National Wear Red Day may only come once a year, but Star Jones, a TV personality, attorney, and national volunteer for the American Heart Association, said she works all year round to educate women on their risks for heart disease.
"A lot of people still think of [heart disease] as an old white dude disease," Jones said, but it's the "number one killer of all women, number one killer of black people, number one killer of all Americans," she said. "I'm three for three and I want people to understand what their risks are."
In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists heart disease as the "leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States."
Ten years ago, Jones had open heart surgery, the "full-blown open heart surgery where they take your heart out of your body and do surgery on it," she notes. Initially, she had attributed symptoms like fatigue, intense heart palpitations, and lightheadedness when standing to being overweight. Now she knows these are warnings for heart disease for women.
She said her previous lifestyle "should have screamed heart disease," but she did not recognize the symptoms. Particularly now, she said, when demographic groups like millennials operate on "lack of sleep and addition of stress," they are adding to their cardiovascular risk. Jones said people need to know their personal health numbers like blood sugar and BMI, stop smoking, eat less, and move more.
The top entertainment headlines for February 23, 2023.
Cheddar News' Shannon LaNier spoke with Meredith Maskara, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York, about what it takes to run of the largest Girl Scouts organizations in the country and the only one that is 100 percent urban. The group serves 25,000 girl with the support of 3,000 volunteers. Maskara gave viewers a sneak preview of the cookies soon to be available across the city.
Seattle has become the first U.S. city to ban caste discrimination, which has directly affected those whose ancestors come from some southeastern Asian countries. Cheddar News explains what that means.
Dianne Gordon of Michigan saw her life change after finding a zip lock bag with $15,000, but not in the way that you would expect.
Spotify is launching a new AI-powered feature called "DJ."
The world's longest skating rink faces its first shutdown in 52 years because of climate change.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will record on a new album with The Rolling Stones, according to Variety.
Seattle became the first city to ban discrimination based on caste.
Alfred Edmond Jr., Senior Vice President & Executive Editor-at-Large at Black Enterprise, joins Cheddar News to discuss how the media landscape has shifted for young and upcoming black talent in the industry.
Movie studio A24 is auctioning off props from the hit film Everything, Everywhere All At Once to raise money for laundry workers, asian mental health, and transgender rights.
