Events of the Heart presents "You've Gotta have Heart"

Can I just say how cool I am? Really cool. Last night was my big poser event where I acted like a big shot and interviewed Brenda Strong about heart disease. It couldn't have gone better. First of all, the whole evening was like my wildest dream come true. It incorporated three of my favorite things in the world: fiber, glamor and schmoozing. Metamucil sponsored Events of the Heart in presenting the performance, "You've Gotta have Heart." Metamucil asked three local bloggers to attend, me, Liz from Everyday Goddess and Kristin from It's All Fun and Games. I had never met the other two before, but the three of us had a grand old time pretending like we were "somebodies" and got front seats at the performance. So in case anybody ever tells you that blogging doesn't matter, I beg to differ. Apparently we're super star hot shots whose opinion matters. Who knew?

But let me just start out by telling you guys a bit about the issue which I really was in the dark on. The event was to raise money and awareness for heart disease education among women. Twelve actors performed a series of monologues relating to heart health. The event is being called "The Angina Monolouges." It was superb. A great mix of humor and tragedy. I have to admit, the final monologue had me weeping.

Here are some pretty shocking facts I learned last night about heart disease that I hope the rest of you women pay attention to:

Breast cancer kills 4% of women. But heart disease kills 44%, more than all the other cancers combined.

1 out of every 2.5 women will die of heart disease or stroke.

Social isolation and heart disease are intertwined. If you live your life without an emotional support network, your chances of getting heart disease go way up.

The symptoms of heart disease among women is different from mens. Women suffer from fatigue and nausia when their hearts begin failing and generally have no idea there is a problem until they are dead. They say death is the number one symptom of heart disease for women because it is almost never diagnosed correctly.

There was a study where over 100 actors went into health clinics and doctors all over the country. They all said the exact same thing, and complained all of the classic symptoms of heart attack. 100 % of the men were treated for heart disease (given EKG and referred to a cardiologist.) Only 50% of the women were treated for heart disease. The rest were treated for other things like depression, gastrointesinal problems, stress, or just dismissed as hypochondriacs.

You can be doing every thing right, diet, exercise, meditation, and still be at high risk of heart disease. It is genetic so if you've got high cholesterol, you need to either take medication to lower it or increase your intake of fiber such as psyllium husks. I spoke with Brenda who used to be a licensed yoga instructor and she said the only thing that could lower her deadly cholesterol levels was the psyllium husks. She lowered her cholesterol 30 points in 30 days when she began taking it every day. And a helpful FYI, Metamucil has a pink lemonade product that tasted just like the real thing but has psyllium fiber mixed into it. It's really delicious and smooth and three glasses of it a day make up 100% of your daily fiber. Anyone with trouble getting all 7 grams of their daily fiber in should pick some up. It an easy, delicious way to lower your cholesterol.


So enough of my preaching, back to my interview. I asked Bill Weavers question, did she have a favorite ventricle. Brenda claims her left ventricle is nearest and dearest to her heart. I also asked Molly's question about how easy it is for actors to incorporate issues they hold dear into their storylines. She said that the producers of Desperate Housewives actually give the cast quite a bit of say in how they would like their character developed. The actresses play a big part in creating the storyline. I then asked which Desperate Housewife character did she think was at the biggest risk of heart disease. Brenda said the Gabrielle character because even though she has a healthy lifestyle, Hispanic women and minorities in generally have an increased risk of heart disease. I hope this doesn't mean that Gabrielle is going to keel over in next week's episode! And to end I asked Calidaho's question about why the cause was so important to her. She has personally battled high cholesterol and her grandmother suffered from it as well. She was very gracious and easy to talk to. Our time was up way too quickly.

So now for my favorite part - the name dropping. I went up to Dana Delany after the event and actually made quite a fool of myself by saying, "I'm a huge fan of your work" and shaking her hand while staring into her eyes until her body guard took her by the shoulder and lead her away. Also performing at the event (some of which I was able to talk with at the reception) were: Eva Longoria, Markie Post (the Night Court lady), comedian Kathleen Madigan, Stephen Collins, Alex Kapp Horner, Annalynne McCord, comedian Judy Gold, Cynthia Adler, Holland Taylor (who is so beautiful I couldn't stand it) and Jeffery Tambor.

Here are a few shots from the night. Liz and I took pictures of our feet as we walked down the red carpet. Sure, the photographers were busy getting pictures of all the real stars, but they'll be kicking themselves when they realize whose picture they forgot to get for the cover of US Weekly!

Molly, Calidaho and Bill, thanks for your great question ideas and I'll see you round the shop!