A Message from Our Friends at Walgreens + Vitamin Angels:

Hey GOOD Readers,


Everyone is trying to figure out what “wellness” really means. How do we make choices that allow our bodies to truly thrive? Our daily decisions of what we consume or how much exercise we get represent the choices that have the ability to make us better and healthier every day. Wellness will always mean different things to different people—and that’s the challenge of finding your personal path to well-being. Over the next eight months, we’re going to dig deep into the concept of wellness, demystify the world of vitamins, and learn what our bodies truly need to improve our overall health.

And so we here at Walgreens, together with our partners at Vitamin Angels and GOOD, are excited to launch the GOOD Wellness Project. Through an editorial series, slideshows, a documentary video, and an interactive infographic, we will explore how to make healthier and smarter decisions, especially in the case of our personal nutrition and the role vitamins can play in that.

Why vitamins, you might ask? Vitamins are especially personal to Walgreens—they’re nutrients that are essential for healthy growth, vitality, and general well-being. We know that, for many, basic nutrition is something most don’t even need to think twice about. However, there are many people around the world who suffer from life-threatening illnesses simply because they don’t get enough essential nutrients in their daily diets. Since last year, Walgreens has partnered with Vitamin Angels, helping at-risk populations in need—specifically pregnant women, new mothers, and children under five—gain access to lifesaving and life changing vitamins and minerals.

Lack of proper nutrition can and does have a devastating impact on health. Vitamin A deficiency, for example, is a major cause of preventable blindness in children under five, and almost half of children who lose their sight due to this lacking will die within 12 months. Inadequate Vitamin A also increases the risk of illness and death from common childhood infections like diarrhea or measles. For many developing countries without fortified foods, high-dose supplements remain the principal and best strategy for lowering cases of Vitamin A deficiency.

Our collective mission is to improve nutrition both across the globe and here at home, with a larger goal of providing 100 million children and mothers with essential vitamins worldwide. Starting now and carrying through 2017, Walgreens will donate one percent of retail sales from purchases of participating products to this cause. Taking wellness personally isn’t just something we all just talk about; it’s part of our DNA.

We hope you will join us! Over the next eight months, follow our efforts with the GOOD Wellness Project hashtag #GOODWellness, and keep an eye on our interactive infographic for tips on incorporating healthy choices into your own lives, and an exploration of the real-life positive effects of vitamin supplements. For more, follow @Walgreens and @VitaminAngels as we share stories of the #100MillionReasons campaign. Here, you can learn more about children across the globe suffering from ‘hidden hunger,’ and how they’re finally gaining access to the vitamins they need to be well.

Sincerely,

Crystal Fouchard

Marketing Director, Health and Wellness
Walgreens

  • Man’s dog suddenly becomes protective of his wife, Internet clocks the reason right away
    Dogs have impressive observational powers.Photo credit: Canva

    Reddit user Girlfriendhatesmefor’s three-year-old pitbull, Otis, had recently become overprotective of his wife. So he asked the online community if they knew what might be wrong with the dog.

    “A week or two ago, my wife got some sort of stomach bug,” the Reddit user wrote under the subreddit /r/dogs. “She was really nauseous and ill for about a week. Otis is very in tune with her emotions (we once got in a fight and she was upset, I swear he was staring daggers at me lol) and during this time didn’t even want to leave her to go on walks. We thought it was adorable!”

    His wife soon felt better, butthe dog’s behavior didn’t change.

    pregnancy signs, dogs and pregnancy, pitbull behavior, pet intuition, dog overprotection, Reddit stories, viral Reddit, dog instincts, canine emotions, dog owner tips
    Otis knew before they did. Canva

    Girlfriendhatesmefor began to fear that Otis’ behavior may be an early sign of an aggression issue or an indication that the dog was hurt or sick.

    So he threw a question out to fellow Reddit users: “Has anyone else’s dog suddenly developed attachment/aggression issues? Any and all advice appreciated, even if it’s that we’re being paranoid!”

    The most popular response to his thread was by ZZBC.

    Any chance your wife is pregnant?

    ZZBC | Reddit

    The potential news hit Girlfriendhatesmefor like a ton of bricks. A few days later, Girlfriendhatesmefor posted an update and ZZBC was right!

    “The wifey is pregnant!” the father-to-be wrote. “Otis is still being overprotective but it all makes sense now! Thanks for all the advice and kind words! Sorry for the delayed reply, I didn’t check back until just now!”

    Redditors responded with similar experiences.

    Anecdotal I know but I swear my dog knew I was pregnant before I was. He was super clingy (more than normal) and was always resting his head on my belly.

    realityisworse | Reddit

    So why do dogs get overprotective when someone is pregnant?

    Jeff Werber, PhD, president and chief veterinarian of the Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles, told Health.com that “dogs can also smell the hormonal changes going on in a woman’s body at that time.” He added the dog may “not understand that this new scent of your skin and breath is caused by a developing baby, but they will know that something is different with you—which might cause them to be more curious or attentive.”

    The big lesson here is to listen to your pets and to ask questions when their behavior abruptly changes. They may be trying to tell you something, and the news may be life-changing.

    This article originally appeared last year.

  • Throughout history, women have stood up and fought to break down barriers imposed on them from stereotypes and societal expectations. The trailblazers in these photos made history and redefined what a woman could be. In doing so, they paved the way for future generations to stand up and continue to fight for equality.

  • ,

    Why mass shootings spawn conspiracy theories

    Mass shootings and conspiracy theories have a long history.

    While conspiracy theories are not limited to any topic, there is one type of event that seems particularly likely to spark them: mass shootings, typically defined as attacks in which a shooter kills at least four other people.

    When one person kills many others in a single incident, particularly when it seems random, people naturally seek out answers for why the tragedy happened. After all, if a mass shooting is random, anyone can be a target.

    Pointing to some nefarious plan by a powerful group – such as the government – can be more comforting than the idea that the attack was the result of a disturbed or mentally ill individual who obtained a firearm legally.


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