Synopses & Reviews
In 1997, after suffering a collapse while rowing, 63-year old Donald Gazzaniga was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Unlike other heart ailments, bypass surgery is not a treatment for this; and although there are medications, congestive heart failure patients must look to a heart transplant -- for relief -- assuming they survive until their name reaches the top of the transplant waiting list.
Don was placed on the list at Stanford University Hospital Medical Center. He was told to watch his diet, which he had always tried to do, and especially to consistently eat foods that are as low as possible in sodium content. It is surprising how many people do believe that a low-sodium diet means that you simply ban the salt shaker from your kitchen and table. Actually, a very large percentage of ALL the foods we eat contain varying amounts of sodium -- many very much indeed. It is naturally present in many foods, and more is often added during the preparation of commercially packaged foods as well.
Gazzaniga, who had always been interested in food and cooking, now had an incentive to develop special recipes. The immediate result is the recipes in this book. They are as much as 70% lower in sodium than those of other low-sodium cookbooks. Whereas doctors often use the figure 2000 mg or 2500 mg daily as a "low-sodium" goal for their heart disease and hypertensive patients because they don't believe it's possible to concoct a diet lower in sodium than that, these recipes, whose sodium content, carefully calculated according to existing standards, a menu of these recipes will yield no more than 500 mg.daily. What will delight those who go to them for health -- and their families -- is that by some magic Gazzaniga has been able to present the cook with finished dishes that are varied, easy to make, and as delicious as any "regular" dishes.
The second result is even more impressive: after following the recipes in this book, Gazzaniga's medical tests show improvement that his doctor calls "amazing" and he has been taken off the transplant list! His doctor credits his daily walks, his medication and above all the diet he has created, and is enthusiastically telling all his patients to get the book and follow it faithfully as soon as it is available.
Review
"With personal flourishes and encouragement and detailed sodium-content information, Gazzaniga dishes up a cookbook that's ...creative and satisfying."--Publishers Weekly
Review
"With personal flourishes and encouragement and detailed sodium-content information, Gazzaniga dishes up a cookbook that's ...creative and satisfying."--Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Delicious, easy-to-follow recipes for everyday food to combat congestive heart failure and serious hypertension--with dishes containing 75 percent less sodium than that achieved by other low-salt cookbooks.
Synopsis
Donald Gazzaniga, diagnosed with congestive heart failure, was headed for a heart transplant - the only effective medical treatment. Urged by his doctor to keep his sodium intake "under 1,500-2000 mg. a day," Don headed for the kitchen and went to work. Aware that cutting out table salt is the barest beginning of a true low-sodium diet, Don devised recipes for delicious low-sodium dishes that added up to less than 500 mg. daily, 70% lower than those in other low-sodium cookbooks. The result? Don's name has been removed from the transplant list and his doctors believe that his diet played a significant role.
The No-Salt, Lowest-Sodium Cookbook contains:
* Hundreds of good tasting, easy-to-make recipes
* An introduction by Dr. Sandra Barbour of the Kaiser Permanente Foundation
* Advice on finding low-sodium prepared foods, eating in restaurants, etc.
* Accurate sodium content of every ingredient and of the total servings
* A twenty-eight-day low-sodium menu planner by Dr. Jeannie Gazzaniga, Ph.D., R.D.
This book is for informational purposes only. Readers are advised to consult a physician before making any major change in diet.
About the Author
Donald A. Gazzaniga is a former writer for television. He is the author of
A Few Good Men, the story of the first Marines into Vietnam and other works. Gazzaniga, a native Californian, now lives in the foothills of the California Gold Country with his wife of over forty years.