Losing Weight with a Bible?

Once you start reading the Bible, it will not be very long before you read about dietary rules. The original dietary rules are touched on in the Old Testament book of Genesis, and spelled out in detail in the book of Leviticus. (Leviticus is not the most exciting book in the Bible to read, by the way!) Since most of the first Christians were former Jews who religiously followed these laws, dietary rules were also an important issue in the New Testament. There are references to the ongoing discussion in the books of Acts, Romans, and Galatians.

“Still,” you say, “those books deal with eating special foods for other reasons, not for losing weight. What is your point?”

The point is that people have always spent a lot of time dealing with food-related issues. For example, during your day do you spend time doing any of the following?

Eating meals or snacks?
Planning meals?
Shopping for food?
Preparing food?
Driving to and from restaurants?
Discussing a diet you heard about?
Washing dishes and so forth after the last meal?
Thinking about (and discussing with others) what you will eat at your next meal?

Obviously, we are very much in love with food. Putting things in perspective, at the end of the day many people will say, “I was so busy today and I’m so tired, that I don’t have the time or energy to read the Bible or spend time with my family.” Still, if you had all this time for food, you should also have time for these higher priorities—if they really are priorities in your life.

Getting your focus off food and back where it belongs is the purpose of the “Weigh Down Workshop.” It is not a diet program, as such. In fact, one of the interesting features is that you do not have to eat or avoid any specific foods. What is great about the workshop is that the people who successfully lose weight in the program will then be on a path where they do not have to gain any of it back—ever.

Typically, someone who has been through the program elsewhere will start a Weigh Down Workshop at a local church. These “Coordinators” do not make a profit, but they show videos and so forth, so there is a cost for the materials used in the workshop. It is, however, a fraction of the cost of the commercial weight loss programs. We will not spend any time discussing the program, since it can be explained much better at the source. By the way, we are not affiliated with the Weigh Down Workshop, nor do we receive any compensation or recognition from them. We just know that the program “works for those who work it.”