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The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, a new HBO Max docuseries, digs into the strange and terrible story of the Remnant Fellowship Church, a religious cult with a toxic emphasis on diets. Gwen Shamblin's first hit was The Weigh Down Workshop, a Christian diet program that promoted extreme intuitive eating alongside fundamentalist ideals. It pales in comparison to the horrific abuses that church members were exposed to if it seems horrible.
And, as if the entire scenario wasn't dramatic enough, Shamblin died in a plane crash earlier this year, along with her husband and several of her acolytes. The first three episodes of The Way Down are currently available, with the final two episodes set to premiere on April 28, 2022. Before you start binging, here are a few things you should know about Shamblin and her Weigh Down diet.
What exactly is Shamblin's Weigh Down diet?
Shamblin, who admitted to struggling with her weight in college, began a diet consultancy business in the 1980s, which grew into the Weigh Down Workshop. The program effectively encouraged people to pray away their excess weight, preaching that turning to God would “keep you virtuous and protect you from overeating.” According to a 2004 New York Times article, Shamblin believes "gluttony is a moral failing."
When Gwen Shamblin launched The Weigh Down Workshop in the late 1980s, she was known to be one of the few diet gurus who didn't believe in diets. For the most part, her methods were straightforward to implement and produced spectacular results.
According to Gwen's book of the same name, published in 1997, The Weigh Down, taught individuals to,
"Rise above the magnetic pull of the refrigerator and turn to the bounty offered to thousands who have embraced a liberating weight-reduction program in churches across America."
In essence, The Weigh Down diet allows followers to eat whatever they want, whenever they want, without exercising. A former devotee, Gina Graves, explained,
"Jesus declared all food clean. What you did was you waited for physical hunger and you ate until you were satisfied. And the times you weren't hungry, you went to God. You prayed. You gave that desire for the food to him."
What exactly happened to Gwen Shamblin?
Shamblin's reign over Remnant ended unexpectedly on May 29, 2021, when the plane she and her husband Joe Lara were flying crashed into Percy Priest Lake shortly after takeoff, killing her, their son-in-law Brandon Hannah, and four other Church leaders on board.
The group flew from Smyrna, Tennessee, to a "We the People: Patriot's Day" MAGA rally in Florida. Jennifer, David Martin, Jonathan, and Jessica Walters were among the passengers. The accident killed all of the passengers on board. Gwen Shamblin Lara was 66 years old, and her husband, Joe Lara, was 58.
Do these Weigh Down diet still exist?
After Shamblin's death, her daughter Elizabeth Shamblin Hanna became the church's primary leader. The Weigh Down workshops are still available, with topics ranging from basic weight loss to more in-depth explorations of the relationship between hunger and loving God. Despite the website's "hours" of free content, a monthly subscription to Weigh Down TV costs $19.99, and a single class costs $69.99.
But according to The Guardian, former members of Shamblin Lara's Remnant Fellowship claimed that their participation in Remnant and its Weight Down program caused them to develop eating disorders and mental health problems Shamblin Lara also has accusations of child abuse against him.
The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin Part 2 is set to premiere on HBO Max on 28 April 2022.
