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Reviewed by Cyndi Alte , an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church who serves as the Director of Congregational Health Ministry at Clarian Health, Indianapolis, Indiana Faith and Fitness: Diet and Exercise for a Better World by Tom P. Hafer “God created the world in a way that gives us all the provisions and nutrition a person needs for a healthy and full life … Unlike everything made by humans, the body rebuilds, strengthens and improves with consistent use, and weakens when not used appropriately.” With these two axioms, Tom P. Hafer, registered physical therapist and certified athletic trainer, writes a concise, informative book about the relationship between the treatment of one’s body and the treatment of God’s creation. Building on the African word ubuntu, meaning to formulate an identity only in relation to the community and not as individuals, Hafer presents a compelling argument for self-discipline as a means of global wholeness. Hafer encourages readers to shift thinking from being self-motivated to being globally-motivated when seeking healthy lifestyles. His foundational belief that allowing love and compassion to be the catalyst for our motivation is the pervading thought throughout the book. In the second chapter, entitled simply Food, the book focuses on the food industry and how it influences our eating habits. Practical information is given: -50 grams of protein, the FDA daily recommendation, is one handful of peanuts. -One avocado or five ounces of walnuts is the daily recommended amount of nutritional fat. -A nutrition bar has the same amount of calories as 110 asparagus spears or ten cups of green beans or 4 apples or three bananas or eight cups of watermelon. All the natural foods have more fiber, protein, Vitamin A and C. calcium, iron and less fat and sodium than a single nutrition bar. More persuasive is the information about our global connection: -McDonald’s feeds forty-six million people a day and the garbage from one day at McDonald’s is enough to fill the Empire State Building. -The livestock in the United States eat enough grain and soybeans to feed the entire population of the country five times over. -Reducing American’s meat consumption by only 10% could feed sixty million people with the grain saved. The issue of personal food consumption and global need for food is captured with this quote: “If we are touched by the images of men, women and children that we have seen starving for food, it is because they are a reflection of our own need. They are a reminder not only of that part of us that is hungry, but also of that part of us that needs to give in order to be whole.” Robbins, J., and A. Mortifee, In Search of Balance (Tiburon, Calif: H.J. Kramer, 1991), 96-97. It is in the shift from the current need-to-lose-weight model toward a need-to-feed-others model that a person finds deeper and richer meaning in healthy living. As in the second chapter, Hafer gives practical information in the third chapter, Exercise: -If you can speak in short sentences without gasping when exercising, that is aerobic exercise. -A person can lose up to 1% of muscle size every year after the age of 25. -Exercise stimulates endorphins which function like an anti-depressant. -Replacing the computer chair with a 75 cm therapy ball will improve posture and strengthen abdominal and trunk strength. He concludes this portion of the book with some practical suggestions for communing with nature as a means of exercise that engages all the senses and serves as a reminder of our connectedness to creation. The final chapter, Fit To Serve, continues with the theme of serving others. In particular, when we live in a healthy manner, it is the ultimate form of Christ’s command to love one another. Illustrations are given for both individual and congregational ways of fulfilling the command. Included are examples of Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist worship that are forms of spiritual and physical exercise. Complementing these examples are biblical references for Christian worship. While Hafer’s book is informative and influential as a whole, the second chapter most clearly gives voice and inspiration to the global connection of wholeness. Each chapter pauses with reflective questions, making this a good resource for group or individual study. There are suggestions for church participation in healthy lifestyle, including scripture references and practical advice. Faith and Fitness contains within its pages sound theological foundation for wholistic health. Its strength is in the carefully thought-out connection between the self and all of creation. It is a good start for faithful people of all traditions who desire to gain a healthy lifestyle not for self, but for the sake of our planet.
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