Cookie Diet: Misleading Or Hidden Weight Loss Tool?
Company Claims Protein Cookies Replace Meal, Snack Bars
POSTED: 7:06 pm EDT August 6,
2004
UPDATED: 7:42 pm EDT August 6,
2004
Would you believe that you could eat cookies to lose weight?The newest diet product to hit store shelves, The eight cookie diet, promises more protein than a steak dinner, while curbing your cravings. But does it work?Touting less than one net carb, 190 calories and only six grams of fat, this half-page ad for the HALO Power Protein Cookie claims, "you can lose weight fast." They say all it takes is eight cookies a day.Dawn Clark is an experienced dieter who agreed to try them out."I've done Slim Fast, Weight Watchers, the grapefruit diet, the cabbage diet," Clark said.Registered dietician Nadiya Timperman took a close look at the cookie diet to see if it lives up to the label's claim.She said the claim on the HALO Power Protein Cookies label that the product replaces meal and snack bars, is misleading."Do I think it's the same as eating a meal? No. Absolutely not," Timperman said. "You simply can't mush it all down and stick it in to a bar, cookie, or a shake."PatentHEALTH's ad is clear -- eight cookies a day, and you'll lose weight fast. But it's not clear on how to take those cookies."Do you take them instead of a meal, do you take them at breakfast? Half during the day, half at night? That was the hard part is trying to figure out what worked," Clark said.The company does admit that the ads and labeling are confusing and is making changes."We're trying to reduce any misinterpretation that might exist there," said John Armstrong of PatentHEALTH. "I think this product is far better than other products like it on the market."The North Canton, Ohio, company said it is pulling the Halo Power Protein Cookies off the shelf in areas where it is not selling and will use direct mailings instead.The company said it is also creating a specific meal and exercise plan for dieters to follow. As for all those claims to quick weight loss, the company stands behind its product.The company claims the cookies taste good, but Clark found that hard to swallow."They're hard to take. They're not tasty at all," Clark said.But the cookies, plus a low calorie diet, resulted in sweet success."I lost seven pounds," Clark said.The company's representative said it would introduce three new cookie flavors this fall. They cost about $2.50 for a tray of eight cookies.More Information:
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