General Content: Dean Ornish’s view on nutrition is well-thought out and sensible. Having said that, the information contained in this audio program doesn’t do a very good job of promoting his view for a few reasons. First of all, the version that I listened to seemed a bit dated (I couldn’t find a date of publication for the version I listened to). There was no discussion of good fats vs. bad fats (Ornish seemed to imply that foods with healthy fats such as almonds and avocados were actually bad for you) or good cholesterol vs. bad cholesterol.

Ornish’s guidelines of 10% or less of calories from fat would be very difficult for most individuals. This is likely to lead many individuals to jettison his program needlessly. However, research during the last couple of decades has shown that a diet can contain a larger percentage of calories from fat as long as it’s the right type of fat. So while Ornish’s recommendation of reducing or eliminating meat and dairy in the diet, I do not feel he did a good enough job in recommending proper substitutes for these.

Audio-Specific Content: I listened to the unabridged (8 cassettes, approximately 4 hours) version of this book from Nightingale-Conant. Parts were read by the author while there were other narrators as well. The title did not seem very well produced which is another reason for the lower rating. The sound quality was poor and the narration was a little annoying at times. Furthermore, the tapes were very inconsistent in length. One would be 30 minutes per side while another tape seems more like 10-15 minutes. Overall, it just seems a little shoddy which might be understandable given the age of the recording.