Month: August 2009

Terrified of tofu? Here are seven heart-smart meat alternatives you’ll love

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food lisa the_vegetarian

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

I still remember the summer day I spent lying on Kitsilano Beach back in 1973 reading the landmark book called Diet For A Small Planet, when I discovered for the first time that the DFaSP healthy version of potato latkes could actually contain as much protein as a greasy lamb chop. Revolutionary! According to DFaSP, cutting back – waaaaay back! – on red meat consumption is a smart thing to do to protect your coronary arteries, and the planet as well.

In case you think eating less red meat means an endless round of bland blocks of boring tofu, think again. Here are seven options from Eco Salon that – like my potato latke recipe –  just might make it onto your new list of favourites:   Continue reading “Terrified of tofu? Here are seven heart-smart meat alternatives you’ll love” →

Not just for soldiers anymore: PTSD in heart patients

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

When I was at my WomenHeart Science & Leadership training at Mayo Clinic, we watched a short film about women and heart disease. A 40-something woman onscreen told the interviewer that ever since her heart attack had happened, she was afraid to go to sleep every night, because now she wasn’t sure that she would ever wake up.

I began to weep when I heard her say this.
 Continue reading “Not just for soldiers anymore: PTSD in heart patients” →

Cardiologist’s plan: “Fat people need not apply for jobs at Cleveland Clinic”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 7 Comments

cleveland clinic

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

For the past two years, the Cleveland Clinic has refused to hire smokers.  This non-profit American research and treatment health centre (consistently rated as the #1 heart institute in North America) introduced this groundbreaking no-smoking hiring initiative as a way to walk the talk about the health and wellness of not only the 50,000 patients admitted each year, but of its 1,800 employees.

But now the head of the Cleveland Clinic says he wants to take this bold hiring policy one step further – and some are saying this would be going too far.  Dr. Delos (Toby) Cosgrove, the heart surgeon who is the Clinic’s CEO, told the New York Times that if it were up to him, he would not only stop hiring smokers. He would also stop hiring overweight people. Continue reading “Cardiologist’s plan: “Fat people need not apply for jobs at Cleveland Clinic”” →

Could ‘goodism’ and self-sacrifice be linked to women’s heart disease outcomes?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

These days, whenever I tell my audiences about the hours leading up to my hospitalization for a heart attack last year, I ask them to guess what I would have done had those horrific cardiac symptoms been happening to my daughter (or my next-door neighbour, or even a perfect stranger) during that endless cross-country flight back home to the West Coast. Would I have patted her grim, sweaty face and whispered:

“Just try to hang on, honey. We’ll be home in nine hours…”

.

No, my Heart Sisters, I would have been screaming bloody murder for the Air Canada crew to get help immediately, even if it meant turning the damned plane around.  But since these attacks were happening to me, and not to somebody else, I chose instead the unwise and potentially fatal option of just slinking down in my seat, very still, hour after hour, trying not to die. Continue reading “Could ‘goodism’ and self-sacrifice be linked to women’s heart disease outcomes?” →