Living Smart: Five Essential Skills to Change Your Health Habits Forever

Joshua C. Klapow & Sheri D. Pruitt
DiaMedica (2007)
ISBN 9780979356407
Reviewed by Linda Benninghoff for Reader Views (7/07)


Do you want to quit smoking?  Do you want to lose weight?  "Living Smart: Five Essential Skills to Change Your Health Habits Forever" can help you do this, without backsliding.

The five basic skills for success are as follows:  set a goal, monitor your progress, arrange your world for success, recruit a support team, and treat yourself.

In their discussion of setting a goal, the authors suggests you make sure it is an achievable goal.  For example, if you want to exercise, start small--otherwise you may get sore muscles and be unable to continue.  Motivation is also important to setting a goal.  Without motivation, it is impossible to lose weight, exercise, or quit smoking.

Chapter 3 discusses ways that motivation can be improved.  The authors suggest you think about the future.  Ask yourself: If you don’t make changes, will you still be living five years from now?  Will you still be able to work, go on vacation and enjoy life?  There are advantages and disadvantages to making a health-related change, but usually the pros outweigh the cons.

Monitoring the changed behavior is an important skill, and the book contains charts and suggestions for making charts that can help keep track of progress.  Enlisting the support of family, friends and coworkers is also essential.  Finally, treating yourself, rewarding the new behavior, is also crucial.  Rewards often come in the shape of food, but the book suggests putting gold stars on a daily chart, treating your self to a sunset and other non-food rewards.

The book breaks down ways to change health habits into simple achievable steps and its regimen is easily-followed.  The authors have kept in touch with some of its readers and discuss the long-term difficulties they encounter.  “Living Smart” is easy to read, and it is meant to be read again and again to prevent falling back into bad habits.

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