The take away message for the 200 attendees at the annual Glow Red for Women event in Turlock was that small changes can add up to big benefits for the heart. Whether it be through replacing a steak dinner with salmon, or doing a few yoga stretches during the work day, little variations can make an overall impact on a person’s health.

As part of National Wear Red Day on Friday, Doctors Medical Center, Emanuel Medical Center and Doctors Hospital of Manteca hosted two Glow Red events — one in Turlock and one in Modesto. Both events featured celebrity chef Daniel Green.

Green, who is also known as The Model Cook, is a celebrity chef who has appeared on Food Network’s “Kitchen Inferno” and the upcoming “Food Fortunes.” He is a host on Evine, the home shopping network and is the author of multiple cookbooks. As a healthy eating expert, he has stared in multiple webisodes for United Health Care, and has created his own range of healthy gourmet foods, ingredients and smart cooking tools to help his fans around the world cook up healthy meals at home with his simple and easy-to-do practices.

“I want to make food exciting and focus on what you can have, rather than what you can’t,” Green said. “Making small changes can go a long way in that and if you can come up with a few different ways to do it, you’ll enjoy it more.”

In addition to learning some healthy cooking tips from Green, the event’s attendees were given opportunities to take a personal health assessment and learn the steps for compression-only CPR. The message of knowing your numbers was also stressed, and that doing so can play a major part in advocating for your own health. The numbers to know are your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and body mass index. It’s also vital to remember to call 911 when having a heart attack.

Heart disease is the number one killer of American women, more than all cancers combined, according to the American Heart Association. In all, heart disease kills about 300,000 women a year, while stroke kills 82,000.

The symptoms of heart attack can be different in women and men, and are often misunderstood – even by some physicians. As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort, but women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.