Did you participate last week? (We did! That’s us, the @lhjHealthLadies on Twitter, above.) This year, Go Red for Women is hosting a challenge on its Facebook page to spotlight its most spirited supporters. All you have to do is submit a photo of you and your coworkers or friends (or pet!) wearing red. Then, until February 23 people can vote via “Likes” on their faves. Winners will be announced February 25.

Here at the Journal we start gearing up for February way in advance, when we plan our heart health coverage for the magazine. Yes, some of it can be glamorous—like the beautiful photos we shot of a model hooked up to an EKG (below) for this year’s story. But the real reason we devote pages to cholesterol, blood pressure and the myths and realities of heart disease is that unfortunately, it is still the number one killer of American women. And women between the ages of 35 to 54 appear to be dying from it at an increasing rate, despite decreasing rates among other groups. This year, we also learned that nearly half of women say they wouldn’t call 911 immediately if they thought they were having a heart attack. That’s crazy! Women are also less likely to be diagnosed correctly, making them less likely to receive life-saving therapy right away.

All of this is why we sent one of our over-stressed writers with all the wrong risk factors to see a cardiologist and report back. And why we decided to interview a heart attack survivor turned blogger about why doctors dismissed her symptoms at first. Sometimes personal stories say it even better than statistics.

But that doesn’t mean stats aren’t useful in their own way. Yesterday, I went to a briefing hosted by the Mayo Clinic, The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and WomenHeart where I picked up a few telling numbers:

• 1 in 2 women will die of heart disease or stroke, versus 1 in 25 who will die of breast cancer.
• 8 million: the number of American women with a history of heart attack or angina.
• Do you smoke? Besides the fact that 30 percent of heart disease deaths are caused by smoking, your risk of heart disease is 25 percent higher than a male smoker’s. (And social smoking counts—you don’t have to smoke a pack a day, or even a pack a month, to hurt your heart.)
• 90 percent of women have at least one risk factor.

But the most important number is this one: 80 percent of heart disease cases are preventable. There are lots of things you can do to keep your heart healthy, and the sooner you start the better. Check out our resources page if you need a little direction.

Happy American Heart Month from the LHJ Health Ladies!

Margaret is gearing up for her next single, “I Ain’t Your Mama,” to hit radio next month. The playful and sassy number is the first release off of her forthcoming full-length CD, tentatively titled Better Now, which is being produced by James Stroud (Tim McGraw, Chris Young, Toby Keith). So while we all wait for those musical goodies, go grab yourself an edible goodie (hummus, anyone?) and continue on after the jump to watch our video Q&A with Margaret.

Note: I checked with LHJ food and entertaining director Tara Bench, and we both say acceptable or not, we’d be right there with Durante eating the stuff by the spoonful. Bench’s creative but less fanatical serving suggestions include whisking a spoonful into a lemon vinaigrette to make a creamy dressing for salad or grilled chicken, or spicing it up with some hot sauce and spreading it on an egg sandwich for breakfast.

I am with you! I am sick of standing in front of my closet staring, hoping something marvelous will just appear. If you want to buy something new, here are my top 5 suggestions for things you can buy now.

1. Tops. Generally tops are always a good item to buy since you can wear them all year round, especially silk ones. This striped tank with a navy cardigan or blazer is perfect for now, and you can wear it with shorts (like the model) when the weather heats up.

2. Color-blocked anything. This is one of the biggest trends this spring. Whether it’s a dress, a top or a bag, you can’t go wrong!

3. Colored jeans. This is another trend that started last fall and will continue through to the summer. There are jeans literally in every hue and in all shapes and sizes. No matter what you are looking for — a skinny, a flare,  neon or something a bit safer — you will have no trouble finding it.

4. Loose-knit sweaters. Light, spring sweaters have already replaced heavy winter ones in stores. A loose knit one, like this striped sweater from Rachel Rachel Roy, has a perfect casual vibe for all seasons.

5. Accessories. A colored pump, a neon bracelet  or a light scarf might be just the trick to get you out of your winter wardrobe slump.

And don’t worry too much, only 42 days left until Spring…

from this...

...to this!

If you saw Holly Burns’ kitchen transformation in our March issue, you’ll know that she and her husband pulled off an amazing feat of DIY derring-do. So we asked her to share what she learned about saving money on the process. Holly blogs at Nothing But Bonfires. And is still working up the courage to renovate her bathroom.

How to Remodel a Kitchen on a Budget (Without Losing Your Mind)

Three months after we bought our fixer-upper house in an uncool part of San Francisco, my husband Sean and I decided to remodel the kitchen. Actually, that’s not quite true; we decided to remodel the kitchen before we’d even signed the papers in the realtor’s office—if you’d seen that hideous flowered wallpaper, you would have too—but we needed a little time to save up. I like to joke that we also needed a little time to get our wills in order. You know, in case we murdered each other in the process.

Renovating your kitchen yourself isn’t easy. It isn’t even particularly fun. And it certainly isn’t always cheap. But when you approach the project with a little humor and a lot of knowledge, it’s definitely a whole lot more manageable. If you’re thinking of tackling a DIY remodel, here are a few ways to keep your budget bearable and your sanity intact. Mostly, anyway. (You may also need wine.)

Spend where you care, save where you don’t

Coming in at around a third of our total budget, our counters were the priciest part of our kitchen remodel. Sure, we could have gone with a cheaper wood or vinyl, but the sleekness of Caesarstone appealed to us—as did the promise that it would be virtually indestructible (a year and a half later, the counters are still good as new!) To justify the splurge, we used basic white subway tiles for our backsplash. At 21 cents each, they were an affordable way for us to save that dough for what we really wanted.

Invest where it makes sense

Renting a tile cutter was going to cost us $60 a day. Buying a tile cutter, however, came in just under a hundred. Because we were going to use it for both the floor and the backsplash tiles—which we’d probably need to do on different days—investing in the purchase seemed to make the most sense. (Plus, now we have no excuse not to remodel our bathroom.)

Leave room for extras

No matter how carefully you budget, surprises are going to creep in; for us, it was the expense of hauling away the old counters we’d ripped out. If you can, give yourself an emergency buffer of $200. And if you don’t need it? Champagne for everyone!

Do your homework

My husband is good at many things, but he had never before laid a tile floor. Luckily for him, YouTube was packed with professional, educational videos that walked him through it step by step; he also talked extensively with the folks in our local Lowe’s, who were more than happy to help. Before tackling a project, see what free resources are out there at your disposal. Then use them.

But know your limits

Technically speaking, we probably could have figured out how to install our own counters, but since we were doing pretty much our entire renovation ourselves, it was a huge relief when our quote included installation anyway. Sometimes, you’ve just got to leave it to the professionals. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you won’t end up with a bad back and a botched job.

Give yourself time

All in all, our entire kitchen renovation took about six weeks. By all means, plan out your steps, but try to assume that everything will take twice as long as you think it will; I still cringe when I assumed we could rip up our old kitchen floor, lay a sub-floor, then tile and grout the whole thing in a weekend.

Have a lot of takeout menus handy

Remember those six weeks I just mentioned? You’re going to be living without a sink, stove, or dishwasher for quite a few of them. If the delivery guy at your local pizza place knows your name by the end of it all, then you can probably assume you’ve done something right. Congratulations on a successful kitchen renovation.

Have a question for Holly? Ask away in the comments. 

It speaks volumes that Kacie B. got a second one-on-one date. At this point in the episode, we can pretty much be certain that Ben isn’t into the girls who haven’t gotten a one-on-one date up until now. So Jamie, Casey S. and Blakely were all no longer options for me right from the start of this episode. I found it really funny that on Ben’s date with Kacie he said, “Relationships are all about overcoming fears,” while chopping a coconut. Is Ben afraid of coconuts? No wonder Blakely hasn’t gotten a one-on-one! Okay, okay…I couldn’t resist.

Ben and Kacie are so adorable together, right? I love that she was able to open up to him about such a difficult time in her life and I’m really glad that she got the help she needed. Eating disorders are no joke. The pressure women (and men) are under to look a certain way is huge and I hope all of the girls watching out there know that being skinny is not what makes you beautiful. Being healthy is what makes you beautiful, being kind is what makes you beautiful and being YOU is what makes you beautiful.

The kiss between Ben and Kacie at the end of their date was sweet. Her leg flip up (Sex in the City style) was so cute and tells us that she really enjoyed the kiss. Don’t worry Kacie, if Ben doesn’t pick you just call me because I adore you!

There was a lot of awkwardness on the group date as usual. I think it’s blatantly obvious that Courtney is using her sexuality to get what she wants; it’s a bit over the top at this point. I think it would have been fine for her not to wear a bathing suit when dancing with the tribe (do as the locals do) if she and Ben were in a committed, monogamous relationship, but they absolutely are not. There were a bunch of other girls on the date and she should’ve respected that. I’m having a hard time understanding her. She seems to think that the other girls aren’t making “moves” on the date, but the reason they aren’t making moves is because usually all of the girls become friends during the season. So on the group dates, they’re all trying to respect each other and each person’s relationship with Ben. That’s how I felt on my season anyway, and I’m glad I respected the other girls on group dates because some of them became my best friends. I feel bad for Courtney because she isn’t going to come out of this experience with any lifelong friends. Or maybe she will and there’s something we aren’t seeing. I hope she did make friends, for her sake.

Courtney getting into the water during Ben’s time with Jamie was so wrong. That being said, Jamie seemed to think it was Courtney’s fault that she went last night. But I will say with 100 percent confidence that Courtney isn’t the reason Jamie went home—it’s just because Ben isn’t into Jamie. Trust me, I think there are still a handful of girls left that Ben really isn’t feeling, but he can’t send everyone home at the beginning. This is a television show after all!

Now I want to take a minute to talk about Emily. I love when she joked about having another man in her life. I was seriously nervous for a second there, but then I was so happy that she made Ben laugh. I think she gained a few points in his eyes this week. And it takes a lot for someone to apologize the way she did and the way Courtney responded was very immature. I’ve always said that I don’t want to judge Courtney, but I just don’t understand why she continues to act the way she does on the show. I’ll be very interested to hear what she has to say after all of this is over.

Anyone else notice that Ben smiles a lot when he is with Lindzi? The smile on his face when he gave her the rose on the group date said it all. He is as smitten as a kitten with that girl!

Now on to the dreaded two-on-one date—this date was the absolute worst! I remember everything feeling super awkward when I was on my two-on-one date with Kasey and Justin in Iceland. At least no one got a tattoo on Ben’s two-on-one because let’s face it, that just makes everything more awkward! And I hate to say it, but this date is further confirmation for me that Ben wasn’t into Rachel (and obviously not Blakely since she goes home). I think it’s because on this type of date, you usually bring two people you aren’t really into that much. Why, you ask? If you take two people you aren’t sure about, you don’t have to worry about sending one home. Maybe Ben thought differently about this date than I did, but I’m confident that Ben isn’t really into either girl.

Blakely’s reaction when she was sent home was probably not how she should’ve handled it. Ben didn’t do anything wrong by letting her go and it seemed like she felt she had been wronged. I’m glad that she realized that and apologized before saying goodbye to Ben. Here’s the thing—many of you might have found it strange that Blakely was crying so hard over a guy she barely knew, but I’m fairly certain she wasn’t crying over Ben. She was crying because she was sent home and because he chose the other girls over her, and it’s completely normal to get upset over that. It’s hard being rejected or for a guy to pick other women instead of you. Overall, it’s just a really hard, weird, not normal experience and I felt for her when she was crying.

Then there was the Casey S. scandal. When Chris Harrison shows up any time other than to welcome you to a new city or at a rose ceremony, you know something is about to go down! Leading up to this moment I thought something terrible had happened to someone in Casey’s family, and I would’ve felt so bad for her if that was the case. What actually happened was a lot less serious than I thought. In fact, I still don’t think I completely understand what information Chris Harrison received that made him feel like he should confront Casey about her ex. I just don’t think having feelings for an ex is enough to call someone and send them home. If this girl really is in love with someone else, Ben probably would have sensed that and sent her home anyway. And I don’t think Casey was deceiving him—she went on the show hoping it would help her get over her ex. At least once she realized that wasn’t happening (and with a little push from Chris Harrison) she owned up to how she was feeling and told Ben. My heart broke for her when she left the show. I really hope she isn’t still with that guy back home and has found happiness.

Jamie’s how-to-kiss demonstration at the cocktail party was too uncomfortable to watch. You know a guy isn’t into you when he described your kiss as “a-okay.” Poor Jamie. I hope she realizes that she doesn’t have to throw herself at a man to be loved. I’m sure she watched tonight’s episode at home and cringed at her actions. I think it’s safe to say that her behavior at the cocktail party sealed her fate at the end of the night.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. I can’t wait to see what happens next week when Ben confronts Courtney! Don’t forget to follow me on my Facebook and Twitter pages for my live commentary during the show. Until next time…

xoxo,
Ali

* Wal-Mart is set to debut their own “Great For You” label to make shopping for healthy food easier. (MSNBC)

* If your ab workout doesn’t seem to be working for you anymore, give your core a new challenge with this resistance-band routine from our friends at Fitness. (Bonus: It’s easy to do while you’re watching TV.) (Fitness)

* Not all veggies are more nutritious when they’re eaten fresh. Greatist explains which ones get even healthier when they’re cooked. (Greatist)

* Designer Karl Lagerfeld deems Adele “a little too fat.” You know, because her weight is somehow his business. And because fat-shaming people is morally acceptable. Arrgghhhh. (US magazine)

Delicious chocolate photo via Shutterstock.

From “stem cell facelifts” to butt implants some plastic surgery procedures are too good to be true. Here’s board-certified plastic surgeon (and author of In Stitches) Dr. Anthony Youn’s take on the hottest not-so-hot trends in plastic surgery.

Do fun stuff. Sure, you need to take your problems seriously, eat your vegetables and keep up with the news. But not every minute of the day! Take time to click on that cute or funny Facebook link. Watch or read something that makes you laugh (here’s our article on how laughter releases stress), or indulge in some escapism. I’ve most recently been transported to the English countryside, watching Downton Abbey on my iPhone on my subway commute, and reading Plan C, an e-book that came out last week (see photo) that Vanity Fair‘s James Wolcott accurately called a “breathless romp.” The heroine, dressed in expensive stilettos, teeters back and forth between fabulous Manhattan apartments and celeb-filled cocktail parties, exchanging gossip and witty banter with her equally fabulous BFFs—about as far from my NYC life as you can get. Though my reality—being the single working mom of a five-year-old—does help increase the fun factor, I gotta say (check out our article on the psychological importance of play)—there’s usually a game of chase or something silly I can engage in the minute I come home at night.

Think happy thoughts. Even small ones, like, “The Chrysler Building really is beautiful.” Or, “my bum hip isn’t bothering me too much today.” Look for something to enjoy in the moment (for tips, read our mindfulness article), or something to look forward to, something that you’re grateful for, or find a happy memory and dwell on that. These small thoughts add up, boosting your mood and at least temporarily interrupting that endless loop of negativity.

Hug somebody. Thank goodness for my snuggly schoolboy! But if you don’t have a five-year-old or a husband or a friend handy, a pet will work just fine. The benefits of touch are well-documented, and can sometimes really work wonders, as “The Cuddle Cure,” a pet story I edited, demonstrates.

Get some exercise. I know, sounds like broccoli. But wow, does it work. It’s as close to a psychological cure-all as you can get. After 20 minutes of lifting heavy weights, whatever my heavy load is always seems a lot lighter. Hmmm. I think it’s time for a gym break.

What’s your favorite “happiness skill”?

Isabella’s turn: Isabella comes from a very close-knit, traditional family. Her mother’s home was always immaculate, Isabella is very close to her sister, and everyone in her family knew they had responsibilities. Then she married scruffy, free-spirited Ryan, and found that their home life was, well, different. To Isabella, Ryan is a slob stuck in a dead-end job. He never helps around the house and resents the fact that she makes more money than he does (even though she knows he could be a successful comic-book writer if he put his mind to it). Tensions were rising, and then Isabella stumbled upon the real kicker. Ryan had been keeping a blog (which had garnered a bunch of readers!) complaining about life with Isabella. She feels betrayed and wonders how well she knows him at all.

Ryan’s turn: Isabella is overreacting—he’s only using a the blog as a way to express his feelings, and likes the advice he gets from his readers. He says it’s like anonymous group therapy, that’s all. Ryan’s life has always been a bit difficult. His parents had him at a very young age, his dad was an alcoholic, and recently they got a divorce, which Ryan took pretty hard. For awhile, Isabella made his life better—she was romantic and caring, and he loved spending time with her. But now, she just nags him as soon as she gets home from work. He feels like nothing in his life is working right now (including his dull job), so he took to the internet to sort things out. It’s not a big deal. Why can’t Isabella just drop it?

The counselor’s turn: Like many couples, Ryan and Isabella didn’t think it was important to discuss how they would handle everyday tasks once they got married. They seem trivial, but responsibilities like managing housework can quickly cause fighting and marital disappointment. Ryan’s blog was definitely hurtful, but it helped the couple finally get their feelings and problems out in the open. After working with the counselor, each agreed to try harder. They created a chore schedule to organize their household management in way that worked for both of them, and Isabella curbed her constant nagging, trading her resentment for better communication. Ryan apologized for hurting Isabella and minimizing her concerns, and admitted that it bothered him that Isabella was the family breadwinner. The counselor recognized that Ryan had a tough childhood, but told him it was time to change the outcome of his story and earn some self-worth. The couple decided that Ryan would enroll in art school to kick-off his new career, and before long their closeness returned.

Did you and your husband get off to a rough start when you first married? Tell us in the comments or tweet us at @MarriageBeSaved with the hashtag #CTMBS.