Health Power: Health by Choice – Not Chance

Health Power: Health by Choice, Not Chance is the practical lifestyle-medicine guide by Hans Diehl and Aileen Ludington. Drawing on decades in preventive medicine, it addresses the most common chronic health concerns and shows how specific daily choices — diet, activity, stress, weight — change long-term outcomes.

What’s inside Health Power

Diehl and Ludington built their careers on a claim that was contested when they made it and is mainstream now: that most chronic disease is lifestyle-driven and therefore lifestyle-reversible. The book is the evidence and the method.

It is written to motivate as much as inform. Each chapter gives the reader a reason to change and a way to start, which is why it has been used in community lifestyle programmes for decades.

• The role of nutrition in maintaining health
• Why regular physical activity matters
• Managing stress effectively
• Practical approaches to weight
• Lifestyle factors linked to chronic disease
• Evidence-based, from preventive medicine practice

Who this book is for

For anyone with a chronic condition in the family — heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure — who wants to understand what lifestyle actually changes. It is the standard text for community health programmes and health expos.

It suits readers who want the reasoning. For a shorter introduction, Your Health in Your Hands covers the same ground briefly.

About the author and publisher

Hans Diehl founded the Coronary Health Improvement Project, one of the most widely replicated community lifestyle programmes in the world. Aileen Ludington is a physician and co-author of several lifestyle medicine titles. Published by The Stanborough Press, the British Adventist publishing house whose health and family titles form the backbone of this catalogue.

Health Power sits in our Health & Nutrition range with Understanding Nutrition. The short introductions are Your Health in Your Hands and Enjoy It!.

Questions about this book

Is this a diet book?

No. Nutrition is one chapter of several. It covers the whole lifestyle picture.

Is it evidence-based?

Yes. It comes from preventive medicine practice and cites the research behind its claims.

Is it suitable for someone with a diagnosed condition?

Yes, alongside medical care. It is often the book doctors in the Adventist health system recommend to patients.

Can it be used in a health seminar?

Yes. It is one of the standard references for community health programmes.

Is it Christian?

It comes from the Adventist health tradition but is written as lifestyle medicine, not devotional material.