Source+16

http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/01/the_diet_indust.html


 * 1) Americans spend $40 billion a year on weight-loss programs and products. They answer Jenny Craig’s enticement to “lose 20 pounds for just $20” (“plus the cost of food”) or Trimspa’s offer of a seven-day supply of chocolate Hoodia weight-loss supplements for $24.95.
 * 2) According to a 2006 study reported in //The New England Journal of Medicine//, most people who participate in weight-loss programs “regain about one-third of the weight lost during the next year and are typically back to baseline in three to five years.”
 * 3) “Americans are looking for that silver bullet,” says Keri Gans, a registered dietician and national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Assn. “But they won’t change their behavior. That’s where the fault lies.”
 * 4) But diet programs are often up front about the challenge of losing weight permanently—and would prove well worth the money if only consumers followed through. If you check out Jenny Craig’s Web site you’ll find a multifaceted approach to weight loss that combines diet, exercise, and an extended weight-maintenance program. Similarly, Weight Watchers (WTW), whose motto is “Stop dieting; start living,” views weight loss as a lifelong undertaking.
 * 5) Even the South Beach and Atkins diets—often dismissed as fads—are designed to be permanent. The South Beach Diet requires followers to stay on a protracted maintenance phase to make their eating changes last a lifetime. Even the notorious Atkins Diet—often caricaturized as a two-week binge on sirloin and cheese—is intended as a years-long plan to reduce carbohydrate intake.