Course Syllabus

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GEN110: Holistic Personal Health and Spirituality

Instructor & Contact Information

The People tab in Canvas provides information on the course instructor and you can send a message to your instructor following these instructions. Faculty are expected to: 1) grade and return assignments, with feedback, within 7 days from the date of submission; 2) reply to your Canvas messages within 72 hours; 3) reply several times each week in total in the discussion forums (not to each individual student); and 4) demonstrate the core values of City Vision University.

Course Description

This course helps students gain the learning and habits needed to get and stay healthy. This course uses the Daniel Plan, which is a book and program developed by nationally renowned doctors Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Daniel Amen, with one of the top pastors, Rick Warren at Saddleback Church. The Daniel Plan integrates the five key elements of faith, food, fitness, focus, and friends. You will learn how to implement this program, which has been used in thousands of churches and organizations, both for yourself and in a group for others.

Important Note. This is not just a course for learning about health, but actually practicing healthy habits. You will commit yourself to your own health goals to implement a 40 Day Health Plan (see Goals Worksheet). This will involve changes to your eating habits and doing exercise as appropriate during this 40 day period. You will also do personal and spiritual reflection on the topics of this course and your progress toward your goals (see Health Learning Journal). Topics covered in this course include: Spiritual Foundations for Health, Food and Nutrition, Fitness, Stress Management, and How Physical Health Affects Mental Health and Addictive Tendencies. The ultimate goal of this course is to train you to be able to achieve long-term change in yourself and others toward more holistic health.

This course requires four live Zoom meetings.

Course Outcomes

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  1. Reflect on the Biblical basis for focusing on physical health.
  2. Value and prioritize more highly your personal health in order to improve life balance.
  3. Develop and follow a nutrition plan to develop healthy eating habits.
  4. Develop and follow a fitness plan to develop healthy fitness habits.
  5. Track progress toward a 40-day food and fitness plan you will follow in this course with the support of classmates and faculty.
  6. Develop strategies to address barriers to changing health habits for yourself and others, including soliciting support of friends and minimizing negative influences
  7. Improve your mental and emotional well-being by creating margin needed for health, managing stress and following healthy habits.
  8. Synthesize your learning and experience of implementing your 40-day health plan in this course to develop a long-term personal health plan.

Degree Program Outcomes

GEN110 is a general education course that satisfies the general education requirement for Natural & Physical Sciences across all undergraduate programs.

  • Apply practical principles from natural and physical sciences to personal, organizational and/or social contexts.

Required Texts

Students are required to purchase these texts before the first day of classes. 

Guidelines for Written Work

All written work must follow our Writing Format and Forum Requirements. You must read these to understand how to cite sources appropriately.

Critical Policies to Read for This Course

Note: These policies are critical for all students to read. In case of change, we have linked to the versions on our website to make sure you have the latest version.

Additional Policies:

This syllabus is subject to change without notice up until the first day of the semester. Last updated: February 7, 2024

Course Summary:

Date Details Due