Tuesday, April 19, 2011

You Are Important....even more!

Our award-winning You Are Important board book series is now even larger! These five titles have been successfully building healthy confidence in young children...

And now we've added two more board books to the series. Now available:
You Are Helpful:
Children want to be helpful and are eager to become more independent. We see this whenever they insist "I can do it myself!" or "Let me!" This warm, inviting book introduces young children to age-appropriate ways they can help out: putting their toys away, getting dressed by themselves, waiting their turn, sitting still at the doctor's office, and more. Written in simple words, vividly illustrated with realistic scenes that relate to children's everyday lives, You Are Helpful lets children know they are competent and capable.

You Are Healthy
Experts have identified key behaviors important to children's health. These include active play, eating right, washing hands, drinking water, getting enough sleep, and spending time with loved ones. This warm, inviting book introduces little ones to things they can do to stay healthy and happy. Written in simple words and vividly illustrated, You Are Healthy is an ideal introduction to a lifetime of good health.

Add these to your collection easily online at marengreen.com, where you save 20% today and everyday!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Are Western Diets Making The World Sick?

A valid question...and a thought-provoking one, too.

Kevin Patterson's essay published in Canada's Maisonneuve journal describes his experiences working as an internist-intensivist at the Canadian Combat Surgical Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Mr Patterson's essay is a fascinating read on many levels, but the stand-out part to me is this one thing he noticed: Afghan soldiers, police and civilians he treated in Kandahar had radically different bodies in that there was the absence of any fat underneath their skin.

Compare that to what he finds in Canadians or Americans or Europeans: most of their organs are encased in fat.

According to Patterson, "this why 40 percent of North American adults have metabolic syndrome. The syndrome is caused by being fat, even at levels North Americans would not recognize as abnormal. Obesity prompts the receptors that insulin acts upon to become numb to its effects. As we grow fatter, and insulin resistance proceeds, higher and higher levels of insulin are necessary to get the sugar out of the blood. Eventually, overt diabetes may supervene, as it has for 8 percent of North American adults, a tenfold increase since the turn of the last century."

I don't know about you, but that's scary bit of information...especially because we know so much more today about health and wellness. We've got to change. And we can. We can change our diets and behaviors, but it's clear many of us struggle with the motivation to do so. Which is why I'd like to propose some motivation for every time we want to consume unhealthy foods or resort to behaviors that support being a couch potato: think of a child in your life.

We owe it to children today to exhibit a healthy lifestyle so they'll model it and grow up healthy and happy. Especially in our technology-advanced world that so easily supports a sedentary, unhealthy, fast-food lifestyle.

Change today. Start with our title You Are Healthy. Read it together. Make a change for yourself—and for the children in your life. They deserve it.