The Creation Health Breakthrough
Monica Reed, M.D., CEO of Florida Hospital Celebration Health, 2007, 274 pages, US$22.99, hardcover, published by Hachette Book Group, New York. Reviewed by Luca Marulli, a student at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in Berrien Springs, Michigan.
As a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist, Dr. Monica Reed has been promoting health and well-being in various ways, such as through her directorship of the Loch Haven OB/GYN group, her lectures at annual meetings of the National Medical Association, and her appearances on television (ABC and NBC affiliate channels) for medical news reports.
Reed’s emphasis on wholistic health and prevention through behavioral change is well documented by her contribution to creating the innovative Florida Hospital Celebration Health, opened in 1997, at which she serves as chief executive officer (CEO).
Coauthor Donna K. Wallace, a licensed minister of education with a master’s degree in theological studies, is a well-known collaborative writer.
This book—which makes for inspiring and pleasant reading—is largely the fruit of a balanced use of medical knowledge, integrated with passionate experience in the field and successfully applied to hectic everyday real-life issues and expectations. Reed helps the reader to understand the need of—and the pattern for—a positive, healthful behavioral change with helpful introductions and notes, although a working bibliography is missing.
The volume opens with a bold statement: “This book is packed with information that will dramatically improve your life” (p. xi). The author challenges readers to engage themselves seriously in a journey that starts with a very simple and yet fundamental step: choosing to “put what you learn into action” (p. xii, emphasis hers).
The author stresses the importance of developing a personal “Lifestyle Learning Continuum,” which enables the implementation of healthful behavioral choices without even being conscious of them. Reed herself successfully has wrestled with several lifestyle issues that are undoubtedly real and common in today’s American families and individuals.
Chapter 1 introduces the basis and principles of Reed’s approach to better health. She coins the acronym ?CREATION to systematically expose “eight principles drawn from the Genesis story”: choice, rest, environment, activity, trust, interpersonal relationships, outlook, and nutrition.
Also valuable are the simplified medical research findings, or Breakthrough stories, throughout the book (case histories and patient stories); quotes; Dr. Reed’s personal experience; and, at the end of each chapter, a summary and a practical-application section. A self-assessment test, a “Three-Day Rejuvenation Therapy” plan, and an “Eight-Week Lifestyle Transformation Plan” are included at the end of the book.
Reed exposes the reader to “good thoughts” and quotes focused on the need for a strong, personal resolution to fulfill our original vocation: to be energized and healthy as God intended us to be. Various positive lifestyle options, however, such as the three-day rejuvenation retreat, might not be accessible to everyone.
The Creation Health Breakthrough is reader-friendly and written in a language that can benefit health-care specialists and common readers alike. It’s a valuable contribution to our search for well-being.
