"WeightWatchers" news and stories

Dr. Mehmet Oz and Rachael Ray. Photo: Jennifer Lawinski

Even presidents know it's hard to get kids to eat their vegetables.

Former President Bill Clinton told parents a gymnasium full of parents in Harlem Saturday that he shared their struggles with finding and committing to healthy eating. Getting kids to eat fruits and vegetables is hard, he said. "Especially in Harlem, where I can say we have a lot of other options and they all taste good."

The talk was part of the the New York City Wine and Food Festival's Weight Watcher's Fun and Fit in the City event, targeted at combating childhood obesity and promoting healthy eating for the city's kids. The ex-president's foundation is headquartered in Harlem, and its top priority in the U.S. is the fight against childhood obesity.

Weight Watchers produces many best selling diet cookbooks, with recipes and advice that go along with their philosophy of moderation and promotion of living healthily. This spring, they have released two new cookbooks, Super Foods and In No Time. The books are packaged together and only sold at Weight Watchers meetings, which even non-members can attend as guests. While this does sound like a marketing scheme for their program, there are a couple of good reasons to take a look at the books. Super Foods has recipes using some of the most nutritious foods you can eat, like fruits, vegetables and whole grains - anything with a high nutritional value. In No Time is a book with meals that can be prepared and on the table in 20 minutes or less, making them perfect for weeknight dinners. With more than 170 new recipes between them, the fact that they're easy and healthy is a very good reason to stop in to a meeting and check them out. A better reason, however, is that $1 from the sale of each book set will be donated to the American Cancer Society.

[via The Cancer Blog]

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Just about any diet will work if you stick to it, even if your diet consists of eating only banana bread. The problem with diets is that people do not stick to diets and even if you love banana bread, there are so many other good things to eat out there that it would just be too boring. Not to mention, of course, that very restrictive diets are not usually the healthiest ones.

Forbes has worked out their list of the top 10 diets that work. They correctly point out that restriction is the reason that many diets fail. Because most people will only have enough willpower (or interest) to stick to a diet for a short time, a very restrictive diet will produce maximum results quickly and is more likely to be selected by someone looking to lose weight. This is not the right way to lose weight. Diets are also a multi-billion dollar business, so there is a question as to whether the originators of some diets actually want people who try them to maintain their weight loss.

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Diets are always all-the-rage. Today and yesterday and likely into the future, fad diets seem to generate the most hype. Grapefruit-only yesterday, low-carb today, and who-knows-what for tomorrow.

Weight Watchers, however, has stood the test of time and, in my opinion, is one of the more reputable diet "systems," but back in the 1970s, they were serving up some very odd suggestions for "diet foods." Take a stroll through the 1970s Weight Watchers card gallery over at Candyboots. While I'm sure many of these things were created based on the thought that celery and fruits like melon were healthy, I just can't get over how they were prepared. Chilled Celery Log? Melon Mousse? And my personal favorite - the Frankfurter Spectacular. Though I still do have to wonder how a giant molded ring of liver pate is "diet food."

Thanks, we think, for the tip, Rachel B.!

[photo: Candyboots]