Diet Programs Focus on the Wrong Thing

Jenny Craig’s dismal balance sheet (“Jenny Craig Takes a Pounding,” May 22) brings with it good news that more and more people are realizing that there are far better ways to slim down.

The Jenny Craig program and others like it fail because they focus on the wrong thing. They restrict calories and quantities, leading to a sense of deprivation. The result is a powerful tendency to binge. To make matters worse, the resultant slowed metabolism sabotages future efforts to maintain or lose weight. Ironically, these programs do not restrict fat intake nearly enough to guarantee health or weight loss.

A much better way to lose weight and to keep it off is to forget about how much you eat and focus instead on what you eat. Complex carbohydrates from pasta, rice, beans and vegetables speed metabolism. The enemy is the fat in meats, dairy products and fried foods, which goes straight to the thighs and hips.

Around 20% of the calories on the Jenny Craig program come from fat. A diet based on beans, grains, fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, contributes only 10% of its calories in the form of fat, representing a far more sensible approach to weight loss, and one that can be sustained over the longer term.

The best approach is a low-fat vegetarian diet. It gives people the power to tackle weight problems on their own, enabling them to get on with life as they lose weight, rather than just lose money and hope.

DEBORAH CHRISTIE-SMITH

Physicians Committee

for Responsible Medicine

Washington, D.C.