With the timeworn New Year’s resolution of weight loss comes an annual increase in ads for fad diets such as Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem. While advertisements for these “Lose 12 in 12” diets have convinced some students, nutritionists on campus remain skeptical of the promises and payoffs of price per meal versus pounds lost.
“[Diets] help you make better choices. They teach you that you can live without those things [like carbohydrates] and just to manage better,” said Kaitlyn Walker, a junior majoring in management and marketing.
Walker has done the Special K diet in the past and is looking to begin the South Beach Diet soon as a part of a New Year’s resolution with her boyfriend.
While Walker said she enjoyed doing the Special K diet, a plan where at least two meals a day are substituted with a Special K product such as a cup of cereal or a protein bar. She said the results did not entirely align with the advertisements.
Walker said ultimately the point of the Special K diet and other diets she has tried is to help with curbing her appetite toward smaller meals. In fact, Walker is a member of a majority, as 91 percent of college women attempt to control their weight with some sort of dieting, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.
Sheena Gregg, assistant director of Nutrition and Education and Health Services at the Student Health Center, has had more than her fair share of clients who come into her office asking about meal plan diets and their sustainability.
“I really commend [students] for coming in and checking with me about [diet plans] because there are going to be some plans out there that, as a registered dietitian, I would not advise,” Gregg said. “Usually the red flags for different programs I tell people to watch out for when it comes to crash diets and the like are any kind of programs that encourage folks to completely exclude certain food groups.”
Gregg said she does not condemn all plans, noting that programs like Weight Watchers have proven helpful with keeping track of food intake. She said the problem stems from the expense of the plans and weening off of the plans themselves.
“When it comes to programs like Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem, those types of plans can be helpful for folks who may not have a lot of time and may just want some program to tell them exactly what to eat; the only problem is it can not be cost effective,” Gregg said. “Also, whenever somebody [transitions] back to ‘real food’ or their own food, sometimes people feel a little bit uncomfortable with that and haven’t really learned what appropriate portion sizes would be.”
Moving away from specific programs, many students flock to fad diets more along the lines of lifestyle change than simply weight oriented. The paleo diet, for example, excludes dairy, grain and refined sweeteners, going back to the “cave man” lifestyle. Jamie Hillman, a sophomore on the pre-law track who is training for the Tuscaloosa half marathon, is currently weening off the paleo diet, as she said she’s found it’s too expensive for a college student to manage.
“The main reason I stopped doing it was because it wasn’t convenient. The problem is the food that is convenient is unhealthy,” Hillman said. “It’s always going to be easier to get the ramen noodles than to get some nice lean chicken and vegetables and so that was really expensive. Coconut milk and cage-free eggs are twice as expensive.”
While Hillman didn’t lose any weight from doing the paleo diet, she said she appreciated that it rid her body of processed foods.
“It’s so tempting to try those [fad diets], and I did see positive results after doing the paleo. It’s tempting to try them, but I feel paleo is different from the others because you’re eating food that you get from the grocery store and not from something that you get online. The research behind it makes sense to me.”
Coordinator of Fitness Services at the Student Recreation Center Jason Casey said he does not think fad diet programs or meal plans work because typically they only lead “to cyclical weight loss and regaining of the weight,” as the individual does not accomplish the lifestyle change necessary for proper weight management.
Casey recommends a well-balanced diet and physical activity that align with the American College of Sports Medicine – 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity activity and 75 minutes of vigorous intensity.
“The first thing I would suggest to anyone beginning an exercise program is to set realistic, attainable goals and find an activity that you enjoy doing. Oftentimes we see various television shows and other media outlets that depict unrealistic physical changes and we expect those same changes,” Casey said. “Remember a well-balanced diet is always suggested as opposed to looking at foods as being ‘good’ or ‘bad.’”
When it comes to meal plans and diets, nutritionists and trainers suggest caution, as diets can promote unrealistic goals and weigh heavily on a student’s budget.
For one day of food, including breakfast, lunch, a snack, dinner with an appetizer and dessert, the price from Jenny Craig is about $25.64 (see below). Blueberry pancakes & veggie sausage – 4.89
Lite table syrup – .50
Chicken salad kit – 5.59
Bruschetta veggie chips – 1.99
Tomato Florentine soupitizer soup – 2.99
Salisbury steak with vegetables – 6.99
Cookies ‘n Crème cheesecake – 2.69
If this is an average for a day, giving or taking a few dollars for meal price variation, then a 30-day month of Jenny Craig costs around $769.20. But in addition to this price per meal, one also needs to count for the monthly fee of $19.99 after the first month free. This excludes the first membership fee of $49.50.
Aside from paying for membership and meals, because most freezers in dorms and apartments are 10 cubic feet and shared among roommates, they are not meant to store large amounts of frozen foods. A 7.2 cubic feet freezer by Kenmore on the Sears website is $289.99, and a 19.7 cubic feet freezer is $645.99.
Websites to track BMI, etc.:
For the easiest nutrition advice, the Student Recreation Center suggests to clients to follow the government’s updated food guide pyramid called MyPlate. Information can be found at choosemyplate.gov.
The Jenny Craig website has a BMI calculator available as well.
