Circle of Helping Hearts Giveaway

Heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, strokes, heart attacks…..

Unfortunately those words have been uttered too many times in my family. I’ve had relatives die unexpectedly and others who are diagnosed with having heart disease, hypertension or high cholesterol. I have hypertension and currently take medication for it. My cholesterol is ok though, so I’m trying to keep it that way by eating better and exercising.

How about you? Do you know your cholesterol number? If you don’t, it’s really important that you find out. The number one cause of death for women is coronary heart disease. While cholesterol is a major contributing factor to heart disease, it is also the most easily controlled. You can easily alter your cholesterol levels by simply changing your eating habits. You’ve seen those commercials for Cheerios where eating a bowl a day helps to lower cholesterol levels, right? Well, they work.

Cheerios is not only advocating eating to lower cholesterol, they are also working to raise awareness for heart disease and to provide free cholesterol screening for women in need through it’s partnership with WomenHeart. Inside specially marked boxes of Cheerios cereal, now through January 31, 2010, there will be codes that you can enter at www.cheerioshelpinghearts.com. For every code entered, Cheerios will donate $1, up to $200,000 towards providing free cholesterol screening for women in need.

I learned about this initiative when I received this specially marked box of Cheerios and a beautiful freshwater pearl bracelet with a heart charm from Charity Charms, which donates a portion of the proceeds from its charms to various charities. I have enjoyed wearing my bracelet since I received it and it’s been a great reminder for me to make heart healthy choices daily. Don’t you want one for yourself?

You can earn a chance to WIN A CIRCLE OF HELPING HEARTS BRACELET by simply doing one or all of the following (each will earn you an entry to the drawing):

1. Leave a comment and tell us what you do to maintain a healthy heart
2. Twitter this contest. Copy and tweet the text below:
   RT: @JMom is giving away freshwater pearl bracelet for a good cause http://tinyurl.com/ddzg64
3. Stumble this post (leave your SU ID)
4. Blog about this contest (leave the link to your post)

You have until April 5 to enter this contest. Three winners will be chosen randomly and will be notified by email. You will have three days to respond with your name and mailing address otherwise a runner up will be chosen to receive the bracelet instead.

Thanks to My Blog Spark and Cheerios Circle of Helping Hearts for sharing this information and making this Giveaway possible!