Happy Heart Day!

In honor of Valentine's Day, we'd like to celebrate our amazing hearts, which God created, that give us life each day. 

Here are some fun heart facts:

• Your heart beats about 100,000 times in one day and 35 million in a year.
• The heart pumps about 1 million barrels of blood during an average lifetime—that's enough to fill more than 3 super tankers.
• Though weighing only 11 ounces on average, a healthy heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels each day. 
The heart begins beating at four weeks after conception and does not stop until death.  Scientists believe that by eight weeks, when the embryo is only an inch long, the heart is fully developed.
In under a minute, your heart can pump blood to every cell in your body.
 

And, some staggering statistics:

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.
• In 2010, coronary heart disease alone was projected to cost the United States $316.4 billion.  This total includes the cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity. 
• In the United States, someone has a heart attack every 34 seconds which is roughly the equivalent of a September 11th-like tragedy repeating itself every 24 hours, 365 days a year. 
• By 2020, heart disease will be the leading cause of death throughout the world.
• One-half of the victims of Sudden Cardiac Death are under the age of 65.

(Statistics from the CDC, the AHA (American Heart Assoc)., and The Heart Foundation)

We'd like to offer you a book recommendation on Happy Heart Day.  If you're looking for some good non-fiction reading, check out Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.  We LOVE the Esselstyns (this includes Rip Esselstyn, Dr. Esselstyn's son, author of The Engine 2 Diet) and what they have done and are doing for the cause of health! 

From the back cover:
       "In Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., a former surgeon, researcher, and clinician at the Cleveland Clinic, challenges conventional cardiology by posing a compelling, revolutionary idea--that we can, in fact, abolish the heart-disease epidemic by changing our diets.
       Drawing from his twenty-year nutritional study--the most comprehensive study of its kind--Dr. Esselstyn convincingly argues that plant-based, oil-free nutrition can not only prevent and stop the progression of heart disease, but also reverse its effects. The proof is in the incredible results of the patients who have followed his groundbreaking program. The men and women in his original study came to him with advanced coronary disease. Within months of following a plant-based, oil-free diet, their angina symptoms eased, their cholesterol levels dropped significantly, and they experienced a marked improvement in blood flow to the heart. Twenty years later, they remain free of symptoms.
       Offering the same simple plan that has changed the lives of his patients forever, the book includes 150 delicious recipes developed by Ann Crile Esselstyn that the Esselstyns and their patients have enjoyed for years.  Backed by irrefutable scientific evidence, startling photos of angiograms that show reversal of the disease, and inspiring personal stories, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease will empower readers to take charge of their heart health."

Tell someone you love them today-
Dawn