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By Christine Kumar
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Can meditating before a meal lead to weight loss?

The Rev. Kendrick Weaver, associate pastor of St. Matthews UMC in Bowie, who leads a class on spiritual dieting at his church, thinks so.

Weaver is the co-creator of the New Manna Spiritual Diet program. The 15-week program helps individuals to understand the correlation between food and faith. Each week?s lesson is supported by scriptural references.

Weaver suggests that one should meditate at least 30 seconds, on how the energy extracted from the meal can be used to glorify God.

After meditation, according to Weaver, one must choose a part of the meal that will represent Christ?s body and another that will represent Christ?s blood. These representations should be in the mind while eating and the practice should be done before each meal.

He also views Communion as an actual meal, so that disciples will remember Christ at every meal with the two common foods ? bread and wine.

In the Bible, 'Food was constantly used as an invitation to meet Christ, like the time Jesus asked Zacchaeus to join him for a meal,' he said. 'Food also determined blessings as in the story of Jacob and Essau.'

Most spiritual diet programs are geared to help people eat healthy and lose weight in order for the mind, body and spirit to function at its full capacity. Weaver?s program does the reverse. 'When you start to eat or drink for the glory of God, then the physical will align itself, the spiritual will lead you into the physical,' he said.

The Rev. Ellin Dize, pastor of Stone Chapel UMC in New Windsor leads a class on the mind, body and spirit on Wednesday nights at her church.

'We have used all the tactics (to lose weight) other than God. We want the easy way out, we want to take a pill or drink something to lose weight,' she said. 'If people work on spirituality, then they can be closer to God.'

Dize, who writes a weekly column on the mind, body and spirit for the Carroll County Times, believes that moderation and eating less processed food is the key to healthy eating. 'Even pastors need this,' she said.

In her first class, she asks the question, 'Why don?t diets work?' She explains to the participants that they have to be right with God. 'Without God, nothing will work and you will be heading in the worldly direction,' she said.

The anticipated results of Dize?s program are that the mind focuses on the will of God and experiences joy in knowing Christ. The body becomes healthier by leading a healthy lifestyle and this, in turn, makes the person aware that the body is the temple of God. The spirit is awakened knowing that the Holy Spirit will gbwc_superusere the believer to righteousness.

Week three of Weaver?s program suggests that participants should eat with a homeless person or someone who cannot afford a meal at least once a month. He tells his group members to imagine that they are Jesus of Nazareth in 30 A.D. and that they are the only people who know where the homeless or the less fortunate are hiding.

In week five, people are encouraged to make disciples for Christ. Weaver asks the group to go out or prepare a meal for a non-believer friend or an associate. He encourages the participant to be a counselor for that person by being a good listener. 'Give a personal testimony to God?s goodness, which that person has never heard before, during the course of the meal, he said.

Divine portions are introduced in week six. Weaver encourages participants to give 10 percent of their meal to someone else, eat 10 percent less, or give 10 percent of their groceries to a food pantry.

Statistics shown at www.Todayonline.com note that there are 60 million people in the United States who are obese, which accounts for 20 percent of the population.

Weaver and Dize have a common goal: to become a healthier society by having a closer relationship to God. 'We have to eat what God wants us to eat, we have to eat with good sense,' Dize said.

Dize has seen the results herself. She has lost 20 pounds on the spiritual diet.