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Archives for February 2011

Foods That Prevent Cancer

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Each year, in the United States alone, more than 500,000 people die from cancer.  A mind-numbing statistic, wouldn’t you say?  Unfortunately, like heart disease, cancer is one of those evils that most people don’t really think about until it’s too late.

I’m seeing an encouraging trend lately, though.  More and more people are taking a proactive, preventative stance when it comes to illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  Say what you will about the Baby Boomers, we are fighters.  Baby boomers, as much as any generation before them, actively seek information and advice for living better and living longer. We don’t just love life, we embrace it!

The same can be said for the generation behind the boomers – another generation of life-loving, earth-saving fighters.

One of the greatest rewards of this trend is the fact that more and more information is readily available.  Experts have laid everything out for us…

  • things we need to eat
  • things we need to do
  • things we should not eat
  • things we should not do

The information’s there. The facts are there.  But, as a whole, do we really do all we can to follow the advice? If the answer were “yes,” there’d be no more French Fries.  Why would fast food restaurants fry something that didn’t sell?! Instead, there’d be baked chips or vegetables served with a side of pico de gallo, hummus, or guacamole.

We’re the same people who will follow laptop care tips to the letter.  We put our digital cameras in cases to protect them, we prune our trees with the care of a surgeon, and Heaven knows the lengths we go to to keep our vehicles running properly.

Yet, experts tell us things we need to do to be healthier and we all but ignore the advice.  Why do we even seek the information out if we aren’t going to use it?  I’m all up in my own face as much as your’s!  I have absolutely no problem eating and drinking the things that are good for me.  I love fish, all vegetables, all fruits, green tea, black tea… all tea.  My problem area is avoiding the bads, in addition to enjoying the goods.

Over the next week, more articles will center around preventing cancer: Foods and drinks that are thought to cause cancer, activities to prevent cancer, and even more foods believed to prevent cancer.

Below are 10 foods and drinks that experts say are the best of the goods. These foods and drinks have the power to keep cancer out of your life.  That, alone, should gain them entry into your kitchen on a daily basis.  Along with each cancer-preventing food, I’ll give my own advice on ways to get more enjoyment out of that particular food.  Grab your grocery list and take notes!

 

Prevent Cancer with Garlic

I can’t imagine anyone not liking the taste of garlic – maybe not straight out of the bulb, of course, but garlic truly is a beautiful ingredient.  Keep garlic bulbs (or at least jars of chopped garlic in olive oil) on hand at all times.  They’re excellent chopped and added to stew, soups, hamburgers, pasta salad, spaghetti sauce, chili…. Garlic contains a great number of compounds that can protect against cancer.  These compounds appear to increase the activity of immune cells that fight cancer and indirectly help break down cancer causing substances. Garlic seems to be particularly useful against skin cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer.

Many extensive studies have linked garlic (as well as onions, leeks, and chives) to lower risk of stomach and colon cancer.

A report published in the October 2000 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that people who consume raw or cooked garlic regularly face about half the risk of stomach cancer and two-thirds the risk of colorectal cancer as people who eat little or none. Garlic supplements weren’t shown to have the same effect.

Roasted garlic is one of my favorite ways to serve it with bread.  To roast garlic bulbs, cut off the very top of the bulbs – just enough to expose the cloves. Drizzle with olive oil (another food that’s great for your health), wrap in aluminum foil, and roast at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Roasted garlic is out of this world when smoothed on toast, buns, wheat crackers, biscuits, and so on.  It’s also extraordinary in hummus.

A Little Garlic Trivia

  • When cooking, 1 clove garlic = 1/2 tsp minced.
  • Garlic is available year round because it stores well.
  • Nicholas Culpepper’s The Complete Herbal, published in 1652, praised garlic as having the power to heal the bites of “mad dogs” and venomous snakes, rid children of worms, and cure ulcers.
  • As early as 1858, garlic’s antibacterial properties were being published. French chemist Louis Pasteur wrote about the garlic’s power after he exposed bacteria to a garlic bulb (the bacteria died).
  • Garlic is sometimes called the “stinking rose!”
  • Garlic has been shown to guard against blood clots and high blood pressure.
  • You should avoid buying garlic bulbs in the little boxes in your supermarket. They aren’t stored as well as the ones you can buy in bulk.
  • If peeling garlic bulbs isn’t something that comes easily, cover the bulb with boiling water for 1 minute. This separates the skins from the cloves and makes peeling easier.
  • A garlic press is ideal for when it comes to preparing garlic toast or garlic butter.

Prevent Cancer With Grapes

We almost always have grapes on hand in our house. They’re delicious, nutritious, and very low in calories.  At the moment we’re out of them because of an adorable possum that came calling last night. We get many possums, rabbits, and raccoons in our yard… as well as the occasional skunk.  Possums and raccoons LOVE grapes as much as I do, so I have to confess: I threw the last of our grapes out for our little visitor.  I also provided her with a bread stick and pizza crust.  Only after devouring the grapes did she move on to the other items on the menu.

With grapes, the chemical resveratrol is what we have to thank for their medicinal properties. Resveratrol  is a very potent antioxidant –  it can prevent cell damage before it begins.

The possums and raccoons in this part of Kentucky are surely the healthiest in the world.

Prevent Cancer With Flax

Okay. This one’s a little trickier. But worth the extra toil. Flax contains lignans, which block cancerous changes. Also, many people don’t realize it, but flax is also high in omega-3 fatty acids. In addition to protecting against heart disease, omega-3 fatty acids which are thought to protect against colon cancer.

Flaxseed has a wonderful, nutty flavor that’s a great addition to many foods. Below are just a few of the foods you can add flaxseed to with great results:

  • yogurt
  • oatmeal
  • applesauce
  • smoothies
  • shakes
  • cottage cheese and peaches
  • salads

For a recipe for Apple Flax Muffins, click the link.

Prevent Cancer with Green Tea

The flavonoids in green tea have been shown to slow, and even prevent, the development of several types of cancer including colon, liver, breast, and prostate. All teas are excellent for your health – so much so that one of the healthiest things a person could do would be to completely switch from soft drinks or diet soft drinks to tea.

My oldest daughter Emily (The Crazy Tea Chick) and I love green tea with a particular passion. Hot, cold.. doesn’t matter, it’s all good.  I’ve finally won my husband over to green tea, but he wants in on ice – never off ice.  If it’s not on the rocks, he’s not on board.  Emily and her dad don’t add any sweetener or lemon slices to their green tea.  As for me, I vary. One day I’ll drink my green tea straight up, the next day I’ll add a packet of Truvia and maybe a lemon slice.  I prefer lemon slices in my green tea, but it’s not an absolute requirement.  When our herb garden’s in full bloom, I’ll often float a little mint and stevia in my green tea.

Green tea can be an acquired taste for many people, but once it’s acquired, it almost becomes an addiction.

 

Prevent Cancer With Tomatoes

If you’ll notice, many foods that prevent cancer are the same very foods that prevent heart disease.  They’re also the foods that nutritionists recommend for people who are watching their weight.  So many benefits simply by eating smart! Tomatoes are another one of these foods that have multiple benefits and serve multiple purposes.

The much-celebrated compound lycopene in tomatoes, has been shown to prevent prostate cancer, as well as cancer of the breast, lung, and stomach. Lycopene, of course, is also loved by experts for its benefits to heart health. You can increase the lycopene in your diet by drinking tomato juice, using tomaotes on your sandwiches and in your salads, serving sliced tomatoes with each meal, and using tomatoes in your cooking.  Lycopene is most easily absorbed from cooked tomatoes, so adding tomatoes and tomato sauce to spaghetti sauce, soup, stew, and chili makes delicious sense.

More About Tomatoes and Lycopene:

  • Lycopene attacks roaming oxygen molecules, known as free radicals, that are suspected of triggering cancer.
  • Tomatoes are also a great source of vitamin C, an antioxidant which can prevent cellular damage that leads to cancer.
  • If you’re allergic to tomatoes, similar substances can be found in watermelons, carrots, and red peppers. However, these foods have less lycopene than tomatoes.
  • Scientists in Israel have shown that lycopene can kill mouth cancer cells.
  • An increased intake of lycopene has already been linked to a reduced risk of breast, prostate, pancreas and colorectal cancer. Interestingly enough, recent studies indicate that for ultimate absorption, the body also needs some oil along with lycopene.

Prevent Cancer by Eating Your Veggies!

There are so many good reasons to eat more vegetables – heart health, brain health, weight management, and cancer prevention are each aided and maintained by eating the right vegetables. When it comes to healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, a bonus is this: When we fill up on things that are good for us, we’ll automatically eat less of the ones that are bad for us.

Since we’re focusing on cancer prevention in this article, we’ll stick with the vegetables that are associated with this admirable duty.

  • Broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower have a chemical component  (indole-3-carbinol) that combats breast cancer by converting a cancer-promoting estrogen into a more protective variety. Broccoli, especially sprouts, also have the phytochemical sulforaphane, touted as aiding in the prevention of colon cancer and rectal cancer.
  • Carrots, which contain a lot of beta carotene,  may help reduce a wide range of cancers including lung, mouth, throat, stomach, intestine, bladder, prostate and breast.  What’s more, a substance called falcarinol (found in carrots) has been found to reduce the risk of cancer.
  • Cruciferous vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage contain two antioxidants, lutein and zeaxanthin that may help decrease prostate and other cancers.
  • Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts contain strong antioxidants that may help decrease cancer risk.
  • Sweet potatoes contain many anticancer properties, including beta-carotene, which may protect DNA in the cell nucleus from cancer-causing chemicals outside the nuclear membrane.  Try preparing sweet potatoes just as you would a baked potato.  Topped with a little butter and a pinch of cinnamon turns it into a really special treat.  Sweet potatoes can also be cut like fries and baked in the oven for something different.
  • Dark greens are rich in antioxidants called carotenoids.  These antioxidants hunt down dangerous free radicals in the body before they can promote cancer growth.

Prevent Cancer by Eating More Fruit

  • Oranges and lemons contain Iimonene which stimulates cancer-killing immune cells.
  • Raspberries are full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that are believed to protect against cancer.
  • The powerful blueberry is positively rich in cancer fighting compounds.  Blueberries aid in the prevention of all types of cancer.

Prevent Cancer With Nuts

Nuts contain antioxidants that may suppress the growth of cancer.  Nuts are also very healthy for your heart’s health as well as your brain’s health. I’ve learned a wonderful trick around my house. I fill “candy dishes” with pistachio nuts, almonds, walnuts (in addition to heart-healthy dark chocolate, raisins, and dried fruits), and other healthy nuts. When I, my husband, daughters, son-in-law, future sons-in-law (or any other human) walk by, we almost invariably grab a healthy snack to accompany us to wherever our next destination is.

It’s the perfect way to get healthy food into those you love. You’ll find that they especially visit the bowls as mealtime approaches.

Bait the trap!

Prevent Cancer With Mushrooms

This one kind of surprised me, though I’m not sure why.  I guess I always thought mushrooms were one of those foods that were ‘taint…. ‘taint good for you but ‘taint bad for you either!  Shows what I know. Many different varieties of mushrooms contain compounds that can help guard against cancer and build the immune system as well. For years, one of my favorite pizza toppings has been good for me and I never knew it.

Large mushrooms can even take the place of burgers. Grill, season, and dress as you would a burger.  Pair the mushroom with other cancer fighters like garlic and peppers for bonus points.

Prevent Cancer With Peppers

Chili peppers and jalapenos contain a chemical called capsaicin which seems to neutralize certain cancer-causing substances and may help prevent cancers such as stomach cancer.

Pairing a lot of these cancer preventives in a tossed salad would be delicious and nutritious – especially if you serve it with a large glass of iced green tea.   Dark green lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, chopped garlic, mushrooms, and grapes – drizzled with a healthy vinaigrette and sprinkled with nuts.  Brilliant!

Photo Credit: The gorgeous pictures in this post are actually art prints and/or posters available from allposters.com.  Click through each beautiful picture to take a closer look at the art print.

Bernhard Langer Serves a Self Help Lesson

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But when I play, I still practice hard and focus on my game. – Bernhard Langer, Winner

I was enjoying a round of golf a few days ago, courtesy of the Golf Channel.  Had I been actually golfing, enjoyment would have been at a minimum, pain and suffering at a maximum (for all involved, just ask those I’ve maimed and bludgeoned on miniature golf courses).  One of my favorite golfers, Bernhard Langer, was doing something he’s very familiar with… winning.

No pain and suffering with Mr. Langer – just pure, beautiful golf.

His flawless swing isn’t the only reason I’ve always been such a fan of this brilliant German golfer.  He’s a class act.  He’s a winner.  He doesn’t seem to have a malicious, proud, or arrogant bone in his body.  He has worked hard to get where he is and is a perfect example that, with all due respect, good guys very often DO finish first.

Quite often.

My husband, Michael,  is another guy who fits the descriptions above – except for the flawless swing part – I wipe the miniature golf course up with him (it’s my story).  Michael often looks at certain athletes, politicians, or athletes and says whether or not he thinks they’d be a good “dinner companion” or fun to play a round of golf with.  If you ask me, Mr. Langer would be such a person.

As I was reaping the feel-good benefits of watching a favorite athlete win (as a Denver Broncos fan, I’d lost touch with these jollies), the announcers said something that made me shift from sport spectator Joi to Self Help Blog Joi. They were talking about how much time Bernhard Langer puts into practicing his game.  One of the announcers said that Bernhard doesn’t just try to improve each year or week, he tries to improve with each swing.

That really struck me as a fundamental truth in self improvement and self growth.  You could make a case for it being THE fundamental truth.

If, like Bernhard Langer, we want to win on a consistent basis – in whatever field or area we “compete” in – we have to work on improving each move we make, each word we say, each thought we entertain, and each activity we take part in.  We can’t just look at the big picture at the end of the journey, we have to look carefully at each step along the way.

Here’s an example, and, sadly, like many of my examples, it involves your’s truly learning her lesson the hard way.  Sigh.

As you may know, our oldest daughter, beautiful Emily (more like gorgeous, but I want to keep her grounded) , was married last October.  She gave me plenty of notice about the upcoming nuptials.  In fact, she gave me nearly 12 months notice.

Like all mothers of the bride, I decided that I simply HAD to be a particular size before the wedding.   While my present size could serve me well enough for day to day life, it was NOWHERE good enough for my baby’s big day!   During the many months leading up to the wedding, we had a ball – the funnest part was watching the bride-to-be begin to come unglued.  The girl is the calmest, most in control, level-headed person in the world.  The only one in her vicinity is her dad.  But as the big day approached, she became as scatter-brained and punchy as her other parent.  Sometimes she’d just laugh out loud, seemingly at a joke only she heard.  I thought, Finally! There’s my DNA!

Through it all, I kept looking at the big day – it was my “vision board,” I suppose.  I pictured the cake, the aisle runner, the bride in her breathtakingly beautiful dress (how must it feel to have a waist that Shaquille O’Neal could put his hand around?), the centerpieces, and me in the dress size of my dreams.  Ah, it’d be Nirvana.  Nirvana covered in Calla Lilies.

With the decorations and other planning, we looked, not just at the end result, but at each step.  THESE calla lilies will look elegant with THAT lace…. THIS ribbon will compliment THAT arrangement, etc. I’m not sure how my husband or son-in-law kept their sanity. Little existed for the females in our family during those months that weren’t covered in white lace and satin.

Meticulous.  We were meticulous.  Except for the one area where I dropped the ball.  Fortunately, it was a ball that only affected me, so I dropped it on my own foot.

The entire time, I just looked at the final picture – the mother of the bride in the dress size of her dreams.  How great it’d feel to be THAT size.  My only concern was that I’d be so proud I’d pluck the label out to show off the number.  Suffice to say, it was a temptation I never had to face down.

I didn’t reach the number and, looking back, I clearly see why.  I didn’t look at each step along the way. I also didn’t look at each Latte, each doughnut, each fried catfish fillet, or each time I thought walking leisurely was funner than jogging.  You tell me, how can you talk about cake toppings when you’re huffing, panting, and trying to remember how to inhale?!?

When the announcers pointed out that Bernhard Langer worked to improve his game with each swing, it brought it all home.  If, each day I had worked on physical fitness with each decision, I’d have probably worn the same size my daughter wore.  I should, of course, make a point of saying this: The day was sheer perfection and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.  My dress was one of the prettiest dresses I’ve ever seen and I’m not sure it was even available in the elusive size!  So, all’s well that end’s beautifully, but I did learn a lesson.

It’s a lesson for all of us, isn’t it?  Whatever our goal is (whether it’s domination of our field, an elusive number, a Ford Edge, or a bulldog puppy), we have to work for it with each decision we make and each thought we entertain.

It’s the difference between carrying away the trophy and carrying away regrets.

Bernhard Langer Quotes:

So when I was told to work, ten, twelve hours a day as an assistant pro, I didn’t complain. It was normal.

I like reading my bible, I like bible studies where I get together with others and talk about the word of God and how it relates to us and how we can change to become more like him.

I crack jokes and play games and that’s really more my nature than being cold.

We are all human beings with our own little knick-knacks and ways of doing things.

There are far more important things in life than making a putt or missing a putt or winning a championship or losing a championship.

We all know, the ones who play golf, know what a wonderful game it is and what a great past-time it is.

You can’t cover people with perceptions because we are all different.

You know, why the game of golf is popular? Very easy, it’s a great game.

A Self Help Lesson from Rachael Ray

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Why do some people think they have to be experts on every single thing under and above the sun?! Why can’t they accept, even laugh at the fact that there are some areas they simply know nothing about?

One of my favorite cookbook authors, and Food Network stars, is Rachael Ray. Some people get hung up on the giggles, others get annoyed with her terminology (sammies, stoup, evoo, Yum-O), and some just don’t like the fact that she isn’t a “trained” chef.

Neither are most grandmothers, Amish women, or apron-wearing backyard ninjas! Since when are chefs the only people who know what tastes good?

As for the giggles and nicknames, big sideways whoop. If you tried to count the number of times I laugh a day, you’d lose track before noon. Happy people laugh, they giggle, and sometimes they act downright silly. But they’re enjoying life… living out loud, if you will.

I’ll take happy, silly people over miserable grouches or bores any day of the week and twice on the weekend.

Love her or hate her, Rachael Ray knows her way around the stove. She’s very good at finding food combinations and at developing her own recipes. As someone who cooks A LOT (and loves it to distraction), I know a thing or two about recipes and, as far as I’m concerned, the Rach is aces

But, get this. She has said many times that she can’t bake. When she needs a dessert, she buys it! She doesn’t try to excel in all areas of life. She specializes and doesn’t try to wear too many darn hats. She simply wears one to perfection.

How do you think the arrangement’s working for her? My guess is each time she looks at the balance of her checkbook she goes, “Hehehehehe. Yum-O!”

Yeah, it’s working just fine.

People who try to wear too many hats upon one unsuspecting head could be annoying if they weren’t so ridiculously funny.

I think it’s refreshing to find people who admit they know less than zero about a certain subject. Know-it-alls are a dime a dozen, and they aren’t even worth that.
Aside from grating on the nerves of those around them, know-it-alls are actually doing themselves a world of harm.

Have you ever known anyone who had a world of potential in a certain area, but tried to do too many other things as well? I’m sure we’ve all met our share of these “mad hatters.”

Take, for example, the president of a company who thinks he/she has to personally write each newsletter, hire each employee, design the company’s website, write the blog posts, star in the commercials, write the radio ads, star in the radio ads, answer every telephone, plan each picnic, coach the softball team, choose the curtains, etc, etc, etc…

Can you guess the pitfall? Nothing will be done as well as it could be or should be. One person isn’t capable of doing absolutely everything. What’s more, the one thing they are SUPPOSED to be doing is getting neglected. Instead of giving it 100 percent of their time and attention, they’ve left it with about 25 percent.

I’m horrendous at math but even I know 25 percent is nowhere as good as 100 percent.

If you think you might be spreading yourself too thin, and not covering things as well as you know you could (or should), you might have fallen into a trap overly-ambitious people often fall prey to.  You’re trying to wear too many hats and trying to do too many things.  Step back and assess the big picture.  In this proverbial picture, if you’re a frazzled mess in the middle trying to balance 25 different hats on your head, you have arrived.

Stop trying to do it all and stop trying to have it all.  Enjoy life – it’s a ride that only comes around once!

I’ve Found the Book You HAVE to Read Next: In a Heartbeat by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy

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I just finished a very special and ridiculously entertaining book: In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving.While I love all books, my favorite type of book to read is non-fiction. Whether it’s historical, motivational, inspirational, self growth, how to, biographical, or autobiographical, if there’s a non-fiction book on the premises, I’m not too far behind it.

Character is something that you cannot buy, and it’s something that cannot be taken from you.  You can only lose it.  It’s the most important thing you own. – Sean Tuohy

One of the things that makes In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving so extraordinary is the fact that it could very well be listed under any of the categories I just described. How cool is that?

If you loved The Blind Side even half as much as I did (I laughed, I cried, I clapped), there’s a part of you that wants to know more about this warm and wonderful family.  They’ll tell you right up front that they aren’t perfect – but many things about them are so darn near, they know what perfect had for breakfast.

Even after the movie, I wanted to know more about Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy as well as their children, Collins, Michael, and S.J.  I bought the book, The Blind Side (I laughed, I cried, I clapped).  After reading the book… you guessed it, I wanted to know more.

There are stalking laws, though, so I cooled my heels.  Finally, my patience and adherence to the law has paid off.  This outstanding book fills in the missing pieces and provides you with family histories that are more fascinating than even I had dared to hope.  I guess it makes sense that outrageously colorful people would have more of their kind up their family tree.

And what stories they have to tell!

We fight.  We make up.  And we get over it.  That’s what families do. –  In a Heartbeat, Page 27

The book is brilliantly divided into chapters which are “hosted” by different individuals (Tim McGraw, Sean Tuohy, Leigh Anne Tuohy, Collins Tuohy, S.J. , Sandra Bullock, and Michael Oher).  Being able to hear the different voices makes the book even more special. It really was a stroke of absolute brilliance.  When Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy describe their childhood and college life, you feel as though they’re in the room with you.  Each has a conversational writing style that makes everything in the world right.

From Publishers Weekly
Those familiar with the film The Blind Side, or Michael Lewis’s best-selling book, will likely already know the inspiring story of how the Tuohys took future-NFL star Michael Oher into their home and adopted him. For anyone wondering what more there might be to say about it, the answer is: plenty. In a Heartbeat finds the Tuohys attempting to determine what it was that made them reach out to the homeless African-American boy they saw walking down the street in a t-shirt and shorts on a winter’s day. Leigh Anne and Sean had known tough times themselves and had put themselves on the lookout for troubled kids in need of help. As a white, southern, church-going family, they defy red-state/blue-state stereotypes (for instance, by sending their teen-age daughter to a seminar fostering racial and social justice); though Leigh Anne has been described as a “gun-toting Republican Christian,” and admits to carrying weapons, she also claims to cross “party lines all the time.” With Jenkins’s help they write with humor about their quirks and the joy that Michael brought to their family, finally arriving at the belief that “we can all change people’s lives by investing time in individuals.”

I’ll be completely up front with you (as  always).  I should have had this book review up last month.  February was ridiculous for me, though, and – literally – this is the absolute soonest I can write this review.  Don’t get me wrong, I could have thrown up a quickie – you know, here’s the picture of the book, here’s what the back cover says, here’s the link, you’ll like it. Wham, bam, go order it mam (or gentleman.)  This book deserves much more than that, so here is the review – a couple of weeks later than I would have liked to have written it.

As we reflected on our own ways of giving, we came to see that we often approached charity too formally.  Giving shouldn’t always be a prescribed ritual or ceremony; it doesn’t need to be accompanied by properly stamped paperwork. If we worried less about the procedures and methods of giving and concentrated more on a giving state of mind, we might have more to offer than we knew. – Page 22, In a Heartbeat

It’s funny, I’m not sure I’ve ever told you or not, but it’s WAY, WAY, WAY easier to write a book review for a book you either….

  • Vaguely liked
  • Didn’t totally hate
  • Tolerated
  • Hated so badly you wouldn’t even take it to Goodwill (had a few)

If this book had answered to one of these descriptions, the review would have been up long ago.  The book would have been boxed up and given away or spat on and thrown away.

But a book that you know to be a very special book – one that you wish as many people as possible would read?  That’s one tough assignment.  I have so many thoughts running around in my overly-caffeinated mind.  Each thought is clamoring for attention like a  roomful of kindergarten kids.  They’re bumping off of one another, each one trying to be louder than the next.  Normally, it’s a show I enjoy, but I really want to do right by this book.

Ever since, I’ve known how little it really takes to give someone a big leg up. – In a Heartbeat, Page 40

A sample of the random thoughts:

  • This book “reads” as entertainingly as any novel I’ve ever read.
  • The authors are so likable and colorful, you’d read anything they wrote – even if it were a grocery list.
  • This inspiring book makes where you ARE an uncomfortable place to be.  It makes you want to step outside of yourself and.. I dunno… see what kind of magic you can bring into someone else’s life.
  • This is the sort of book you carry from room to room with you, sneaking “visits” with the authors whenever you have a free moment.
  • It’s the sort of book that constantly has you reaching for pen and paper to write down a great quote.
  • In a Heartbeat will be the book you recommend to friends and family for years to come.
  • If someone doesn’t make another movie about this special, lovable family, I’ll be forever disappointed.
  • I LOVE that Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw each have a chapter in this book!

Those are just some of the thoughts running around my head.  I guess now would be a good time to pause and thank God and WordPress for Bullet Points.

In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving is without a doubt the next book you should read.  I sincerely hope that you’ll grab a copy right away and devour it cover to cover.  I thought it’d be fitting to end with a favorite passage from the book. It’s written by Sean Tuohy.  It’s from a chapter in which he tells about his fascinating childhood, college basketball career, and the head-on collision with fate… also known as the night he met Leigh Anne.

One of the reasons I find this section of the story especially fascinating is that their relationship reminds me a great deal of the one I share with my own collision, aka my husband Michael.  In our world, however, he’s more like Leigh Anne, while I’m the one sometimes just trying to hold on!

When friends ask me how I’ve managed to forge such a happy marriage for twenty-eight years, I joke that it’s because I don’t have a huge need to be in charge.  But the real answer is more difficult to articulate.  How do you explain harmony? For whatever reason, we have it, even though we’re very different.  I’m a slow talker and more roundabout; she’s quick-firing, easy to rile, and very assertive.  My way of doing things takes three weeks; hers takes three minutes.  We’re both achievers – we just go about it differently.  So who is right?  I don’t think either of us cares, which is probably one reason we don’t have many arguments.  What matters most is that we complement each other.  And, on the important things, we understand each other perfectly.

Over the years, our differences have tended to be sources of interest, not conflict. – Sean Tuohy, In a Heartbeat, pages 56-57

Read more about In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving by clicking the link.

Quotes About Love

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Love
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Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence. – Eric Fromm

Love never reasons, but profusely gives – gives like a thoughtless prodigal, its all – and trembles then lest it has done too little. – Hannah Moore

They do not love that do not show their love. The course of true love never did run smooth. Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love. – William Shakespeare

Love that lasts involves a real and genuine concern for others as persons, for their values as they feel them, for their development and growth – Evelyn Duvall

Love, like a river, will cut a new path whenever it meets an obstacle. – Crystal Middlemas

Love is to the heart what summer is to the farmer’s year. It brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul. –More  Billy Graham Quotes

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination. – Voltaire

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. – Robert Frost

There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved. It is God’s finger on man’s shoulder. – Charles Morgan

The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is to love and be loved in return. – Natalie Cole

Love is like a mustard seed; planted by God and watered by men. – Muda Saint Michael

Love is a friendship set to music. – E. Joseph Cossman

Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. – Franklin P. Jones

The more a person perceives that he/she is loved, the less they will interfere with the lives of others. – Dr. William Glasser

When love is not madness, it is not love. – Pedro Calderon de la Barca

Love – a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker. – Author Unknown

Love is a sweet tyranny, because the lover endureth his torments willingly. – Proverb

If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever. – Alfred Lord Tennyson

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. – Peter Ustinov

Hate leaves ugly scars, love leaves beautiful ones. – Mignon McLaughlin

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
– William Shakespeare

I love you, not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. – Roy Croft

The course of true love never did run smooth. – William Shakespeare

We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. – Anonymous

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. – Plato

This day I will marry my friend, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love. – Anonymous

When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out. – Elizabeth Bowen

The art of love… is largely the art of persistence. – Albert Ellis

Love one another and you will be happy. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. – Michael Leunig

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law. – Boethius

Let your love be like the misty rains, coming softly, but flooding the river. – Malagasy Proverb

You don’t love a woman because she is beautiful, she is beautiful because you love her. – Author Unknown

For you see, each day I love you more
Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.
– Rosemonde Gerard

Forget love – I’d rather fall in chocolate! – Sandra J. Dykes

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. – Aristotle

Who, being loved, is poor? – Oscar Wilde

Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame. – Henry David Thoreau

Without love, what are we worth? Eighty-nine cents! Eighty-nine cents worth of chemicals walking around lonely. – Hawkeye from an episode of M*A*S*H

A baby is born with a need to be loved – and never outgrows it. – Frank A. Clark

Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. – Robert Heinlein

Love me and the world is mine. -David Reed

We loved with a love that was more than love. – Edgar Allan Poe

If I love you, what business is it of yours? – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A hundred hearts would be too few
To carry all my love for you.
– Author Unknown

Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and fans the bonfire. – François Duc de La Rochefoucauld

To be your friend was all I ever wanted; to be your lover was all I ever dreamed. – Unknown Quote

Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense. – Mark Overby

Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep… wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you’ re just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky he is to have YOU… The one who turns to his friends and says, that’s her. – Unknown

We choose those we like; with those we love, we have no say in the matter. – Mignon McLaughlin

Love is, above all, the gift of oneself. – Jean Anouilh

When a man is in love or in debt, someone else has the advantage. – Bill Balance

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity. – Henry Van Dyke

It is astonishing how little one feels alone when one loves. – John Bulwer

Now abide , faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is Love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. – Plato

In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities. – Janos Arnay

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach… – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Take away love, and our earth is a tomb. – Robert Browning

And one of my favorite quotes about love of all time:

Love is friendship set on fire. – Jeremy Taylor

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