In a country obsessed with calorie-counting and healthy eating, consumers looking for easier, faster, more accessible ways to manage their weight are scouring the Internet for the latest in wellness information.
As Americans turn to the Internet for everything from stock updates to dating, their increasing dependence on this rapid information provider and their obsession with weight has led more than half of all web surfers in the United States to look online for nutrition, exercise and weight information, according to eDiets.com.
More than 65 percent of the population is overweight, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Overall, Americans spend more than $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products, according to the National Eating Disorders website.
Many fitness and nutrition websites, including caloriesperhour.com, offer tips, recipes and calorie-counting calculators for free. But other sites, such as CaloriesCount.com, SouthBeachDiet.com and eDiets.com allow users to create free profiles but charge membership fees for their services.
EDiets.com, which boasts it was the most visited health, nutrition and wellness website in 2004 and has acquired more than 2 million members since 1997, charges a $15.96 registration fee and $3.99 per week. The site, which will begin a national fresh meal delivery service in January, features more than 20 different diet and fitness programs. Customers receive an Internet-based weekly diet plan, plus phone and email support.
While eDiets.com features Internet-based information with phone supplements, TrimTalk.com, another health and nutrition website, focuses on phone support and provides Internet supplements. The site charges users $4.99 for four weeks of phone coaching service. Potential clients sign up for weight-loss coaching, nutrition, fitness or a combination of the three via the website, and then speak with the site’s consultants to work out the details of an individual plan. Clients then make phone appointments with coaches once a week.
Debi Lander, director of fitness for TrimTalk.com, said the combination of Internet and phone support gives clients a sufficient base to lose weight in a healthy way. Although she does not work as a coach for TrimTalk, Lander said she holds similar phone coaching sessions for clients nationwide from her Florida home.
Lander, who was named a Master Personal Fitness Trainer by the IDEA Health and Fitness Association, said phone appointments are better for many people than in-person appointments, because they are so convenient. Clients can’t postpone because they’re on vacation, because the appointments are easy to schedule and easy to keep.
“[TrimTalk] works very well for people who are busy,” she said, “because going to a diet center or the gym or a personal trainer is just one more appointment to keep. I think it works extremely well for everything except for literally teaching someone how to lift weights.”
Dieticians and nutritionists, who, according to the United States Department of Labor website, aid in the prevention and treatment of illness by encouraging healthy eating patterns and suggesting dietary changes, have also begun promoting healthy eating on self-created websites where they offer healthy recipes and tips for weight loss.
Joan Salge Blake, a nutrition professor in Boston University’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, runs a private practice that specializes in weight management and lifestyle changes.
Blake said she often directs her clients to her interactive website, which contains nutritious recipes, interactive features, weight loss steps and tips on picking out groceries.
Blake said she will often meet with a client first in person and then follow up with them in between sessions through emails after she has directed them to her website. She said individual personal contact during consultation is irreplaceable, but the Internet can be a great supplement.
“The Internet can help support the relationship you have with a client,” Blake said. “For example, after I meet with a client I will often follow up with emails and direct them to dietary options on my website. I can link them to the tools that I have on my website that will help them in between sessions, then I’ll see them on a regular basis.
“If they have a question or obstacles in their life, they email with questions,” Blake added. “I can email them back with a possible solution.”
According to a survey conducted by the National Eating Disorders Association, 91 percent of women interviewed on college campuses said they have attempted to control their weight through dieting.
Students, like College of Communication senior Allison Halter, said they use wellness websites because they make nutrition information easy to find. Halter said she used to use the website FitDay.com to calculate the nutrition values and calories for all the food she ate.
“Every day, you input what you ate and how much physical activity you did,” she said. “Then it calculates your calories eaten and burned, compares it with the rest of the days of the week or month and creates charts and graphs about your eating and exercise habits. It also compares your eating with [recommended daily allowances], so you can see if you’re getting the right amount of each nutrient.”
Halter said she liked the site because it was easy to use. But it was too much of a hassle to calculate everything she ate, especially foods that were not pre-set on the website.
“If you ate something that is not on the list, you have to input each ingredient separately and estimate the amounts,” she said. “Same goes for exercise. Suddenly, I found myself spending too much time figuring out how many cups of broccoli I put in my salad at dinner, and realized I didn’t really have all that time to spare.
“I think, just like everything else, tracking your nutrition online is only a danger when taken to extremes,” she said. “I did find that when I used FitDay.com, I thought more about what I ate and how much exercise I did, but I think that was good for me.”
Mypyramid.gov, a website run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, allows users to input age, sex and fitness information and develop a personal nutrition plan. The site also posts dieting and fitness tips.
Alison Books, a registered dietitian at BU’s Nutrition and Fitness Center and a board member of the Massachusetts Dietetic Association, said mypyramid.gov is the best website for managing nutrition and calories. Books said the information on the site is “evidence-based.”
“The nice thing about it is you can get really personalized information rather than general information,” Books said. “It also breaks down the calories further into food groups.”
Mypyramid.gov is based on the average user, so it may miscalculate calories needed for athletes or people who have problems losing weight, Books warned.
Anne DuLong, assistant fitness manager at BU’s Fitness and Recreation Center, said “the Internet should be used as a tool” and reminded users to be “intelligent consumers.
“Clearly, there’s good info and bad info out there,” DuLong said. “I would personally recommend seeing a qualified trainer instead of online consultation. [That way] the client can experience a hands-on approach to fitness and training.”
Although the Internet is a convenient tool, relying on the web for health information can be dangerous.
Blake warned against misinformation that can lead people in the wrong direction for weight loss. Although anyone can post information on the Internet, consumers have to be sure the information applies to them and is “current and accurate,” Blake said.
“It’s just that you cannot be sure who wrote it,” she continued. “Anyone can create a website.”
Blake also recommended that individuals who suffer from medical conditions always check with their physicians before changing their diets.
“Oftentimes, the client comes to me because they have one or more medical issues, such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol levels, et cetera,” Blake said. “Many times, they are also on medication for these conditions. I tailor-make my recommendations based on the client’s medical history. It’s important that someone is giving you dietary changes based on your medical history.”
Lander said TrimTalk does not accept clients with major medical problems, such as eating disorders. And clients with major medical problems must get consent from their physicians before starting a TrimTalk program.
“If something is looking like too good of a deal or unrealistic, then that is my first inkling that something is going to be wrong,” Lander said. “Losing weight and staying healthy takes work. The thing that people have the most in common is they want to change, but it’s hard to change, and it’s easy to get sidetracked.”