This book has been on our shelf for a few years after Jim's employer bought them for their employees and I've been meaning to read it. As part of looking into health information I decided to read it to know what it's teaching and how it compares to other eating plans out there so I can educate to the best of my ability.
Having already read other books, it was challenging to read this unbiased, which I tried desperately to do, but my review will come at it from a mixed view.
I have heard many good things about this plan throughout the years. I really appreciate the five essentials that they use to lay out their plan: faith, food, fitness, focus and friends. Anyone knows that this type of combination helps with the success of anything in life. They take a chapter to explain each of these in detail.
The Faith section had a some encouragement, but parts of it even left me discouraged. They also talk about promises out of context and did not do a great job of explaining the Gospel in this section. In fact, I don't remember it being clear that without Jesus none of the faith element works. Perhaps it was more than I realized, but I remember thinking many times "You can't say that." Without the true faith element, it doesn't work.
The food section I struggled with greatly. They immediately said they were a high carb diet, which was my assumption and while acknowledging you need good fats, I didn't see them incorporated well. This is a problem for pregnant and nursing women for sure and not at all good for children. If a long term diet is not workable in these stations I have a hard time with it. Since I have gestational diabetes I was looking at it from that angle as well and many of their meals I would have to tweak majorly to be able to eat. There are some recipes that I am excited to try though, which is a bonus.
The diet does have its merits and they have some great dishes in the back, but they were lacking in solid research. They also continually suggest Olive Oil for cooking but do not discuss proper temps to keep it from turning to a trans fat. Cornstarch was suggested in several dishes for thickening which I can't eat with diabetes. I was also disheartened to see the moderate demonization of gluten and dairy. There was a LOT of assumption that their diet fits everyone, and having investigated other eating plans and philosophies I cannot say this. What I can tell is this is a great cleansing diet, but many people would likely need to add in more fats after this period of cleansing.
Fitness was encouraging, but again many of the fitness exercises I could not do as a pregnant woman. I liked the encouragement to do what you can and build as well as doing what you enjoy doing as people are built differently. That was a good attribute of this element. I didn't see any acknowledgement of those who already work in physically strenuous jobs and recommendations to help with that. But on the whole the fitness element was well explained.
Focus was a mix of encouragement and discouragement as well. For quality health you do need focus, but they are assuming that their plan is the only one to focus on. I appreciated the section on renewing your mind, but this again only works with God as your guide changing and renewing your mind. The bit of research they shared on the brain was very interesting and good information to consider. I do 100% agree that we need to be focused on God, positive elements and thanksgiving in order to move forward with ideal health. I greatly appreciated this section as that type of research can be taboo in Christian circles.
The Friends element was probably the most discouraging of them all. Why? Because it comes at it from the assumption that this plan will work for everyone completely long term. It means that you have to have people doing this plan with you. Yes, for success we need accountability, but that means, in essence, you need people in the same place you are physically to do this with that can help you with this plan.
Again, I do think this plan has merits and I'm grateful for the five elements to help in guiding the plan, but there is too much of the "one size fits all" feel and not enough sound science or longevity to say that this is a good plan long term for everyone. There is not a whole lot of wiggle room. They also don't tell you a great way to make treats. This is sad and frustrating. Instead they simply expect you to simply say no to all of it.
They also recommend eating all day, which is contrary with other research I have done for those who are morbidly obese and struggling with diabetes. I'm sure there are some with these conditions that have had success, but is it dealing with the underlying issues? I also would love to see numbers in blood work (this is the nurse coming out in me) to see how these things are doing.
My biggest issue with this book is they base their entire plan on a paragraph of Scripture instead of the whole. They completely neglect other Old Testament and New Testament teachings in their program.
I recommend doing your own research and know where you are in your health journey. This book could be helpful in this, but remember there are many elements to consider and always seek a professional opinion.
3 stars for this daily living book.
Reading Challenges:
This book is being included in the
Tim Challies 2020 Reading Challenge as a book about food or cooking in the Committed section of the challenge.
On Friday I reached the wonderful marker of 30 weeks with our tenth baby! With this being number ten and in the last quarter of this pregnancy, I'm finding myself stopping more to cherish these little moments. Because life is a little slower right now with all that's going on in the world, God is giving me the reminder to stop, pause an enjoy these little moments that may never happen again.
