Rick Warren's Saddleback Church Embraces 'The Daniel Plan' for Weight Loss

Carrie Dedrick | Updated: Jun 20, 2014

Rick Warren's Saddleback Church Embraces 'The Daniel Plan' for Weight Loss

Members of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in California are joining together in a diet and exercise plan in the name of Christ. “The Daniel Plan” combines food, fitness, focus, faith and friends to pursue a healthy lifestyle; in the pilot year of the plan, 15,000 church members collectively lost about 250,000 pounds. 

Pastor Rick Warren said, "It's not just what we eat, it's what eats us. There's an emotional and spiritual issue we ignore. The secret sauce is faith, friends and focus."

Psychiatrist and member of Saddleback Church is one of the creators of the plan, along with Daniel Amen. He said, "If Jesus came to dinner, what would you feed him? Would you give him a Big Mac, fries and a Coke? Would you feed him all the junk that we feed ourselves and our guests when they come to dinner? Or would you eat real food?"

Church member Jim Black lost 90 pounds on the plan and regularly meets church members for a walk around the large church campus. "It's that one scripture: My body is not my own, my body is on loan and someday I'll have to account for it. I wanted to serve God at a higher level. And I wanted to be able to fit in the seat of a roller coaster and buy one seat on the airplane instead of two,” said Black.

Promotional material for the Daniel Plan says, “God created it. Jesus died for it. The Holy Spirit lives in it. Shouldn't you take care of it?"

Publication date: June 20, 2014



Rick Warren's Saddleback Church Embraces 'The Daniel Plan' for Weight Loss