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.

OMG! FYI…I’m LOL these are now officially recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary. OK.

You’ve probably heard the news about this recently. In case you haven’t, let me be the first to tell you these expressions (FYI, OMG, LOL) are no longer simply letters understood by kids. They’ve reached the point of being understood by a wide enough audience (me included, I’m happy to say) to be included in the dictionary. A true sign of our times.

I’m really okay with it, although I can easily recall my daughter using these acronyms a few years ago and feeling clueless...I had no idea what she was talking about. But that was okay too since I could appreciate the humor in it. Dad was clueless. Daughter thought it was funny. The world was right (for her anyway).

We’ve always had an appreciation for humor in our household, and (most of the time) I think it's been good for us. Most of us are better people when we don't take ourselves too seriously. Most reasons to laugh are good reasons—and it brings some joy, perspective, and general lightheartedness into what otherwise can be "our stressful lives"—not to mention our sad and depressing state of affairs in the world around us (especially lately).

This was exactly why it was so easy to make the decision to publish
The Dirtiest Hair in the World.

I remember the day the manuscript (with illustrations) showed up at our offices like it was yesterday…we laughed out loud (oops, I mean LOL)...and hard...I mean with side-ache and all. We knew this book would be a source of shared laughter between kids…parents and kids…teachers and kids…librarians and kids…pretty much anyone. You don’t have to take our word for it, though. In addition to this representative review,

“As original as it is entertaining…beautifully told and illustrated…highly recommended for family, school, and community library children’s picturebook collections.”—Midwest Book Review Children’s Bookwatch

it also has a Mom’s Choice Award honoring its excellence, too.

We’re glad so many of you like it too, since our sales in the U.S. keep climbing (thank you!). And our Claire (as we so lovingly refer to this book since Claire is the main character who is adorable...and creative, strong, funny, stubborn, smart...and the list goes on!) has been published internationally! Here’s the first look at the Korean version which has already sold over 3,000 copies (we’re helping the rest of the world LOL now, too!).

Thanks for reading – and thanks for buying our books. We appreciate your support—and that you’re supporting the young children in your lives.

WIN A COPY! Leave a comment by April 15th telling us your favorite way to LOL with the kids in your life and we’ll enter you into our random drawing to win a FREE copy of The Dirtiest Hair in the World.