The Psychology of Eating: From Healthy to Disordered Behavior

Dieting 121

started in America in 1963 and in Britain in 1967, and the first copy of
Slimmingmagazine was issued in Britain in 1969. The sixties represented
the onset of the dieting boom, and central to this boom was the dieting
industry.

The Dieting Industry

Books, magazines, dieting clubs, newspaper articles, television programs,
dieting aids, and exercise videos all make up the dieting industry. Does this
industry respond to or create a need?

Responding to a need

Slimmermagazine in the UK sold 142,000 copies between January and June
in 1990; Weight Watchers UK has an average of 140,000 members, and “slim-
mer clubs” have an average of 40,000 members. Wolf (1990) described the
$33 billion a year diet industry in the US, Eyton’s The F Plan Diet(1982)
sold 810,000 copies in three weeks, and Rosemary Conley’s Complete Hip
and Thigh Diet(1988, 1989) has sold over 2 million copies. There seems
to be a need for these services, as people respond to their availability. Who
are these people whose need is being fulfilled? Dieting clubs and dieting
magazines offer their services to a wide audience. According to health guide-
lines, weight loss should be offered to the obese, as these individuals are
at risk of a range of physical and psychological problems (described in chap-
ter 8). Some members of the dieting clubs and buyers of the magazines
fall into this category. The dieting industry therefore provides a useful
service. It responds to the needs of its audience by offering nutritional
information, reinforcement, and social support to those overweight indi-
viduals who want to lose weight (described in chapter 9).
The average member of Weight Watchers in the UK is 40 lbs overweight,
but this number is high due to the few obese members who push up the
average. Most members have much less to lose. Likewise, slimmer clubs
accept people with only a few pounds to lose. Meal replacements and very
low-calorie diets are recommended for the severely overweight only under
supervision (Wadden, Van Itallie, and Blackburn, 1990) but are available
to anyone who wants to lose weight. Further, while 20 percent of the popu-
lation is obese, the majority of women diet. Most individuals engaging with
the dieting industry are not obese and some are not even overweight. Their