Heart education

To protect your heart, Park Nicollet Heart and Vascular Center offers a comprehensive array of educational services to help you prevent or control heart disease risk factors.

Education to protect your heart

• Personalized health coaching. Help with four heart and vascular risk factors is available from a health coach who addresses weight loss, exercise, stress relief and healthy eating. You receive an initial health risk assessment to identify the area of greatest need. Then, you and the coach focus on one area that needs the most work. You'll receive one, 30-minute face-to-face consult, and seven, 20-minute telephone consultations, over nine months, to keep you on track for a heart-healthy lifestyle. Cost: $235. Call 952-993-1909 to register.

  Tips for preventing or managing heart and vascular disease.

• Heart healthy cooking classes. Learn to cook healthy, and with pizzazz! Five, two-hour heart-healthy cooking classes are available to help you maintain a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle while eating meals that taste good. Classes range from "More Flavor...Less Fat," to "Spice it up, Without Salt." All classes are in Park Nicollet Heart and Vascular Center's on-site demonstration kitchen and presented by a registered dietitian. Cost: $25 per class. Call 952-993-3454 or register online. Registration details.

  Tips for healthy eating.

• Personal grocery companion. Learn the do's and don'ts of grocery shopping with a 60-minute, in store consultation with a personal grocery companion. Experienced registered dietitians will lead you on a food-finding journey through the aisles of St. Louis Park Byerly's to answer all your culinary questions. Topics include how to decipher food labels, the difference between trans fat and saturated fat, which foods are high in vitamins and minerals, and so much more. Cost: $90. Call 952-993-1909.

• Nutrition consults. Meet one-on-one for 60 minutes with a registered dietitian for improved heart and vascular health. The dietitian will evaluate your current diet, teach you ways to improve your eating habits and help establish goals for healthy eating. We also can assist you with planning vegetarian meals, increasing dietary fiber, managing weight (for adults and children) and creating therapeutic diets for people with specific medical conditions. Cost: $284 (may be covered by your insurance). Call 952-993-3454. Registration details.

  Tips for healthy eating.

• Exercise consult and evaluation. Maximize your workouts while reducing your heart and vascular disease risk with a two-hour fitness consultation and monitored exercise evaluation from Park Nicollet experts. You'll receive a 30-minute consult with an exercise specialist to help you effectively and safely perform your exercise routine. You'll also receive an exercise evaluation, with a complete EKG reading, from a registered nurse to ensure you can safely perform your workout. The evaluation is open to everyone, and you will need a clearance from your doctor before participating. Cost: $120. Call 952-993-7236 to register.

  Tips for healthy exercise.

• Upgrade your exercise consult and evaluation. Upgrade your exercise consult and evaluation with a one-month membership at the Park Nicollet Heart and Vascular Center Fitness Center. Receive your consult and evaluation; then, for one month, exercise under the regular supervision of a registered nurse, physical therapists and exercise specialists. Get the benefits of exercise, performed in a safe environment with trained staff and medical equipment available, if needed. Cost: $186 ($120 for a consult, evaluation; $66 for one-month membership that includes parking in the nearby ramp). Call 952-993-7236 for information and hours.

  Tips for healthy exercise.

• Stop smoking. Park Nicollet's 30-day QuitPlan program offers face-to-face counseling services with a tobacco treatment specialist at six Park Nicollet clinic locations. Participants will receive a treatment plan and information about nicotine replacement therapies. Cost is minimal to free. Call 952-993-3636.

• Cholesterol basics. Learn to improve heart health by lowering cholesterol and triglycerides at this two-session class. Class sessions, each two hours long, are led by a registered dietitian with heart and vascular disease prevention experience. The sessions focus on helping you reduce your risk for serious heart conditions by offering practical strategies to improve your diet and eating habits, and add more physical activity into your life. Cost: $40. Call 952-993-3454 for information or register online. Registration details.

  Tips for understanding cholesterol.

• Diabetes education. Discover ways to control your blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol, which is especially important as people with diabetes are very susceptible to heart disease. The International Diabetes Center at Park Nicollet offers a full slate of diabetes education, treatment and research opportunities. Visit www.parknicollet.com/diabetes/ for more information.

• Heart and vascular lecture series. Join Park Nicollet heart professionals for monthly programs that discuss the latest in heart disease and treatment information. The series is for people who have had heart attacks, open-heart surgery or other conditions affecting the heart. Sessions provide time to meet others experiencing heart problems. Friends and family are welcome. Cost: free. Call 952-993-3454.

  Learn more about our prevention and screening programs.
  See our guide to a healthy heart.

Registration details

Registration and prepayment is required for this class. Register online or call 952-993-3454. You will receive a confirmation letter with all your class details and directions.

Park Nicollet Health Education cannot bill your insurance for classes. Insurance reimbursement is between you and your insurance provider. Reimbursement may be available through your flexible spending account, if you have one.

You will be charged a $10 administrative fee if you cancel a class. There will be no refund after the class has started.