A Woman’s Guide to Saving Her Own Life
Mellanie True Hills 
Healthy Ideas Press  
ISBN: 0-9766008-0-3 
Non-Fiction, Health 
Reviewed by Tanya Boudreau

This is a live to tell story. Mellanie True Hills is telling her story of survival so it doesn’t happen to you. Feeling immortal, but living a rushed off her feet lifestyle, this woman almost lost her life during emergency heart surgery. Today she’s alive, but living with heart disease- and heart disease is permanent.   Recommended by a cardiologist, Mellanie True Hill’s book takes the intimidation out of change. Writing from first-heart experience, she shares her own survival story and road to recovery. She doesn’t lie. It wasn’t always easy and she had to make some changes that were hard for her to make. Also included within this book, are personal testimonials from other women who have made heart healthy lifestyle changes in their lives.

Mellanie True Hills presents the facts about heart disease, but she gives us solutions in the form of preventative actions. In order to live longer, Mellanie was forced to make changes in her lifestyle immediately. Mellanie read extensively about heart disease research, and then created her HEART Program.   Each letter in HEART stands for an area in our life that needs our attention. A healthy diet, plenty of exercise, stress reduction, taking time for rest and relaxation, and staying proactive with your health are all ways to reduce your risk of heart disease.

The HEART Program is individualized because it’s created by you. Your Program will be based on what’s important to you, and where you’d like to be in your life. The HEART Program helps our heart, our health, and brings us closer to living our ideal lives.   It’s never too early to start caring for your heart! Heart disease is preventable.

Mellanie True Hills has written a book that contains information we need to know about heart disease- its risk factors and its symptoms. Reading through this book will bring awareness of your own risk for heart disease, and help you focus on a plan of action for your healthy, ideal life. You can then use this information when it comes to designing your own personalized HEART Program. Mellanie presents each step in an  easy to understand manner. Her writing is very motivating, and  intermixed with facts about other woman’s issues such as Hormone Replacement Therapy and Menopause. The facts she presents, backed up with personal stories, makes for a persuasive read. This book is all inclusive- every worksheet you need to create your HEART Program is included in the appendix at the back of the book. Don’t be one of the two out of every five women who get and die from cardiovascular disease. Make the HEART Program work for you!