Interestingly, I have been a Christian for over 15 years, at least 5 of those years I have been a bible study teacher, I have taught my students that the Bible is the book of all books and in it you can find principles for every aspect of your life, if you want to know how to budget, there are scriptures and principles that can help you. What about having a striving relationship with your spouse or for knowing how to raise a family? There are principles that will help you with all of that and more. However, I never consider that god has plan for my health, of course I read scriptures about health and have even mentioned few of them to my students, but I never really gave any thoughts the question of what is god’s plan for my health, until I got a copy ‘God’s Plan for Wellness’ by Kathleen Lesage, who is a Certified Health Coach and leader in the wellness retreat industry.
The writer reminds me of my own self when I was doing my degree few years ago when she said, “I myself at many times in my life have created this crazy, unattainable goal of “where I should be,” not even caring about my own health and well-being or how I got there.” So I was only too happy to start reading this book.
Here are 5 things I learnt from reading this book:
1.Self-acceptance: If you are going to start the process of health and wellness, maybe you want to lose weight as you are not satisfy with your body, the first step is accept yourself for where you are currently. This can be very hard for many people because they hate the skin they are in. The author said this because working on ourselves take time, you will not be able to shed that extra 50 pound in few days (at least if you want to do it the healthy way), it will take time. But despite our unhealthy practices that have gotten us where we are now, God has a plan, a wellness plan for each one of us and we cannot start the process by feeling ashame or guilty or blaming outside forces, we have to accept that we got ourselves where we are now, and by following God’s plan we can get ourselves out of it.
- Enjoy your food while eating healthy: Many people have the notion that if you are going to eat healthy that you cannot enjoy your food at the same time, that you must eat things that you do not enjoy or want to, but Kathleen disagree with this as she believes, and teaches her clients that they can enjoy their food and at the same time eat healthy as “Nature-made food comes packed with the good stuff— vitamins, micronutrients, minerals, and fiber—delivering the important nutrients that sustain life the way God created it.” says Kathleen in the book. This we can do instead of consuming process food in large quantities.
In the book she gave examples on how we can start eating healthy by replacing our unhealthy habits with healthy ones, for example, in one part of the book she suggested we can “keep fresh fruits and cut-up veggies handy so you can easily reach for them when hunger strikes. A great way to build a new habit is to remove yourself from your daily environment for a while and use that time and space to start building new habits that reinforce a healthier way of life.” what stops many people from living healthy is because they surround themselves with unhealthy foods and they hang out with people that eats unhealthy so no matter how hard they try to eat and live healthy they always go back to their old unhealthy habit of eating unhealthy foods. In the last chapter of the book she gives us recipes that she use at her wellness retreats.
- Spend time in nature: Spending time in nature is something many of us do not do often as in our pursuit of success and with improvement in modern technology e.g the cellphone, video games, computer and other gadgets, we forgot what it feels like to unplug from the world and just enjoy nature and rejuvenate. She further talks about the benefits of being in nature, two of which is that base on scientific research and scriptures, nature has the power to bring restoration to our health as it eliminates anxiety, depression, emotional turmoil, mood swings and stress that are common occurrences in our busy daily life.
She said something that I found very surprising though, “Staying away from the gym just might be a surefire way to get in shape.” This is something I disagree with. Of course spending time in nature eg running or walking has great benefits, but so is joining a gym, for one the gym is not only for running, but you have weights and other equipment’s that helps to build your muscles amongst other benefits to your body. I believe that a sure way to good health is both being a part of nature, and also working out at the gym, when you combine these two together you are sure to get the necessary workout and rejuvenation that you need.
- Remove or eliminate genetically modified food from your diet. In God’s Plan for Wellness, the author goes on to encourage us to eliminate genetically modified food from our diet, these include animals, plants, and bacteria that are made for a wide selection of applications, from agricultural manufacturing to scientific research.
Reasons why we should eliminate these foods for our diet includes: 1. They have lower nutrients than its natural counterpart. 2. Increased Toxicity- this is because these foods produce toxins at increased levels that could be harmful to humans. 3. Prepackaged Food Dangers- food packages contain small amounts of chemical substances that oftentimes diffuse into food. The end result can be cancer, reproductive organ damage, birth defects and development problems
- Be careful of the people you hang around: Very few of us associate who we surround ourselves with on a day to day with wellness, but in God’s Plan for Wellness, Kathleen reminds us that who we hang out with affects us as toxic relationships are not good for us both emotionally and physically. She says that before you start the process of living a healthy life we should take a serious look at the people in our lives, these include family, friends and colleagues as these relationships will either have a positive effect on our lives, or a negative effect which can cause us to be depress, stress, and feeling overwhelm. Positive people on the other hand will empower us to make the right choices when it comes to our overall health and wellness.
Conclusion
As individuals, it is very important that we take a very good look at the health of our mind, body and spirit, and if you are ready to take this journey then God’s Plan for Wellness’ by Kathleen Lesage is a great start even if you are not a Christian.
When many of us think about living a healthy lifestyle we only think about our body, neglecting the needs of our mind and spirit, and by doing so not taking a holistic approach to our health and wellness.
This book is not only a wakeup call for me, but it is a book for the ages, if you want to live a healthy life so that you can be around for your grandkids and if you want to enjoy life to the fullest because your health is in tact, you need to grab a copy of God’s Plan for Wellness’ by Kathleen Lesage.
Get your copy now at Amazon
About the Author:
Kathleen LeSage is a Certified Health Coach, the owner of the trademark “The Natural Wrapper Diet” and co-owns with her husband one of America’s top destination spa and wellness retreats. Kathleen has appeared on A&E’s It’s a Living and Good Morning America. She held a career in public relations and marketing, working with such companies as Marriott International and Woodward & Lothrop in Washington, DC. For the past 15 years, she has run New Life Hiking Spa with her husband. Under Kathleen’s marketing management, New Life has won the #1 Destination Spa of 2016 by Travel + Leisure magazine and appeared on the Today Show. New Life has become one of the best-known wellness retreats in North America and has been featured in Health magazine, AARP, Shape magazine, SELF magazine, Rand McNally and USA Today. Kathleen currently resides with her husband and two children in Vermont and Florida, where they all do their part in running the family business. They enjoy traveling, homeschooling and outdoor activities in which they can just appreciate God’s amazing creation.
About the Publisher:
CrossLink Publishing is a traditional Christian publishing company based in Castle Rock, CO. CrossLink publishes a variety of bible study, meditation, and spiritual growth books distributed by AtlasBooks. For more information, visit CrossLinkPublishing.com.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookCrash.com book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive, review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR Title 16, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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