2022 NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDS FINALIST — HEALTH: GENERAL “It is exceptionally well organized and presented, making it an ideal and highly recommended addition to personal, community, college, and university library Health/Medicine collections.” —Midwest Book Review Nature puts a “survival switch” in our bodies to protect us from starvation. Stuck in the “on” position, it’s the hidden source of weight gain, heart disease, and many other common health struggles. But you can turn it off. Dr. Richard Johnson has been on the cutting edge of research into the cause of obesity for more than a decade. His team’s discovery of the fructose-powered survival switch—a metabolic pathway that animals in nature turn on and off as needed, but that our modern diet has permanently fixed in the “on” position, where it becomes a fat switch—revolutionized the way we think about why we gain weight. In Nature Wants Us to Be Fat, he details the mounting evidence on how this switch is responsible both for excess fat storage and for many of the major diseases endemic to the Western world, including heart disease, cancer, and dementia. Dr. Johnson also reveals the surprising link between the survival switch and health conditions such as gout, kidney disease, liver disease, stroke—and even behavioral issues like addiction and ADHD. And, most important, he shares a science-based plan to help readers fight back against nature. Guided by ongoing clinical research—plus fascinating observations from the animal kingdom, evolution, and history—Dr. Johnson takes you along on an eye-opening investigation into: What you can do to turn off your survival switch What we have in common with hibernating bears, sperm whales, and the world’s fattest bird Why it’s fructose (not glucose) that drives insulin resistance and metabolic disease The foods we eat that trigger the body to make its own fructose The surprising role salt and dehydration play in fat accumulation The surprising link between the survival switch and health conditions such as gout and liver and kidney diseases, and even behavioral issues like addiction and ADHD Dr. Johnson not only provides new recommendations for how we can prevent or treat obesity, but also how we can use this information to reduce our risk of developing disease. Nature wants us to be fat, and when we understand why, we gain the tools we need to lose weight and optimize our health.

The story of a father and his son who live by themselves in a cosy cabin in the woods. But, one day they are separated out in the beautifully falling snow. The boy is lost and falls asleep. When he wakes up he is surrounded by blinking eyes, a rabbit, a fox, an owl and all manner of other creatures have surrounded him! But with a bear hug he and the woodland animals become best of friends! But soon he misses his dad and so the animals bring him back home. The father opens up his heart and home, and lets nature and love envelop their previously lonely existence.

First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

By travelling across the UK and Ireland in a campervan, Richard Johnson tells the remarkable stories of 12 budding entrepreneurs who have chosen wheels over bricks-and-mortar to peddle their wares, from the porridge bar outside Edinburgh Castle to the coffee cart on the north coast of Ireland to the Ethiopian food stall in London.

In The Sugar Fix, Dr. Richard Johnson, who oversees a pioneering research program, reports on discoveries about how fructose impacts the body—and directly connects the American obesity epidemic to a frightening escalation in our fructose consumption. It comes as no surprise that the sugar is found in processed foods like candy, baked goods, canned foods, and frozen meals in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, but it is also hidden in less obvious foods like peanut butter, egg products, and soups. Many fruits and vegetables contain high levels of it naturally. Dr. Johnson shows how to cut way back on the sweetener by making effective substitutions. The daily meal plans included here contain no more than 25 grams of fructose, one-quarter of the amount the average American now ingests. Rather than the low-carb approach of so many recent diets, Dr. Johnson recommends a much easier to enjoy and stick to formula: 50% carbs, 25% fat, and 25% protein. The immediate benefit of this diet is to help anyone shed excess weight. The additional benefits are even more impressive—reduced risk for such serious health problems as high blood pressure, elevated blood fats, and insulin resistance, conditions directly linked to heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, and stroke.

Little Golden Books introduces your young reader to the solar system! This simple yet informative book brings our fascinating solar system to life for kids just learning how to read. They'll enjoy poring over the dramatic illustrations as they learn about planets, constellations, satellites, spacecraft, and more. Lively and up to date, this perfect "first book" will inspire little ones to search for shooting stars, constellations, and the Milky Way!