Green Goes with Everything or You Staying Young

Green Goes with Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet

Author: Sloan Barnett

Imagine if your best friend gave you vital information that could protect you and your family, and save you money, and help the planet. Imagine if you were given clear, simple choices, small changes that could have a big impact on your life. And you could still wear leather shoes and deodorant. You'd listen, right?
Well, think of Today show contributor Sloan Barnett as that friend. A mother of three, a dedicated consumer advocate, Sloan gives us a fast, simple, down-toearth primer on the ways our homes are making us sick, and what we can all do to transform them into the safe sanctuaries we want and need them to be.
Sloan exposes the toxic truth behind the household products we use every day -- from laundry detergent to toothpaste to lipstick. She explains how these and other seemingly benign stuff can harm us and our children. She offers an array of alternatives, and inspires us to see that we're never helpless: Every day, we have the power to make better, smarter, safer choices.
Packed with common sense and sass, product picks and practical tips, Green Goes With Everything is for everyone who wants to live a healthier life.

Publishers Weekly

According to Barnett, the Green Editor for KNTV in San Francisco, human beings are saturating their bodies, their children's bodies and their homes with noxious waste, pathogens and carcinogens. Barnett recounts having her blood and urine tested to illustrate how toxins have deeply embedded themselves-her results show positive for bisphenonol A (linked to birth defects and reproductive problems) and perchlorate (an active ingredient in rocket fuel found in contaminated food). The book is divided into seven clean-it-up chapters full of solid information and helpful tips aimed at greening different areas of your life, such as how to best filter household water. Barnett's well-written environmental call-to-arms is passionate and authoritative; her findings correlating childhood illnesses with ordinary-and highly toxic-cleaning supplies is alarming. However, readers will likely find Barnett's claims slightly suspect for the fact that her sensible advice is compromised by her relentless endorsement of Shaklee products (her husband happens to be the Shaklee CEO). (Sept.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Booklist

"Those seeking an easy-to-use handbook with clearly stated actions to take for a greener life will enjoy Barnett's, which organizes its chapters around various aspects of clean: clean body, food, water, air and energy."

Publishers Weekly

"Barnett's well-written environmental call-to-arms is passionate and authoritative; her findings correlating childhood illnesses with ordinary -- and highly toxic -- cleaning supplies is alarming."

What People Are Saying

"A must-read for anyone who cares about the health of their family and our wonderful blue planet. Sloan has done a lot of background investigation to support the incredible information that is given in a very reader-friendly and engaging style."
—Professor Wangari Maathai, Winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, and founder of The Green Belt Movement


"Sloan Barnett has written a thoroughly researched, highly readable handbook for 'cleaning up our act' at home. Follow even a little of her advice, and your children will eat healthier, breathe cleaner air, and learn for themselves how to identify and avoid potentially toxic materials."
—Dr. John Spengler, Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation, Harvard School of Public Health.


"Barnett's well-written environmental call-to-arms is passionate and authoritative; her findings correlating childhood illnesses with ordinary -- and highly toxic -- cleaning supplies is alarming."
—Publishers Weekly

"Those seeking an easy-to-use handbook with clearly stated actions to take for a greener life will enjoy Barnett's, which organizes its chapters around various aspects of clean: clean body, food, water, air and energy."
—Booklist

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Chapter One
The Real Dirt on Clean
Chapter Two
Scary Clean
Chapter Three
Safe Clean
Chapter Four
Clean Body
Chapter Five
Clean Baby
Chapter Six
Clean Food
Chapter Seven
Clean Water
Chapter Eight
Clean Air
Chapter Nine
Clean Energy
Epilogue
Resource Guide
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

You Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty

Author: Michael F Roizen

The body is the most fascinating machine ever created, and nobody talks about it in ways that are as illuminating and compelling as Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz do. In YOU: The Owner's Manual they showed us how bodies work in general, and in In YOU: On a Diet, they explained how bodies lose weight and stay fit; both books have sold in the millions. Now, in In YOU: Staying Young, the doctors are going to talk to you about what happens as your body ages. As with their previous books, they've conducted tireless research and will introduce fascinating and crucial information in an unforgettable way.

Most people think of the aging of our bodies the same way we think of the aging of our cars: The older we get, it's inevitable that we're going to break down-it could be in just a few ways or it could be in dozens of ways. Most of us hold this notion that once we reach 40 or so, we begin the slow and steady decline of our minds, our eyes, our ears, our joints, our arteries, our libido, and every other system that affects the quality of life (and how long we live it) .

But according to Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz, that's a mistake.

Aging isn't a decline of our systems. It's actually very purposeful. The very systems and biological processes that age us are actually designed to help us when we're a little bit younger. So what's our role as part of the aging population? To learn how those systems work, so we can reprogram them to work the way they did when we were younger. Your goal should be: Die young at any age. That means you live a high quality of life (with everything from working joints to working genitals) until the day you die. Because the doctors' real goal isn't just to make you live longer; it's to allow you to maintain vibrancy throughout your entire life.

The authors will tantalize readers with completely novel concepts---they're not just going to tell you that all you have to do is eat well and sleep lots. They'll explain how our bodies have evolved to ensure 50 years of high quality life, but those same mechanisms can be counterproductive as you age (it's the concept of biologic necessity, rather than just an accident; a biological process that helps you cope better when young unfortunately does opposite as you age). They'll do this by using the metaphor of a city to explain how the body works. Just like your body ages, a city does, too-especially if decisions are made that negatively impact the health of the city, or if too many resources and investments are used in the wrong areas and too few resources are used in the right areas. A once vibrant body can deteriorate if you don't take care of it. But if you revitalize, maintain, and implement new ideas, you'll keep your body at its finest. This allows you to live gracefully and passionately with a fundamentally older infrastructure.

Some examples you'll see throughout the book: Your arteries are like roadways that can be clogged, blocked, or worn down after years of abuse. Your brain is like the energy grid that supplies power to the entire city-and can be knocked out here and there if you let neurological branches fall on your power lines (keys, anyone?). Your skin, in many ways, is like a city's parks and green space-contributing to the overall sense of beauty and vibrancy. Your fat? Yep, landfill.

But really, the ultimate goal isn't just to keep your biological city from turning into a ghost town-to keep you from dying. The goal is to make your body top the "best city to live in" list. It's to make it vibrant, hip, to give it lots of resources and manage them well, and, perhaps most of all, to give it the ability to reinvent itself in the face of changing times.

The book will be full of signature YOU methods to convey the story, including YOU Tests, YOU Tips, and visual and verbal metaphors to bring the science alive; it will be heavily illustrated in the same playful, irreverent style as the previous books. Each section of the book will introduce a theory for why we age, with a quick intro into the science that will be followed by chapters of the health issues that primarily fall under each specific theory of aging.

As always, the doctors' passion for spreading awareness and promoting good health will shine through and make this a funny, educational, essential book.

Publishers Weekly

In their newest in the You series, physicians Oz and Roizen and a supporting cast of contributors explain why the body ages and how readers can become "anatomical puppeteers," mastering their genes, bad habits, environmental pollution and stress while igniting the body's ability to stay fit, strong and healthy. According to the authors, avoiding such major causes of death as cancer and heart disease increases life expectancy by only just under a decade. With their talent for creating vivid, humorous images (amplified by cartoon drawings), they describe 14 "major agers" and how readers can use what is known about telomeres (which look like the plastic ends of shoelaces), mitochondria (the body's energy powerhouses) and other components of body functioning to repair and rejuvenate cells. While the hefty amount of detailed information might seem overwhelming, the suggestions in the authors' "tool box" are straightforward and, frequently, simple: walking a half hour each day; consistently getting enough sleep; relieving stress with yoga, meditation and chi gong; removing toxins from the home; and avoiding accidents, for example. Perhaps most simple-and surprising-is their claim that one of the best predictors of aging is your perception of your own health. With the facts and tools laid out here, readers will be able to articulate, challenge and change those perceptions through positive action. (Oct.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Susan B. Hagloch - Library Journal

Most of us fear aging itself less than the deterioration that is an inevitable accompaniment. Recent research, however, indicates that we can actively stave off much of this by properly attending to diet, exercise, and mental and social stimulation. These two titles, like Mark Liponis's Ultralongevityand Sanjay Gupta's Chasing Life, examine the current thinking in the field and outline plans for maintaining vigor well into the eighties and even beyond. The team behind the best-selling You: On a Diet, Oz and Roizen spend a lot of time describing the chemical and neurological processes of the aging body before dipping into various related topics (e.g., the 14 "Major Agers," aging myths, good sleep, hygiene, and a detox plan). Their style is nonlinear, with many sidebars and cartoon illustrations that baby boomers will find reminiscent of R. Crumb. This title is suited to perusing rather than reading from start to finish.

Flanigan (cardiology, Univ. of Colorado Health Sciences Ctr.) and Sawyer (codirector, Heart and Health Prevention Ctr.) are more straightforward and economical in style, zeroing in on the ten most deadly diseases (e.g., heart disease) and how to elude them. Both books emphasize the importance of regular physical exercise, a diet rich in fiber and antioxidants and low in fat and processed foods, and sustained mental and social activity. Most public libraries will want to stock a few titles on increasing longevity, a big headline maker. Flanigan and Sawyer's title is the more accessible of the two based on approach, yet Oz and Roizen's latest will no doubt be a best seller, as the authors are scheduled to launch the book on Oprahthe firstweek of November.