide a "Reader's Digest" version of the book. Then for the readers who want more detail he could reference later chapters.
-2. I felt that Ornish presented his diet as THE solution. I wonder if there are places and people in the world for whom low fat diets are not possible or perhaps not even healthy, such as in Eskimo villages before Europeans took over. Would such people have developed the genes to not only live on a high fat diet, but the need to have a high fat diet? I wonder if there has been much research on the differences between the nutrition needs of different ethnic and racial groups?
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