cover image The Revolutionary Cholesterol Breakthrough: How to Eat Everything You Want and Have Your Heart Thank You for It

The Revolutionary Cholesterol Breakthrough: How to Eat Everything You Want and Have Your Heart Thank You for It

Robert E. Kowalski. Andrews McMeel Publishing, $24.95 (350pp) ISBN 978-0-8362-1044-6

The author of the The 8-Week Cholesterol Cure, which espoused the wonders of oat bran, now offers breezy assurance that one can eat steak, eggs, and other cholesterol- and fat-laden goodies and still have a healthy lipid profile. The trick he says, is to block the absorption of fat with a weight-loss product called SeQuester (a formulation of bovine bile and soluble and insoluble fibers that binds fat to prevent its passing into the bloodstream) and the absorption of cholesterol with plant steroids. Kowalski also waxes enthusiastic about the cholesterol-lowering benefits of antioxidants, soluble fiber and niacin. Recommending a judicious diet and offering useful low-fat shopping and cooking advice, Kowalski rates popular weight-loss programs according to healthfulness and efficacy, offers a collection of his own low-in-fat recipes and frequently promotes his publication, the ""Diet-Heart Newsletter."" Weight is managed by controlling ingestion and expenditure of calories, he reiterates, yet readers are likely to focus on his more appealing suggestion that you can eat your cake and have it too. (May)