NPR’s Kathleen Dunn hosts a discussion about women and heart disease with Eliz Greene.

Fellow heart attack survivor and radio host, Kathleen Dunn leads a discussion about women and heart disease today, May 5th from 10 – 11 am (Central Time)

Special offer for Kathleen’s Listeners:

Leave a comment or question below and receive a free copy of

“Six Ways To Embrace Your Heart: Busy Woman’s Guide to improving your heart health”

Busy Woman’s Guide, Eliz Greene joins Kathleen along with:

Is the stress hormone making you fat and hurting your heart?

Cortisol is a hormone produced by your adrenal glands. We all need cortisol to help us react to stressful situations, especially those requiring a “fight or flight” reaction. Our bodies react to stress by giving us a quick burst of energy, lowering our sensitivity to pain and increasing our attention and memory. Once the crisis passes, the body relaxes and allows the cortisol to process out of the blood stream.

We lower the level of cortisol when we sleep, relax, exercise, and laugh. The problem comes when a constant state of stress doesn’t allow our bodies to get rid of the hormone.

Over time high levels of cortisol can:

• Increase belly fat
• Raise risk of heart attack
• Raise risk of stroke
• Raise blood pressure
• Lower your body’s ability to heal or resist infection
• Decrease bone density
• Throw blood sugar out of balance
• Lower brain function
• Interfere with your thyroid

Fortunately simple strategies to allow your body to recharge are very effective in lowering your cortisol levels. Find some ideas to help you recharge.

Pay attention to your stress and take time to recharge every day!

Find more important heart health information and strategies to live longer, feel better and stress less in Eliz’s new book, The Busy Woman’s Guide to a Healthy Heart

Find more tips to live longer, feel better, and stress less on our award winning blog or sign up for email tips and updates.

Eliz survived a massive heart attack while seven-months pregnant with twins, struggled to lose the 80 pounds gained during her pregnancy, and searched for a way to hold on to the perspective and passion she found in her near-death experience. Drawing on her background as an adaptive movement specialist, Eliz developed simple strategies and tips to help other busy women be more active, eat better and manage your stress.

As the Director of the Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative, Eliz travels the country energizing and inspiring audiences in keynotes and workshops on women’s heart health. She writes one of the top 100 health and wellness blogs. Find more at www.EmbraceYourHeart.com.

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Here’s what you need to know about family history and heart disease.

Taking all other risk factors into account, if you have a close family member with heart disease, your risk nearly doubles.

While this news may be a bit frightening, it is good news in one way. Even if you do not have symptoms today, a strong family history of heart disease can lead you and your doctor to implement treatment to prevent or slow down development of the disease.

Take a look at the health of your close relatives. Your parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, and uncles may be experiencing heart disease symptoms they have not shared with you. If you are diagnosed with heart disease, share the information with your family so they can be checked as well.

Find more important heart health information and strategies to live longer, feel better and stress less in Eliz’s new book, The Busy Woman’s Guide to a Healthy Heart

Find more tips to live longer, feel better, and stress less on our award winning blog or sign up for email tips and updates.

Eliz survived a massive heart attack while seven-months pregnant with twins, struggled to lose the 80 pounds gained during her pregnancy, and searched for a way to hold on to the perspective and passion she found in her near-death experience. Drawing on her background as an adaptive movement specialist, Eliz developed simple strategies and tips to help other busy women be more active, eat better and manage your stress.

As the Director of the Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative, Eliz travels the country energizing and inspiring audiences in keynotes and workshops on women’s heart health. She writes one of the top 100 health and wellness blogs. Find more at www.EmbraceYourHeart.com.

Here is what you need to know about

cholesterol:

Cholesterol isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A soft, waxy substance naturally found in your body, “good” cholesterol (or HDL) is needed to digest fat, make hormones such as estrogen and progesterone, and produce vitamin D in the skin. You want your HDL to be high.

However, “bad” cholesterol (or LDL) carries cholesterol in the blood and to the cells. Over time, if you have too much “bad” cholesterol, it builds up in the vessels and clogs the flow of blood. You want your LDL to be low.

Triglycerides are formed when the calories you eat are not immediately used as energy. Your fat cells store triglycerides for later use. You need some triglycerides, but too many will lead to heart disease.

Go to the doctor. Get your cholesterol tested and find out what your numbers mean. Here is a quick run down of the results:

Your HDL should be 40 or greater.

Your LDL should be below 100.

Your Triglycerides should be below 150.

Talk to your doctor about all of your risk factors and work to keep your heart healthy!

Find more important heart health information and strategies to live longer, feel better and stress less in Eliz’s new book, The Busy Woman’s Guide to a Healthy Heart

Find more tips to live longer, feel better, and stress less on our award winning blog or sign up for email tips and updates.

Eliz survived a massive heart attack while seven-months pregnant with twins, struggled to lose the 80 pounds gained during her pregnancy, and searched for a way to hold on to the perspective and passion she found in her near-death experience. Drawing on her background as an adaptive movement specialist, Eliz developed simple strategies and tips to help other busy women be more active, eat better and manage your stress.

As the Director of the Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative, Eliz travels the country energizing and inspiring audiences in keynotes and workshops on women’s heart health. She writes one of the top 100 health and wellness blogs. Find more at www.EmbraceYourHeart.com.

Here’s what you need to know about estrogen and your heart

While doctors are not completely sure how estrogen works, it is clear younger women enjoy some protection from heart disease most likely related to estrogen’s role in the control of cholesterol. As women age, the amount of estrogen decreases and their risk of heart disease increases. Women’s risk eventually catches up to and then surpasses men’s risk.

Women who use hormonal birth control, have gone through menopause, or have their ovaries removed lose this protection.

This protection is only against the “hardening of the arteries” type of heart disease and does not have an impact on rhythm issues or other types of mechanical problems of the cardiovascular system.

Decreasing estrogen is just one of the risk factors for heart disease. Discuss all of your risk factors with your doctor to be sure you are doing your best to keep your heart healthy!

Find more tips to live longer, feel better, and stress less by Eliz Greene at BusyWomansGuide.com.

Sign up for free e-mail tips!

Eliz survived a massive heart attack while seven-months pregnant with twins, struggled to lose the 80 pounds gained during her pregnancy, and searched for a way to hold on to the perspective and passion she found in her near-death experience. Drawing on her background as an adaptive movement specialist, Eliz developed simple strategies and tips to help other busy women be more active, eat better and manage your stress.

As the Director of the Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative, Eliz travels the country energizing and inspiring audiences in keynotes and workshops on women’s heart health. She writes one of the top 100 health and wellness blogs. Find more at www.EmbraceYourHeart.com.

Here’s what you need to know about blood pressure

About one in every three Americans has high blood pressure. There are no symptoms and only just over half of the people with high blood pressure receive treatment.

Often called the “silent killer,” uncontrolled high blood pressure can cause stroke, heart attack, heart failure, and kidney failure.

Blood pressure measures how hard your heart needs to work to push your blood through the veins and arteries. The top number is the pressure during a heartbeat, and the bottom number is the pressure between beats.

For quick reference you want the top number to be 119 or lower. Talk to your doctor about your blood pressure and all of your risk factors to be sure you are doing all you can to keep your heart healthy!

Find more tips to live longer, feel better, and stress less by Eliz Greene at BusyWomansGuide.com.

Sign up for free e-mail tips!

Eliz survived a massive heart attack while seven-months pregnant with twins, struggled to lose the 80 pounds gained during her pregnancy, and searched for a way to hold on to the perspective and passion she found in her near-death experience. Drawing on her background as an adaptive movement specialist, Eliz developed simple strategies and tips to help other busy women be more active, eat better and manage your stress.

As the Director of the Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative, Eliz travels the country energizing and inspiring audiences in keynotes and workshops on women’s heart health. She writes one of the top 100 health and wellness blogs. Find more at www.EmbraceYourHeart.com.