The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight, and Gain Health

by Dean Ornish and Anne Ornish

Book Overview

The Ornish Diet has been named the "#1 Best Heart-Healthy Diet" by U.S. News & World Report for seven consecutive years

From the author of the landmark bestseller Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease comes an empowering new program that teaches you how to lower high blood pressure, lose weight, lower your cholesterol, or reverse a major disease by customizing a healthy way of eating and living based on...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345496310
• ISBN13: 9780345496317
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

All the Dimensions of Good Health, Quality of Life, and Longevity

Dr. Ornish has written some landmark books including Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease; Eat More, Weigh Less; and Love and Survival. Within those books, you will find life-changing scientific perspectives: 1. With proper diet, your health will improve without drugs or surgery. 2. With nurturing relationships, you'll feel better and live longer regardless of your health issues. 3. You don't have to feel hungry to lose weight. Since Dr. Ornish first wrote those important lessons, other researchers have found more reasons for hope: 1. With diet and exercise, even genes that could harm you will be re-set to be helpful. 2. The combined effects of healthy living can multiply into more joy, energy, good moods, and excellent appearance. 3. Many more diseases can be reversed with diet, exercise, relationships, mindfulness, and stress reduction. In addition, Dr. Ornish has done his own new research showing that prostate cancer can be slowed and somewhat improved through healthier living. The Spectrum combines these lessons into one book, one source of scientific references, and one way of living for the first time. If you want to live a healthy life that will take you to your full physical and mental potential, The Spectrum is that book. I've met Dr. Ornish. In person, he's a kind, gentle man who wouldn't ever say a harsh word to anyone. In public, critics have challenged his past ideas about reversing heart disease by saying it's too hard to keep on his pathway. The Spectrum responds to the critics by explaining how much flexibility we have in each of these areas, depending on what our current health is. For most people, you don't have to be extreme or rigid. I am concerned about enjoying good health, and I was struck that I was already doing 80 percent of the program in The Spectrum. It wouldn't be hard for me to get to 90 percent of the ideal program, yet I don't really have any serious health problems (thank God!) even though I'm in my sixties. If you do have a health issue (high cholesterol, overweight, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer, and breast cancer), there are specific sections suggesting what you should do. The overall program is easy to follow. Foods are in various categories and how much you need to do of the other life-style management options is spelled out. It's much simpler than other books I've read in that sense. If you cannot imagine how healthy foods can be attractive and tasty, Art Smith has contributed recipes and some photographs to help get you started in seeing other menu choices. It's not as much as a cookbook, but I'm sure you'll get the idea. I think that the more extensive South Beach cookbooks could be used to supplement these recipes. Bravo, Dr. Ornish! You've done a great service through this book.

a healthy choice

Dr. Ornish's work has always been primarily about health, not weight loss, and his most recent book is an excellent example of this. This is not a diet book; it's a book about healthy living. Health can be a confusing topic, and it doesn't help that we're so often encouraged to view things in black and white. The theme of this book is that staying healthy is not an issue of good vs. bad, but instead involves a spectrum of behaviors and choices. The best choices for you depend upon who you are, and what is necessary for someone else might not be necessary for you. Your genetics play a substantial role, but they do not determine your health. For most of us, it is our choices that determine our health. The book defines a spectrum of choices for nutrition, stress-management and exercise, and it helped me to see more clearly what I need to live a healthy life. I particularly appreciate the fact that Dr. Ornish's work is research-based. While it makes me angry that our mainstream healthcare is built around drugs and money, I do not believe that an alternative approach to health means throwing out good science! Many people are willing to make healthy changes in the way they live, but it's not always clear what those changes should be. Dr. Ornish provides considerable scientific data to help put things into perspective, in a way that is easy to read. If you're really interested in living a healthier and happier life, I highly recommend this book.

Dr Dean Ornish deserves the Nobel Prize.

I highly recommend this book + DVD to anyone ready to make positive changes. I found this program very simple to understand and easy to follow. It is the kind of book that inspires you to take your life to a new level and you just can't stop reading it. I strongly believe that Dr. Ornish's book "The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight, and Gain Health" is a breakthrough achievement. This is preventive medicine at its best and it is already influencing millions of people everyday all over the world. In my opinion he completely deserves the Nobel Prize. The book also has many interesting stories of Dr. Ornish's daily life with his family and explains how his patients are reversing heart disease. I am a chocolate lover and I really like when he tells how much he enjoys eating some dark chocolate and still maintain the nutritional goals. I also immediately took his thoughtful advice of choosing canola oil instead of olive oil. Dr. Ornish knows why we take wrong decisions and in a very compassionate way he gives us scientifically proven tools to succeed. The beautifully made DVD by Anne and Dean Ornish is filled with helpful and fun guided meditations that are perfect for harmonizing mind and body and to feel more relaxed. I must admit that I am a fan of them and I bought several copies to give to my friends and loved ones.

strongly recommend

I found this book to be engaging and helpful. It covers ways you can improve your nutrition, your exercise, your stress management, and your attitudes. Research shows that making improvements in all these areas can significantly prevent and even reverse medical conditions. Furthermore, the more you improve, the greater your results! (Exercise is somewhat of an exception, because you get 99% of the results by walking 30 minutes a day plus doing a bit of strength training.) Ornish stresses the importance of making improvements in all the areas. The concept of the "spectrum" increases the likelihood you will actually follow through on making improvements. For example, Ornish lays out 5 groups of foods, Group 1 being the healthiest, Group 5 the least healthy. You assess which of these groups' foods you are now eating, i.e. where in the spectrum you are now eating. Then you do what you can to move to a healthier position on the spectrum. Even moderate movements toward the healthier side of the spectrum will significantly help prevent disease, especially if you improve nutrition AND exercise AND stress management AND attitudes at least a little. You figure out where you are on the spectrums, and how much improvement you can do. You can make extreme improvements, i.e. move all the way over to the healthy end of the spectrum(s), which is advisable if you are aiming to reverse a medical condition. You can make moderate improvements which may be enough to prevent medical conditions. It's a user-friendly concept, enticing. I found the book a real eye-opener, and very interesting, almost fun to read, and inspiring. The general advice and the research were quite engrossing, I thought. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Inspiring & Well-Documented

I've been following Dr. Dean Ornish's work for many years. His books have helped transform my life for the better. What I especially love about this book (which I think is his best by far) is that it provides a full spectrum of diet and lifestyle choices that are grounded in science (much of which he and his associates have conducted themselves and published in leading medical journals) yet it's easy to understand and fun to read. Having been on and off many diets over the years, I like his "spectrum" approach because it doesn't tell me what to eat and do. Instead, it provides a range of choices that allow me to decide what's best for me. It treats the reader with intelligence, which I find empowering and motivating. One of the main points of this book is that pleasure and joy are sustainable, not fear and guilt, and the recipes in this book (by Art Smith) really reflect that. Works for me!