Christian Weight Loss Diet: Rick Warren Bible-Based Daniel Plan Celebrated As Key To Healthier Life

Megachurch pastor Rick Warren has become a weight-loss guru. On Tuesday night, Warren won the Christian Book of the Year Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) for his Bible-based weight-loss book, "The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life," written with doctors Daniel Amen and Mark Hyman, the Washington Post reported.

The award was given to Warren, founder and leader of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, at the association’s annual banquet in Nashville, Tennessee. Warren started the plan when he noticed he and many of his congregants had become overweight. Roughly 15,000 participants lost a total of 250,000 pounds in just one year, according to Christian Today. Warren himself lost 65 pounds on the diet, according to a USA Today report in 2013.

The book -- named after the Bible's Daniel, who would not eat meat or wine from the Babylonian king’s table -- promotes eating natural foods, exercise and the "special sauce" of faith and friends, the Washington Post reported.

The Daniel Plan's website describes it as a "healthy lifestyle program framed around abundance, not deprivation. You will enjoy eating delicious whole foods; food grown on a plant, not man-made products created in a plant." The Daniel Plan site's store features DVDs, CDs and gear emblazoned with the weight-loss system's logo.

The Christian Book Awards dictate eligible titles must have a clear Christian message and worldview and must align with the ECPA's statement of faith, which includes "belief in the Trinity, the infallibility of the Bible, the Virgin Birth, the Atonement, the Resurrection and the eternal damnation of sinners," according to the Washington Post.

Warren's hugely popular Christian book "The Purpose Driven Life," published in 2002, had sold 60 million copies through 2013, AL.com reported.