The Cooking Cardiologist

To promote awareness of February being National Heart Month, the Fillmore County Hospital Cardiac Rehab Department hosted Richard E. Collins, M.D., The Cooking Cardiologist, for a lunch and guest speaker event on Thursday, February 6, in the basement meeting room at the Geneva Public Library. Over 40 people attended the lunch hour program. Some points brought out by Dr. Collins in his power-point presentation and talk were: food doesn’t have to be your enemy—it can be your friend; 5 percent of the population spends 50 percent of health-care costs; currently, doctors are being trained to be firefighters rather than being forest rangers; use apple juice concentrate instead of oil or butter when caramelizing vegetables; seniors always need more protein and fiber in their diet, along with exercise; eat more vegetables and Americans are taking in more oil and fat which is causing weight gains. This newspaper’s Heart Section is inside on pages 8A and 1B.