Heart Center offers free heart-healthy courses throughout May

NDIANAPOLIS – Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the American Heart Association.

Prevention is the key to lowering your chances of developing a cardiovascular disease, such as heart disease, stroke or high blood pressure. St. Francis Heart Center is offering free classes, programs, health fairs and screenings throughout the month of May in an effort to improve the community’s health through education and prevention.

Starting May 4, nine “Change of Heart” and one “Ask the Doc” classes will be offered in the Indianapolis and Mooresville areas. All of the events are open and free to the public.

Several of the Change of Heart classes will be held at the St. Francis Heart Center’s Community Center, located on the southeast corner of St. Francis Hospital – Indianapolis, 8111 S. Emerson Ave. Attendees will learn from St. Francis health experts about navigating the grocery store for healthy foods, choosing healthy entrées when dining out and many more heart-healthy habits. Each Change of Heart classes and the Ask the Doc program is 1 to 1 ½ hours long

Registration is required. Call 317-782-4422 or register online at StFrancisHospitals.org/heart to start living a heart-healthy life today.
The St. Francis Heart Center offers nationally recognized cardiac care close to where you need it – on Indianapolis’ south side. Built on a 30-year history of cardiac and vascular care, St. Francis Heart Center is south central Indiana’s only full-service cardiovascular center.

See below for a detailed description of each course
Exercise Tips
Monday, May 4, at 6:30 p.m.
St. Francis Hospital – Mooresville, 1201 Hadley Road

Tuesday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m.
St. Francis Heart Center – Community Center, 8111 S. Emerson Ave.

Healthy Eating
Tuesday, May 5, at 6:30 p.m.
St. Francis Heart Center – Community Center, 8111 S. Emerson Ave.

Reduce Stress 102
Wednesday, May 6, at 6:30 p.m.
St. Francis Heart Center – Community Center, 8111 S. Emerson Ave.

Ask the Doc – “What is a Heart Murmur?”
Thursday, May 14, at 6:30 p.m.
St. Francis Hospital – Mooresville, 1201 Hadley Road

Dining Out
Tuesday, May 19, at 6:30 p.m.
St. Francis Hospital – Mooresville, 1201 Hadley Road

Healthy Cooking Tips
Wednesday, May 20, at 6:30 p.m.
St. Francis Heart Center – Community Center, 8111 S. Emerson Ave.

Meatless Cooking
Thursday, May 21, at 6:30 p.m.
St. Francis Heart Center – Community Center, 8111 S. Emerson Ave.

Healthy Shopping Tour
Tuesday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m.
Kroger – 8850 S. Emerson Ave.

Top 10 Nutrition Tips
Thursday, May 28, at 6:30 p.m.
St. Francis Heart Center – Community Center, 8111 S. Emerson Ave.

Change of Heart classes offered by the St. Francis Heart Center

Exercise Tips
Keep Your Ticker in Tip Top Shape! The human heart is a remarkable machine. And like all machines, the more care and maintenance it receives, the longer and better it will function. Incorporating regular exercise and proper diet into your lifestyle and avoiding unnecessary stress will not only keep healthy hearts in fine working order, but can even reverse heart disease. There are lots of little things that you can do every day that your heart will love you for. Learn how to setup a schedule for yourself!

Healthy Eating
For some, diets don’t work! Learn about healthy lifestyles in this class. Find out how much a “serving” is and how to manage a healthy weight. Discover how fats, carbohydrates and protein affect your body. Do you know how much salt, fiber and sugar are in the foods you buy? This class offers the foundation for the remaining classes in the series.

Reduce Stress 102
Discover just how big an impact stress has on your heart health. Negative stress causes changes in lifestyle and behavior, which may lead to unhealthy behaviors. Managing stress is important to heart health because untreated stress increases other risk factors for heart disease, such as obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, insomnia, depression, smoking and lack of exercise. Learn to identify the causes of stress in your life and how to improve your health! “Reduce Stress 102” is the second class in this series. This class is taught by James Nicolai, M.D., medical director of the Franciscan Center for Integrative Health.

Ask the Doc - “What is a Heart Murmur?”
Heart murmurs are caused by valves inside the heart that don’t close properly. Sometimes,
people can live with heart murmurs a long time without any symptoms. However, if the problem becomes more serious, the blood flow to the heart may be affected. The nationally renowned cardiac surgeon, Marc Gerdisch, M.D., will answer your questions about the different treatment options for heart murmurs. Free valvular echo screening opportunity available if you attend this program.

Dining Out
Restaurant dining has become a way of life for most Americans. It's easy, fun, and a great way to socialize with family and friends. Just because you're following a structured eating plan doesn't mean you can't enjoy a nice meal out once in a while. Controlling calories when dining out is certainly challenging. You just need a little advance planning and some savvy ordering skills to stay on track when you're dining away from home. Learn how to make wise menu selections for a change of heart.

Healthy Cooking Tips
A heart-healthy lifestyle means more than choosing the right foods to eat. It is one of the most important steps for a person with heart disease. It's also important to prepare foods in a healthy way. Proper nutrition is essential to managing symptoms of heart disease and preventing further complications. Not only can proper diet help slow the artery-clogging process, but when combined with careful lifestyle modification, it may even stop or reverse the narrowing of arteries.

Meatless Cooking
Reverse heart disease by eating more! Going meatless just one day a week can lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer. Adding more fiber is easy with new products on the market. This class will help you with menu planning and recipes, and you’ll have the chance to sample food prepared during the session.

Healthy Shopping Tour
Shop for the health of it, but don't let the grocery aisles rile you. Does your head spin trying to figure out food labels like no carb, low carb and net carb? Are you confused by claims like no sugar added, light, low and fewer? Does your tongue get twisted trying to pronounce food label ingredients? Deciphering what's good for you doesn't have to raise your blood pressure. The St. Francis Heart Center and Kroger want to help simplify and de-stress the healthy food-buying experience.

Healthy Shopping Tours, led by a registered dietitian and/or certified health educator, help lessen the confusion and frustration experienced by many people who are trying to make healthy choices at the grocery store. Our dietitians and health educators understand how vital it is for you to learn how to choose correctly. Exercise is critical, but your diet determines your ability to lose weight, get fit and be healthy.

Our Top 10 Nutrition Tips
Are you too busy to eat well? Are you at risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes or prostate issues? Find out about nutrients you may have overlooked and foods associated with reducing risk. Whether you have one risk factor or many risk factors for heart disease, it’s never too late to start looking after your heart. The small changes that you make to your lifestyle and eating habits all add up to big improvements in your heart health, even if you already have some form of heart disease. St. Francis registered dieticians will reveal a top 10 nutrition tips for heart disease prevention.