I would probably start with removing the red from the titles first. Removing the red completely would take away from the overall design which is too nice to mess up.

I always think a straight forward headline/copy relationship should be achievable with spacing, and maybe font-size before adding bold or a color.

If it's still too much (remember, this is an every day kind of app!) maybe the active links on the right could go non-red, then if it's still too much the border-left on the active links on the right.

Again, grats on shipping something that looks good.