Sister to Sister

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Meet Maria Machin, an active member of Sister to Sister who started down the path to heart health after joining a diversity group that focused on women’s empowerment.

Maria, left, with her mother – her inspiration

Maria Machin, 46
Jacksonville, Florida
Support rep, AT&T

What motivated you to take heart-health action?
My mom died of a heart attack in 2001, but my focus on heart health really started when I became part of Women of AT&T (WOA), a diversity group. In our group, we focus on women’s issues and employee empowerment and we decided to focus on heart health because heart disease is the number-one killer of women. We take for granted our symptoms and that’s why Sister to Sister health fairs are so important. We all need to know more about this.

What are your particular risk factors?
I’m a borderline diabetic and my weight fluctuates a lot. Also, because of my schedule and because I’m on a lot of committees, my eating habits aren’t always the best.

What tools do you use to guide your heart health journey?
I started out by using the Internet—that’s our new library after all—but once I got involved with Sister to Sister, I started using this organization for resources. Most women think the number one killer of women is breast cancer, but once I started researching heart disease, I was stunned to realize that heart disease kills more women.

What changes did you have to make to become heart healthy?
I limit fried food and I won’t eat past 8 PM. I park far from my building or from the store to squeeze in exercise. I also try to de-stress myself, which is tough in everyday life -- especially since I’m Hispanic and we get passionate about things, making it hard to mellow out. But I do try to take time for myself. I got a library card and I’ve started reading romance novels and books about history. I got rid of my television and that helps me stay calm at night. I also have a really good doctor now and, for the last six months, I’ve been trying to get at least eight hours of sleep each night.

What advice would you give to other women to be heart healthy?
Take the time to sleep a bit more. Or, even if you’re not sleeping, rest in the bed. In the past, I’d wake up at 3 AM and get on the computer. Now I stay in bed and try to relax. I also take lots of walks with friends to de-stress.

What’s been the hardest part of becoming healthier?
The food part. I really miss spicy fried chicken.

How are you overcoming that?
I do have it once in a while. I think knowledge is power. I used to be fanatical about my weight—I wanted to be a size six. Now I’ve calmed down about that. For example, I’ve tried to stop eating red meat but, every now and then, I need a hamburger.

Do you have a favorite heart-healthy recipe you’d like to share?
I’ve stopped using thick dressings on my salads. Instead, I’ll put olive oil and lemon on my salad and, if it needs salt, I’ll use a salt substitute.

Have you attended a Sister to Sister health event?
Yes—I’ve been going to Sister to Sister events for four years now.

How did it help you in your mission for heart health?
I believe that if you learn something valuable, it’s your responsibility to pass along the information. I believe it’s part of what we’re here for. So anything I learn, I pass it to friends. My mom worked all her life. She was a single mom who worked three jobs and, while she always paid for health insurance for us, she never went to the doctor. When she finally went to the doctor, she knew something was wrong. I wish we had known about her heart problems a lot sooner.

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