Category: A Woman’s Guide to Living with Heart Disease

Cholesterol and eggs: what’s a heart patient to believe? Registered Dietitian Cheryl Strachan tells all!

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 7 Comments

 Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

.          .              .        Cheryl Strachan

Cheryl Strachan is a Registered Dietitian, nutritionist, cardiac specialist, and author of the 30-Minute Heart Healthy Cookbook (HINT: a terrific holiday gift idea for yourself or any heart patient!)  Cheryl says she loves “to banish food stress and help people with heart concerns get comfortable in the kitchen again.”  Much of Cheryl’s professional career was spent working with local cardiac support groups and rehabilitation programs in Calgary. I’ve been following her patient-friendly Sweet Spot Nutrition blog for several years, and when I read her recent article about eggs and cholesterol, I immediately asked her permission to share this controversial and often misunderstood topic here for my own readers living with heart disease. Keep on reading, below. . . Continue reading “Cholesterol and eggs: what’s a heart patient to believe? Registered Dietitian Cheryl Strachan tells all!” →

“Throws are far more important than catches”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 19 Comments

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by Carolyn Thomas    ♥    @HeartSisters

Earlier this year, I was asked by my book publisher (Johns Hopkins University Press, the oldest academic publisher in North America) if I would write an updated 2nd edition of my book, A Woman’s Guide to Living with Heart Disease. At first, I said NO,  and then I said MAYBE – and then when JHUP’s Senior Acquisitions Editor told me we could change the title of a 2nd edition, I immediately said: “Well, YES!!   Continue reading ““Throws are far more important than catches”” →

What to get for the heart patient who has (almost) everything

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 11 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters  

You could do last-minute Christmas shopping for another scented candle or pottery vase (that just might end up some day on somebody’s yard sale table together). But if you have a woman in your life who has been diagnosed with heart disease, you could choose a truly useful gift this year. Here’s why, in my admittedly biased view, that gift could be my book, A Woman’s Guide to Living with Heart Disease. And Santa can even save 30% off the cover price when ordering from my publisher, Johns Hopkins University Press!) * Continue reading “What to get for the heart patient who has (almost) everything” →

Why patients don’t have admin assistants

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 17 Comments
                   Moments from the full, rich life of patient partner Lelainia Lloyd *

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

Patients can sometimes be sickly people in bed, wearing embarrassingly undignified bum-baring hospital gowns.

Patients can also be experts in the lived experience of their own diagnoses,  who contribute to medical research and education teams as partners in meaningful academic projects.

If you’re surprised by that last description, you’ll be even more surprised by all the things that many patient partners can do in life (besides laying around being sickly).       .        . Continue reading “Why patients don’t have admin assistants” →