Tag Archives: slim-fast

Jenny Craig Owned by Nestlé and Other Scandalous Health Industry Acquisitions

If you’re like me then you expect the best in people. And you trust that when someone tells you something, it’s the truth. Call me old fashioned but that’s the way my world operates.

So when I recently found out that there are companies within the health and food industries that seem to have completely different aims and values but are somehow intimately intertwined, I was shocked. It was like finding out the Easter bunny didn’t exist when I was 8 years old all over again. Just wrong.

To give you a taste of what I’m talking about, Nestlé, famed candy bar producer, owns Jenny Craig – queen mother in the weight loss world. Hershey, best known for their milk chocolate bars, owns Dagoba – an artisan chocolate producer that only works with quality, organic ingredients while remaining sustainable. And soda giant Pepsi owns Naked Juice, which produces some of the healthiest, all natural juice beverages on the market. (more…)

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Dana

Packaged Foods Falsely Marketed as Weight Loss Aids

If you’ve turned on your TV in the past week you’ve no doubt been inundated with ads and messages from some of the biggest packaged food marketers around. The New Year is like Black Friday for the billion-dollar weight loss industry, as this is the best opportunity to catch new dieters. Marketers from commercial diets to pills and yogurt want your attention, and your dollars, as you make an effort to stick to a resolution to better yourself; a resolution that for most people has to do with losing weight.

As you start making changes this week, be a conscious consumer and don’t accept those advertising claims at face value. The more Yoplait, Diet Coke, and frozen foods you toss in your cart, and eventually in to your mouth, the more you’ll continue to fall short of your goals.

Yes, the package says they’re healthier. It even says things like fortified, low-calorie, natural, or a host of others that they get away with via some tricky loopholes in food labeling. They’re nothing more than a clever disguise.

“These foods are ‘nutritious’ because they are fortified by adding a few nutrients,” said Mary Hartley, RD, our resident dietitian. “Because so many other nutrients are removed during processing, they pale in comparison to natural foods. The foods do not contain any particular ingredient to promote weight loss; rather, it is either the small portion, or single serving, or boring repetition recommended by the manufacturer that relatively reduces calorie intake.”

Those fewer calories you’re consuming are also empty calories, meaning they’re void of nutrition. So you’re feeding your body unnecessary calories and not getting anything else out of it.

Some of the biggest culprits falsely advertising their weight loss capabilities, include Special K, Yoplait, diet soda, Slim-Fast, and Lean Cuisines. Continue reading to see why they’re on our list, and what the healthier alternative is.

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Posted on January 3, 2024 by Natalie K

US News Ranks the Best Commercial Diets and the Best Diets for Weight Loss

US News Best Diets LogoU.S. News and World Report is famous (and in some cases infamous) for ranking products, institutions and services of all kinds, be it cars, colleges or diets. Yesterday, they released diet rankings in a number of categories, most notably the best commercial diets and the best diets for weight loss. They also created a list for both the best diabetic diets and the best heart-healthy diets, and a list of best overall diets.

U.S. News reports that they spent six month researching diets, and then had a panel of 22 health experts score the diet on seven different criteria. The diet was judged on its nutritional completeness, its safety, its ability to prevent or manage diabetes, its ability to prevent or manage heart disease, short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss and how easy it is to follow.

It’s little surprise to us that Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig topped both lists, as multiple studies have shown these two diets to be effective. Below are the top eight diets from the best commercial diets and the best diets for weight loss.

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Posted on June 9, 2023 by Margaret

Should You Spring Clean Your System With a Detox?

Mary Hartley, RD, MPH, is the director of nutrition for Calorie Count, providing domain expertise on issues related to nutrition, weight loss and health. She creates original content for weekly blogs and newsletters, for the Calorie Count library, and for her popular daily Question-and-Answer section, Ask Mary. Ms. Hartley also furnishes direction for the site features and for product development.

Calorie Counters want to know whether or not it is wise to cleanse the system with a detox diet. Here are a few of the readers’ favorite “Ask Mary Q+As” about spring cleaning.

Should I fast to prepare my system for a change?

Fasting is unnecessary. Your system does not need to prepare for change. In a fast lasting longer than a day or two, the body starts to breakdown some of its muscles and organs to generate fuel for the central nervous system. Because muscle is a major calorie burner, less muscle could lead to lowering overall calorie requirements, which could make it more difficult to lose weight in the future. And then, due to feast-or-famine thinking, food deprivation could lead to overeating when food becomes available again. Instead of fasting, it’s best to just go ahead and begin to eat a balanced diet of wholesome food at a lower calorie level.

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Posted on April 17, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Slim-Fast Recalls Ready-to-Drink Beverages

slim-fastThe Unilever Corporation, manufacturer of the Slim-Fast line of diet supplements and scores of other products is conducting a nationwide voluntary recall of all Slim-Fast® Ready-to-Drink products in cans, due to the possibility of contamination with Bacillus cereus, a micro-organism, which may cause diarrhea and possibly nausea and/or vomiting, according to the corporation’s website.

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Posted on December 9, 2023 by heather

25 Most Popular Diets of 2024

In 2024, diet-related searches online continued to be a hot topic. It seems Americans are wising up about their health and making more of an effort to get fit to reverse the concerning obesity epidemic that has begun to plague both young and old in our country.

In DietsInReview.com’s 2024 Most Popular Diets of the Year list, there were some tried and true plans that made the cut, not surprising any of us. Then there were those that seem to have a more fad-feel that left us scratching our heads, and some of you likely yo-yoing. Here are the 25 Most Popular Diets of the year, one of which might be the solution for you in the new year.

1. Weight Watchers
A 45-year veteran of dieting that is one of the most proven plans on the market. They not only help you to lose weight, they teach you how to keep it off for life. With the new year they introduce their new plan, Momentum.

2. 21 Pounds in 21 Days
Made popular by Howard Stern sidekick Robin Quivers, the book introduces a fruit- and vegetable-based detox in which you consume primarily fresh juices to rid your body of toxins, lose weight and reset your metabolism.

3. Cabbage Soup Diet
A fad diet that became very popular for its quick weight loss claims. It’s a seven-day weight loss plan that comes with a strict, low-calorie outline for foods you can and can’t consume each day.

4. 5 Day Miracle Diet
This approach encourages you to change the times of day that you eat and eliminate starches, caffeine, alcohol and sugar. They claim when you do so, you’ll regulate blood sugar and the need to munch and binge.slim fast

5. Slim-Fast
Shake, shake, shake the weight off with delicious shakes that replace breakfast and lunch, then dinner is a healthy meal of your choosing. (more…)

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Natalie K

Interview with Joel Gates of DozenDiets.com

Have you ever been on a diet? How many have you pursued? In case you haven’t noticed, there are a few out there. At DietsInReview.com alone we’ve reviewed more than 400 weight loss programs and products- and we’re no where near finished. What if you couldn’t make up your mind, and decided to try them all, or at least 12? That’s what Joel Gates isjoel gates doing this year, and you can follow along at DozenDiets.com.

With 2024 about to begin, and a desire to beat his long-time fight with being overweight, Joel began searching for the right diet to begin the year with (just as so many do). “When I started, I didn’t know what to start,” explains Joel, “I’ve done several in the past with varying degrees of success. I picked out those that I thought might be the most successful. I had some criteria- be able to cheat occasionally, stick with it on a daily basis, that I have confidence in and not too off the wall.” Joel also mentions that his health is important and he does take that into consideration when choosing a diet. Before starting he met with his doctor and just recently had a mid-year check-up to ensure he’s being safe about it.

Each month in 2024, Joel will follow a different diet. Half-way through the year, he’s lost about 43 pounds and 10% of his body fat. (Beginning stats were 234 pounds, 30% body fat) He keeps a daily journal at DozenDiets.com, displaying weight changes, body fat changes, food diary, exercise diary, cheats, successes and everything else that plays into his diet each day. Each month concludes with a summary, where he scores the diet on a 40-point scale, for ease of understanding, forgiveness of a cheat, ease of execution and results.

dozendiets.com

To date, he’s completed:

Jan: Low-Calorie Diet
Lost 8.5 pounds
Score 30/40

Feb: South Beach Diet
Lost 11.3 pounds
Score 28/40

Mar: Slim-Fast (tied for first place so far)
Lost 8.6 pounds
Score 34/40

Apr: The Abs Diet (in last place)
Lost 6 pounds
Score 23/40

May: Weight Watchers (tied for first place so far)
Lost 8 pounds
Score 34/40

June: Advanced Mediterranean Diet
Lost 6 pounds to date
Anticipates a high score

July: NutriSystem

Hear my interview with Joel in its entirety below. He discusses his experiences with each diet, which seem to be more male-friendly and which are definitely built for women, and how he plans to continue the rest of the year, considering he’s been far more successful than anticipated.

Posted on June 17, 2023 by Natalie K