Amy's Blog

It’s Here

You've turned the page on your calendar, right?  You know it's February and you know what that means. It's Heart Month.  It's time to get serious about knowing your numbers and risk factors for heart disease. Is there anyone in your family with heart disease?  Is your cholesterol high?  What about your blood pressure?  Are you overweight?  Do you smoke?  You may have a risk factor like a parent with early cardiovascular disease which automatically puts you at increased risk for heart disease. That's my story, so what do I do?  I try to exercise regularly and eat healthy. I also have regular check ups and get my cholesterol checked. I've been doing that for a long time.  We know that we need to read labels on the food we buy and try to avoid fatty foods and eat more whole grains, fruit and vegetables.  But sometimes we need a little help and that's where Saint Thomas can really offer a helping hand.

If you didn't see it, there was a great article in Saturday's Tennessean about Saint Thomas Hospital's free heart healthy cooking classes. Ms. Cheap, Mary Hance wrote about the hospital's dynamic duo, Kitty Fawaz and Julian Osmond, who teach the classes.  Kitty is a registered dietician, and Julian is the executive chef at Saint Thomas.  I've worked with them at several "Go Red" luncheons as they prepare recipes and answer questions about making heart healthy dishes.  They'll give you tips on what substitutes to use for the unhealthy trans-fats and hydrogenated oils that aren't good for us. 

The next free class is coming up next Tuesday, February 8th, featuring a Valentine's Dinner for Two. It makes my mouth water;  roasted tomato and red pepper soup, scallops and asparagus with angel hair pasta, classic green salad with vinaigrette and fat free mocha cake with rasberry sauce!  To register, call 1-800-588-3270.

  Besides plenty of local events celebrating heart month, there's national attention on heart health too. I heard this morning that Barbara Walters is hosting a heart special. It's on ABC, locally channel 2.  Check your listings for the day and time. Her guests are well known men, including David Letterman, but you know about Barbara having heart surgery earlier this year, so she has plenty of personal experience with this as well. It should be an interesting show.

   What else can you do?  Ask those around you that you care about if they'd like to attend a heart event and get them thinking about living a heart healthy lifestyle. That's the best Valentine anyone can give or receive:)   

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