Dr. Volgman, a leading cardiologist, taught us some fascinating information about heart disease.  Picture of me with Dr. Volgman.

• After a fatty meal, your arteries actually get stiff and can not relaxed.  After a healthy meal, including fruits and vegetables, your arteries relax. Potassium, magnesium, and calcium helps with this.
• Plaque starts to form in your arteries as children!
• heart attack symptoms in women; The 30 days prior to heart attack they had; unusal fatigue, sleep disturbance, shortness of breath, indigestion, anxiety, chest discomfort.
• Everyone should have a blood pressure cuff at home.  Just like a bathroom scale, it helps you monitor your health. So they gave us each a blood pressure cuff monitor!! Hooray.      

Dave Grotto, R.D.,

New priorites to creating a heart healthy diet

1. Taste; the food has to taste good.
2. Do-ability; can I make this quickly
3. Positive nutrition
4. cost

7 Strategies

1. What you can add to your diet rather than take-away
2. DASH diet,  high in potassium, low in sodium…No Age group is meeting all their potassium needs!! Wow. Who knew.
3. Start with a good breakfast.; people who eat a big breakfast lost more weight that those that don’t.
4. Eat Heart Healthy Fats such as Almonds, Olive Oil, Avocado
5. Get More potassium!!  Oranges, OJ, cantaloupe, honeydew, bananas, dried fruit, pears, apricots, vegetables.
6. Get more Polyphenolics. (plant chemicals) soybeans, flaxseeds, onions, citris fruits, red and purple fruits, apples, pears, purple grapes.
7. Get more physical activity!!