A hunger for the Lord

Throughout most of her adult life, Claire Fultz struggled with obesity.

At 5-foot-1, she weighed 224 pounds.

After trying a variety of different diet plans, Fultz took a different weight-loss approach four years ago: She used her faith to overcome fat.

Instead of seeking help from a trainer or a nutritionist, the Coeur d’Alene resident turned to God.

“I learned that I could depend on the Lord to help me,” Fultz said. “God is the only one that can satisfy my true hunger.”

Fultz lost 100 pounds in eight months and has kept the weight off for nearly five years. While she gives all the credit to God, she followed a program called the Prism Weight Loss Program, a Bible-based method to shedding pounds.

The program is similar to other established plans that promote eating fruits and vegetables and refraining from sugar, white flour and processed foods. But Prism also includes a spiritual component – one steeped in prayer and verses from the Bible.

Religious-based approaches to losing weight and healthy eating have grown in popularity ever since “Pray Your Weight Away,” a 1957 bestseller by the Rev. Charlie Shedd, a Presbyterian minister who linked fat with sin. More recent books don’t necessarily make the same connection, but titles like “The Bible Cure for Weight Loss and Muscle Gain,” “Faithfully Fit,” “The Hallelujah Diet” and “What Would Jesus Eat?” imply that good health and slimness can indeed be attributed to a robust faith life.

Christian diet plans such as the Weigh Down Workshop and First Place – which emphasize how a relationship with God can replace food cravings – also have been offered at thousands of churches nationwide.

Will power alone isn’t enough, says Fultz, who has spent the last five years teaching the Prism Weight Loss Program at Real Life Ministries in Post Falls.

To fight food addictions, you need faith, she said. You also need to focus on the whole person.

“This isn’t considered a diet; it’s more of a transformation,” said Fultz, who’s 52. “I needed help from the inside out. I needed my heart to change. When your body lines up with your spirit and your spirit lines up with your soul, and your soul lines up with the true living God, it’s a lasting program. …

“Losing weight becomes just a fringe benefit.”

Overeating is a symptom of a spiritual crisis, according to many faith-based health programs. Instead of focusing on God, overeaters make food the center of their lives.

“We use food for emotional comfort when we should be turning to God,” said Fultz.

In the past few years, several hundred Christians have enrolled in the 24-week Prism Weight Loss Program at Real Life. Many are young mothers who want to shed the extra pounds from pregnancy and ensure that their families eat healthily. Others are in their 50s and 60s with high blood pressure and other health concerns seeking change.

While some are obese – defined by the National Institutes of Health as having a body mass index of 30 and above, a few participants are only 10 pounds overweight.

When they take part in Prism, they have to sign an “oath to God” that they will follow the food guide and abstain from certain foods including anything containing sugar and white flour.

That means resisting the temptation of chocolate, most baked goods and other treats. “We always have those occasions when we’re tempted,” said Fultz, who tries to stick to only organic food. “It looks good, it smells good, it tastes good, but it’s like the deceiver. That’s what the devil is. I have to remind myself that these foods nearly killed me, that my blood pressure went up and my cholesterol skyrocketed.”

Program participants also have to restrict their calories, sometimes to as low as to 1,000 to 1,200 for women and 1,300 to 1,500 for men depending on their current weight and level of activity.

In addition to meeting twice a week at the church, where they pray and learn about the Prism program, participants are instructed to read Scripture every day and fill out their food journal sheets.

They also have to read “the agreement of resolution,” which they sign at the beginning of the program. Only a paragraph long, the agreement goes something like, “I, (insert your name), resolve my desire to change my eating behaviors and learn methods for continuing this control for my life … I willingly submit myself to receive the support, strength and guidance I will require from others and God to complete this commitment.”

Dr. Henry Downs, a family practice doctor in Coeur d’Alene, has recommended the program to several of his patients needing to shed excess pounds.

It’s a sound weight loss program that’s especially helpful to “people who find solace in a Christian community,” he said.

With the Prism program, the faith component is key, said Downs, a member of Real Life Ministries. Participants receive encouragement not just from their fellow Christians who share their goal, he said, but also from a belief in God.

“It empowers them to keep motivated and focused,” he said. “Prayer works for people because they don’t feel alone. They feel that they have a comrade in the Lord.”

The program has worked for dozens of people in North Idaho, including Pete Slauson, a locksmith and business owner from Rathdrum. When Slauson first signed up for Prism two years ago, he lost 75 pounds in a period of only six months.

“I was tired of being fat,” said Slauson, who weighed 400 pounds when he started the program.

Following the plan certainly wasn’t easy, he acknowledged, but prayer alleviated his struggle.

Whenever he became stressed out, which triggered his compulsion to eat, Slauson would often walk to the lake, watch the peaceful movement of the water and talk to God. “Lord, please help me through this,” he prayed. “I don’t need to eat this. You’ve proven it to me.”

While he has no expectations of ever becoming skinny, Slauson wants to stick to Prism to lower his blood pressure and “to be around for grandkids,” he said. The program has also rekindled his spiritual life.

“I learned that I could depend on the Lord,” he said. “He died for our sins. … If you give it to him, it’s just another burden to take off your shoulders.”