Making a Healthy Choice - dieting and weight loss - Polling Data - Statistical Data Included

American Demographics, July 1, 2001

Those who want to slim down tend to be more culturally sophisticated than average, preferring highbrow shelter and lifestyle magazines such as Architectural Digest and Art & Antiques.

Diets used to be about deprivation. Dawn Seeds still recalls some of the hard-to-stomach regimens. Freeze-dried fare from Nutri/System reminded her of astronaut food. The cabbage soup diet wasn't realistic. But the Mayo Clinic program, which included such dishes as drained tuna on dry toast, was the worst. "It was torture," says Seeds. Worse yet, each time she returned to eating normal food, she would regain the pounds she'd lost.

Seeds is among the 51 million people in the United States who are dieting to lose or control their weight. And like so many others, she found that yo-yo dieting, popping diet pills, drinking fitness shakes, and cutting out food groups doesn't help to shed pounds. In a shift, dieting has taken on new meaning, with less emphasis on cutting back and more on taking positive steps to create a healthy, more balanced lifestyle. "The definition of dieting has changed," says Rachel Levin, senior project director at the NPD Group, a market research company based in Port Washington, New York. "Healthy eating is back."

Dieters are realizing you can't eat an unlimited number of calories as long as they are fat-free, Levin says, adding that dieters are looking for soy, calcium, and added vitamins. Growth sectors to watch, Levin says, are products that focus on healthy eating as long-term behavior.

The Prepared Foods Division of Nestle USA, which produces Stouffer's Lean Cuisine, is on top of the trend. Its Lean Cuisine commercial features four women walking down a road, discussing what they had for dinner the night before. One says she had microwave popcorn and cold spaghetti. Another had a pint of ice cream. One ate leftover pizza. Then another says, "Well, I had herb-roasted chicken in a rich creamy mushroom sauce with roasted red-skin potatoes, broccoli, and red peppers." The others look annoyed and envious. The Lean Cuisine motto, "Do something good for yourself," appeals to the new, health-conscious dieters by suggesting they won't have to sacrifice taste for nutrition, says Roz O'Hearn, director of division and brand affairs for Nestle's prepared foods division.

Who diets varies by gender and increases with age, education, and income. In a national consumer survey of 31,576 people, Simmons Market Research Bureau found that most dieters are female (66 percent). Among women, dieters tend to be between the ages of 55 and 64, white, and college-educated. Women start to consider slimming down in their mid-20s, and the desire grows with age. Men, who don't begin to consider dieting until they reach their 60s, are most likely to diet between 65 and 74. What's more, two out of three dieters hail from rural rather than urban counties. As household size increases, the likelihood that someone is dieting decreases. A Gallup study conducted in 2000 by Multi-sponsor Surveys Inc. shows that dieters have a higher annual household income than non-dieters, with the greatest share bringing in more than $50,000 a year.

Using Easy Analytic software, American Demographics created the accompanying map, which illustrates the national distribution of potential dieters based on data from Simmons. Residents of the counties shaded gold are most likely to diet, while those in areas shaded dark blue are the least likely to diet.

Barbara Barry, vice president of marketing for La-Jolla, California-based Jenny Craig, says she was surprised by how much of California is shaded blue and therefore unlikely to diet, given Jenny Craig's strong presence there. The program's main market consists of females, age 35 to 55, with a household income of $75,000, which skews younger and wealthier than data used to create the map. Florida, which is mostly gold, jibed with her research, which shows it's one of her top markets, particularly Orlando and Miami. The map may reflect an older population, Barry explains. This may be due to the fact that dieters in their 20s and early 30s are less likely to admit they are on a diet, she says, because they are more likely to be on a crash diet to burn fat or curb their appetite. Women in their mid-30s and older, Barry adds, are realizing that a diet can be about living a healthier, more balanced life over the long term.

Despite the stereotype, not all dieters are sedentary. Almost 46 percent of dieters say they exercise regularly, according to the Calorie Control Council, an industry trade association that tracks diet products' sales. Consumer research shows that when dieters are not out exercising, they're at least thinking about trimming down as they leaf through Fitness, Runner's World, and Walking magazines. Those who want to slim down tend to be more culturally sophisticated than average, preferring highbrow shelter and lifestyle magazines, including Architectural Digest, Art & Antiques, and Martha Stewart Living. Dieters are also more likely than average to enjoy poring over recipes in Bon Appetit, Gourmet, or Cooking Light. An almost monastic asceticism is no longer part of the dieter's world. When no one is looking, some indulge in a taste for cheap thrills. They are 31 percent more likely than average to have made a 1-900 call in the past six months.