Weight Loss Products and Programs

We can't say that we'd recommend all of these, but so many of you ask for them, we've decided to provide links to some of today's most popular diets, along with an overview of each of them and our shameless comments. Here they are! Please research before you embark on a diet.

• Avon SlimWell - This leading manufacturer of personal care items has developed a weight loss program that includes bars, shakes and The New Me™, a personalized healthy eating plan. Maybe.
• Calorad 2000 - A collagen protein supplement that, the company claims, feeds the body and improves its ability to utilize fats and sugars. Sounds a little gimmicky.
• DietPower - A computer program that you use to log your meals, set goals and maintain a balanced diet. It allows for personalization so you can create your own weight loss program. Pretty neat .
• Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution - Dr. Atkins shows you why eating fewer carbohydrates and more protein can be your path to permanent weight loss with his world famous, highly debated diet. We're skeptical, but with this link, you can get the book for $3.80 and decide for yourself!
• eDiets - Creating meal plans that match each client's profile, preferences and lifestyle, eDiets has lived up to its big name. The initial profile is free. We've heard a lot of good things about this program.
• ez weight loss - Although this company sells a lot of strange products, it offers a sensible weight loss program that members receive via e-mail. Could be worth looking into.
• Fit or Fat Target Diet - Okay - we're biased! Anything by Covert Bailey is a winner. He's Maia's favorite fitness writer. You can get this book for only $1.85 and we highly recommend it.
• Jenny Craig - Whether you go to a center or do the online program, you get counseling and lots of motivation from Jenny Craig. We like it because it encourages people to exercise, instead of just focusing on food. Thumbs up.
• Nutrisystem - Similar in its mission to eDiets, Nutrisystem is big on balanced meals and healthy lifestyle changes, but it offers a free membership. It's been around for over thirty years and it's as popular as ever. Good choice.
• Optimize by Weider - This program creates a workout program and meal plan for you, acting as both a personal trainer and weight loss consultant. Most likely to result in permanent weight loss.
• Sugar Busters- The main focus of the sugar buster diet is to "cut sugar to trim fat". This can be a great solution for diabetics, as long as it's monitored. Not for everyone, but might be for you!
• Suzanne Somers' Eat, Cheat, and Melt the Fat Away - Similar to the Atkins Diet, you can pig out on bacon and burgers and lose weight, burning fat while eating more fat. We doubt it.
• Synergy Diet - Looking for low carb bagels? You'll find them here! This is a low carbohydrate virtual supermarket that offers all of the Atkins Diet products, recipes and articles for people who are doing the low carb thing. Interesting...
• The Zone - Popular with celebrities and reviewed highly by consumers, the Zone is very scientific and involves a lot of measuring servings and things like that. It incorporates Balance bars, which are nutritionally sound snacks. It will work if you're ready to be meticulous.

Now for a little humor...

Ten New Diets
by Judy Pokras

You've tried Dr. Stillman's Quick Weight Loss Diet, the Sardine Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, and more, but you're still lugging those extra pounds around. What's a food lover to do?

Good news! Ten new diets have just arrived on the scene. One of them is bound to do the trick.

1. The Internet Diet. You lose weight because you're so addicted to being online, you don't eat for days at a time.

2. The Fantasy Diet. You eat a Collard Wrap while fantasizing you're really eating Death by Chocolate.

3. The Play With Your Food Diet. You're so busy making a castle out of your mashed potatoes, you forget to eat them.

4. The Food Chess Diet. You and a friend play chess using food tidbits as chess pieces. You are only allowed to eat when you capture your friend's players. You lose the game and you lose weight.

5. The Rolling Table Diet. You sit on a chair on wheels, trying to eat at a table on wheels. The motorized floor under your table is constantly shifting, so you don't get to eat much, and thus lose weight. (This is similar to The Seasick Diet, but takes place in your own land-lubbing home.)

6. The Fisherperson Diet. A fisherperson holds a pole whose end is attached to a morsel of food in your mouth. Every time your try to bite down on the food, the fisherperson pulls the food away.

7. The Puffed Food Diet. All your favorite foods are re-made in the style of puffed wheat or puffed rice. Your Cheese Ravioli is now mostly air, so you don't gain any weight.

8. The Mock Puffed Food Diet. In this diet, all the foods you like to eat are made of styrofoam, to resemble the Puffed Food Diet. Now you can't eat the food at all. (You try to, and spit it out.) You really lose weight.

9. The Edible Flowers Diet. You are only allowed to eat edible flowers. You get bored with them and eat nothing, thus lose weight.

10. The Love Diet. You munch playfully on your sweetheart's hand. You gain no calories; you lose weight. Your sweetheart loses interest in you because s/he preferred you with love handles.

Judy Pokras is the founder and editor of Raw Foods News, an online newsmagazine celebrating the raw vegan lifestyle.  She has also written for The New York Times, The Star-Ledger, GreatLife, EnergyTimes, and HealthScout.com; she has served as the editor of newsletters on health care and nutrition for the Thompson Publishing Group; she has written, produced and directed short comedy, music video, documentary, promotional, and artistic videos; and she has had her drawings published as editorial art. She is currently finishing a comedy video, looking to get an experimental play produced, and looking to sell her sketch comedy