WEIGHT WATCHERS FOCUSES ON WEIGHT, NOT
Following Weight Watchers is still not the healthy way to lose weight and keep it off, despite their
newest point system, the “PointsPlus”, where fresh fruits and most vegetables have a zero-point value,
essentially meaning that they are unlimited. This is certainly a positive step, and I applaud Weight
Watchers for taking it. They have tweaked their program a bit to make it healthier.
[5] However, the Weight Watchers program is still far from a health-promoting eating style. The
“PointsPlus” system encourages eating foods that produce greater satiety – foods that are higher in fiber
and protein content are more favorably scored. High-fiber foods and high-protein foods are not
nutritionally equivalent. For example, compare beans and grilled chicken. Beans are phytochemical-rich,
protein-adequate, healthful foods with anti-cancer properties and a low glycemic load. Grilled chicken
[10] may also induce satiety because it is very high in protein, but it has no phytochemical content, and it
contains cancer-promoting properties. It is not a food that supports longevity and long-term health.
What’s more, chicken raises IGF-1 in the body, a hormone associated with higher rates of breast cancer.
The problem is that Weight Watchers promotes animal protein as a favorable food to consume, in spite of
the plethora of evidence in recent years linking high IGF-1 to premature aging and cancer.
[15] Weight Watchers’ guidelines for healthy eating are simply unhealthy and not supported by the
most updated nutritional science. Here are some of their recommendations:
• They recommend a miniscule five total (half-cup) daily servings of fruits and vegetables
combined which is not nearly enough to achieve disease prevention.
• They promise to provide a method of weight loss that “fits within one’s lifestyle and
[20] preferences”, assuring potential members that there is “plenty of room for treats and extras.”
To be inclusionary of everyone, they must give watered-down recommendations that are too
close to the disease-causing Standard American Diet. Despite the changes to the points
system that promotes more whole foods, it is still a diet of calorie-counting and controlled
portions of mostly addictive, processed foods.
[25] • They, like most diet plans, attempt to appeal to a mainstream audience who eat a diet of
primarily processed foods and animal products. So they must allow members to continue the
same eating pattern that originally led them down the path to obesity (and also leads to
diabetes, heart disease and cancer). This is evident by Weight Watchers’ line of pre-packaged
foods.
[30] • They sell nutrient-poor, high-sodium, reduced-calorie processed products with lengthy
ingredient lists including added sugars, hydrogenated oils, and white flour—just like
conventional processed foods. The ingredient lists are strategically absent from the Weight
Watchers website, though calorie and point values are visible.
Weight Watchers is not in the business of health; it is all about weight. Members, and even
[35] leaders, are poorly educated about nutritional science. People are not motivated to eat to win the war
against cancer. Participants continue to be victims of their food addictions because eating a little healthier
and trying to cut back is simply a formula for failure in the vast majority of cases. Weight Watchers gives
lip service to better health and healthier eating, yet continues to sell nutrient-depleted processed junk
food
[40] A healthy weight is almost impossible to maintain without serious attention to smart nutrition, prevention of all deficiencies, sufficient anti-inflammatory super foods and the resulting elimination of additions and cravings. Weight Watchers mostly serves those who remain forever on the weight loss merry-go-round, struggling with marginally effective recommendations and outcomes
The Nutritarian diet, as described in my book, The End of Dieting, is not focused on just weight
[45] loss; it is also focused on optimizing health, promoting longevity, and winning the war on cancer. You eat
larger amounts of vegetables, beans and fruits, with attention to eating the most powerful anti-cancer
foods on the planet. Food is rated according to micronutrient content per calorie, not just calories. Eating
delicious, health-promoting foods allows you to lose the cravings and temptations to eat greasy, sugary,
disease-causing foods. More importantly, once you learn how to follow a Nutritarian diet, the weight
[50] comes off dramatically and permanently and you never have to diet again. You become a nutritional
expert who can navigate through life knowing that you can protect yourself from serious and/or tragic
outcomes such as dementia, heart attacks, strokes and cancer. The Nutritarian diet is for people who
want great health and freedom from medical dependency and medical tragedies that eventually afflict
almost all Americans.
By Dr. Joel Fuhrman Retrieved and adapted from https://www.drfuhrman.com/learn/library/articles/46/weight-watchers-focuses-onweight-not-health Access on April 26, 2017.
Health-promoting (line 5) is to disease-causing (line 49) as:
