How the Diet Industry Contributed to the Obesity Epidemic

The Diet Industry in books, fitness videos and motivational speakers are often our inspirations in getting ourselves in shape. But there has been a growing murmur among concerned individuals about how they are actually contributing to the ever growing obesity epidemic. Read on and find out how the diet industry has contributed to this.

Point 1 – Fad Diets

Diets have become like fashion nowadays. New diets seem to pop out every few months, they have become seasonal. Often people talk about this winter’s hottest diet or fall’s secret celebrity diet. Worse we get thousands of articles about diets based on movies. A good example of this would be the movie 300. It has spawned several books on dieting and fitness.

Fad diets are bad for everyone except those who stand to profit on them. The entire diet book industry should stop releasing one book after the other to stop confusing people. If you’ve ever went to the bookstore you will find dozens of books on the Atkins Diet.

This diet has been given a new twist every year! It was actually originally written decades ago. Acai berry diets have also stormed the dieting world recently and we still have not made progress on our waist lines. A good solid diet that you stick to is the only thing needed for curing obesity.

Point 2 – Encourage Dieting instead of Lifestyle Changes

The Dieting industry knows that only lifestyle changes can permanently let people live healthier lifestyles. Even the most rigid and motivated people will eventually lose out their old habits. This is evident on the alarming fact that most people on the show The Biggest Loser eventually gain their weight back.

Because we are driven to sacrifice a few weeks to reach our goal we never really adopt changes that last long. There are very few books that focus on lifestyle changes seriously. Even authors can’t wait to write the next bestselling book (best selling because it is written to make people feel good rather than convince people to adopt a healthier lifestyle).

Point 3 – Money driven

The truth is the diet industry as a whole is a billion dollar industry that has been growing as fast as America’s waist line. If it is such as successful industry then why has America gotten fatter? Have you ever thought about that?

The fact is the diet industry is selling dreams and not solutions for the obesity epidemic. These are like the self-help book and get rich quick books of old. This industry can only grow even larger if even more people buy into the dreams this industry offer.

Authors are seldom to blame because their intentions are only to help and earn while doing it. But the way the industry as a whole is moving raises a lot of questions on its responsibilities. After all the billions they’ve earned one would think that they should be the prime entity in solving the obesity epidemic.