Feb 4 is National Wear Red Day!

What’s more fashionable than a red dress?

The Heart Truth: National Wear Red Day, Friday, February 4, 2011. Get Involved!

The symbol of National Wear Red Day, designed to increase awareness of heart disease among women, is a red dress! The goal is to get more women taking action by talking to their doctor about their risks for heart disease and making lifestyle changes to reduce those risks.

Did you know that heart disease is the #1 killer of women? I guess a lot of people don’t know that, maybe being breast cancer awareness has been so heavily marketed it would be easy to think that breast cancer killed the most women each year. So that’s why National Wear Red Day was created.

Why am I talking about this today? Because my dad died suddenly of a heart attack under the age of 50. That’s a huge risk factor for me, increasing my risk of heart disease by 136%. So when my first cholesterol test measured 200 and my doctor started talking about ways to bring that down, I paid attention. At that time, pre-kids, I was a couch potato and a junk food junkie. I was heavier than I should be and incredibly out of shape.

After the birth of my first baby I hit the gym hard. Pregnancy and child birth were actually good for me, kick starting my weight loss and giving me the drive to work out. My cholesterol dropped like a rock, as did my blood pressure and resting heart rate. I’ve been able to maintain that low cholesterol even when I’m not eating well through my active lifestyle. I get a full physical with bloodwork almost annually, because I am ever conscious of my family health history.

So today I’m joining in with my red dress, made by Liz Claiborne. And I thought I’d shop around and find a few others that I love, in case you were inclined to find one for yourself!

Here’s a cute and affordable one I found at Target for $39.99.

And here’s another I found at Nordstrom by Ralph Lauren. They have several great styles I like from both Ralph Lauren and JS Boutique. 
And just to present some beautiful options for curvier women, here’s a stunning red dress I saw at Nordstrom by Calvin Klein. 
So I hope you’ll take this Fashion Friday  post to heart and after you pick out your red dress, go talk to your doctor about your heart health! Now hop on over and check out some other Fashion Friday posts! 

Author: Sarah

Mom of three. Triathlete.

5 thoughts on “Feb 4 is National Wear Red Day!”

  1. Omygosh I love that Ralph Lauren dress! My dad has had a heart attack as well and it makes me worried for my own risk factors. Thanks for bringing attention to this issue.

  2. Found you through the fashion friday linky. LOVE that Ralph Lauren dress. Heart disease is so prevelant, I’m just kicking myself for not wearing red to work today. I’ll have to change when I get home tonight.

  3. Family history of heart attack is a consideration, but fatal heart attacks before the age of 50 create the biggest risk factor, other than smoking.

    There were several other gorgeous RL dresses at Nordstrom as well!

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