DIET OVERVIEW #1

Everybody has a diet whether they know it or not. Your diet is what you eat and planned or unplanned it affects both your current and future health, and should be done with thought and planning. This is part 3 in a series about health and weight loss eating plans to help you make YOUR right choices. The last two weeks weblogs contained general information about selecting a plan that works best for you. The remainder of this series will be examining the pros and cons of various popular diets.

US News & World Report has catagorized and ranked 41 of the most popular diets. It’s a fascinating study as their analysis puts hard numbers on the common-sense belief that no diet is ideal for everybody. The overall top two were included in our previous M@D websogs.

In their “Biggest Loser” weight loss category, they considered Weight Watchers to be the best. Weight Watchers is built around one simple philosophy – to help its members lose weight by making smarter and more healthful decisions about food while getting support from the Weight Watchers® community.

PROS

• Unlimited food choices – you can eat anything you want as long as you track it
• Promotes healthy and whole foods – the lowest point foods on Weight Watchersreg; are fruits, vegetables, and lean protein sources.
• Teaches dieters about portion size and making better choices – the PointsPlusreg; system intuitively teaches dieters to make better decisions as they weigh whether or not a food choice is worth the points. Over time dieters tend to make better choices.
• Support – many diets find support and accountability through weekly meetings and weigh ins.
• Community – there is a huge community of people on Weight Watchers, which means that it is easy to find information, recipes, and other resources while you are on the diet.

CONS

• The cost may be prohibitive for some people. There is a fee for weekly meetings and the online program. Currently a monthly pass to unlimited meetings is $39.95, which also includes the online program. Pay as you go meetings are $12 to $15 per week in addition to a one-time $20 registration fee. Online only is $16.95 monthly.
• Lack of structure – if you are someone who needs structure, the diet itself won’t provide this since no one is telling you what to eat.
• Keeping track of all the points can be tricky and time consuming.

M@D Note – we consider it a con, i.e.,negative that this plan allows you to consume foods that are proven to be bad for your health

MARKET CHITCHAT

Every once in a while we get a special treat and yesterday it was Boston Cream Puffs from Laura’s Confections. THANK YOU LAURA for treating our customers with the yummy samples.

This is a tough time of year for farmers. Most of the summer crops are petering out. Weeds are trying to take over, and the soil is still too hot for many cool weather seeds to germinate. That being said, KUDOS to our growers who are managing to keep things going during this transition between growing seasons.

For the time being we are going to suspend the New & Relisted Products section for a few weeks. Thank you for your understanding and please be sure to check the top of the Market page for new and featured items as they become available.

THIS WEEK’S GROWER NOTES

We have the best Growers in the Wiregrass! Please learn more about them on our Grower Page.

AVALON FARMS:

Thankfully the worms don’t enjoy the Swiss chard and perpetual spinach quite as much. Those will still be available this week.