This post is sponsored by Invitae and SHE Media

*Amidst all the concerns caused by coronavirus, please don’t forget about taking care of the rest of your body.  Here’s a sponsored post I wrote for Invitae about heart health.

Upon reading the title of this post, you’re most likely thinking this is some sappy article about my undying love for someone in my life and our mushy love story, well you’re wrong on one part.  This is, however an article about self love, and loving myself enough to take charge of my current and future health! So, who holds the key to my heart?  I do!

|Who holds|

| the key to|

| my heart |

I was blessed to be invited to a private event at the SoulCycle in Santa Monica, CA recently, and let me tell you, if you’ve never experienced one of their classes, its a must!  The event was hosted by Invitae, a leader in the genetics world, located in San Francisco, CA.  The mission of the event was to create awareness for Heart Health.  which is the entire month of February.  We attended a SoulCycle class to get ours pumpin’ and working hard!  Did you know that heart disease is the #1 killer amongst women?

A SoulCycle class is something I would describe as a spinning class on steroids! If you’re someone who enjoys easy going, barely breaking a sweat in a workout class, then this class IS NOT FOR YOU.  If you want high energy, positive vibes and a heart thumpin workout with lots of sweat, then yes, this class IS FOR YOU.  SoulCycle is held in a unique SoulCycle studio where you check in at the front desk, they fit you for the correct spinning shoes, give you a bottle of water and send you off with a towel thats going to help soak up the sweat you’re about to produce.

SoulCycle

The instructor was nothing less than perfection. How she has that much energy and speaks with such passon throughout cycling with us, is beyond me! Her true passion for teaching really showed. The room was intimate and dark lit with motivational sayings to help pump you up for the ride of your life. Throughout the journey on my stationary cycle, the instructor kept us engaged with high fives  & positive affirmations to our neighbor cycler. To switch things up and keep our hearts pumping, she had us grab 5lb weights that were located under our seats for an upper body workout. You might be thinking to yourself how that little of weight doesn’t seem like much, until you lift it for isometric holds and the burn sets in!  Before I knew it, 45 minutes had passed by and we were working towards a welcomed cool down in our journey. I didn’t realize going into the class that you can burn between 500 and 700 calories in one SoulCycle session, but after the fact it made total sense that you’d burn a substantial amount of calories!

|Take charge| 

| of your |

| health |

Invitae was so kind as to host the private SoulCycle event for us! What better way to direct our attention towards our health, than that? Here’s the part of the article where if we were in a big room together, I would ask for a show of hands if anyone has ever had any experience in genetic testing, whatsoever.  Who is well versed on genetics?  While I certainly wasn’t, I can safely say that after learning about Invitae’s mission, I understand it better now. Invitae is one of the worlds leading genetic testing company, whose soul purpose is to bring genetic information into today’s world, in order to help improve the healthcare for billions of people.  Over 1 million tests have been performed and relied on by clinicians.  Those same tests that have only been available for doctors, are now available to the consumer, through the Invitae website, as well as review and support from genetic experts throughout the process. Invitae is changing the future of healthcare by making genetic information available and affordable for everyone.

The difference in Invitae

The company recently announced its availability of its new service for the consumer to initiate their own genetic test order and receive the same high-quality medical tests that experts use. Along with the affordable testing, Invitae connects the consumer with trained clinicians, to review the test order, help interpret the results and provide information that you can act on.  A main difference in other genetic tests and Invitae’s tests are that most of the other tests require a secondary genetic test to confirm the results, whereas  Invitae is the medical genetic test, so you wont have to jump through any other hoops to make a health decision.  The medical-grade tests offered by Invitae are the same tests that are trusted by genetic counselors and doctors, around the world.

Ongoing Support

Patients who test through Invitae receive ongoing support from a genetics counselor, who can help them understand their results and put them into action. Invitae also makes the tests accessible and affordable! Their high quality cancer and health screenings can be initiated by the patient, which means that patients have access to on demand care that fits their needs.  Their individual cancer and Cardio screening are only $250 and patients have the ability to use HSA or FSA.  This means that patients have an affordable test option with Invitae and are able to create a comprehensive health plan and to help understand their future health risks, including how many tests they should take and at what age proactive measures should be taken.

As I mentioned earlier in this article, heart disease is the leading cause for death in the U.S. for women.  That’s a pretty substantial thing to read and pretty scary to think about.  Heritable cardio conditions, while not rare, can be under diagnosed! 20% of early heart attacks can be caused by hereditary high cholesterol. So, take action for those who hold……your heart! Before participating in Invitae’s event,  I didn’t realize that heart health isn’t only determined by your lifestyle, but that your genes play a major role.  Many of us arent aware that millions of people have hereditary high cholesterol and some forms of heart disease are passed down genetically.

Cardio Screen

Healthy living is more than just meeting your fitness goals and eating healthy.  One of the most important things you can do for your health and future is undergo genetic health screening.  Invitae makes it simple to incorporate testing into a holistic lifestyle, bringing you even more in-tune with your body.  Invitae’s  cardio screen looks at 77 genes to determine if you are at risk of developing inherited cardiovascular disease.  The test includes genetic counseling to help you understand your results and answer any questions.  Individuals can initiate their test at Invitae by clicking here.  An independent clinician will review each person’s health history before approving the test order. Individuals are not placing the order themselves, as all test orders require a clinical review. 

I am a person that loves to understand my body.  In order for me to understand my body, and prepare for my future, I need a clear picture of my risks of developing a disease and understanding these risks, so that I can make informed decisions throughout my journey.  When I received my cardio screen test, everything was packaged in a sealed box.  Once you open it, there is a pamphlet that explains everything you need to do, and a dispenser that you simply spit into.  It showed exactly how to seal it up and mail it off to where I can track when it arrived back to Invitae.  You can create an account on their site and log the numbers that were on your test.  Then a couple of weeks later, you schedule a call with a genetic counselor to go over your results.

So let me ask you this, how will you take charge of your future and your health?