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Saturday, August 7, 2010

BIG MONEY IN "WEIGHT CONTROL" FOOD BUSINESS-SUCCESS FOR AMATEURS


While BMI values govern the food and exercise schedules for men, keeping a trim figure appears to be the priority amongst women. Of course over weight and obesity are concerns affecting all people who have unlimited access to cheap and calorie rich foods. Though people are generally aware that imbalance in body weight is closely connected to food intake, the necessary will to shun unhealthy but highly satisfying foods available easily in the market place and restaurants invariably causes over eating and excess calories are stored in the body in the form of fat layers, very difficult to get rid of in a jiffy. It is here that weight reduction "merchants" carve out a place for them selves fighting for a pie of the health food business, mainly low calorie preparations. The era of Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet etc which ruled the roost by offering dieting regimen for guaranteed weight reduction seems to be over and a new breed of on-line advisers seems to be emerging, as exemplified by "Hungry Girl" and other similar smart players who found instant success in a world full of "hungry" dieters seeking "nirvana".


"Both the real world and the diet space are increasingly populated by virtual cheerleaders like Ms. Lillien, with nicknames like Skinnygirl and The Bikini Chef, who strive to make weight loss sound like as much girly fun as the third round of mojitos at a bachelorette party. Like DailyCandy, another e-mail newsletter that goes to mostly women (and claims more than three million subscribers), Hungry Girl offers readers a small treat, a sweet moment of pleasure in the daily slog. And if that requires the participation of crushed Funyuns and diet cranberry juice, so be it. "She doesn't preach or talk down to anybody, and believe me, that is not always true when it comes to women my size" said Stephanie Brown, a medical receptionist who attended a recent Hungry Girl book party on Long Island, and who said she needed to lose at least 100 pounds to reach a healthy weight. Ms. Lillien herself has no tale of catastrophic weight gain or massive weight loss to share, no fat-burning cabbage soup recipe, no clinical experience, other than having managed to lose about 20 pounds on her own in her 30s. But before then, she said, she was a typical, mildly overweight woman with a lifelong hobby of tasting diet products — the kind of person, she says, who would offer advice to indecisive people in the yogurt section of the supermarket. "I feel like I was made to do this," she said after lunch, pulling a strip of blueberry-cranberry-flavored beef jerky out of her purse. (Constant snacking is one of the realities that Hungry Girl often addresses.)"


What is unbelievable is the relatively low knowledge base of these new entrants and the extent of success they are able to achieve in a relatively short time. Probably this trend is symbolic of the desperation of American consumers as more than 30% of the population are "weighed down" by the eating frenzy that is evident every where. Also evident is the relative ease with which one can make money on-line by being smart and perceptive of the changing societal dynamics in an affluent country like the US.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

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