Gwen Shamblin interviewed in The Commercial Appeal

Gwen Shamblin turned the diet world upside down about 20 years ago with a new concept that focused on God, not food…

…Instead of counting calories and obsessing about what to eat, she encouraged people who were struggling to lose weight to turn to God, instead of the refrigerator…

…Her faith-based weight-loss program, Weigh Down, is about permanent weight loss and freedom from other addictions. “People discover how to lose weight by eating normally, but in smaller portions, while growing in their relationship with God.”…

…”My concept is all about cutting your food intake in half, realizing that you need God to fill a heart that is hurting and that food can’t satisfy that hunger,” explained Shamblin, who battled weight issues through her teenage and college years…

…A dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition, Shamblin was born and raised in Memphis and graduated from Central High School. While teaching food and nutrition classes at Memphis State University in the late 1980s, she met young people with weight issues and decided to introduce her solution in 1986. As her notoriety grew and interest in the program continued, she published “The Weigh Down Diet Book,” which became a million-seller.

…”Many of our spiritual leaders have become more about how God’s grace covers over all sins and less about telling people what they need to personally change, so no one feels convicted about anything, even when they’re piling food on the plate at the potluck supper,” she said…

Shamblin encourages people to put down the recipe book and pick up the Bible, where she cites many verses that lead people away from idols of overindulgence and toward a relationship with God that satisfies those hungers.