A day to learn about women’s wellness

Quick. And no using your smart phone. What is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States? If you answered breast cancer, you’re close. Indeed, breast cancer takes far too many lives each year. But it is No. 2. No. 1 is heart disease.

Ready for another one? Chia seeds: Just the latest contemporary food fad right? Nope. The so-called super seed has been around for thousands of years and was integral to both the Aztec and Mayan diets. And, according to Los Angeles-based integrative nutritionist Marlyn Diaz, ounce for ounce, they contain more Omega-3 fatty acids than salmon. “They make your hair grow and your skin glow,” she says.

Intrigued? Then you may want to attend Hadassah’s Women’s Wellness Day. The all-day program takes place Feb. 9 at UCLA Covel Commons. Although the event is expected to sell out, tickets were still available when this article went to press. Among the scheduled speakers are Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz, director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Health Center and the Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Program at Cedars-Sinai; nutritionist Diaz; and Dr. Kristi Funk, co-founder of Pink Lotus Breast Center — and Angelina Jolie’s doctor.

Hadassah has a long history of promoting women’s health. The organization’s first mission, in fact, in the early 1900s, sent two nurses to Palestine to provide pasteurized milk to new mothers and their infants. And while Hadassah’s two medical institutions are located in Jerusalem, the research undertaken there benefits women worldwide, notably the discovery of a 10 percent greater frequency of the BRCA genetic mutation (which predisposes women to breast cancer) among Ashkenazi Jewish women. 

Last year, Hadassah launched Every Beat Counts to educate women about heart disease. And February is American Heart Month, so it is fitting that Hadassah’s first major health symposium in Southern California is taking place this month.

Attendees can customize their experience by selecting from several expert-led sessions on topics including “Mindful Stress Reduction” — who doesn’t need that in go-go Los Angeles? — “Caring Options for Your Loved Ones” and “Is Your Food Aging You?” All who attend will hear from Funk, who, along with patient Jolie, brought breast health to the forefront and who will be giving the morning keynote, and Bairey Merz, the lunchtime keynote speaker.

Among other topics, Bairey Merz will talk about the different ways in which women’s and men’s heart disease manifests. 

“Women are more likely than men to have their heart attacks missed,” Bairey Merz said. “Women’s symptoms are not as typical as men’s symptoms.” But, she added, “We always have to point out the reason we think of typical symptoms is that they have been described in men. If we had started the other way around, men would be considered atypical. A lot of health care is set to a male standard.”

We all know what has been dubbed a Hollywood Heart Attack looks like. Not to make light of it, but it generally looks like this: A man is giving a speech (or eating his dinner, or shooting hoops, etc.), and then he is suddenly clutching his chest, turning red in the face and falling to the floor.

Women’s symptoms — and, to be fair, many men’s — are more subtle. So, how does a woman know when to seek medical attention?

“The standard advisement,” Bairey Merz said, “ is any symptom above the waist, above the belly button, that is not routine or otherwise explained. If you always get heartburn after eating a chili dog, it is probably heartburn. But if you wake up in the middle of the night with heartburn, it might be a heart attack.”

Bairey Merz will discuss five health habits associated with reducing heart disease. No. 5, she says, is a favorite of many: “a single serving of alcohol every day taken with a meal.”

“It’s pretty clear that anywhere from 80 to 90 percent of cardiovascular disease is related to lifestyle habits that we have some control over,” she said.

Diaz will be doling out tips as well, including her favorite super foods. The aforementioned chia seeds, raw cacao and Brazil nuts are among them. She will also talk about sugar — not eliminating it, but reducing it — and choosing better sugars. “Food companies have gotten smart,” she said. “There are over 50 names for sugar that they use. So many of us are trained to look for a couple: dextrose, sucrose — the ‘ose’-es. There are a lot of different ways it is hidden in food.”

Rest assured that Diaz will not be making a bogeyman of your latte or bagel. “It’s all about baby steps and elevation: How we can elevate our food choices?” she said. “All the small changes add up to big changes over time.” 

According to Sandi Sadikoff, president of Hadassah Southern California, “This is not an age-defined event. We are encouraging women to bring their mothers, their daughters, their nieces.

“The best-case scenario is some woman sitting out there in the audience hears something that Dr. [Bairey] Merz or Dr. Funk says, or any of our other physicians, and realizes that they have to go to their doctor because there’s a symptom they have been ignoring. We may save someone’s life that day.”

For more information on the event or to register, visit http://southerncalifornia.hadassah.org/womenswellness or call (310) 276-0036.