💔 5 Heart Health Mistakes I’ll Never Make as a Cardiologist (And You Shouldn’t Either) As a women’s heart health advocate, I’m always reminding my patients: your everyday choices add up to long-term heart protection. Here are 5 things I personally never do: 1️⃣ Smoke or vape → Especially in young women, smoking dramatically increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Quitting is the single most powerful step for your heart. 2️⃣ Rely on “healthy” processed foods → Granola, bacon, coconut oil… all heavily marketed, but packed with sugars, salt, or saturated fats that raise cardiovascular risk. 3️⃣ Skip my yearly numbers check → LDL cholesterol, blood pressure, and A1c are vital signals. Trends over time matter more than a single value. 4️⃣ Ignore chest pain → Chest pain is never normal and should always be evaluated by a physician. 5️⃣ Ignore menopause symptoms → After estrogen drops, arteries stiffen, blood pressure and cholesterol rise, and heart disease risk accelerates. Th...