You’d never know Jennifer has HCM because it doesn’t slow her down, she’s as normal as you and me, but she has to stay on top of her health with meds and frequent visits to the cardiologist for the rest of her life.

Jennifer was born with this heart condition, but for most of us heart disease is preventable through diet, exercise, heart check ups, and  lipo-protein blood screening.

When the American Heart Association (AHA) and fitlosophy, the company behind fitbook, asked me to participate in the BLOG YOUR HEART OUT campaign over the next 12 weeks, I jumped at the opportunity to SPEAK UP for heart disease.

Over the next 12 weeks I’ll be following the AHA’s BetterU program, a free online 12-week nutrition & fitness makeover.  I’ll be blogging about this program about once a week and tracking my progress in my fitbook each day.

Why am I so passionate about being part of the Blog Your Heart Out team?

• Heart disease kills about 1 woman every minute, or approximately 450,000 women each year
• More women die of heart disease than the next five causes of death combined, including all forms of cancer
• 90% of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease
• 80% of cardiac events in women may be prevented by making the right choices involving diet, exercise and abstinence from smoking

How can you get involved?

• Celebrate National Wear Red Day by wearing (you guessed it) red today!
• Join the Go Red For Women movement and become part of the fight against heart disease
• Grab a fitbook, and join me for the free 12-week BetterU program
• Follow me and the Blog Your Heart Out team for the next 12 weeks
• If you blog, join us February 12, 2010 to SPEAK UP for heart disease on Blog Your Heart Out Day

My next 12 weeks will be dedicated to my sister and to all women and men who help fight heart disease one day at a time.

Now I really must go eat a heart-healthy breakfast, hit the gym, and, well…GO RED!