Social Networking Diets On-line

Completely new to me…….

I was so surprised! I had no idea there were nutrition Web sites and blogs that anyone can join to help them lose weight until I read the October 10th article in The Wall Street Journal.

My goal was to set up this blog, report objectively on health issues that help us figure out how to balance our lives with a healthy lifestyle, and eventually be regarded as a somewhat expert in this area. Because I’ve been writing about health and medical issues for 26 years, I figured I had a jump start on the goal.

Some expert! There’s a whole genre out there about dieting and nutrition that I had no clue even existed!

I’m learning. I’m not only going to have to earn that label of expert on health topics, but I now acknowledge that there’s no way I’m going to ‘know everything’ about health issues and resources focusing on a healthy lifestyle.
And that’s probably a good thing – because now there’s no excuse for complacency or laziness when it comes to learning more about balancing our lives.

When I mentioned Web sites, I’m not talking about the ordinary hospital site where you can collect information and maybe e-mail a question to a nutritionist. And certainly not the supplement sponsored Web sites for weight loss. Not even the highly regarded weight loss programs like Weight Watchers (www.weightwatchers.com) or Jenny Craig (www.jennycraig.com ) or Medical Weight Loss www.medicalweightloss.com) which all link to a myriad of resources for dieters.

I’m talking about nutrition sites and blogs that have message boards and friends lists for support such as www.Calorie-Count.com or www.DietTV.com and www.PEERtrainer.com which also has a member blog. And from what I understand the number of these types of sites is expanding rapidly.

The sites offer a range of tools for dieting, nutrition information, and provide links where users can share information. Features include personal profiles, groups or message boards and how friendly you want to be.

Most of the sites are free and support themselves through advertising. According to the WSJ Calorie-Count and its new version, Calorie-Count Plus has a total of 620,000 members. Calorie-Count is a subsidiary of New York Times.

Obviously, healthcare providers are skeptical especially about peer to peer advice and misinformation is a major negative. Like most social networking on line, word of mouth referrals bring people to the sites because no one is testing to see how good their results are.

On the other hand, for someone who doesn’t go to weekly meetings and isn’t surrounded by friends and family, or is too shy to let anyone know that she is trying to lose weight, these web sites could be perfect. Calorie-Count offers editorial content written by dieticians and doctors and users can create a log to track their numbers.

DietTV evaluates some of the more popular diets, ranging from Atkins to South Beach and helps users find one that best meets their needs.

PEERtrainer focuses on the online community and users join small groups with a limit of four members based on their lifestyle such as ‘moms with small children.’

Yesterday on the radio I hear about “fat blogs” – Something new for me again.
I’ll do some research and let you know what I find.

In the meantime I am really interested if you have any experience with these diet sites and your opinion about them.
Click on ‘comments’ below and tell us what you know.

Cheers!
Ruthan Brodsky