by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
Two of our biggest heart disease risks are diabetes and obesity, and they happen to be two serious health crises in North America. But according to Civil Eats, the roots of both diet-induced diseases may lie in a rarely publicized but even more pernicious epidemic: kitchen illiteracy. Continue reading “Do you suffer from ‘kitchen illiteracy’?”
For most people, a calendar is just a place to keep track of your dental appointments and dinner parties. But ever since I was given the Mayo Clinic calendar called The Road To Better Health, I’ve been spending more time reading the tips around the little appointment boxes than actually writing inside the boxes.
I especially liked the calendar page called “Mount Everest or the Couch”. This section reminds us that reducing our health risks for heart disease is not an all or nothing goal. Yet how many women are ready to head straight to the Häagen-Dazs after falling off the diet wagon, or to stop going to the gym entirely just because they’ve missed a few workouts? My Mayo Clinic calendar reminds us:
“Your choice of destinations doesn’t have to be climbing Mount Everest or just sitting at home on the couch.”
Continue reading “Women choose between Mount Everest or the couch”
Do you remember as little kids when we liked to spin round and round very fast so that when we stopped, we’d stagger around in a state of delicious dizziness? As adults, though, feeling dizzy is not fun. In fact, dizziness is responsible for millions of visits to hospital emergency departments each year. While most cases are likely caused by benign inner-ear balance problems, about 4% are signals of cardiovascular disease such as stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA – a condition that often warns of impending stroke in the coming days or weeks).
About half of these dizzy patients who are experiencing strokes show none of the classic stroke symptoms like one-sided weakness, numbness or speech problems. In fact, some estimates put the number of misdiagnoses as high as one-third, losing the chance for quick and effective stroke treatment.
Just as the rule for getting immediate help during a heart attack is: Time is muscle” – in stroke circles, doctors say: “Time is brain”. Continue reading “Cheap, quick bedside tests better than MRI in diagnosing strokes?”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
I’ve worked in public relations for decades, and I have to say that, from a PR perspective, those folks over in Breast Cancer are doing a fabulous job of raising awareness about their cause. It’s a world of PINK out there! Yet the same women who are raising awareness and funds in support of breast cancer research may be unaware that heart disease – not breast cancer – is actually women’s biggest health threat. This year, heart disease will kill six times more women than breast cancer will. In fact, heart disease will kill more women than all forms of cancer combined.
These frightening stats are just one of the reasons Canada’s Heart and Stroke Foundation launched The Heart Truth, a campaign to help fund research about women’s heart disease, and to educate women about the risk factors, symptoms and especially prevention of our #1 health threat.
The Red Dress is the official symbol of this campaign. As the Heart and Stroke Foundation describes it: “It’s feminine, strong and confident, capturing the spirit of the cause in a symbol that women across Canada can identify with and feel proud of. The Red Dress represents women’s courage and passion as they raise awareness about our heart health.”
And the inaugural 2008 Heart Truth campaign launch nearly doubled Canadians’ awareness (from 13% to over 23%) that heart disease is the #1 killer of Canadian women. But we still have a long way to go. Continue reading “The Heart Truth: what’s that little red dress all about?”
Heart Sisters 