For many who struggle with weight and healthful living issues, changing unhealthy habits and eating patterns has often been a defeating battle. Now, there is a way, call it a miracle if you will, that success can finally be in the grasp of everyone who desires to bring all areas of their life --- physical, spiritual, emotional and mental --- into a more healthy balance.

For the past 27 years, hundreds of thousands of Christians have achieved lasting weight loss through First Place, a grace-filled, Bible-based weight-management program with groups in over 12,000 churches. This revolutionary program uses everyday foods, includes a support and accountability component, and focuses on biblical health and disease prevention. Recently, the program has been completely revamped. The brand new version, renamed First Place 4 Health, is written by Carole Lewis, the organization’s national director. First Place 4 Health takes the program to the next level, shifting the focus from weight management to complete wellness. Members of First Place 4 Health learn that pursuing holistic health is not optional for followers of Christ; it is a necessary component to Christian living.

“Losing weight is not the real answer to our problems. But being overweight is often the warning sign that we are not where we need to be in life,” Lewis states. “The real answer is that we need to live a balanced life. As Jesus says in Mark 12:30, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.’ God wants to deal with all aspects of your life --- the mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical. He wants to bring all four areas into balance. The First Place 4 Health program is not just about helping you lose weight. It’s about helping you make the best choices to ensure that the positive changes you do make last your whole life.”

This program is not a quick fix. It isn’t about simply dropping a dress size. Rather, Lewis issues the challenge, “Give God and First Place 4 Health a year…and your life will change forever.”  The foundation for this comprehensive program is the book FIRST PLACE 4 HEALTH: Discover a New Way to Healthy Living, which provides a framework for addressing wellness in each of the four areas of life. The accompanying member guide delivers detailed instructions and helpful hints for everything from determining correct serving sizes to starting an exercise routine to memorizing Scripture. This updated version includes a simple, sensible new food plan based on the USDA food pyramid and new exercise guidelines as well.

The First Place 4 Health: Begin with Christ Bible study series is the program’s cornerstone, and this update features completely rewritten studies that are fresh for today’s readers. “Almost every First Place 4 Health member I have talked with about the program says, ‘The weight loss is wonderful, but the most important thing I have received from my association with First Place 4 Health is learning to study God’s word,’” Lewis states.

Breaking free from unhealthy habits is difficult. Statistically, 95% of people who lose weight will gain it back again. But, with an alteration in mindset from merely weight loss to pursuing God’s design for total wellness, lasting change is possible. First Place 4 Health stands on 27 years of personal success stories, and those stories tend to include a common theme --- a life-giving relationship with God. “God’s plan for us is not only perfect, but it also goes far beyond what we could possibly envision,” Lewis declares. “Throughout the pages of the Bible, our gracious God promises that if we trust Him completely --- and seek Him more than we seek anything else on Earth --- He will bring balance, healing, and wholeness into every aspect of our lives.”

FIRST PLACE 4 HEALTH: Discover a New Way to Healthy Living © Copyright 2011 by Carole Lewis with Marcus Brotherton. Reprinted with permission by Regal Books. All rights reserved.