Faith Based Diets Growing in Popularity
Now there is an ever-growing Christian diet industry that takes a faith-based approach to the obesity problem in the United States. Perdue University conducted a study that concluded Christians are even fatter than the rest of us. One explanation is that since most of them don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, or have illicit sex, they have to do something to keep themselves happy, and that something seems to be eating. They also seem to have less stress and concern about their body image.
The material seems to cover the full spectrum from a book called “What Would Jesus Eat?” to “The Hallelujah Diet” to “The Maker’s Diet” and something called “Weigh Down.” There is even a Jewish diet that tries to adhere to just the foods that are mentioned in the Old Testament. Of course, no pork is allowed. Some of the diets are not really diets, Weigh Down advocates that you can pray away the pounds and still eat all of your favorite foods. You don’t even have to exercise. God will do all of that for you.
Some others, however, say just the opposite: Praise Moves is a Christian alternative to Yoga. The chakras are eliminated, the positions all have reference to the Bible, and the meditation is focused on being one with Jesus. Chai Bo is a program of exercise and Jewish study. It blends prayer with martial arts, numerology, and divination. Billy Banks, the creator of the popular workout series, Tae Bo, has a new tape series out called Believer’s Workout. It incorporates prayer and Bible study with the familiar kickboxing and punching combinations.
A lot of these diets, like their secular counterparts, have come under fire from doctors and nutritionists. Take the Atkin’s Diet, for example, that was all the rage just a few years ago. It is similar to a lot of the faith-based diets in that it advocates a high protein, high fat diet with a significant reduction in carbohydrates. Seems the only difference is that you pray over those double cheeseburgers with no bun and look for the image of the Virgin Mary in the meat and cheese tacos. The problem with these diets is that they offer false hope by allowing you to lose weight in the short term, but not permanent fat loss, and the effects on your long term health may not be to pleasant. Nutritionists say that the rapid weight loss in the beginning of an Atkin’s type diet is primarily due to water loss. Consider this: in Japan, carbohydrates compose the overwhelming majority of daily calorie intake (all that rice and noodles) and they have some of the lowest rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes in the world.
The bottom line is that the old advice is still the best whether you’re doing it over the Bible or not: eat a balanced diet with a wide variety of foods and get plenty of exercise. You will lose weight.
