FREE DIETS - What's the true
cost?
There are thousands of
"free" diet sites that offer forums, calculators, tracking tools,
diaries, etc. You may find many of these tools helpful in your
dieting efforts, but common sense will tell you that "you get
what you pay for". Here's some things to consider when comparing
free or automated diet programs to professional diet sites that
charge for their services and individualized programs:
Professional involvement
and accessibility. Many diet sites advertise that they have
experts on staff to answer questions and this helps to establish
a sense of credibility and safety of the information and program.
However the actual active involvement of trained experts is
limited on free web sites because professional services must be
paid for their time and effort.
Free or automated diet
sites limit the availability of trained professionals (dietitian,
physicians, etc) to pre-programmed answers like F.A.Q.s, and
support forums. Any personal one-on-one contact is minimal or
non-existent because fees must be paid to professionals for their
time and expertise. There are often additional fees for these
services on "free" diet sites. This puts the safety and
reliability of personal health and diet information from free
diet sites into question and really limits the level of
individualized personal attention available.
- Can you trust
the advice you get from free diets forums?
Free diets
forums can be a fun way to interact with people but keep in mind
that you are getting advice from peers (at best).
You can get the same free advice from your neighbors or
co-workers! Free diet forums vary greatly in professional
oversight. Often there is no expert to screen inaccurate or
harmful information putting the reader at risk. At worst, free
diet forums are littered with "contributors" who masks themselves
as everyday forum users but instead make positive comments about
diet products, supplements, or programs that they are actually
selling. The advice and help on forums may not be monitored for
accuracy or safety and those who oversee the sites may lack
professional experience and expertise in nutrition or other
health matters. Carefully weigh the advice given, especially if
you have health issues. Look for diet forums that are monitored
by credentialed experts for greater assurance of safety –
again these services by professionals have a cost so they are not
available on free diet sites.
- How safe and
effective are free diet menu planners and tools?
The down
side with free automated menu planners and weight loss programs
is that they are limited in their ability to individualize menus
and diet plans to personal choices, lifestyle and especially
personal health needs. They often have a limited range of calorie
levels and have a set nutritional composition that
doesn’t meet varying health needs. And, some menu planners
are designed with the intent of promoting the sales of
supplemental foods, shakes, and packaged foods or a specific diet
that may not fit your needs or wants. Many websites off free
tools including basic calorie calculators, BMI and body fat
estimators along with free surveys which can be helpful in
providing basic general information on diet. Recipe calculators
and basic menu planners can also be good diet
tools.
Individualization
of diet is a key to long term weight loss (because it’s
easier to stick to a plan that considers your needs and fits your
life) and this requires a review of personal information and an
individual assessment of client needs that free diet sites
can’t provide. (see support for this recommendation -
it's the first boldfaced sentence listed on the revised USDA
PYRAMID:
"No one size diet fits
all"
- Bottom Line
on Safety
A website
that offers free services to clients must pay for it somehow.
Typically this is done in the form of advertising of products. A
free diet program can be a useful supplemental tool but it can
also be a way to hook people who want to lose weight and then
advertise needless (and sometimes dangerous) products and
practices. It is also a way for new, unproven diet programs to
enter the market place and establish legitimacy and get lots of
traffic from those looking for free advice. They then take on
advertisers to fund the website and later charge for their
services. Look for established websites with a track record of
success, professional oversight and involvement with diet
programs that adhere to safe and healthy practices that promote
long term weight maintenance.
- Diet
Results
Is your
diet limited to a database of foods? Many "auto", and "e" diet
type diets promise that they customize or personalize your plan.
However, since these types of programs are 100% automated,
it’s really up to the user to choose the right diet plan
for their health issues since there is no professional matching
your diet needs to the various options available. In many cases,
even the support itself is automated, while automation makes it
possible to provide free programs, options are limited, similar
to getting a menu plan out of a diet book.
- Automated diets and support tools are being studied to see
how effective they are in producing results.
A Brown University study reported on
weight loss programs that did not provide any ongoing support
versus two other groups: one group received automated e-mail
support and another group received human e-mail support. Both
groups that received some kind of support (automated and human)
did better than those with no support. However more
importantly:
|
"While average weight loss was similar for
both groups receiving e-counseling at three months - the authors
found that at six months, the human group experienced the
greatest overall weight loss, averaging a loss of 13 to 15
pounds. " - Excerpted from Medical News Today "
|
When it comes to losing weight - diet services that offer you real
email support like
Personal Dietitian (aka
PersonalDiets™)
have been shown to lead to greater weight
loss! The value of a well designed diet program that
provides ongoing personal human support along with tools and
menus over automated programs seems to be in its effect on long
term weight control, the key marker for successful weight loss.
Who wants to do the hard work of losing weight, only to have it
return 3 months later?
How does
Personal Dietitian (aka PersonalDiets) and other custom developed diet plans from
a nutritionist benefit dieters over the automated, one-size fits
all "e" type diets?
Diet and nutrition
experts, like those utilized for the development of Personal
Dietitian's custom diets, that are designed more to the
individual's specific needs offer you a safer alternative to the
automated "e" and free diets some try. The custom diets prepared
by these experts offer you real food choices along with a more
practical diet that offers you both greater flexibility and
convenience. A diet should truly fit your needs and address your
long-term diet success needs and not just provide you a "diet".
All the dietitian we have worked with appreciate this important
concept and provide their clients who lose weight with an
appropriate with maintenance diet as well.
The Personal Dietitian company has provided more custom diets
than anyone - ever! The reason for this is due to referrals from
friends and family and our no fad no gimmicks approach. We don't
sell or recommend the use of supplements or particular foods.
You eat a more natural diet because experts plan you a custom
diet that suits your preferences better and then provide you with
real support. Our members appreciate that we our custom diets
prioritize their health and safety needs. We develop and equal
number of weight loss plans and again place the individual's
preferences, safety and health and goals among as our priority
when developing a Personal Diet for them.
Our diet and
nutrition experts not only develop plans but also provide
oversight of our support program providing email supported at no
additional cost. The diet and program together make our program
a real value especially when compared to our competition. We
support you as needed and do our best to keep you on track and
motivated. Personal Dietitian has a proven track record of doing
just that providing diets that really work since 1999. We help
you reach your health and weight goals - and do so one client at
at time!
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