“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”

Did you know that on average someone dies every 40 seconds of Cardiovascular Disease? That’s 2,200 deaths each day. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.  February is American Heart month! The American Heart Association wants to help you live longer and healthier and that’s starts with taking care of your health! Heart Disease can be prevented with changes in your daily life. You can make healthy changes to lower your risk of developing heart disease. Controlling and preventing risk factors is also important for people who already have heart disease.

To lower your risk:

• Watch your weight.

• Quit smoking and stay away from secondhand smoke.

• Control your cholesterol and blood pressure.

• If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation.

• Get active and eat healthy.

Tools to Support Heart Health

Visit the Million Hearts ® website to find tools that can help you set heart-healthy goals that last a lifetime.

• Use the Million Hearts ® My Personal Health Progress guide[275 KB] to set realistic, achievable health goals.
• Track your blood pressure using a Blood Pressure Wallet Card[920 KB] and share results with your doctor regularly.
• Keep track of important medical information, such as family medical history, medications, hospitalizations, and surgeries with the Million Hearts® Health Resume[1.57 MB].

This weekend will be nice. Why not get out and explore some fun things around town this weekend.

~ Mary Poppins will be at the Paramount Theatre starting March 3rd, 2017.

~ Community Drum Circle will be held at the Arts Council of Wayne County from 6 to 8pm. Free!

~ Cabin Fever Golf Tournament will be sponsored by Mount Olive Chamber or Commerce. Register 919-658-3113

~ An Evening with UMO is a new semi-formal event and will feature dinner, dancing, live music, and large raffle items, including a seat on the 2018 Alumni trip to Spain! UMO will be at 6pm at the Farm at 215 Batten Road, Selma. More information 919-658-7714

~St. Joseph United Methodist Church 200 Church Street Pikeville, NC is hosting an all you can eat pancake/sausage dinner. Eat in or take out. Proceeds go to help the visually impaired. Tickets are $7.00. February 25th.

If you want to venture away from town:

~ Twenty One Pilots will be at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex Feb 25th at 7pm.

~ Greensboro Swarm vs. Maine Red Claws Feb 24th 7pm at the Field House at Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

Check out this heart healthy dessert:

Longing for the light, creamy sweetness of strawberry shortcake — minus all those calories? Opt for homemade strawberry shortbread stacks, which check in at just 250 calories per serving. This take on the classic dessert features shortbread made with low-fat cottage cheese instead of artery-clogging shortening. Light whipped topping and naturally heart-healthy strawberries top this seemingly indulgent yet skinny dessert.

Ingredients:

• 1 batch of Carrie’s 5 ingredient pie crust (with Splenda)
• 1 c chopped strawberries (8-10 strawberries)
• 2 tablespoons water
• ½ tablespoon Splenda or other granulated sucralose
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
• 12 tablespoons Coolwhip or other whipped topping (3 tablespoons for each shortcake)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Prepare the pie crust according to the directions/recipe here EXCEPT, instead of kneading into a pie dish, flatten and, using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into 12 circles. The size of my cookie cutter was about 2 ½ inches in diameter.
3. Put the circles onto a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes.
4. While that is baking, cut up strawberries until you have 1 cup of chopped strawberries (about 8-10 strawberries).
5. Put them in a skillet on the stove with 2 tbs water. Let the strawberries break down.
6. Add the cornstarch/water mix and stir until the mixture thickens.
7. When the mixture is done and the circles are out of the oven, let them all cool completely.
8. After cooled, stack the “shortcake”, then some strawberry mixture, then 1 tbs coolwhip, and repeat. On the top layer, just add coolwhip. (From bottom to top it will be: shortcake, strawberries, coolwhip, shortcake, strawberries, coolwhip, shortcake, coolwhip)
9. Serve and enjoy!