????每每看到帶有感嘆號(hào)的書名，我總是唯恐避之不及，但梅奧診所（Mayo Clinic）編撰的《健康心臟好生活！》（Healthy Heart For Life!）一書卻有許多值得稱道之處。首先，這是一部真正讓人感受良好的著作，其厚重、富有光澤的紙張不僅手感非常舒服，更讓四色圖表和照片顯得栩栩如生。

????其二，每個(gè)篇章都介紹了一些與主題相關(guān)的鮮活個(gè)體，他們聽從作者的意見，并最終從嚴(yán)重的心臟疾病中康復(fù)過(guò)來(lái)。最重要的是，這本書流淌著優(yōu)良的血統(tǒng)。我曾經(jīng)兩度接受《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune）安排，訪問(wèn)梅奧診所【成果是《我和梅奧》（Me & The Mayo）和《檢查，第二部分》（The Checkup, Part II）這兩篇分別刊發(fā)于1997年7月21日和1998年10月26日的文章】。我的背部、關(guān)節(jié)和整體健康是這兩次訪問(wèn)的主要受益者。當(dāng)我從明尼蘇達(dá)州羅切斯特市返回時(shí)，我確信梅奧診所的醫(yī)生們知道自己在做什么。從這本書來(lái)判斷，他們現(xiàn)在依然如此。

????《健康心臟好生活！》用一個(gè)朗朗上口的標(biāo)題（“食5動(dòng)10睡8”）提供了一項(xiàng)強(qiáng)制性快速啟動(dòng)方案，接著解釋為什么每天要吃5種以上的蔬菜，每天鍛煉10分鐘以上，每晚睡足8小時(shí)是著手對(duì)抗心臟病這個(gè)美國(guó)頭號(hào)致死病因的絕佳策略。

????這本書的精華在于：近80%的心臟病例都是可預(yù)防的，生活方式哪怕非常細(xì)微的改變都有可能產(chǎn)生很大的影響。這本書的主編，梅奧診所心臟病專家瑪莎?格羅根博士這樣說(shuō)道：“對(duì)于一直久坐的人來(lái)說(shuō)，每天活動(dòng)10分鐘就可以將罹患心臟病的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)降低50%?！?/p>

格羅根博士在書中還拋出了另一個(gè)引人關(guān)注的數(shù)據(jù)：“由于更多人能夠識(shí)別并應(yīng)對(duì)自己身上的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)因素，因心臟病死亡人數(shù)在過(guò)去30年間下降了50%。”

????當(dāng)然，心臟僅僅是一個(gè)龐大系統(tǒng)中的一個(gè)組成部分而已，但它相當(dāng)重要。這本書告訴我們，如果一個(gè)人降低了患心臟病的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，他也就降低了罹患從老年癡呆癥、癌癥、糖尿病到腎病、勃起功能障礙和失明等各種疾病的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

????本書提供的有用建議使得遵循正確的飲食和生活之道不再是件苦差事。比如，就飲食而言，我們沒有必要非得成為一位素食主義者，也無(wú)需食用所有的農(nóng)產(chǎn)品。只要找到自己喜歡的蔬菜和水果，堅(jiān)持食用即可。另一條建議：為了讓自己健康飲食之旅更容易些，讀者可以選擇只需稍微準(zhǔn)備或無(wú)需準(zhǔn)備的食物，比如小胡蘿卜、櫻桃番茄、葡萄、香蕉和蘋果等等。

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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.