The 30-Day Faith Detox, by Laura Harris Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

BOOK DESCRIPTION (from the publisher):  A reset button for your body, mind and spirit!

In this new, groundbreaking total-being cleanse, wellness expert and certified nutritional counselor Laura Harris Smith takes on not only your body but also your mind and spirit.

Day by day, prayer by prayer, you will confront 30 universal faith toxins like doubt, discouragement and anger. And flush them out.

Each day offers a simple body detox that associates specific body organs with the faith toxins you are flushing out, and by the end of the 30 days, you will have a total body detox.

Using ingredients right from your own kitchen, you'll get delicious recipes for colorful smoothies, juices, soups and entrees. There's even a section for veggie-haters! Make the connection between physical health and spiritual health, and start feeling better physically, mentally and spiritually.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Laura Harris Smith founded Eastgate Creative Christian Fellowship with her husband, Pastor Chris Smith, and is the Director for the Eastgate Creative Arts Conservatory, where among other things, she mentors young writers all over the world in her online creative writing classes. An actress, playwright, poet, and media dynamo, she was a TV host on the Shop at Home Network and is the author of multiple books. With one foot in ministry and one in media, Laura and her husband have six children and reside near Nashville, Tennessee.

MY THOUGHTS: Healthy eating, detox teas, and purposeful nutrition are all the rage. There are books, websites, videos, programs, and groups for every nuance within the spectrum of taking care of yourself. What makes this book stand out are several things.

1. The information is presented in bite-sized chunks. After a two-chapter introduction walks you through the basic premise behind detoxification of your body's major systems, you start 30 short, easy-to-follow daily challenges. I have found other resources to be quite wordy and hard to understand, even though I have lots of experience in health care and probably know more about human anatomy and physiology than the average reader. I tend to get bogged down in the gorey details of exactly how certain nutrients work inside our bodies and what some common toxin does to each of my systems on the cellular level. Just give it to me straight and in everyday language, or you've lost me. The 30-Day Faith Detox is a straight shooter, getting right to the point and then moving into the daily challenges.

2. The premise of the book is a holistic approach to healthy living. The author explains early on how the connection between our minds, our bodies, and our spirits leads to poor health in one or more of these areas when they are not properly cared for. Each day begins with a spiritual toxin and the corresponding emotional toxins. After an explanation of common things that we know cause us harm but probably don't notice or think about normally, we are presented with the cleansing diet for that day and a short explanation of how it works in our bodies. So while you are working through what you've learned about yourself from that day's devotional section, your body is cleansing itself of built-up gunk.

3. The plan is easy to follow. Okay, let me clarify that. If you're not ready to deal with these spiritual topics--social influence, financial, health-related, relationship, and purpose/identity toxins--then you could hit some roadblocks to moving forward. However, the author is very direct and specific in exposing danger zones and how to move past them. And since you only get one issue per day, you have time to stew a bit on each topic before moving on the next day.

4. The recipes use ingredients you probably already have and can find in any regular grocery store. There's no need to find a specialty market or get online and order an array of products to carry out this cleanse. And when you finish the 30 days, you will have learned some new recipes and sustainable habits you can continue to use to equip your body for optimum health.

Still not convinced you can stick with this for 30 days? You will find accountability and encouragement through the offical Facebook group, free recipe cards and a signed copy of the book if you order from LauraHarrisSmith.com, and 30 free videos as part of the faith detox challenge (code included in the book).



I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.