Big Island Wellness Solutions announced the publication of “Hawai’i Healthy Me,” which addresses healthy lifestyles. The booklet will be distributed to every public school fourth-grader on the Island of Hawaii. Fourth-graders in Naalehu were the first to receive the book.
Big Island Wellness Solutions announced the publication of “Hawai’i Healthy Me,” which addresses healthy lifestyles. The booklet will be distributed to every public school fourth-grader on the Island of Hawaii. Fourth-graders in Naalehu were the first to receive the book.
Big Island Wellness Solutions was awarded a grant to address healthy eating lifestyles.
Included in the book are comments from Mayor Billy Kenoi, who grew up in Kalapana where he and his brother and sisters had no TV but ran around, swam and surfed daily. His parents and many of his relatives had diabetes and high blood pressure, so he and his wife, Takako, wanted to be healthy for their three children, Liam, Justin and Mahina.
“To stay healthy, we need to make good choices,” Kenoi said. “We need to get up and get active instead of sitting around. We need to eat fruits instead of french fries. We need to jump rope instead of eating junk food, and we need to go surfing or swimming instead of drinking soda.”
In the booklet, Malia and Kimo learn from Tutu about eating healthy local food, starting their own vegetable garden and exercising instead of sitting around and watching TV or playing video games. Sections include eating right, cooking right, a guide to manners, healthy recipes and playing right.
Big Island Wellness Solutions Executive Director Audrey Wilson shares Mayor Kenoi’s passion for a healthier Hawaii, and thinks “we are what we eat.”
Together with her team, illustrator Gary Hoff, Carla Kuo, Cody Osborne, Reid and Dean Shigeoka, husband Jim Wilson and Kim and Andrew Arakawa of Prune Copy Writing, “Hawai‘i Healthy Me” will be distributed to every fourth-grader with the assistance of the Rotary Club of South Hilo and other organizations.