{"id":1054,"date":"2026-03-06T10:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T10:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/?p=1054"},"modified":"2026-04-08T22:54:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:54:06","slug":"in-the-heart-of-the-galaxy-carrie-fisher-would-have-been-a-heart-disease-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/in-the-heart-of-the-galaxy-carrie-fisher-would-have-been-a-heart-disease-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Heart of the Galaxy Carrie Fisher would have been a Heart Disease Advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Carrie Fisher was 60 years young when she suffered a fatal heart attack.\u00a0 If she would have known heart disease is the #1 killer of both men <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> women she may have been an advocate in educating women of this under acknowledged illness. She was 1 in 3 women who die of heart disease.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most women are obsessed about breast cancer and Alzheimer\u2019s. And it\u2019s true 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. But heart disease kills more women each year than <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">all<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> female cancers combined. Heart disease should not be thought of as a \u201cman\u2019s disease\u201d any longer by the medical community nor by women.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A pap smear is first performed at 21y to check for cervical cancer, mammograms begin at 40y to check for breast cancer and colonoscopies begin at 50y to check for colon cancer. There are really no set guidelines for screening women for heart disease even though it affects 33% of women. Some cardiologists believe every woman over 50 year should get a screening evaluation for heart disease.\u00a0 Frankly I agree!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>heart attack<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> occurs when blood flow, which is delivering oxygen to the heart, is reduced, limited or completely restricted. When the coronary arteries are narrowed due to high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes, blood flow to the heart is compromised which can ultimately lead to a heart attack.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>warning signs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for heart disease in women are much different than described in men. Classic symptoms of a heart attack that you would see in the movies include pain in your chest, shortness of breath and cold sweats, but this is not always the case in women. Women often present with jaw or arm pain, pressure or discomfort in the chest, but it may not be severe or significant. Women may also have right arm pain, nausea or vomiting, sweating, dizziness, heartburn and an upset stomach or fatigue. A <\/span><b>silent heart attack, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which affects both genders, can present with less specific signs including flu-like symptoms, indigestion, fatigue, jaw or upper back or arm pain and these types of signs are more common in women.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Risk Factors for Heart Disease include:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">High blood pressure (140\/90 \u2013 either one of those numbers consistently is a risk factor)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">High Lipid panel (Cholesterol and Triglycerides)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being Overweight or Obesity BMI&gt;30<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smoking<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Family History of heart disease<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lack of Exercise<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uncontrolled diabetes<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increasing Age<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Prevention is the key to dodging a heart attack.\u00a0 Here is what you can do to not make it your cause of death.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Eating a Healthy Diet<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A diet focused on fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish, limited alcohol intake and little red meat similar to the Mediterranean diet shows health benefits that include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reduced risk of cardiovascular events<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lowered risk of Type 2 Diabetes<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reduced risk of a stroke<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improved cognitive function<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Slowed progression of carotid plaque<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cardiovascular protection with its reputation for lowering total carotid plaque, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and blood sugar.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Mediterranean diet<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is associated with the highest life expectancy and lowest heart disease rates in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regular <\/span><b>Exercise <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; It\u2019s been shown that you need to exercise 2.5 hours a week. A study at <\/span><b>Cleveland Clinic<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> showed that only 20% of Americans were aware of this benchmark, with 40% getting less exercise than they should.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/health.clevelandclinic.org\/2016\/02\/7-worst-heart-health-mistakes-can-avoid\/<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Avoid Obesity and being overweight <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; The rise in obesity in the US by 27 % is a key factor in increasing your risk for Type 2 Diabetes which affects more than 12 million women. Hispanics are at twice the risk. Women want to maintain a healthy body weight with a BMI &lt;25. <\/span><b>Obesity <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is directly associated with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, which all increase risks for heart disease.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Managing High Lipid Profile <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 Keeping LDL, aka \u201cthe bad cholesterol\u201d, low is the main way to control high cholesterol through lifestyle choices and medications. Ideally you want to keep the LDL &lt;100mg\/dl and the \u201cgood cholesterol\u201d or HDL&gt;50mg\/dl. Help that by limiting saturated fats, increasing fresh fruits and vegetables, limiting salt intake to &lt;1gram\/day, reducing alcohol consumption, increasing physical activity and keeping your BMI&lt;25.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Ideal blood pressures<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> should be &lt;120\/80mmHG. If blood pressure reading are consistently &gt;than 140\/90 medication is recommended.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Baby Aspirin<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Confusion &#8211; If you have any evidence of heart disease, taking low dose aspirin (75mg daily) is recommended, but of course, check with your physician first. If you don\u2019t have any risk factors for heart disease then you do not need to take baby aspirin.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Omega 3-Fatty Acids<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are recommended through dietary fatty fish or supplements for women who have high cholesterol or high LDL levels. If you have heart disease or other risk factors, taking 1 gram of Omega 3-fish oil is recommended. If you are healthy or do not have any risk factors for heart disease, it\u2019s still recommended to take 300-500mg of Omega 3-fish oil every day.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women need to be educated and proactive in finding out their risks of developing heart disease. There has been improvement based on a <\/span><b>recent study <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">found that 56% of women knew heart disease was the #1 cause of death amongst women compared to only 30% awareness in 1997, but that still leaves too many women unprepared.\u00a0 It was also found that more women compared to men are likely to delay going to the emergency room when some of the unsettling symptoms are noticed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The medical community needs to do more in educating younger women on ways of reducing their risk factors for future heart health protection. <\/span><b>Screening women<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes should be a part of women\u2019s annual medical assessment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Here\u2019s the crucial take home message: Increasing your awareness and taking preventive steps to reduce your risk is your best protection against the #1 killer of women.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>What is your risk of heart disease?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Put this link in and you will see your risk!)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/heart-disease-risk\/ITT-20084942\/?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=housecall<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carrie Fisher was 60 years young when she suffered a fatal heart attack.\u00a0 If she would have known heart disease is the #1 killer of both men and women she may have been an advocate in educating women of this under acknowledged illness. She was 1 in 3 women who die of heart disease.\u00a0\u00a0 Most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1062,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054\/revisions\/1062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portfolio.zenkoders.com\/ai-powered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}