Jenny Craig

Jenny Craig was started in Melbourne, Australia in 1983 by Jenny and Sidney Craig. The first United States operation began in 1985 at La Jolla, California. The Craigs did not have formal studies or qualifications in the field of human nutrition, however Jenny did have practical experience in that area, having worked for a time at Nutrisystem. After phenomenal growth and success of the business, the Craigs sold most of their stake in the company to private investment firms. The company is now headquartered in Carlsbad, California.

Jenny Craig Inc. has spread its reach beyond Australia and the US, to Canada, Puerto Rico and New Zealand. Millions of individuals in those countries have availed themselves of Jenny Craig's weight management services. The corporate philosophy of Jenny Craig is summed up by their company slogan, which is: "We Change Lives."

Clients are offered a range of diet plans to choose from, and then follow their chosen plan by means of pre-packaged frozen or dried foods which they buy from Jenny Craig as part of the program. The key advantage of these foods is that their nutritional breakdown, in particular their content of calories, fats and carbohydrates is pre-calculated to suit the diet goals being pursued. As the days and weeks progress, the approach becomes more liberal, whereby a client may combine their own store-purchased foods with the Jenny Craig foods. Later, the client may use Jenny Craig foods on three days a week, and prepare their own meals on the other days. And ultimately the aim is to have completely established these healthy eating principles so that once the goal weight has been reached, maintenance can be achieved without any further requirement for the Jenny Craig foods.

The company offers its clients a range of over eighty snacks and entrees. This food range is referred to by Jenny Craig as "Jenny's Cuisine"^TM, and the corporation states that its aim in providing these foods goes well beyond the immediate weight-reducing effects of these correctly proportioned meals. The intention is to provide the user with experience of correct choices and appropriate portion sizes. Through such real-life illustration and modeling of moderate nutritional intake, a pattern can be established in the individual's life. This healthy lifestyle pattern can then be carried on independently thereafter, in order to maintain any loss of weight that has been achieved while on the program. In this way, the Jenny Craig program can be seen to have an educative or behavioral component in addition to the more obvious nutritional one.

In fact, the process of education and instruction is not just the indirect one of positive modeling and illustration of correct nutritional choices. There is also a direct educational process, whereby the client is provided with personal instruction and advice from Jenny Craig consultants who are specially trained. These consultants give support and information to participants on a wide range of issues connected to the weight loss goals in question. For example, they will provide answers to questions about how to make appropriate food choices when one is at a restaurant or other social situation where the Jenny Craig cuisine is not a viable option. They will also deal with client questions about exercise and healthy living in general. Clients are guided through the possibilities for regular physical exercise, whether it be formally planned sessions of activities such as cycling, walking or swimming, or incidental opportunities for physical activity, such as gardening or playing with one's children.

The specially trained consultants at Jenny Craig also address the behavioral and emotional aspects related to the challenge of losing weight. They provide guidance to clients with regard to setting aside time to look after themselves and pay some attention to their own needs, rather than ignoring or sacrificing their own requirements in favor of those around them. That is to say, a balanced and reasonable approach to looking after self and others is encouraged. Participants are also guided by the consultants towards a positive attitude of feeling good about making progress and enjoying each step closer to their goals. In all of these ways, the consultations are geared towards an overall pattern of healthy living and healthy attitudes, rather than just the narrow and specific physical goal of losing weight. These consultations are offered to clients in two main ways. They can be provided in the form of individual appointments in person, at a Jenny Craig center, or alternatively they can be carried out over the phone.

The claims of success and effectiveness made by Jenny Craig have recently been backed up by a clinical research trial published in the journal Obesity in 2007. This scientific study compared the outcomes of two groups of subjects attempting to lose weight. One of the groups participated in the Jenny Craig weight loss program. The other group was described as "going it alone". In other words, they planned and carried out their own individual, independent approach to losing weight. The result of the study was indeed a dramatic one. It found that the Jenny Craig participants successfully lost weight, but more significantly they lost five times more weight than the independent dieting group. This clearly positive result has quite naturally been much celebrated by Jenny Craig, since it would seem to confer scientific validity to their claims of weight loss success with their client base.

Jenny Craig has taken an approach to publicity over the years that is based on having a spokeswoman of significant celebrity status. These spokeswomen have been able to encapsulate and humanize the message of Jenny Craig's weight loss success through their own real (and often highly publicized) struggles with managing their weight. These spokeswomen have tended to be women who are at the center of current media attention, and who are known to be dealing with weight-related issues. In the year 2000, Monica Lewinsky became a Jenny Craig spokeswoman after her fame had rapidly escalated to international celebrity status. Having been a White House intern whose affair with the President and subsequent legal complications ultimately led to his impeachment, her name and image became familiar to people the world over. Since she was at the time dealing with weight-related issues, she was considered by Jenny Craig to be an appropriate spokeswoman, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the weight-loss program.

More recently, Kirstie Allie's ups and downs and struggles with weight management have become regular fodder for celebrity gossip magazines in the United States and around the world. Kirstie became a Jenny Craig spokeswoman, and at times when she had made effective progress with weight loss she appeared on television to highlight her success. Subsequently, the popular actress in films and television, Valerie Bertinelli, was added to the ranks of Jenny Craig spokeswomen. In 2008 Queen Latifah has become a Jenny Craig spokeswoman, thus continuing the tradition of well known women acting as a combination of role model and case study, illustrating through their personal experience the philosophy and the process of weight loss with the Jenny Craig organization.

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