Checking calories

Too many carbs in Communion wafers? Too much fat in your faith?

A recent study found that some churches and church-related activities are a “feeding ground” for America’s obesity problem.

Ken Ferraro, a sociology professor at Purdue University, analyzed 2,500 people during an eight-year period to determine the relationship between religious practices and body mass index.

In his study, published in the June issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Ferraro found that obesity was more prevalent in some denominations – particularly Baptists and fundamentalist Protestants.

Although unhealthy eating patterns in the South might partly explain that, Ferraro found it was true across the nation.

Religious leaders tended to call cigarette smoking or the consumption of drugs and alcohol sinful but didn’t attach the same label to overeating, Ferraro found. Instead, they have church potlucks and doughnuts after services.

“It has become the accepted vice,” he said. “Abstinence doesn’t translate as well to food.”

Ferraro said there seemed to be a “mind-body dualism,” meaning that believers didn’t recognize a strong connection between physical health and spiritual well-being. And he said those who are abstaining from other vices might turn to food instead.

Some other religious groups were the opposite, though.

Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, Christian Scientists and Jews, for example, tended to encourage very healthy eating habits, the study showed.

Ferraro said some churches have heeded his warnings about what he calls “Krispy Kreme Christianity.”

Instead of offering coffee and doughnuts or other junk food during social gatherings, he says, some have made an effort to incorporate more healthy foods.

Ferraro’s also study showed that, among women, consumption of religious media – TV, radio or literature – was a strong predictor of obesity. So he suggests finding a way to incorporate exercise while watching or listening to religious programming.

In other words, no televangelists unless you’re on a treadmill.

Across the board, there are examples of religious groups who have taken the initiative to cultivate weight management among their members.

A book called “The Hallelujah Diet,” by Dr. George Malkmus, encourages a regimen of raw, natural foods, no meat and plenty of fresh air and exercise.

The diet is based on Genesis 1:29 in the Bible, which says, in the King James Version: “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the Earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”

Malkmus had colon cancer and claims to have fought through it with faith and good habits. Now he is trying to encourage others to do the same with a ministry called Hallelujah Acres, based out of Shelby, N.C. (www.hacres.com).

The Weigh Down Workshop, a program that offers online and in-person courses across the country, tries to get far away from dieting on the path to finding a healthy weight.

To diet is to focus on the wrong thing, according to the people at Weigh Down (www.wdworkshop.com/).

“Religion is simply what you adore. Everyone adores or worships something,” said Weigh Down founder Gwen Shamblin.

“And so we’re saying if you worship the refrigerator, the chocolate cake, it’s going to rob you of your time, your self-esteem, your clothing, your relationships. But if you transfer the same passion over to God, then He gives back.”

Weigh Down has been around for 15 years and is growing, boasting hundreds of people who say their weight loss is permanent, Shamblin said.

It’s not only mainstream religions that have tried their hand at eliminating obesity among their members.

For example, one of the most popular features on the About.com page for the Pagan/Wiccan religion is the weight-loss spell, according to Terri Paajanen, the online guide for that subject (http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/spells/p/weightloss.htm).

According to Paajanen, the Wiccan religion tends to embrace full, curvy female bodies. But many people still care about image and health. For that, she says, a spell could do the trick.

You can lose weight, according to Paajanen, by lighting a candle, holding a crystal and reciting the words: “Goddess within/Goddess without/Guide me to my goal/Ease my hunger/Soothe my spirit/Strengthen my resolve/As I will it, so mote it be.”

It works best during the waning moon, she says. Preferably on a Saturday.