BIO
GWEN SHAMBLIN LARA

New York Times Best-Selling Author of the Weigh Down Diet

BACKGROUND

Gwen Shamblin Lara was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, with a strong faith and foundational values. She grew up with a medical background, making rounds with her belated father, Walter Henley, M.D., who was a General Surgeon. She received her undergraduate degree in Dietetics and Masters Degree in Nutrition with an emphasis in Biochemistry from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Mrs. Shamblin was an Instructor of Foods and Nutrition at the University of Memphis for five years, and she worked with the city's Health Department for an additional five years, helping specifically in the areas of overweight, obesity, pregnancy, and child health.

A very spiritual person with a strong faith in God, Gwen felt led to found The Weigh Down Workshop in 1986, in order to teach these principles to those who were desperately seeking to lose weight permanently. Initially offered through audiotapes and small classes taught by Gwen in a retail setting, this teaching began yielding unprecedented results. Participants were not only losing their weight while eating regular foods, but they were using the same Bible-based principles to turn away from other addictions such as smoking or alcohol abuse...