Faith-based dieting is the newst diet fad, according to the Daily Mail.

Books like What Would Jesus Eat?, Hallelujah Diet and The God Diet tell their readers that they can literally pray away the pounds with just a little faith.

“There’s a new diet trend which claims dizzyingly high success rates, promises painless life-long commitment and allows dieters to eat anything they want. Faith-based diets take the principles of Christianity and apply them to our overwhelming craving for chocolate, chips and cheese. Advocates say dieters learn to fill the spiritual hole inside themselves with something more powerful than saturated fats. The basic principle […] is that dieters need to identify the deeper reasons why they over-eat, before they can hope to lose weight and keep it off permanently,” the Mail writes of the new types of diets.

The most famous program capitalizing on these beliefs is the Weigh Down workshop which was started by Christian fundamentalists in the 1980’s. There are currently 30,000 Weigh Down groups in the U.S. It’s premise is to replace people’s “sinful desires” with a belief in God. Gwen Shamblin started the the Remnant Fellowship Church based on the concept. Her book, The Weigh Down Diet, sold 1.2 million copies. Critics have called the Weigh Down program “a cult.”

The weigh down program forces you to ask yourself questions such as, Why do you eat? Have you let food control your life? Even people who are happy with their weight can ask these questions and realize that food does play too big a role in their lives.

Meanwhile, the “What Would Jesus Eat?” diet tries to replicate what Christ ate while the Hallelujah Diet lets you eat only foods that were in the Garden of Eden.

What do you think? Does dieting only take a little faith?

Can Jeus Help People Lose Weight?