ISBN: 978-0-9791260-3-1

Your Heart Needs the Mediterranean Diet is written as a simple-to-follow dialogue between Al, a fictional patient, and Emi, a Dietitian, as they embark on a journey to reverse Al’s high blood pressure and high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides. Presented in a easy-to-read yet informative manner, it considers the whole person, not just the diet.

“The best measure to prolong human life is not to short it”

said Doctor Hulefand almost two hundred years ago.

The Mediterranean lifestyle has been proven by scientific research to have significant health benefits, and now it can be followed easily with this handy and entertaining guide that includes tips and recipes. This book is so easy to follow, you won’t even realize you are learning how to eat for a healthier ‘you’. Your Heart Needs the Mediterranean Diet is recommended to anyone who wants to make a change to a healthier lifestyle.

Here is what you will learn from this book:

• What foods are best for you to eat
• What foods to avoid
• The difference between good fats and bad fats
• How to include foods such as garlic, tomatoes, and olive oil into your cooking so that you benefit from their medicinal properties
• How to prepare very easy and palate-tantalizing recipes such as minestrone soup, homemade spaghetti sauce, ratatouille, and many others, which will prove that eating with health in mind does not mean eating without flavor
• How easy is to introduce more physical activity into your daily busy schedule
• Discover how to improve relationships with your family, friends, and coworkers

As you progress with the chapters and implement the knowledge acquired throughout the book, you will be able to decrease your risk of heart disease, spend more time with your family, friends and your community, and reduce stress at work. You will realize that you are becoming happier and healthier by following the Mediterranean lifestyle!

On top of this, you will also learn:

• How to decrease your risk of heart disease
• How to find more time to spend with your family, friends and your community
• How to Reduce stress at work
• About the sinister connection between high blood pressure and processed foods
• How certain Mediterranean foods can lower cholesterol
• Why fruits and vegetables are so important
• Why olive oil is “liquid gold” in terms of our diet
• Why garlic can protect us from more than vampires

By the end of the book you will have the knowledge and tools to lead a healthier and happier lifestyle, and be able to contribute to your family and friends’ health and happiness.

Book Reviews

Reviewer: Susan Bethany
Reviewer’s Book Watch
www.midwestbookreview.com
Rating: 4 Stars – Invaluable, reader-friendly guide to improving one’s culinary habits, health, and overall quality of life.

Registered dietician Emilia Klapp presents Your Heart Needs the Mediterranean Diet: Learn How Mediterraneans Have Kept a Healthy Heart for Centuries, a guide to healthy and mirthful culinary lifestyle of southern Europe and how the reader can adapt it to better improve his or her cardiac health.

Written in an easy-to-follow dialogue format between a fictional heart-risk patient and a registered dietician, Your Heart Needs the Mediterranean Diet covers the benefits of physical activity, the sinister connection between high blood pressure and processed foods, why fruits and vegetables are the heart’s best friends, the value of tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic, and much more. Sample recipes dot this invaluable, reader-friendly guide to improving one’s culinary habits, health, and overall quality of life.

Reviewer: Lisa & Tony Sierra
Your Guide to Spanish Food – About.com
Rating: 4 Stars – Emilia Klapp, a registered dietitian and educator has written a very informative book about the healthy habits of Mediterraneans and the Mediterranean Diet.

Written by: Emilia Klapp, R.D., B.S.
Published by: Preventive Nutrition Press

Background

Emilia Klapp, a registered dietitian and educator recently contacted us, asking if she could send us a review copy of her new book, Your Heart Needs the Mediterranean Diet. Since she was born and raised in Spain and understands the Spanish culture and diet, we thought that her book might be educational for us and our readers.

If you are interested in learning more about how to eat a healthy diet and live a healthy lifestyle, even if you do not know anything about Spanish or Mediterranean cuisine, you will find this book helpful. Ms. Klapp even includes several healthy Mediterranean recipes!

Emi and Al, The Book’s Main Characters

The book is easy-to-read, written in dialogue form. The reader is taken through a series of appointments between a fictitious patient named Al, who sounds like the typical middle-aged American and a registered dietician named Emi. Al has both high blood pressure and high cholesterol, is married with children, and works at a high-stress job.

On top of that, he eats poorly, (usually on the run) and doesn’t exercise. Through this series of conversations, we learn about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and regular exercise. Al makes a number of small changes that Emi suggests to his daily routine and diet, and begins to feel the benefits.

Along the way, Emi explains cholesterol and where it comes from, why fruits and vegetables are “heart-friendly” and how some of the basic components of the Mediterranean diet (like tomatoes, garlic and onions) are thought to benefit our health. She even provides some Spanish food recipes in her book, like Green Beans with Garlic and Tomato Bread.

Nutrition Data

Ms. Klapp is very clear and concise in her writing, providing supporting nutritional and medical data when necessary. Her book seems to strike the right balance between information and entertainment. She provides diet advice, without being “preachy.”She provides the references or sources for her nutritional information at the end of every chapter, citing nutrition and medical journals, for those who are interested.

Most readers probably won’t be concerned about that, but we liked to see that her sources were listed. Some readers may find the chapter containing the detailed explanations of antioxidants, phytochemicals and free radicals too much to absorb, but it’s only a short chapter that can easily be “skimmed.”

Would we recommend the book?

We would recommend this book to those readers who are interested in the Mediterranean diet, and how the simple physical activity of the Mediterranean lifestyle can help you live healthier.

Reviewer: Todd Mercer, Clarion
Rating: 4 Stars

The Mediterranean diet is a synergy of health and aesthetics, and although each component of this diet contributes with an array of benefits on its own, it’s the combination of all of them that makes this diet so powerful.” 

Motivated by the untimely deaths of her mother and three peers, Emilia Klapp shed an Americanized health-style characterized by fatty processed foods, and pursued a degree in dietetics. Now she advocates for a better way, combining menus and practices widespread in her native Spain and throughout the Mediterranean region with scientific information regarding antioxidants, free radicals and the circulatory system.

The delivery is in a series of discussions between Klapp and a fairly uninformed client named Al who wishes to take better care of himself. Al is fond of coffee and ice cream; he reduces lunch hour to a few minutes because his job in quality control is so demanding.

When asked if he walks regularly, the response is: “What do you mean?” In other words, he could be anyone.  Instruction begins with an overview of “The Pillars,” including olive oil, the primacy of vegetables and the integration of physical activity into regular daily activities.

From there the case turns more individual, with a readable balance between biochemical processes and keeping it interesting in the kitchen. The author is wily enough to show the positive reactions of coworkers and family to a person who models healthier behavior, making the effort more attractive.

Ancient mysteries, like what exactly makes the most nutritious (and expensive) olive oil “extra virgin,” are uncovered: it is cold pressed without the introduction of extractives like sodium hydroxide and hexane.

Emilia Klapp is a registered dietitian in the Los Angeles area. Her Spanish upbringing adds further credibility to claims and recommendations. Medical statements are born out by references of topflight university research, and the majority of them jibe with informed common sense. Two specifics are questionable: organic fruit is sweeter than conventional fruit, and exercise can be effectively “cumulative” in blocks of a few minutes and still be beneficial.

The benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids are mentioned, but fish receive only brief coverage. Large print questions inserted into the text help a skimmer find points of particular interest. The thirteen recipes are typically uncomplicated, containing ingredients found at most grocery stores.

Your Heart Needs the Mediterranean Diet presents a manageable, integrated approach to cardio fitness, using traditional Old World foods and habits. A better future is practically assured by implementing past practices, and a universal story is sometimes best told in a personalized dialogue between teacher and student.

Reviewer: Bob Spear (Heartland Reviews)
Rating: 4 Hearts

This is an excellent commentary on the Mediterranean Diet. It uses easy to understand language to explain the benefits of this healthy life style. It approaches health from a food-as-medicine angle. The elements of the diet, such as tomatoes, olive oil, whole grains, and garlic, along with other vegetables and legumes are explained in light of their health roles.

The book’s content is written in the format of a typical patient asking questions and the nutritionist’s answers. This easy to understand book helps provide the information to create an excellent lifestyle that includes the eating of healthy foods and proper exercise. It is ideal for people who have some knowledge or even no knowledge. We rated it four hearts.

Reviewer: Laura Calderon, DrPH, RD
Professor and Associate Director, School of Kinesiology & Nutritional Science
California State University of Los Angeles

Emilia Klapp’s book, Your Heart Needs the Mediterranean Diet, offers a glimpse of how a Registered Dietitian can personalize a lifestyle intervention. This book is presented in an innovative, fun to read, yet informative manner, and considers the whole person, not just diet.

It gives simple explanations on the ‘whys’ of eating more fruits and vegetables or such topics as how hypertension stresses the body.  This clever book is so delightful to read; you won’t even realize you are learning about the Mediterranean lifestyle for a healthier ‘you’.

The Mediterranean lifestyle has been proven by scientific research to have health benefits, and now it can be followed easily with this handy and entertaining guide that includes tips and recipes.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to make a change to a healthier lifestyle.  “Emilia Klapp’s innovative book offers a glimpse of how a Registered Dietitian can personalize a lifestyle intervention. Presented in a fun-to-read yet informative manner, it considers the whole person, not just diet. There are simple explanations on the ‘whys’ of eating more fruits and vegetables or such topics as how hypertension stresses the body.

The Mediterranean lifestyle has been proven by scientific research to have health benefits, and now it can be followed easily with this handy and entertaining guide that includes tips and recipes. This clever book is so delightful to read, you won’t even realize you are learning how to eat for a healthier ‘you.’ I recommend Your Heart Needs the Mediterranean Diet to anyone who wants to make a change to a healthier lifestyle.

Reviewer: Marielina Figueroa MA, RD, CDE

Everyone wants to be thin. We try many diets and we lose weight each time, but eventually the weight creeps back to where we started, perhaps even a pound or two more. Maintaining a healthy weight seems to be difficult, almost impossible.

How can we achieve a healthy weight and maintain it? The answer is the Mediterranean lifestyle.  But, how do we get there? Do we have to give up our favorite foods?  When is there time for exercising?

This is not just another diet book. Emilia has put together a unique book, filled with practical advice which teaches you the small steps to take, one at a time, so that you can  incorporate good habits into your life. Find tips that easily accommodate into your daily routine. Soon you will think “this is so much easier than I thought it would be” and you will start feeling better.

We all want to feel good.  Why live longer if we do not feel well and cannot do the things we like to do? This book is based on scientific research concluding that the Mediterranean diet helps enhance health. Don’t waste more money on diet books. Invest in yourself. Take time to learn how to improve your health, as well as your waistline. This book will help you learn the health promoting habits of the Mediterranean culture.