Nordic Naturals & Healthy Child Healthy World Back to School Promotion

Nordic Naturals wants to make a difference in the lives of children. This year, Nordic Naturals has teamed up with the nonprofit group, Healthy Child Healthy World. They want to help educate families everywhere with their message:

"It is essential that we protect our children from harmful contaminants by creating healthy environments where our children can grow, thrive, and flourish."

In today's world, there are a growing number of toxins and chemicals that are affecting everything from the food we eat to the products that we bring into our home and beyond. Nordic Naturals and Healthy Child Healthy World are concerned about this issue and how it is affecting our families:

"Our children live in a world that is vastly different from years ago. More than 80,000 chemicals, most of which did not exist fifty years ago, are registered for use in commerce in the United States, and approximately 700 new ones are introduced every year. These chemicals are used in everyday items such asfood, shampoo, toys, furniture, electronics, household cleaners, and lawn care products, to name just a few. The effects of most of these chemicals on human health are unknown. Of these high-volume chemicals, only 43% have been tested for potential human toxicity, and only 7% have been studied for their possible effects on child development. Even fewer have been tested for their health effects when they interact with one another. What is this doing to our kids? For the most part, we don’t really know. It’s largely an unregulated experiment—and our children are the canaries in the coalmine."

The reality of toxins and chemicals not only affecting us, but our children can be a scary thought. How do we protect ourselves and our children? How can we prevent these chemicals from affecting our children? 

I try to educate myself about creating a healthier environment for our family. It has been a journey for me and I feel that every step I make is a step towards making a healthier home and future for my family. I am continually trying to eliminate toxins from our home to make it a safer, cleaner and greener place. Here are some of the things that I do to make our home a greener place:

• We used cloth diapers with little man (and are going to be using them for baby #2). There are a lot of chemicals in paper diapers and the amount of waste that heads out the door to a landfill is just staggering! Switching to cloth has kept those chemicals off our our sons bottom and it is also helping to keep waste out of our landfills.

• We use all-natural detergents that are free of fillers, fragrances and chemicals. I found that this really helped to clear up little man's bumpy, rashy skin on his arms.

• We have switched out traditional, store bought household cleaners and replaced them with more eco-friendly cleaners or simply use baking soda and vinegar to clean with. It is truly amazing how many things you can clean with vinegar! 

• My goal has been to swap out all of our beauty products, makeup, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant, body wash, etc. for products that have less toxins than traditional products. This has been a slower process, as I am still learning about which brands are truly better. When I am out looking for new products, I look at the ingredients - the fewer the better! The more ingredients that I can pronounce and know what they are ...even better!

• We try to only have healthy, natural and/or organic foods into our home. I rarely buy processed or boxed food items and try to stick to making most meals from scratch. We shop at our local farmers market, which is fun and it is so nice to buy organic foods that come from the farms within a small radius of where we live. Ever since I learned about the "Dirty Dozen", I have really tried to keep pesticides out of our home and bodies that could be lurking in our foods. We also joined a CSA program this year. I love supporting a local, organic farm and getting a box full of goodies every two weeks. Not only have I learned more about foods and learned some great, healthy recipes, but I also think that I have added a lot of variety to our diets. 

• We have also added vitamins and omega-3's to our families daily diets. While I try to make plenty of balanced and varied meal options, there are some days that little man just doesn't want to eat much or we are out and about and don't eat as healthfully as I would like. Vitamins are a great way to fill in the days nutritional "gaps" and omega 3's help your brain to work and function better. Little man takes a liquid form of omega 3's and we call it his "brain juice"!

• We have houseplants growing throughout our home (especially in the bedrooms). Not only is it nice to have some greenery throughout our home, but plants like english ivy and philodendrons (among others) are great at filtering toxins out of the air in your home.

I enjoy educating myself and have found Healthy Child Healthy World to be a great resource as I try to learn more. They are a nonprofit organization that encourages healthy living and awareness of unnecessary toxic risks to children's health. Healthy Child Healthy World, empowers parents to take simple steps to create healthier environments for children. I appreciate that they don't make their information overwhelming, but rather, they encourage you with easy actions and responsible lifestyle choices. You can check them out at www.healthychild.org to learn more information.

This year Nordic Naturals and Healthy Child Healthy World have partnered together for a wonderful Back-to-School Promotion. Nordic Naturals will donate a portion of proceeds from selected Nordic Naturals children’s products to Healthy Child Healthy World during its Back-to-School promotion, which will run from August 1st   through October 31st. One dollar of every bottle sold of the following products will be donated to Healthy Child Healthy World:

Nordic Berries™ – chewy, sweet-and-sour multivitamins provide 100% of  the daily value of the most essential nutrients
Nordic Omega-3 Gummies™ – easy-to-chew, omega-3 tangerine treats for ages   2+
Children’s DHA™ – chewable, strawberry-flavored omega-3s support brain   and visual function for ages 3+
Baby’s DHA – omega-3s for babies 5-35 lbs. with a measured dropper   for easy addition to formula or food

I think that this is a great promotion and one that I am more than happy to support! I buy the Nordic Berries and Children's DHA for little man. He absolutely loves the Nordic Berries and I love that he is getting a healthy source of vitamins and omegs 3's every day!

You can connect with Nordic Naturals through Facebook and Twitter as well as shopping for their products at your local healthy food store. You can connect with Healthy Child Healthy World through Facebook, Twitter and follow along on their Blog.

*I have partnered with Nordic Naturals and Healthy Child Healthy World for for this post. I will receive product compensation for writing this post. The compensation has not influenced my opinion.*