Are you wearing red today?

National, Wear Red For Women is TODAY, FEB 5TH!

Go Red For Women is the American Heart Association’s initiative to raise awareness of heart disease in women and educate them about how to prevent this No. 1 killer. Visit GoRedForWomen.org, and learn how to make heart-healthy choices every day.

• Cardiovascular disease kills approximately 450,000 women each year, about one every minute.
• While 1 in 30 American women die of breast cancer, about 1 in 3 die from cardiovascular disease.
• More women die of cardiovascular disease than the next five causes of death combined, including all forms of cancer.
• Ninety percent of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease.
• Only 1 in 5 women believe that heart disease is her greatest health threat.
• Heart disease is largely preventable. In fact, 80 percent of cardiac events in women may be prevented if women make the right choices for their hearts, involving diet, exercise and abstinence from smoking.

So, dress your cuties in red today and open a dialogue about the habits they can create to prevent heart disease.  A blog reader recently commented that her young daughter told the kids at school that they need to blot the grease off their pizza, or else they’ll have a heart attack!  Good advice Venessa!

THURSDAY: Healthy Issues

While heart disease is now the #1 killer of women (yet mostly preventable) it is also affecting our children at startling young ages.  But today I want to talk about women! 

As mothers, it is vital to keep ourselves healthy and do everything we can to first, be around for our kids, but also be a positive role model for good health, and have the energy to thrive and enjoy life with them. 

I feel so passionately about heart disease prevention.  Even through small changes we can live long, vibrant, healthy lives….. and look good doing it.

The American Heart Association has launched a program called GoRed BetterU to help women take action to protect their hearts.  It is a free, 12 week online makeover to live healthier lives.   There is a coaching tool below, that I will host on my new food journal blog (because it is too big for my sidebar). You can go to the coaching tool for quick tips, ideas, and daily reminders. 

To kick off this program, the American Heart Association wants to give one lucky reader a start up kit.  Take a look at the loot! Yoga mat, water bottle, gym bag, red dress pin, Craisins, and a grocery guide.

Pretty sweet, huh?  So, leave a comment (till Next Thursday June 25th), and I will choose a winner at random.  Then go sign up for your own free 12 week healthy makeover!!

THURSDAY: Health Ideas and issues 

A study presented to the American Heart Association found fatty buildup in the carotid arteries of children as young as 10 years old! There was also other signs of cardiovascular disease in these children similar to what has been seen in 45 year olds!

Other shocking research shows the number of obese adolescents has tripled since 1980. 

There is a conference coming up in Chicago for health professionals about these issues, which I would LOVE to attend.  If you are a professional in the field, consider going.  The good people there sent me some information about this problem:

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, renowned author and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine of The University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, “The consequences of the typical American diet on our children are devastating. Weight gain is just the visible tip of the iceberg. They are increasing their risk of chronic diseases later in life, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, autoimmune diseases, and even cancer.”

Parents often make mealtime concessions, catering to taste but depriving their children of nutritional benefit. According to renowned chef and author Rick Bayless, “Our society literally segregates children at the dinner table. We have one meal for adults and “kids food” for the children, which is often much higher in saturated fat, refined sugar and sodium. Families should sit down to one nutritious meal that appeals to the entire family.” Bayless offers the following tips to help families enjoy healthy meals together:

• Add grated vegetables to the main course. 
• Make your own pizza!
• Substitute whole wheat crust for a standard crust, add low fat cheese and sliced vegetables.
• Introduce one new main course each week.
• Try meat substitutes such as whole soy, tempeh, seitan or tofu.Let children help with the shopping.
• Give them a list of healthy foods and tell them to pick three of their favorites from the list.
• Get kids cooking. Help them discover the joy of finding and trying new recipes. Let them be adventurous. If they think organic peanut butter and shredded lettuce is a gourmet treat, buy into their experiment.
• Offer low fat milk, water or fortified soy beverages instead of soda pop or juice

Dr. Weil and Rick Bayless will be speaking about childhood obesity and the role of nutrition in optimal health at the 6^th Annual Nutrition and Health Conference: State of the Science and Clinical Applications, to be held May 10 – 13, at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile Hotel, 540 N. Michigan Avenue. The forum on May 10 is open to the public. For additional information, visit www.nutritionandhealthconf.org.

My awesome friend hooked us up with 10 lbs of freshly picked, raw almonds this week! 

Almonds are a great addition to every diet.  Here is what we tried for breakfast:  Almond Crusted French Toast!  Yum-yum.  I put a handful of almonds in a plastic bag and hit it with a hammer to crush them.

Then I mixed up some french toast with eggs, a splash of 1% milk, almond extract, cinnamon, and a whole cup of crushed almonds.

Then cooked them up.  The kids ate them quickly and I felt good about getting them some extra nutrients before they went to school.  Specifically, Almonds are great for

• Magnesium
• vitamin E
• The good fat in almonds helps to reduce heart disease (helps to decrease the bad cholesterol, without decreasing the good (HDL) cholesterol.
• Also a good source of potassium which helps to regulate blood pressure.

You may be thinking you don’t have to worry about your kids and their heart disease risk, BUT you do!! Number one, kids ARE starting to get heart disease and high cholesterol. And number two, you are developing taste preferences that they will keep throughout their lives (the taste for healthy food that is).

Other good things to do with almonds:

1. Snack on them! (1 ounce of almonds-about 22 of them) can cost as little as $0.21 per serving. Which just about allows them to make my snacking budget.  (I’ll just give them 15 almonds and it will come under budget).
2. Make Cinnamon coated almonds!!  We call them Christmas Almonds and they make great neighbor gifts for Christmas time. Always a big hit.
3. Crush and add them to your granola bars, or granola.
4. Add to salads, or this sweet apple one.
5. Add to muffins, cookies, or breads.

If you used to read my blog in the mornings, and find I haven’t been posting till afternoon or evenings, It has been intentional!  I have 2 precious hours in the morning that I try and pack everything into.  Between 5-7am I was writing a blog post, reading my scriptures, exercising, reading the newspaper (which I love to do) etc.  My problem was, I would open my laptop and before I knew it, it was time to wake the kids up.  Once I start reading emails and writing for my blog, sometimes I can’t stop and it threw off my whole day.  Now I will not allow myself to open the computer till after the kids go to school.  And you know what,  I have my mornings back!!! I just wish I started this a lot sooner.

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!!