Faith-based weight loss program puts focus on spirituality
Instead of reading a diet book, some local weight watchers are searching the pages of the Bible to find the recipes they need for life.
Laura Hughes, leader of First Place 4 Health, held at St. Stephen's Church, says the program involves more than weight loss. The faith-based plan, supported and endorsed by registered dietitians and physicians, follows a 12-week curriculum centered around achieving a life balance and a lifestyle change.
Offered at the church for almost two years, the program has expanded and changed. The fall session will be held on Mondays, starting Sept. 8, and for the first time, members can choose from one of two sessions -- 9:15 a.m. or 7 p.m. The food plan also has been restructured.
Members are encouraged to adopt practical disciplines in four areas addressing weight loss and other issues: emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically.
The emotional part includes regular meeting attendance and fellowship while the spiritual area centers around prayer and Bible study.
Members memorize scriptures and keep a food record, which is the mental focus. By eating well and exercising, they apply the physical focus.
"It's for anyone who is looking for general wellness in all four areas," Laura says.
One of the people looking is Ellen Neale, a St. Stephen's Church member, who has lost 66 pounds on the program since February last year. She lost 30 pounds before joining the group but says the spiritual aspects of First Place made all the difference.
"I've been a Christian since I was 17," she says, "so anything spiritual is positive as far as I'm concerned. And it helps with other challenges me and my husband have faced."
She likes the prayer and memorizing scripture and the encouragement the members get from each other. Writing down what she ate really helps her keep track and cut down.
Although she wasn't required to memorize one of the scriptures discussed in class, she did it anyway.
"I just really liked it," she says, taking the book mark out of her Bible and reading from Psalms 71.
She stops when she comes to the part she memorized and looks up from the Bible to show she knows it by heart: "My success at which so many stand amazed is because you are my mighty protector all day long. I'll praise and honor you oh God for all that you have done for me."
Ellen is not the only one that has seen dramatic changes in her weight and in her life.
Laura was amazed at the testimonies she heard from First Place members at a two-day national leadership program she attended in Texas.
"One women lost 175 pounds and now weighs 170," she says. "This woman lost half her body weight, and said she made the changes when she started to put God first in her life."
While there, Laura met with those who devised the new food program to be implemented this year.
In the past, program participants followed a complicated diet, but the restructured plan includes a new diet based on common sense, giving dieters more freedom and more time to talk about other issues.
"It's not limited to how many bananas you eat during the day," Laura says. "We won't bore you with a new muffin recipe every week."
No food is off-limits, she says. It's all based on portion control.
"You ask yourself before you eat, 'is it made with the healthiest ingredients, and am I eating a reasonable portion.'"
Discussed during the wellness part of the class are food choices, fitness, drinking water, eating enough fiber, what not to wear and kitchen organization.
During the other half of the class, members participant in a Bible study. Laura says she loves the combination class.
"As a busy mom, I like to be able to check off fellowship, weight loss and Bible study after just going to one meeting."
She and others in the groups also received special materials to help them have their own daily studies at home.
"Members are encouraged to put God first in their lives and give him the power.
"There are other reasons why we eat that are emotional. We eat to fill other voids in our lives, and God can come in and heal those hurts."
Those interested in joining can sign up at the beginning of a session. Members cannot be accepted in the middle of the program.
by Joanne Braun
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