Sanford to host heart health event

February is known as National Heart Month, and not just because of Valentine’s Day.

According to theheartfoundation.org, every 34 seconds someone in the United States has a heart attack.

Healthcare providers have declared February National Heart Month to raise heart disease awareness nationwide.

During the month of February, multiple health organizations put on events for the community in order to teach people how to be more heart healthy. This year the Sanford School of Medicine is putting on an event called “Cooking with a Cardiologist” at Red’s Steakhouse Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

The event costs $10 in advance and registration is required.

With the help of Sanford Heart, located in Sioux Falls, S.D., community members have a chance to attend the event, which involves cooking a heart-healthy three-course meal with chef Kirk Phillips, cardiologist Marian Petrasko and Sanford Heart’s dietitian Mary Auch.

Sarah Olson, the business developer at Sanford Heart, helped organize the event.

“Students should attend because eventually students move off campus, and it is important to be able to cook heart-healthy meals for themselves since they are finally away from the typical dorm foods, which are not so heart-healthy,” she said.

Auch said there are multiple factors that go into making a heart-healthy meal.

“Some things can be heart healthy but contain fats that are beneficial to the cardiovascular system,” Auch said. “Those would be mono and saturated fats, omega 3 fatty acids and folic acids. Good sources would be olive oil, coconut oil and all the different kind of nuts. It should contain lots of antioxidants, which would be derived primarily from colorful vegetables such as onions and cauliflowers.”

Auch said the negative affects of sugar should also be considered.

“We’re finding that sugar, whether in the form of natural foods or table sugar, when eaten in amounts more of than six tablespoons per a day could worsen how fast your blood sugar clears out of your blood, promoting heart disease in a sort of indirect process,” Auch said. “In addition, low saturated fats also promote a heart-healthy meal. This would be the fat visible on meat and trans fat, both of which can be found in processed food.”

Olson said Sanford Heart is making new advancements in their work.

“Many new procedures are being done here at Sanford Heart thanks to the new technology happening in the cardiac world. One of our newest procedures is replacing an aortic valve while the patient is under conscious sedation,” she said. “The new advancements being made are amazing and will hopefully help prolong the lives of those with cardiac diseases.”