For many of us, the dieting cycle has become part of our lives. We jump on the latest diet, lose some weight, and fall back into our old habits--regaining everything we had lost. Dr. Gregory Jantz tries to help us change that cycle in The Total Temple Makeover. Jantz advocates a holistic approach to developing a healthy lifestyle through nutritional education, exercise, maintaining a journal, and the study of Scripture. As a founder and executive director of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, he utilizes his experience to create a gentler and hopefully more enduring approach to weight loss and health than many of the popular fads.

The Total Temple Makeover is a twelve-week program. Jantz breaks each week into seven readings. One day of each week introduces a new concept in nutrition, such as drinking enough water, the various parts of the food pyramid, or exercise. The reader tries to incorporate this into his program before taking on another nutritional aspect during the following week. One day offers inspiration, another something for the reader to write about in his journal, another a devotional, and another the story of a dieter on the program.

Jantz writes an upbeat book in a friendly, encouraging style. He does fall into the popular practice of applying Scripture by taking it out of context and leaving out some verses that would more directly apply, but his applications are not glaringly bad. He also refers readers to helpful websites for further information.

Though a few things, such as serving sizes of grains and glycemic load could be explained more clearly, this seems to be a good workable program. It can be used singly or with a group. -- Debbie W. Wilson, Christian Book Previews.com