In 2002, the National Center for Health Statistics under the governance of the Centers for Disease Control conducted interview surveys of 31,044 adults to discover the frequency with which these people used Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) to supplement their health care. An estimated 43 percent of those surveyed said that over a one year time frame, they used prayer at some point for personal health.

Many dieters in weight -loss programs which emphasize the spiritual as well as the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of the individual experience success through prayer. Why does prayer seem to lead to weight-loss success?

Prayer is communication with God. The battle to maintain or lose weight through wise dietary choices sometimes seems like a lonely struggle. But for some communication with God is like sharing your difficulties with a best friend, one who listens to all of your words without interruption.

Prayer temporarily removes you from the moment of temptation and causes you to focus on something besides the food you were contemplating. Meditation can have the same effect. Talking to God turns your focus from the food to the one to which you are speaking.

When you pray for help with your diet, you are asking for support to resist temptation. Just knowing there is support can give you strength to move past the temporary urge to consume unnecessary calories. Prayer can prompt you into a different course of action. Weight loss programs often stress the importance of having support for a diet to be successful.