Renowned Physician Helps Parents Evaluate Their Teens Emotional, Physical, and Spiritual Health

In 'God's Design for the Highly Healthy Teen', Dr. Larimore candidly answers questions regarding critical teen health issues such as obesity, dieting, ADD/ADHD diagnosis, disciplining teens, STDs, body-piercing, self-injury, sports and steroids, choosing friends, and others. By defining the Bibles explanation of health, and guiding parents as they seek to equip their children, Larimore offers candid insights into these and other crucial issues facing teens today.

Grand Rapids, MI (PRWEB) January 9, 2005 -- Finding a trusted family physician is like having an extra parent--someone who can diagnose your childs illnesses and can also offer advice on subjects from acne and puberty to emerging teen sexuality and drug usage. The doctor is in. In his new book, Gods Design for the Highly Healthy Teen (Zondervan, ISBN 0-310-24032-8, $14.99), Walt Larimore, M.D. addresses the gamut of health issues facing teens and pre-teens today.

Throughout the book, Dr. Larimore candidly answers questions regarding critical teen health issues such as obesity, dieting, ADD/ADHD diagnosis, disciplining teens, STDs, body-piercing, self-injury, sports and steroids, choosing friends, and others. By defining the Bibles explanation of health, and guiding parents as they seek to equip their children, Larimore offers candid insights into these and other crucial issues facing teens today.

Gods Design for the Highly Healthy Teen includes Dr. Larimores 4-Wheel" assessment tool designed to help parents quickly evaluate where they need to improve in their quest to nurture a healthier teen. Dr. Larimore explains that raising a healthy teen is not dependent on physical well-being alone but requires an assessment of four major areas:

- The Physical Wheel-for teens to be physically healthy, disease must be prevented whenever possible and treated as needed.

- The Emotional Wheel-being emotionally healthy means learning to cope with and actually embrace the full spectrum of human emotions that teens will face daily in their adolescent years.

- The Relational Wheel-relational, or social, health might be defined as the state maximum well-being in a teens social relationships-those with siblings, family, friends, schoolmates, etc.

- The Spiritual Wheel-possibly the most crucial wheel, a teens spiritual health provides meaning, purpose and joy-the cornerstone of true health.

Dr. Larimore states that teens will not be highly healthy and will not grow to be highly healthy adults unless they get equal amounts of air" in all four wheels.

Highly healthy teens will be those young men and women whose four health wheels are inflated with self-confidence and balanced with parental love and direction," he writes. When the four wheels are working synchronously, parents will see their teens become as healthy as possible-and be satisfied as well."

The book provides graph illustrations which can be copied, or downloaded from Larimores website for parents (www.highlyhealthy.net) to use when making observations on a teenagers health, allowing them to quickly evaluate their teen on his Four Wheels" of assessment.

He then offers a formula for scoring the assessment, and directions in how to move forward to grow your children toward better health.

Gods Design for the Highly Healthy Teen is the only guide parents will ever need to navigate the most intimidating stage (both for them, and their teens) of their pre-teen and teenagers lives.

To request a review copy, or interview with Dr. Larimore, contact Shanon Underwood at shanon@psmediarelations.com or 615-498-2189.

Walt Larimore, M.D. has been a medical journalist since 1995. He hosted a nationally-syndicated health news feature and has appeared on NBC's Today show, CBS This Morning, CNN Headline News and PBSs Family Works. He practiced family medicine for over twenty years, served as a volunteer physician for the U.S. Olympic Committee, and has been named in Distinguished Physicians of America, Best Doctors in America and Whos Who in Healthcare and Medicine. He has written or co-written a dozen books, including Alternative Medicine, 10 Essentials of Highly Healthy People, and The Highly Healthy Child. He and his wife, Barb, have two grown children, and live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

# # #