Everyone’s got a gimmick when it comes to dieting. Eat this bar, drink this shake, cut this, add that; the list goes on. This one is really a first for me. A man in Cincinnati, Ohio borrowed a tradition from 17th century monks by taking on a beer-only diet during Lent. The outcome was somewhat surprising.

As reported by ABC 8 in Tulsa, Del Hall, who is reportedly in his mid-40’s, decided to drink nothing but beer for 46 days. The result was a 44-pound weight loss! Hall told ABC 8:

“Being master brewers, they decided they would take a popular style of beer in Germany, bock beer, make it extra hearty and that would be their liquid bread and that’s what they call it. So, the monks in Bavaria, they would call doppelbock liquid bread and basically it would sustain them through the 46 days of lent. It’s not just possible monks did it, it's pretty plausible,”

 

Allaboutbeer.com describes the doppelbock beer this way:

Doppelbocks are extra strong, rich and weighty lagers characterized by an intense malty sweetness with a note of hop bitterness to balance the sweetness. Color can vary from full amber to dark brown and alcohol levels are potently high, typically 7-8 percent ABV.

 

I’m not a big beer drinker at all, in fact, I barely touch it these days, but I’m tempted to try one of these doppelbock beers. I could stand to lose some more weight, but I’m not too sure about 46 straight days of just beer. But Hall swears that, though in his mid-40's, he feels like he's in his 20's again after his Lent beer fast. I doubt there's a fountain of youth in that beer, either. But I'll try almost anything once.

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