The Weight Loss Obsession

March is National Nutrition Month. Each year, more Americans, even children, are suffering from obesity and its corollary, diabetes.

Each year, millions of Americans make New Year resolutions to lose weight. Everywhere you turn there are so-called new-and-improved ways to lose weight. Americans spend $33 billion annually on weight loss foods, products, and services according to the American Dietetic Association.

With that amount of spending, it's no surprise there are an overwhelming number of "fad" diets and weight-loss products on the market. Even the simplest traditional advice for weight loss fails to provide the permanent results that people with weight problems seek.

A calorie is a calorie. Eat too many... gain weight. Eat fewer calories... lose weight. Not so complicated, right? Wrong. Weight loss is more than a calorie equation, as scientists and health professional are discovering each year.

Assign students to create a report of about 200 words that cites at least three of the resources listed from the pathfinder search below. Essential questions are necessary for students to integrate critical thinking and original thought in their reports. Without essential questions for critical thinking, most students will report facts from a single article and most reports on a topic will be very similar or identical, evidence of plagiarism.

The report should address these essential questions (you may want to substitute or add your own):

• What are some of the diets that have proven to be successful in the long run and why?
  
  
• What are some of the diets that fail to work in the long run and why?
  
  
• What are the dangers when participating in diets and how can they be avoided?
  
  
• Why don't most diets really work for people?
  
  
• What is the best method of losing weight and remaining healthy?

Use this procedure to get the most relevant results:

• Click the Topics search tab.
  
  
• Type Nutrition and Weight Control in the Search box, then select Find Term.
  
  
• Click Nutrition and Weight Control, then View Documents.
  
  
• Scroll to bottom of the results list.
  
  
• Select Last 12 Months from the Date Range option, then select the Search button.

Here are some new ProQuest models that students can use as templates for written reports (model) or PowerPoint presentations (model 1 and 2.)