Differences Between Fad Diet Meals and Whole Food Meals

To lose weight dieters must follow a combination low-fat/low-calorie diet and burn more calories than they eat. Two popular ways that dieters eat less fat and consume fewer calories is by using South Beach Diet Meal Replacement Bars and the Weight Watchers diet program.

The South Beach Diet Meal Replacement Bar seems like a great option for dieters. They are portable and easy to eat anywhere. The bar is high in protein (12 grams), high in fiber (9 grams), low in calories (180 calories), and low in fat (6 grams). The bars come in flavors like Chocolate Peanut Butter and feel more like eating a dessert treat than a regular meal.

The Weight Watchers program operates on a point system, where all foods are assigned a point value, and users are allocated a certain amount of points to eat in one day. The point system is based on the amount of protein, carbohydrate, fat, fiber and calories each food has, and how long it would take a dieter to burn off the food. However, good fats are important to the diet. Fruits and vegetables (which are low-calorie/low-fat and high fiber) have the lowest point value on the Weight Watchers plan. By structuring the program this way, participants are encouraged to eat fruits, vegetables, and other foods high in nutrients.

The American Dietetic Association said that dieters that consume more fiber will feel fuller for longer. Most Americans need about 20 to 35 grams of fiber a day. Eating two meal replacement bars can get a dieter to approximately 18 grams of fiber, but the dieter would be left feeling unsatisfied (even though close to meeting their daily fiber intake goal). However, dieters following the Weight Watchers plan could eat a full meal packed with nutrition (including fiber), be full after their meal, and still be on the plan and losing weight.

Weight Watchers was compared with other fad diet programs to see which programs were the most effective for weight loss. While Weight Watchers dieters ranked in towards the bottom of the list in weight loss during the first month (6 lbs. versus 10 lbs. for some other diets), after the first four weeks all dieters continued to lose weight at about the same rate, regardless of which plan was followed. The only difference is that the Weight Watchers dieter is not hungry.