Good Lord! It's the Jesus diet: How more people are turning to religion to help them lose weight



Praying to be thinner: Religion-based diets claim to make you feel spiritually full

New diet fads constantly offer hope to the unhappily overweight, before fading away, leaving only disappointed expectations and stubborn flab.



The more extreme the eating plan, the more keenly it's adopted - until its followers realise that measuring portions with a thimble isn't sustainable in the long term.



But there's a new diet trend which claims dizzyingly high success rates, promises painless life-long commitment and allows dieters to eat anything they want.



Faith-based diets take the principles of Christianity and apply them to our overwhelming craving for chocolate, chips and cheese.

Advocates say dieters learn to fill the spiritual hole inside themselves with something more powerful than saturated fats.



The basic principle common to the U.S. programmes Christian Weigh Down and Thin Within ('Helps you grow in faith while shrinking your waistline'), and the British equivalent Fit For Life Forever, is that dieters need to identify the deeper reasons why they over-eat, before they can hope to lose weight and keep it off permanently.

The trend began in America in the Eighties, but it's finally taking hold here, with Christian weight-loss groups springing up, and dramatically increased sales of 'spiritual dieting' books such as What Would Jesus Eat?, Hallelujah Diet and The God Diet.



The most famous remains The Weigh Down Diet, a programme launched in Tennessee in the late Eighties by Christian fundamentalist and nutritionist Gwen Shamblin.



Her unique method of cheerleading support, underpinned with the threat of God's displeasure, has encouraged hundreds of thousands of Americans to throw off their excess flab and praise the Lord.



There are more than 30,000 Weigh Down groups in America, and the concept has just crossed to Britain.



Shamblin is a perma tanned, frosted-blonde size 6, given to homey pronouncements such as: 'God created the wonderful flavours of blue cheese dressing, pepperoni pizza and chocolate brownies. He wants us to enjoy them - within His boundaries!'



' Most of us eat for emotional reasons which conventional dieting can't begin to address'

She describes any desire to eat, apart from physical need, as 'head hunger', which, she insists, can be solved by an open heart rather than an open fridge.



Evangelical testimonials litter her website - 'Praise God for removing 300lb from my morbidly obese body!' cries Maggie Sorrells of Texas, as if God is some sort of celestial liposuction surgeon. Weigh Down doesn't advocate particular foods, but suggests that, once participants learn to fill their spiritual hole by other means, they'll rejoice in being able to 'stop eating that candy bar halfway through'.



But Dr Elisabeth Weichselbaum, of the British Nutrition Foundation, is concerned by the lack of specific dietary guidance.



'If you follow this diet, you could end up eating nutritionally unsound foods,' she warns. 'Choosing meals that don't satiate your hunger means you could still consume too much energy.'



She is much more impressed by the What Would Jesus Eat? diet, whose author, Dr Don Colbert, has identified a whole new angle on the Mediterranean lifestyle.



Colbert explains: 'Jesus ate primarily natural foods in their natural states - lots of vegetables, especially beans and lentils. He would have eaten wheat bread, fruit, drunk a lot of water and also red wine. And he would only eat meat on special occasions, maybe once a month.'

What would Jesus eat: Nutritionists say his Mediterranean diet of vegetables and lentils is a healthy act to follow (picture shows actor Jim Caviezel portraying Jesus in The Passion of Christ)

'This diet takes a very sensible approach,' says Dr Weichselbaum. 'The staple food would be bread, and food from plant sources, with moderate amounts of proteins.



'This is exactly our advice - eat anything in moderation. It also recommends asking yourself: "Why am I eating this?" It makes you aware of what you consume and encourages you to think about it.'



Experts have less praise for the best-selling Hallelujah Diet, the work of Reverend George H. Malkmus, who advocates eating only plant-based foods, arguing 'the Lord gave us everything we need in the Garden of Eden: fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds.'

Dr Weichselbaum says: 'Malkmus says his diet is based on the Bible and we should eat only natural foods - then he recommends a diet supplement. Protein seems to be totally missing, which could be damaging to health.



'He also recommends distilled water. In fact, we need the trace minerals in water, as without them you can suffer gastric problems. This diet is lacking a great deal; you'd be hungry the entire time.'



While some aspects of 'faith diets' work, certain exponents of putting your belief in a higher power and your biscuits on a higher shelf are somewhat lacking when it comes to nutritional good sense.

But the core of this diet is the focus on issues behind weight gain, which dieters are encouraged to address through prayer and discussion.



Banish sweet treats: The diets make you think about why you are over-eating

In this, it is remarkably similar to the secular culture of psychotherapy, and bears a strong resemblance to the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step programme, which also requires participants to place their trust in a higher power and share their pain with a supportive group to confront their demons.



'Both offer a sense of spirituality, and recognise that someone greater than yourself is in charge - it's not all down to you,' explains Church of England Reverend Jan Harney, from Preston, Lancashire.

'These groups offer a useful support network, driven by the belief that God wants the best for you, and helps to identify what's holding you back.'



She agrees the American weight-loss programmes are a little evangelical for British tastes and seem to suggest God will punish believers for putting on a few pounds.



'The jargon can be quite extreme if you're not familiar with that world,' she adds, perhaps thinking of Gwen Shamblin's air-punching testimonials.



'Of course, there are always extremists, but most Christians believe that God loves you whether you deserve it or not, and you can always admit your mistakes and start again.'



Regardless of whether dieters are eating nuts and seeds or Shamblin's unlikely 'brownies and blue cheese dip', the real key to sustained weight loss is the opportunity such groups offer to examine the underlying causes of weight gain in a supportive environment.



Sue Prosser, 60, from Burton-on-Trent, founded her own Christian weight-loss programme in 2004. Since then her book, Fit For Life Forever (published by Kingsway), has been reprinted twice, and more than 100 churches run her 12-week courses of the same name.



'I'd always yo-yo dieted, but a few years ago, I realised if I wanted to lose weight permanently I needed to address the root causes,' she says. 'The issues I needed to tackle were also the areas my Christian faith covers - unresolved pain and low self-esteem.



'The Bible doesn't have specific teachings on diet, and gluttony is only part of the story. Most of us eat for emotional reasons which conventional dieting can't begin to address.'



Sue is no nutritionist, but having worked on church Outreach programmes for years, felt her own experiences could help others lose weight.

Big issue One in four people is obese, and every year 30,000 die prematurely from obesity-related conditions

'On the course, we include Bible readings to give spiritual focus, rather than focusing on the food or nutritional supplements - though we do encourage healthy, balanced eating,' she says.



'I want to free people from the "diet mentality" that loses the joy and intuition of eating. There's a scripture that says all things are permissible, but not all things are helpful; we teach to eat freely but responsibly.'



Sue has kept her weight off for five years and has hordes of slimmed-down Christians offering testimonials to her methods.



Hilary Hawley, 54, from Derbyshire, lost more than a stone on the Fit For Life Forever plan. 'I wasn't very overweight, but my friend lost 2st 10lb through Sue's method,' she says.



'It concentrates on listening to your body, with lots of prayer. Before, I felt dieting was an external thing, but it taught me to ask the right question: what do I really feel hungry for?'



Hilary now runs the courses herself, but adds: 'It could definitely work for people who aren't religious. It's not weird or wacky, we just pray and talk.'



While praying is one route to fulfilment, the diet's principles can surely work for dieters of any denomination.



Books like these are helping people to lose weight using spiritual methods



Focusing on the root causes of weight gain, and engaging with other people in a similar situation while channelling your physical hunger into more spiritual areas (such as meditation, helping others and writing poems), sounds like a perfectly reasonable approach.



Common to all the faith diets is the slightly questionable belief that God wants us to be thin, and losing weight is just another step along the path to righteousness.



'Weigh Down teaches that we are to take personal responsibility for our eating habits,' thunders its website.



'No more blaming genetics, the food content or stress for our weight gain. The main reason for being overweight is overeating - we help you discover what His will is regarding the body.'



Although the Scriptures appear to be remarkably free of diet tips, the growing trend simply highlights what struggling dieters are really crying out for - someone to listen.



If they feel God is supporting them in the battle against weight gain, and can relax in the certainty that nobody's going to weigh them in public, it's not surprising the method works.



More non-judgmental support and more focus on the issues underpinning weight gain might make a difference to most dieters, religious or not.



In the meantime, it's worth remembering that nobody ever suffered eternal damnation for eating a few extra chips. Not even ones coated in blue cheese dressing.



