The Proactive Health Solution

The Proactive Health Solution is a comprehensive motivational guide to help readers achieve a healthier mental, physical and spiritual life.

Long-time personal trainer Nadia Yacoub Cavallini, who specializes in nutrition, weight loss and strength training, has created a system based on her expertise and client experience. Her book focuses on five overlapping building blocks: program design and discipline (good nutrition, physical activity and stress management), motivation, self- and lifestyle-management. While her clearly written text has a Christian slant—Cavallini frequently includes Biblical references—she also motivates readers with quotes from Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, Michael Jordan and others.

The author’s good intent shines though as she describes medical studies and shares helpful client anecdotes to illustrate how her Proactive Health Solution (PHS) principles can help overcome poor health. For example, a client married to a chef found herself rapidly gaining weight until she decided to better manage her lifestyle by setting food boundaries. Another client suffering from depression and a cancer diagnosis improved her health by applying PHS principles of good nutrition and stress control. Cavallini’s section on physical exercise is especially useful and includes photos demonstrating activities from planks to dumbbell curls.

The author also provides a solid, well-documented overview on what’s wrong with the U.S. healthcare system—although her many statistics, quotes and studies can make for dense reading (e.g., this quote from motivational writer Stephen Covey: “Proactive people are still influenced by external stimuli, whether physical, social or psychological but their response to the stimuli conscious or unconscious is a value-based choice or response”).

Filled with detailed information, this book is not for those looking for a quick fix for health-related issues. But those serious about improving their health—and willing to make fundamental changes—will find The Proactive Health Solution a useful motivational blueprint and helpful adjutant to other books promoting healthy self-management for a better life.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.

The Proactive Health Solution takes a person-centered approach to diet, exercise, and holistic health.

Nadia Yacoub Cavallini’s guidebook The Proactive Health Solution suggests a lasting and holistic approach to health through diet, exercise, and more.

This book is not simply a proposed system of behavior management. Rather, it embraces the idea that each person must first learn each element of health, from diet and exercise to spiritual health and emotional intelligence, because how a person thinks changes what they do. By pursuing understanding first, it claims lasting change is possible.

The path here is self-driven and individualized, helping people build the intuition and motivation to meet their goals and live a healthy life. This proactive approach is based on five interrelated elements: lifestyle management, healthy self-management, motivation, program design, and discipline. They are presented as a pyramid, showing their relationship with each other and providing a stark contrast to the health directives of the food pyramid. Principles like “be proactive” and “take responsibility” illustrate one of the key components.

The five elements provide the structure of the book, giving order to the wide breadth of knowledge conveyed. Beginning with the base of the pyramid and working upward gives the book a progressive sensibility that keeps the work from feeling overwhelming. It moves at a logical and brisk pace, giving just enough information about each part of the pyramid to spur practical action. Clear, succinct reasoning and research from academic, medical, and psychological sources give the work authority.

The book’s fully integrated view of health as that which involves the mind, body, and spirit is refreshing. Early in the book, myths about psychological issues are debunked, helping to address the roadblocks that can derail change and showing how the health of the mind affects the health of the body. The book also imparts practical understandings of common health topics, including an in-depth table about vitamins that lists their functions, symptoms of deficiency, and common food sources. Such illustrations nurture far more understanding than individuals commonly receive from the medical establishment.

While the focus is on proper understanding, the book also gives practical insight into what to do with its new knowledge, including photos of physical exercises that support overall health. The approach balances New Age and more traditional religious thinking in a generally smooth way, though at times it sways toward extremes.

The tone is warm yet professional, both informative and encouraging, giving the support needed to keep moving forward through difficult change. While the focus is on individuals, the book connects the health of individuals with the health of society, and this connection is a hopeful one.

The Proactive Health Solution takes a person-centered approach to diet, exercise, and holistic health.