Will dieting for God motivate the overweight masses to shed unwanted pounds?

Rev. Rick Warren, author of the best seller, The purpose Driven Life and leader of Saddleback mega-church in Lake Forest, Calif., was convinced that his congregation of 20,000 overweight believers would benefit from a little divine inspiration to get fit.

With that was born the Daniel Plan, a sweeping program of smart eating (and yes, lean meats are included), workout classes, small-group support meetings, walk and worship sessions and more, much of it made available both in person and online. Warren recruited three marquee names from the world of medicine — Drs. Mehmet Oz, Daniel Amen and Mark Hyman (all of different faiths) — to help spread the good-health message, and the Saddleback members fell in love with the plan. More than 15,000 of them have signed up so far and in the past 18 months alone, they have lost a collective 260,000 lbs.

Warren hopes that people worldwide will embrace the message and is enlisting the help of the multi-faithed trio of Drs. Mehmet Oz, Daniel Amen and Mark Hyman to help spread the word.

The advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration voted 20 to 2 to recommend approval of Qnexa, a “new” obesity drug that is simply the combination of two older medications, phentermine (the “phen” of phen-fen”) and topiramate (Topamax).

The old diet drug (phentermine), combined with an older anti-seizure medication (Topamax) have concerning side effects, including increased heart rate, heart attacks, and birth defects such as cleft lip.

Every year the average American consumes 24 pounds of French fries, 23 pounds of pizza, 24 pounds of ice cream, 53 gallons of soda (or a gallon each week), 24 pounds of artificial sweeteners, 2.7 pounds of salt, 90,700 mg of caffeine, and about 2,700 calories a day.

Does a pill really address this behavior?

By 2020, over 50% of the US adult population will have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, with annual costs approaching $500 billion. By 2030, total annual economic costs of cardiovascular disease in the US are predicted to exceed $1 trillion. By 2030, globally we will spend $47 trillion; yes trillion, to address the effects of chronic lifestyle-driven disease.

Prescription medication for lifestyle disease has failed to bend the obesity and disease curve. Statins have been recently found to increase the risk of diabetes in women by 48%. And large data reviews by independent international scientists from the Cochrane Collaborative found that statins only work to prevent second heart attacks, not first heart attacks, which means they are not helpful and most likely harmful for 75% of those who take them.

Medication and surgery are not the answer to the growing obesity epidemic.

Lifestyle change is the safest, cost effective and most efficient way to address this national crisis.

Weight loss surgery to cure diabetes is an absurd notion which fails to address the real problem behind this disease; lifestyle choices.

Dr. Mark Hyman has painstakingly studied this epidemic and offers real solutions for curing diabetes and also addresses the drawbacks to radical solutions such as gastric bypass surgery:

A report on the effectiveness of weight-loss surgery published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that within 3 to 5 years after laparoscopic gastric banding, as many as one-third of patients are not able to maintain weight loss due to noncompliance with a prescribed diet and other issues. Plus, the complications stemming from lap-band surgery were as high as 30 percent.

We also know that weight-loss surgery is not without risks. Altering the gastrointestinal tract can lead to nutritional deficiencies that require lifelong monitoring and supplementation of calcium, vitamin B12, folate, multivitamins, iron, and thiamine. And the psychological risks of these surgeries are often underplayed. In 2010, a study published in the American Journal of Medicine showed a dramatic increase in suicide among patients who had bariatric surgery, most occurring within three years following the surgery. (1)

Even more disturbing is the rise in overweight teens choosing weight-loss surgery. Since the late ‘90s, the number of weight-loss procedures performed on teenagers has skyrocketed. (2) Some studies show the mean age of these young patients is just 16 years old with some as young as 12! (3) Very few studies have looked at the long-term ramifications of these surgeries. What kind of problems are we passing on to our youth?

Does this costly and risky procedure truly address the root causes of Type 2 Diabetes?

There are a few simple rules which will help you to eat safely.

Quite simply put; avoid food in packages and if packaged allow for only 5 ingredients.

And READ labels.

This is probably the best advice anyone can give.

Avoid ingredients with added sugars, oils, and anything you can not pronounce.

When you make these simple choices you will not only improve your health, and your family’s health, but you will create a “wellness spring” that will shift the demand in the marketplace. You will not only take back your health, but also help America take back its health. You vote three times a day with your fork and it impacts our health, how we grow food, energy consumption, climate change and environmental degradation. You have more power than you think. Use it!