Everything a woman needs to rejuvenate her body, soul, and spirit in just 90 days!
You want a healthier lifestyle but aren't sure how and just can't get motivated. You'd also like a better reltaionship with God, but frankly, devotional time seems like one more chore on your to-do list.
Welcome to Total Heart Health for Women.
Now it's easy to keep your physical and spiritual hearts in sync?simply take the 90-Day Total Heart Health Challenge?a revolutionary, easy-to-follow program that teaches you to:
- Understand how hormones, metabolism, and more affect your heart
- Keep God at the center of your relationships
- Recognize a woman's symptoms of a heart problem
- Customize a fitness plan that works for you
Research suggests that optimal well-being requires physical and spiritual heart health, and this practical resource helps you find wholeness in every area. Whether you're twenty, forty, sixty, or older, God created you to enjoy outstanding physical health and spiritual strength. So why wait? Begin your transformation toady?inside and out!
Three months after embracing this Total Heart Health Challenge, we believe you can look into the mirror and see a new woman!
Total Heart Health for Women
By Ed Young Jo Beth Young Michael Duncan Richard LeachmanThomas Nelson
Copyright © 2007 Dr. Ed and Jo Beth Young, Dr. Michael Duncan and Dr. Richard Leachman
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-0-8499-1850-6Contents
Introduction: Woman to Woman You can have a healthy heart lifestyle in 90 days!...............................................................vii1. The Heart of the Matter It's your total heart, not just the parts, that matters.............................................................1Part 1: The Unique Beauty of a Woman's Heart2. The Wonder of a Woman's Heart Your heart isn't on your sleeve; it's everywhere!............................................................133. What's So Special About Your Heart? It pumps blood just like a man's but is affected by different hormones.................................234. Your Heart Connection with God You have the same spiritual capacity as a man but a different concept of God................................33Part 2: The Enemies of a Woman's Heart5. Your Heart Is a Target God wants you to enjoy a rich, full life; but someone else has other plans..........................................456. Heart Health-A Real Life-and-Death Matter If you're not heart savvy, "love handles" are just the tip of the iceberg........................537. Resist the Assault on Your Spiritual Heart Turn from fear and resignation, and your life will light up with hope...........................638. Are You Eating to Live or Living to Eat? The path to a healthy physical heart goes through your stomach....................................759. Calories: Are They Friend or Foe? Achieving healthy energy balance is all about healthy calorie balance....................................8710. Four Health Trends That Can Hurt Your Heart Just because "everybody's doing it" doesn't mean it's right for you...........................9711. Five Fears That Will Erode Your Faith If you can trust God for anything, why can't you trust Him for everything?..........................10712. Unblocking the Flow to Your Spiritual Heart Five areas where you may be in need of "spiritual angioplasty."...............................117Part 3: The Ongoing Health of a Woman's Heart13. Energy from the Proper Fuels How to get more bounce in your step with less jiggle everywhere else.........................................12914. Adding Fire to Dietary Fuels Cholesterol, fiber, vitamins, minerals-and what they mean in your daily diet.................................14115. Spiritual Energy for Every Hour of the Day Enjoy God as you never have before, no matter how tough your life is...........................15116. Heart Exercise for Fun and Personal Profit Careful planning and variety are the keys to your "energy-out" program.........................16117. Are You Getting Daily Spiritual Workouts? A healthy spiritual heart needs exercise as much as it needs fuel...............................17518. Be Your Own Diet Guru Which of today's flashy pop diets are best for you? None of them!...................................................18519. Get Your Guidance from the Guardian of Your Heart Which of today's pop psychologists should you follow? None of them!.....................19320. Are You Ready for the 90-Day Challenge? Is "next Monday" a good time for you to start transforming your life?.............................201Total Heart Health Journal.....................................................................................................................20821. Physical Energy In: Menus and Recipes Twenty-one days of easy, healthy weight-loss menus for you and your family..........................21122. Spiritual Energy In: 90 Days with God's Word Bible passages you can "feed on" during your 90-Day Challenge................................235Notes..........................................................................................................................................237
Chapter One
The Heart of the Matter It's your total heart, not just the parts, that matters.
Ed and Jo Beth Young
Carolyn is the envy of the lakeshore where she runs five or six mornings a week. When she glides by, glistening bronze sculpture in motion, heads turn. She's trim, toned, tan, and twenty-eight. Less-sculpted women look at Carolyn and say, "She wears spandex to show off what she's got; I wear it to hold everything in."
Fitness is more than a hobby with Carolyn; it's her career. Having earned degrees in business and health, she owns a small, upscale fitness club in the city and teaches classes in cardiovascular health and nutrition. Carolyn makes very good money, allowing her to afford a nanny for her preschool twins. And with the little boys taken care of, she constantly pushes herself physically-running farther and faster, working out strenuously, expanding the limits of her endurance.
What no one knows about this fitness goddess is that she wakes up in a cold sweat several nights a week, heart palpitating, stomach in knots, struggling to breathe. Carolyn has never lacked for male companions. But they all leave her eventually, just as Brett left their marriage two years ago. She feels so alone. Her heart aches for someone to love her for who she is, not just for her hard-body looks.
And for all the good Carolyn's focused diet and exercise are doing her physically, she feels empty at the core, as if her spiritual muscles are atrophied and useless. It's an even deeper ache than her desire for human connection.
Angie, a fifty-something wife and mother of three teens, lives in a world vastly different from Carolyn's. Most members of the small church Angie attends see her as a sterling example of spiritual and moral strength. Angie is usually the first volunteer for service projects. And when she's not spearheading a project, Angie is just there for people in the church, especially the women-listening to their problems, praying with them, and sending encouraging notes and e-mails.
Angie is so busy with church and family that she doesn't have time to keep herself in shape. Nutrition and exercise just aren't on her agenda. The meals she plans for the family-and eats herself-are quick, tasty, abundant, and loaded with calories, carbs, and fat. As a result, Angie is overweight by forty-five pounds-and counting. She can't walk up a flight of stairs without pausing to rest halfway.
Then there's Rebecca, who could be the poster girl for women who aspire to succeed as working wives and mothers. In grad school, Rebecca-a law student-met and married Carlos. Four years into her law practice, Rebecca gave birth to their first child. Rebecca and Carlos decided together not to give up Rebecca's career in order to be a stay-at-home mom. So after a short maternity leave, Rebecca was back in the office, often with baby and diaper bag in tow.
Cynthia is four now. Rebecca and Carlos have a fine-tuned schedule for tag-team childcare, which allows them both to keep working full-time without relegating Cynthia to day-care centers. On Saturdays, either Rebecca or her husband spends a few hours at work just to stay ahead. The six-day routine is grueling and exhausting, leaving time for little else. But Rebecca is intent on achieving junior partner by the time she's forty, and Carlos is committed to helping her do it. The couple is just as determined that Cynthia, the joy of their hearts, will not be a casualty of their career pursuits.
But there have been casualties from Rebecca's drive for success as a lawyer and mother. Her once-fervent faith in God...
