For Immediate Release

Contact:
Beth Hubrich, R.D.
(404) 252-3663

Bridget Pettis Gets Refrigerator Makeover for Heart Health

PHOENIX (May 1998) Bridget Pettis, a leading scorer with the Phoenix Mercury, received a “refrigerator makeover” Wednesday May 20 when “Open the Door to a Healthy Heart” visited Phoenix, the ninth stop on a “celebrity refrigerator makeover tour.” Open the Door to a Healthy Heart is a national consumer awareness campaign about diet and heart disease that uses consumer-friendly, practical tips everyone can relate to reduce their heart disease risk.

The campaign is educating consumers that heart-healthy eating starts with something as simple as a look inside their refrigerator. As part of the program, Dr. Debra Judelson, cardiologist and immediate president of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), is making over local celebrities’ refrigerators in major cities across the country. Dr. Judelson has conducted makeovers in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Columbus, Baltimore, New Orleans and Detroit.

In addition to helping Pettis eat more healthfully, Dr. Judelson brought attention to the fact that heart disease is the nation’s No. 1 killer, claiming about 750,000 lives a year. It is also the number one cause of death in Arizona, accounting for 14,000 deaths in Arizona and New Mexico in 1996, the latest year for which statistics are available, according to the Southwest affiliate of the American Heart Association (AHA). More than 38 residents die each day from cardiovascular disease. That’s nearly 2 deaths every hour, according to the AHA.

Despite health professionals’ efforts, success in fighting the disease is slowing down because of unhealthy lifestyles, primarily poor diet, obesity and physical inactivity, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. Health experts recommend that nutrition is the first step to prevention and treatment. But change doesn’t have to be all or nothing, Dr. Judelson says.

“I suggest men and women take small steps, one at a time such as switching from butter to soft margarine, whole milk to one-percent or skim milk, and from ice cream to low-fat frozen yogurt,” she notes.

Despite the wide range of information on nutrition and the greater availability and variety of “better-for-you” foods, Americans are more overweight than ever before, according to government reports. Recent surveys indicate that because consumers are confused by the latest nutrition “report of the week,” they have put up barriers to good nutrition. These barriers include limited time, no motivation, inconvenience of healthy eating and confusion about the effects of various foods on health.

Dr. Judelson also offered tips for a “heart-healthy refrigerator” so that anyone can make over their refrigerator and “open the door” to heart-healthy eating.

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Other CIties We visited
Philadelphia, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Columbus, Phoenix, Detroit and Baltimore