Healthy Diet — Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m. (EST)

Melissa Ohlson, RD
Dietician
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine

The old saying, "You are what you eat," may be more true than we ever realized - especially when it comes to heart and vascular disease. In fact, four of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease are related to your diet: high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes and obesity. Making changes in the food you eat may greatly improve your health. Join us with your healthy eating questions during a free on-line discussion with Melissa.

Melissa Ohlson is a registered dietitian and the Nutrition Projects Coordinator for the Department of Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation at the Cleveland Clinic. Melissa earned her Master of Science degree in nutrition from Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics, nutrition, fitness and health from Purdue University. Melissa received the American Dietetic Association's Recognized Young Registered Dietitian of the Year award in 2002.

Ms. Ohlson is a member of the American Dietetic Association as well as the Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutritionists dietetic practice group. Melissa counsels patients at-risk and with existing coronary disease, writes nutrition articles and "Ask the Dietitian" questions for Cleveland Clinic's Heart & Vascular Institute and Women's Cardiovascular Center websites, and lectures on nutrition and cardiovascular disease in communities, corporate settings and at the collegiate level. Melissa has developed an online nutrition-counseling tool for e-ClevelandClinic (http://www.eclevelandclinic.org) and conducts nutrition therapy sessions with patients all over the nation.

Most notably, in January 2007 The Cleveland Clinic Healthy Heart Lifestyle Guide and Cookbook was published. Melissa worked intimately on this project for two years, writing the nutrition chapters, analyzing over 150 recipes, and creating menu plans and nutrition strategies for the book. In addition to Healthy Heart, Melissa has co-edited Healing Gourmet's books, Eat to Boost Fertility (McGraw-Hill 2006) and Eat to Beat Diabetes (McGraw-Hill 2005). An avid runner, Melissa believes in the power both healthy eating and regular exercise has on longevity, well-being and heart disease risk reduction.