Heart Month 2013

Welcome to the archives of the post-a-day project during American Heart Month, February 2013.

I think it is clear by now that I’m loving the fashion focus of the Go Red for Women and Heart Truth awareness campaigns. I was in one fashion show and wrote about another. I pinned an entire board of red fashion inspiration on Pinterest. I’ve worn red every single day this month and have […]

I had so much fun at the Red Dress Collection show tonight (and fun at dinner and drinks before, and dessert and drinks after, too, which makes for one tired blogger on a self-imposed deadline). The event was full of new experiences (VIP seats, bling and makeup in my goody bag, the Graves 601 Hotel, seeing […]

This month there is a picture of me on billboards and bus shelters in the Twin Cities. Last August I posed for the photos with fellow heart survivors Angie and Jennifer, and this year’s Go Red fundraising chairperson, Andrea. At one point during the photo shoot the communications director for the American Heart Association told the […]

There are many forms of heart disease, and some affect even the tiniest of hearts. Congenital birth defects are responsible for the most infant deaths due to birth defects. In this country, about 18 out of 1,000 babies born every year have critical congenital heart defects that require surgery or catheter interventions. The trouble is, some […]

In honor of Valentine’s Day, today’s post is all about chocolate. If you already ate all the chocolates in your Whitman’s Sampler, don’t worry: chocolate can be good for your heart. According to the Cleveland Clinic (the nations #1 heart hospital, so you can trust me here), the cocoa bean is rich in a kind […]

Updated February 2024 I barely know how to process this information, but I’m going to share it because I have to do something. I’ve seen these headlines, stories, and studies before: preeclampsia in pregnancy linked to heart disease. It’s one of the risk factors listed by the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute that I […]

Nothing at all fun about this one. If you smoke, you are two to six times more likely to suffer a heart attack (not to mention dozens of other life-threatening illnesses and increasing the risk for heart attack and disease for all of those around you). I’ve got no patience for this whatsoever. If you […]

Last Saturday I was part of the Hearts for Fashion fashion show at the Mall of America. Sponsored by Boston Scientific as part of the Go Red for Women health fair, the show featured student designers from the University of Minnesota, St. Catherine University, and Minneapolis Community and Technical College. It was also a competition; […]

The year of my heart attack, my friend Heidi sent me a jar of this granola for Christmas. Her card said she thinks of me every time she makes it because its main ingredients — oats, flax, almonds, canola oil — are all heart-healthy all-stars. Scott and I stood in the kitchen that night eating […]

A heart sister and fellow advocate and speaker I know is fond of asking her audiences to raise their hands if they know their cholesterol numbers (lipid profile). Then she asks them to raise their hand if they know their blood pressure. Last, she asks them to raise their hands if they remember what they […]