WeighDown and Gwen Shamblin

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Gwen who graduated college as a registered dietitian many moons ago, still believes that we do not need any particular type of food since we can get it all from bodyfat.  One of her favorite expressions is how we can get "a hamburger from our thighs".  Therefore, followers of Weighdown can eat any type of food but just have to stop eating when it stops tasting good (usually after a couple of bites).  And people are told to not eat until they are hungry enough for their stomachs to "growl".

Her thrust is that we overeat because we do not have God in our lives and thus have a "hole in our heart".  And this is of course, intimating that fat people are fat because of a SPIRITUAL or moral lack which is society's idea, not God's (if one goes by the Bible).  In Gwen's infomercial, viewable on her website, she excuses this idea by using outdated statistics to "prove" that carrying any bodyfat "devastates" the body and is the root of all evils as far as bad health thus hurting the "Temple of the Holy Spirit".  But Science does NOT agree with this idea at all, since no studies have EVER connected obesity alone with poor health.  It is an idea perpetuated by the diet industry and although Shamblin was always a very slim lady, she with her new look of poofed blond hair and bouncy approach, comes on not much different from Greer Childers (formerly of "Body Flex" and now of "seven shapely secrets").  Only Greer doesn't use God as a bludgeon to get folks to DO her program like Gwen does (at least in her infomercial).

In Shamblin's book, she describes long "temptations" with the refrigerator which come at night where she overcomes the hunger caused by her determination to remain very tiny with a lot of prayer .  She also admits she suffered some anorexia in college.  The people on her site who give testimonials sound like they found a new religion - one which makes you slim for life.  What a deal - like a "two-fer", I guess i.e. get slim for life and find God (not necessarily in that order).  At least two of her kids are involved in the business which is likely rather lucrative.

The idea that we can get every type of nourishment from bodyfat was prevalent when Gwen graduated college, however has long since, been debunked.  In the early 1990's it was thought that we, at least, can get FATTY ACIDS from bodyfat (in addition to simple sugar), a logical idea (I remember Susan Powter telling us that we don't need to EAT fat if we HAVE fat on our bodies!) and this spawned the group of very low fat diets including Powter's, MacDougall's, Ornish and Pritikin.  In the late 1990's it was discovered that we can ONLY get simple sugar from bodyfat and if we do not eat the other nutrients we need INCLUDING fatty acids, our bodies will begin to cannibalize themselves for protein and the essential vitamins like iron, B12 and calcium - from the heart, the liver, the muscle tissue, the bones and probably, the brain.  For the trace elements, it does without and recent studies suggest that going without micro-nutrients like selenium can be devastating healthwise in the long run.

Thus the idea of long term calorie restriction has been suggested more and more as NOT being a healthy way to live despite the fact that it may render our size "socially acceptable".

I found Gwen's book, interesting and somewhat inspirational.  I do use her "stop eating when it stops tasting good" method when I am eating for fun or foods which are recreational.  But her science is very outdated and her program which bottom lines at severe calorie restriction if it is to work, may not be healthy according to what modern science has found out.

Gwen has annoyed some folks in her own brand of Christianity, by her different Christian beliefs including things like doubting the Trinity and how fat people are disagreeable to God and might be bound for the "other place" (i.e. not heaven).  On her new and improved website, the focus is strictly selling the program (with a Godly spin) and promising folks they will lose their weight forever (although she admits in the infomercial that "some of you will be coming back to the program" which suggests that many do NOT lose their weight forever as the nicely made website promises).

If your church does not offer WeighDown classes, you can, now take the classes on site - the price for on site classes is not given but to attend the 8 week program which includes 8 CDs, the price is $118 plus S&H.  You can buy a companion set of DVDs for $100 from their gift shop.

Here is Gwen's Website:
http://www.weighdown.com/