40 Days to Better Living: Optimal Health

By: Scott Morris

Product Description

Are you committed to getting in shape? This information-packed resource will help you be the best you can be---body, mind, and spirit! Filled with biblical encouragement, practical advice, and personal stories, it features a 7-step model---faith, medical, movement, work, emotional, nutrition, and family and friends---to help you achieve maximum wellness.

Product Information

Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 176
Vendor: Barbour Publishing
Publication Date: 2011
Dimensions: 7.50 X 5.25 X 0.25 (inches)

ISBN: 1616262648
ISBN-13: 9781616262648
Availability: In Stock
Series: 40 Days to Better Living

Publisher's Description

You want to feel better—and 40 Days to Better Living: Optimal Health provides clear, manageable steps to get you there, through life-changing attitudes and actions. If you’re ready to really live better, select one or more elements of the 7-step Model for Healthy Living—Faith, Medical, Movement, Work, Emotional, Family and Friends, and Nutrition—and follow the 40-day plan to improve your life, just a bit, day by day. With plenty of practical advice, biblical encouragement, and stories of real people who’ve taken the same journey, this book—from the Church Health Center in Memphis, the largest faith-based clinic of its type in the U.S.—may be the most important book you read this year!

Author Bio

Dr. Scott Morris is a family practice physician and ordained United Methodist minister who founded the Church Health Center in Memphis, Tennessee. The center, formed in 1987 to provide quality healthcare for working, uninsured people, has grown to become the largest faith-based clinic of its type in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

This book was a wonderful surprise. It is so synthesized and succinct, and yet full of useful information. The format also was really unique.

This book will be one someone could work through again and again and make more progress towards a balanced life each time. They will find a balance between mind, body and spirit. This was an amazing book that anyone looking to live life and live it to the full could benefit from reading.

If you really devoted yourself to following this book for the 40 days, you really could change your life.

Great book to get you up and moving, watching your weight and your health with faith as your base. Great motivation!

I previously read Dr. Morris’ book Health Care You Can Live With and was quite impressed with it. Let me say this one I really loved! I was actually surprised – I wasn’t expecting it to be so helpful!

I wasn’t expecting to have a plan laid out before and to have blanks I could go through and figure out what I needed help with. I really really liked this format for this style of book — it puts it in an action plan at your finger tips and gives you a timeline to finish it! Talk about setting people up for success!

Product Reviews

40 Days to Better Living: Optimal Health 4.5 5 2 2

laying a general foundation for wellness Morris wants his readers to remember that God has called us to an abundant life. He wants us to have optimal wellness, Ã¢ÂÂbeing able to fully enjoy the life we have been given.Ã¢ÂÂ This book provides opportunities to do so through being inspired by people whose lives have been changed by the Church Health Center. At the beginning of each of the six weeks, Morris relates a true story, then daily has a format to allow the reader to reflect and grow. He begins with morning reflection. This paragraph is an encouragement of God being with us on the path. He covers goal setting, expectations, setbacks, thankfulness, balance, music, as well as other topics. Next comes an emphasis on your faith life. A thought provoking question about faith is used as a starting point for recording insights into your own faith walk. You are prompted to think about your faith life and what you might like to change. You are asked to read passages of Scripture and reflect on them. Next is a medical section with an inquiry to your medical condition or history. You are encouraged to think about setting goals regarding the state of your health. You learn how to take your pulse,about blood pressure, concern about medication side effects, symptoms of stroke, the importance of water, and other topics. An encouragement to movement follows. It may be a very short exercise or stretching motion. It may be as simple as an encouragement to walk a block farther that day or to breathe deeply. It may be a more intense activity to get your heart rate up, lifting your mood. Then there is a section on work, exploring how you feel about your career and/or volunteering tasks. Perhaps there are aspects of work you'd like to change, such as what you eat during your breaks. Each day has a section on your emotional state, such as recording daily highs and lows and the circumstances around them. There is encouragement to relax, to record your expectations, to overcome setbacks, and to keep a journal. Family and friends comprise the next paragraph. Asking a friend to help you along your journey is suggested, as is identifying those around you who will encourage you during a difficult time. Nutrition is the last subject covered, including what foods you buy, how you shop, and what your favorites foods are. You are encouraged to think about what you might want to change about your eating habits, creating goals. You are encouraged to read food nutrition labels, change to healthy snacks, and use low calorie substitutes. Finally, there is an evening wrap-up with a meditation on an encouraging Scripture and prayer. At the end of the book, Morris reminds us that we now have the skills necessary to continue the journey toward wellness. Setbacks might happen but these forty days have established a foundation to which you can return when you need to. We are reminded that God will give us the strength and endurance we need. Included are additional resources, recommended reading, and websites. I received an egalley of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review. July 23, 2011

Seven Step Plan to Optimal Health Dr. Scott Morris and the staff of Church Health Center of Memphis have collaborated in producing this incredible Ã¢ÂÂ40 Days to Better LivingÃ¢ÂÂ plan for discovering optimal health. The book is made up of forty chapters designed to be read and implemented over a period of forty days. Each week introduces a featured true-to-life story illustrating how to put into practice the suggested guidelines on your personal journey to optimal health. Each chapter includes a Ã¢ÂÂMorning ReflectionÃ¢ÂÂ an Ã¢ÂÂEvening Wrap UpÃ¢ÂÂ and Ã¢ÂÂDaily PracticesÃ¢ÂÂ which are made up of suggestions titled: Faith Life, Medical, Movement, Work, Emotional, Family and Friends, and Nutrition. These practices include self examination questions, practical action steps, and exercise suggestions. A few lined spaced are provided for journal notes, progress reports, or reminders. Each two page spread includes colorful pictures which add a visual impact to one of the Ã¢ÂÂDaily PracticeÃ¢ÂÂ issues. I plan to recommend Ã¢ÂÂ40 Days to Better Living Optimal HealthÃ¢ÂÂ to my family and friends from the Ã¢ÂÂGen XÃ¢ÂÂ generation right up to the Ã¢ÂÂSenior Crowd.Ã¢ÂÂ The cover, content, and format of this book make it a perfect gift for any occasion. I received a complimentary review copy from a representative of the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed are my own. As reviewed on Midwest Book Review. July 23, 2011