Rosemary Conley: I was a compulsive eater before I was born again

When Rosemary Conley Food and Fitness went into administration recently, I recalled how, when I interviewed the guru of low-fat dieting in 1995, she'd insisted that Jesus set her course.

"I wasn't sorry to lose my SAGG [Slimming and Good Grooming organisation] back in the 80s," she said, sipping tea with skimmed milk in Quorn House, her HQ in Loughborough. "It'd been a very fraught involvement. I'd worked very hard, my first marriage was wrecked. I gave everything and I got gallstones. But everything is for a reason and through suffering gallstones I discovered the hip and thigh diet. I think the Lord put his hand on me. That I discovered low fat, I honestly believe came from the Lord. I can't deny that. I was chosen to spread the word."