A heart-smart recipe makeover contest

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ Leave a comment

food cooking blue kitchen

I grew up in a Ukrainian family where butter, bacon, sour cream and gravy were the four major food groups. Dill pickles were considered a vegetable course. The word ‘salad’ meant one of two things: a neon-green Jell-O™ moulded salad with grated carrots, or thick mayo cole slaw. Every lunch and dinner menu included homebaked pies, gooey butter tarts or layer cakes for desserts.  We were heart attacks waiting to happen.

Since my own heart attack, however, I have tried to adapt and improve many of my old favourite family recipes to boost their nutritional value.  Sometimes it means just replacing high-fat whipped cream with low-fat French Vanilla yogurt on a fruit crumble, but sometimes it’s a complete remodel of an old recipe. My heart-healthy Chocolate Fudge Brownies and Sushi Pizza are just two examples of how great taste can actually be surprisingly good for you. Find out more about the recipe makeover contest

Women’s cardiac care: is it gender difference – or gender bias?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

woman man novelties

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

At the WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium last fall, Mayo Clinic cardiologists told us that, when it comes to women, heart disease is much more than an equal opportunity health threat.  Women with heart disease are underdiagnosed (and undertreated even when accurately diagnosed) compared to men presenting with the same condition.  And we also have more deadly outcomes compared to men.

Did you know that more women than men die of heart disease each year in North America? What I found particularly appalling was a 2005 American Heart Association study that found only 8% of family doctors were aware of this fact, and (even worse!) only 17% of cardiologists were aware.

Here are some other examples that may help to explain gender bias in diagnosis and treatment of women’s heart disease: Continue reading “Women’s cardiac care: is it gender difference – or gender bias?” →

5 surprising myths about excess weight

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 3 Comments
May 1932 - Modern Mechanix
May 1932 – Modern Mechanix

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

We know that carrying excess body weight is bad for our health.  Or is it?  Recent studies have looked at overall health outcomes of overweight subjects and found these surprising results that may make us look twice at some older myths about being overweight:

MYTH No. 1:  A high BMI number means you need to lose weight.

FACT: Body Mass Index (BMI) has been considered the best indicator of obesity, but it doesn’t differentiate between weight gained by pumping iron or weight gained by eating too many Tim Horton maple dips.  Having a BMI number over 25 is considered overweight, and a BMI over 30 is considered obese.  But Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example, had a BMI of 33 at the peak of his body-building career.   Continue reading “5 surprising myths about excess weight” →

Is sudden cardiac arrest the same thing as a heart attack?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 10 Comments

red heart on black

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

One of the reasons that I believed the Emergency physician who had misdiagnosed me with acid reflux during my heart attack was my very inaccurate perception of what a heart attack looks like.

I used to think that heart attacks happen mostly to men.  Old men.  Old fat men who are out-of-shape-chain smokers and heavy drinkers.  Old fat out-of-shape smoking drinking men who one day out on the golf course suddenly clutch their chests and keel over, unconscious.  CPR.  911. Ambulance sirens screaming. Paramedics. Defibrillator paddles. That’s a heart attack, right?

Wrong, my dear heart sisters. Continue reading “Is sudden cardiac arrest the same thing as a heart attack?” →