Sitting at the computer clicking a mouse may not seem to be the best exercise, but the Internet can help people jump-start a new diet and fitness regimen.
Popular dieting programs, such as Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, have found a niche online, and sites devoted solely to dieting have attracted millions of people looking for advice and motivation at a nominal fee.
Web sites, such as eDiets.com and CaloriesCount.com, offer meal plans, nutritional and fitness advice, message boards and chat rooms. They come complete with healthy recipes and scientific articles about food and exercise, all available 24 hours a day.
Some sites have calculators to compute a person's body mass index, or BMI, which estimates a healthy weight range based on a person's height and weight.
Some sites also offer fitness calculators that compute how many calories were burned after the user inputs their weight, type of exercise and duration of exercise.
Many sites promote their plans as easy-to-use so that anyone with a working knowledge of a computer can log on. They also tout it as convenient for any lifestyle, so a frequent traveler can surf the Web in a hotel room, a working mother can check out a new recipe at night and someone who may be self-conscious about attending a weigh-in meeting can find anonymity on the net.
"You want information that's credible," said Pamela Ofstein, director of nutritional services for eDiets.com. "We have registered and licensed dietitians on staff (who) provide the backbone of our meal programs. We have fitness experts who can customize a program for you. We have a lot of experts to communicate with you through live chats, e-mails or phone calls. We are here at the touch of your fingers."
The eDiets program costs $4.49 a week. There's a $25 cancellation fee if you cancel your membership before three months, Ofstein said.
Some 2 million people have participated in the site since it was founded in 1996, and the site promotes healthy weight loss of one to two pounds per week, Ofstein said.
The most popular features on the site are the more than 80 message boards where people chat with dieters similar to themselves. These include boards devoted to living with diabetes or for those on a low-sodium or lactose-free diet. There are brides-to-be boards, stay-at-home mom boards and new mom boards.
"We know diet, nutrition and fitness is the core to losing weight ... but community completes the puzzle," Ofstein said. "It gives the tools and motivation and support to face challenges and meet goals."
Beth Hubrich, a dietitian and director of nutrition communications for CaloriesCount.com, said the community aspect is necessary for people to stay motivated on their dieting program.
"There's a big difference in people who want to lose 10 pounds for cosmetic reasons and people who want to lose weight for health reasons," she said. "The nice thing about online dieting is there are support groups that can fit all kinds of needs."
Hubrich said the Calories Count program, which also encourages dieters to lose one to two pounds per week, is affordable and convenient. A membership costs $25 for six months or $45 for a lifetime.
"One of the things that is appealing is that we are all time-crunched," Hubrich said. "This is convenient for people who can't attend meetings (because) they can get information when it's convenient for them. Men also can feel uncomfortable talking about their weight and their weight-loss efforts. On the Web, they can be completely anonymous."
The Internet also can bolster the efforts of those who are already on a weight-loss program.
The Jenny Craig Web site can be used by current clients to complement their program, but also is available for nonclients to access message boards, chat rooms, journals and other tools, said Jennifer Holt, South Chicago market director for Jenny Craig.
The Internet tools are free, although only Jenny Craig clients can access the online menu planner.
The chat rooms and message boards are among the more popular features for users to share weight-loss challenges, offer each other tips and celebrate milestones reached, Holt said. Other popular Web site features include videos and blogs, success stories, recipes and news articles, Holt said.
Online dieting is not for everyone, cautions Charles Stuart Platkin, founder of Diet Detective and a nutrition and public health advocate.
"Online dieting seems to be promising," he said. "But it's easy to disengage in online dieting. The recipes and menus, can you follow them? Are you self-motivated? Don't be impressed by (a site's) bells and whistles if you are not going to use them."
Platkin said that while some people can participate in an online dieting program for about six to eight months, more often people follow the site for two or three months.
While the Internet can provide the anonymity that some self-conscious dieters need, it also can lack accountability because you don't have to answer to someone if you miss a meeting or a weigh-in, Platkin said.
Platkin said an online dieting program is worth a short-term try to see if the program fits your lifestyle. He said sharing tips, recipes and emotional support are among the Web sites' highlights. The social support also is a good feature in online dieting programs, he said.
"There is a place for them, and I'm sure they are helping people," he said. "These computer programs are only as good as what you put in. What will make you log on?"
http://www.southtownstar.com/
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Why (most) authors and publishers need not fear online piracy
In a dire article in London's Times yesterday, reporter Ben Hoyle opened with the self-evidently ludicrous statement that "book piracy on the Internet will ultimately drive authors to stop writing unless radical methods are devised to compensate them for lost sales." Internet piracy, no matter how pervasive, is not about to bring the worldwide production of literature to a grinding halt, just as rampant music piracy isn't stopping my neighbor's kid from playing his drum kit in the garage every day before dinner. But the piece does raise the real question of whether the best writers will continue to work to their full potential in a world where their main product can be had for free.
Tracy Chevalier, who wrote Girl With a Pearl Earring, chairs the UK's Society of Authors, and she recognizes that the Internet poses a very real danger for traditional publishing. Some of that is due to piracy, some of it is not, but Chevalier recognizes that the best response has to involve finding workable new business models for writers and publishers as the big advance/big blockbuster model changes in reaction to the web's ability to corral niche groups and small but passionate communities. Perhaps writers even need to stop charging for books.
"It is a dam that's cracking," she told The Times. "We are trying to plug the holes with legislation and litigation, but we need to think radically. We have to evolve and create a very different pay system, possibly by making the content available free to all and finding a way to get paid separately."
That sort of innovative thinking is likely to be far more productive in the long run than the sort of "sky is falling" rhetoric that opens the article. And it's not even clear yet that piracy is approaching the "rampant" stage... at least for fiction. Despite the premise that bestselling novels like the Harry Potter books are widely available online (which they no doubt are), it's hard to believe that millions of people are reading long-form fiction on computer monitors or even e-book readers like the Kindle, Reader, or iLiad. Actually, it's hard to believe that millions of people are reading much fiction at all; if they are, the publishing industry should be thrilled.
Nonfiction's troubles aren't made up
But fiction's share of the market has been dropping for years and is now largely the domain of female readers. Nonfiction dominates, and it's here that unauthorized online distribution of books poses the biggest threat. Cookbooks, travel guides, bringing-up-baby volumes—all have value in small chunks that are easily read onscreen. In fact, Chevalier admits to doing this herself.
"It's hitting hardest the writers who write books that you dip in and out of: poetry, cookbooks, travel guides, short stories—books where you don't have to read the whole thing," she said. "Cookbook authors are really struggling. I do it myself—if I want a recipe I go online and get it for free."
Perhaps this explains her forward-looking approach to dealing with the problem. If grabbing a recipe online is so convenient that even the boss of the Society of Authors does it, then questions about law become almost secondary. Given a value proposition that compelling, people will continue to get their recipes online. While fighting it may work in the short term (though it probably won't; see the music industry for an example), the longer-term solution is clearly to monetize this behavior so that those who give of their time and expertise to develop a superb eggplant and spinach risotto can get paid enough to continue to do so.
Publishing's Brave Digital Future™
Publishing has been, in many ways, a fortunate industry. It has had the luxury of watching the music and movie businesses handle similar content issues for years, and only recently has it faced similar problems. But that doesn't mean it knows what to do about them; as industry insiders we've spoken to admit, every publisher and author has a different vision of the future and a different strategy for making a living in our Brave Digital Future.
Those who do long-form fiction still have time to figure this out, but for the short-form folks, the time for action is here. Apart from the obviously illegal outlets, two big worries are Google and Amazon, with their Book Search and Search Inside the Book functionality, respectively. Both services are simultaneously feared and loved for their ability to drive sales... but the worry that they could expose too much content, cannibalize full volume sales, and cede even more control to non-publishers like Amazon.
Without a popular and workable system for micropayments, there's still no good way for most Internet users to pay (for instance) a quarter for legal access to a particular recipe, and it's not clear that most publishers would want to do this, anyway. Wedded to the book format like the music business has been wedded to the album, the temptation is to see such piecemeal sales as cannibalizing a larger revenue stream, though publishers have in fact begun to experiment. Such fears have been driving the Authors Guild lawsuit here in the US against Google's service, and the group also expressed concerns back in 2003 when Amazon launched its own search service.
textbook on a screen? Swedes would
Even longer-form works may start to be traded online, too, as e-book readers grow in popularity. Expensive books, such as textbooks, might also cost enough to make the inconvenience of not owning a physical copy worth it. We've already seen the launch of the Student Bay in Sweden, a site modeled on The Pirate Bay that hosts full scans of (expensive) Swedish academic books. And as far back as 2003, copies of The Order of the Phoenix were available in full online. And even before that, authors like Harlan Ellison saw some of their work show up in Usenet groups.
The obscurity curse... and cure
But how many novels are popular enough that they might spawn Harry Potter-like levels of interest? (Short answer: none.) Leaving aside the tiny pool of big-name authors, the truth is that nearly every writer in the world suffers from the opposite problem: lack of a reading public. As Tim O'Reilly famously pointed out in a 2002 essay on publishing, obscurity is a far bigger threat to most content creators than is piracy.
Authors should be able to choose how their work is available, of course, and not all will want it distributed freely on the Internet. But plenty of people will. As someone currently pursuing the tortuous path to publication with a novel of my own, I can vouch for O'Reilly's statement about obscurity, and I've also learned more than I wanted to know about literary agents, the big New York houses, the committees that evaluate any novel's potential sales, and the dangers of being labeled a "male author" in the minds of publishing execs.
Given the difficulty of breaking into print in the traditional way, the Internet looks to many aspiring authors like a powerful new way to distribute content and find an audience; it has promise, not peril. While cash is important (we all need to put diapers on our kids), selling paper copies of books certainly isn't the only way to collect, especially in the early stages of a literary career.
Just ask Cory Doctorow, who has made his work freely available for years and has written eloquently of the ways that increased recognition translates into physical book sales, speaking fees, and jobs at schools and universities.
Yes, authors should be in control, but they shouldn't be afraid. Business models will no doubt change as they have in other content industries, but writing and writers won't disappear so long as demand for the product exists. In fact, writers should be rejoicing at the huge advantage they have over other media: readers have an "emotional bond" with the medium of paper and have no plans to stop buying it.
http://arstechnica.com/
Tracy Chevalier, who wrote Girl With a Pearl Earring, chairs the UK's Society of Authors, and she recognizes that the Internet poses a very real danger for traditional publishing. Some of that is due to piracy, some of it is not, but Chevalier recognizes that the best response has to involve finding workable new business models for writers and publishers as the big advance/big blockbuster model changes in reaction to the web's ability to corral niche groups and small but passionate communities. Perhaps writers even need to stop charging for books.
"It is a dam that's cracking," she told The Times. "We are trying to plug the holes with legislation and litigation, but we need to think radically. We have to evolve and create a very different pay system, possibly by making the content available free to all and finding a way to get paid separately."
That sort of innovative thinking is likely to be far more productive in the long run than the sort of "sky is falling" rhetoric that opens the article. And it's not even clear yet that piracy is approaching the "rampant" stage... at least for fiction. Despite the premise that bestselling novels like the Harry Potter books are widely available online (which they no doubt are), it's hard to believe that millions of people are reading long-form fiction on computer monitors or even e-book readers like the Kindle, Reader, or iLiad. Actually, it's hard to believe that millions of people are reading much fiction at all; if they are, the publishing industry should be thrilled.
Nonfiction's troubles aren't made up
But fiction's share of the market has been dropping for years and is now largely the domain of female readers. Nonfiction dominates, and it's here that unauthorized online distribution of books poses the biggest threat. Cookbooks, travel guides, bringing-up-baby volumes—all have value in small chunks that are easily read onscreen. In fact, Chevalier admits to doing this herself.
"It's hitting hardest the writers who write books that you dip in and out of: poetry, cookbooks, travel guides, short stories—books where you don't have to read the whole thing," she said. "Cookbook authors are really struggling. I do it myself—if I want a recipe I go online and get it for free."
Perhaps this explains her forward-looking approach to dealing with the problem. If grabbing a recipe online is so convenient that even the boss of the Society of Authors does it, then questions about law become almost secondary. Given a value proposition that compelling, people will continue to get their recipes online. While fighting it may work in the short term (though it probably won't; see the music industry for an example), the longer-term solution is clearly to monetize this behavior so that those who give of their time and expertise to develop a superb eggplant and spinach risotto can get paid enough to continue to do so.
Publishing's Brave Digital Future™
Publishing has been, in many ways, a fortunate industry. It has had the luxury of watching the music and movie businesses handle similar content issues for years, and only recently has it faced similar problems. But that doesn't mean it knows what to do about them; as industry insiders we've spoken to admit, every publisher and author has a different vision of the future and a different strategy for making a living in our Brave Digital Future.
Those who do long-form fiction still have time to figure this out, but for the short-form folks, the time for action is here. Apart from the obviously illegal outlets, two big worries are Google and Amazon, with their Book Search and Search Inside the Book functionality, respectively. Both services are simultaneously feared and loved for their ability to drive sales... but the worry that they could expose too much content, cannibalize full volume sales, and cede even more control to non-publishers like Amazon.
Without a popular and workable system for micropayments, there's still no good way for most Internet users to pay (for instance) a quarter for legal access to a particular recipe, and it's not clear that most publishers would want to do this, anyway. Wedded to the book format like the music business has been wedded to the album, the temptation is to see such piecemeal sales as cannibalizing a larger revenue stream, though publishers have in fact begun to experiment. Such fears have been driving the Authors Guild lawsuit here in the US against Google's service, and the group also expressed concerns back in 2003 when Amazon launched its own search service.
textbook on a screen? Swedes would
Even longer-form works may start to be traded online, too, as e-book readers grow in popularity. Expensive books, such as textbooks, might also cost enough to make the inconvenience of not owning a physical copy worth it. We've already seen the launch of the Student Bay in Sweden, a site modeled on The Pirate Bay that hosts full scans of (expensive) Swedish academic books. And as far back as 2003, copies of The Order of the Phoenix were available in full online. And even before that, authors like Harlan Ellison saw some of their work show up in Usenet groups.
The obscurity curse... and cure
But how many novels are popular enough that they might spawn Harry Potter-like levels of interest? (Short answer: none.) Leaving aside the tiny pool of big-name authors, the truth is that nearly every writer in the world suffers from the opposite problem: lack of a reading public. As Tim O'Reilly famously pointed out in a 2002 essay on publishing, obscurity is a far bigger threat to most content creators than is piracy.
Authors should be able to choose how their work is available, of course, and not all will want it distributed freely on the Internet. But plenty of people will. As someone currently pursuing the tortuous path to publication with a novel of my own, I can vouch for O'Reilly's statement about obscurity, and I've also learned more than I wanted to know about literary agents, the big New York houses, the committees that evaluate any novel's potential sales, and the dangers of being labeled a "male author" in the minds of publishing execs.
Given the difficulty of breaking into print in the traditional way, the Internet looks to many aspiring authors like a powerful new way to distribute content and find an audience; it has promise, not peril. While cash is important (we all need to put diapers on our kids), selling paper copies of books certainly isn't the only way to collect, especially in the early stages of a literary career.
Just ask Cory Doctorow, who has made his work freely available for years and has written eloquently of the ways that increased recognition translates into physical book sales, speaking fees, and jobs at schools and universities.
Yes, authors should be in control, but they shouldn't be afraid. Business models will no doubt change as they have in other content industries, but writing and writers won't disappear so long as demand for the product exists. In fact, writers should be rejoicing at the huge advantage they have over other media: readers have an "emotional bond" with the medium of paper and have no plans to stop buying it.
http://arstechnica.com/
A recipe for healthy living
On a damp Wednesday morning in Bristol's 'deprived' Southmead, a normal, yet extraordinary, event is taking place. A group of young boys are cooking for 40 elderly people at a local community centre.
The 12- and 13-year-olds have been to a friend's funeral this morning, yet emotions are put to one side and their chicken casserole is a big hit with the older members of the community.
The boys are pupils of Francine Russell who runs the 'Cooking from Scratch' project. Russell became increasingly aware of the extent to which many people lack the know-how, confidence or experience to feed themselves healthily and within a budget.
In 1997, she began to design courses for the voluntary sector and these have evolved into the Cooking from Scratch programme, developed with partners Bristol city council's food safety team, the local PCT and the food standards agency. The classes are geared towards young mums, excluded pupils and other hard-to-reach groups in Bristol.
The emphasis is on a healthier approach to cooking, eating and living. However, the first challenge for Russell is getting people attend. "You cannot put a poster on a wall," she says. "I have to visit projects and meet people; that connection is important and really works. Plus, if I can I get students' mobile numbers I will text them the night before to remind them to come the next day."
The classes encourage and teach the participants to plan, prepare and cook balanced, simple, interesting and affordable meals for themselves at home. The lessons develop awareness of food groups, eating a balanced diet, food labelling and food hygiene. Russell provides them with well-presented, colourful and appropriate recipes designed to use at home.
Dishes include homemade pizzas, smoothies and a range of foods from around the world, including Italian, Thai and Indian food. Or, as 14-year-old Saskay puts it: "I learned to cook different food other than my culture."
Once the meals have been cooked, they are taken home to be shared with family and friends.
Russell checks that ingredients are readily available in the area she is delivering the course in. "I go to the local Lidl or Asda before a class starts. It is often a process of introducing the class to new things, such as fromage frais or pesto, which are available to them but they won't have ever tried," she says.
Depending on the group, she may start by showing them how to cook food that they are familiar with. With teenagers, she would typically cook food they know in a pre-prepared form and then cook it fresh. "I would cook chicken nuggets from scratch, with fresh coleslaw and a banana and strawberry smoothie," explains Russell. This will nearly always be the first time the class will have made an association between a real chicken and a nugget. "Plus, these nuggets are 100% chicken compared to the 33% in a frozen nugget, which they are always surprised to learn," she adds.
Wary of the TV-style diet makeover approach, Russell is realistic about the level of impact the courses have. "Price and time is the issue. I don't argue with mums who say they don't have time. I just say 'ok, so do it once a week'. I know that they would love to do it everyday if they could."
One young mum, Stevie, comes straight to the point in her assessment of the class. "I really enjoyed this cooking … learning more things in my life. It's been fun," she says, before heading back to the new friends she has made.
It is not only young people that can learn these new cooking skills says Russell: "Older people often lose the desire to cook, especially if they are only cooking for one. Meeting new people and learning some new recipes gives them a fresh outlook and motivates them again."
The next classes are aimed at getting the healthy cooking message even further afield, with classes for key workers who will then be able to reproduce the classes on a greater scale.
Back at the community centre, the young learners are unknowingly part of a shifting social trend. "I believe Jamie Oliver has changed it all big time – there have been loads of boys coming forward in the past three years. They keep their hoodies on, of course," Russell says with a wry shrug. "But I think all of those celebrity chefs are good role models for them. I couldn't have got the boys in to classes without them. They have got kids interested in food, which is great."
The older members of the community centre have enjoyed the event so much that they are inspired to get up for some impromptu ballroom dancing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
The 12- and 13-year-olds have been to a friend's funeral this morning, yet emotions are put to one side and their chicken casserole is a big hit with the older members of the community.
The boys are pupils of Francine Russell who runs the 'Cooking from Scratch' project. Russell became increasingly aware of the extent to which many people lack the know-how, confidence or experience to feed themselves healthily and within a budget.
In 1997, she began to design courses for the voluntary sector and these have evolved into the Cooking from Scratch programme, developed with partners Bristol city council's food safety team, the local PCT and the food standards agency. The classes are geared towards young mums, excluded pupils and other hard-to-reach groups in Bristol.
The emphasis is on a healthier approach to cooking, eating and living. However, the first challenge for Russell is getting people attend. "You cannot put a poster on a wall," she says. "I have to visit projects and meet people; that connection is important and really works. Plus, if I can I get students' mobile numbers I will text them the night before to remind them to come the next day."
The classes encourage and teach the participants to plan, prepare and cook balanced, simple, interesting and affordable meals for themselves at home. The lessons develop awareness of food groups, eating a balanced diet, food labelling and food hygiene. Russell provides them with well-presented, colourful and appropriate recipes designed to use at home.
Dishes include homemade pizzas, smoothies and a range of foods from around the world, including Italian, Thai and Indian food. Or, as 14-year-old Saskay puts it: "I learned to cook different food other than my culture."
Once the meals have been cooked, they are taken home to be shared with family and friends.
Russell checks that ingredients are readily available in the area she is delivering the course in. "I go to the local Lidl or Asda before a class starts. It is often a process of introducing the class to new things, such as fromage frais or pesto, which are available to them but they won't have ever tried," she says.
Depending on the group, she may start by showing them how to cook food that they are familiar with. With teenagers, she would typically cook food they know in a pre-prepared form and then cook it fresh. "I would cook chicken nuggets from scratch, with fresh coleslaw and a banana and strawberry smoothie," explains Russell. This will nearly always be the first time the class will have made an association between a real chicken and a nugget. "Plus, these nuggets are 100% chicken compared to the 33% in a frozen nugget, which they are always surprised to learn," she adds.
Wary of the TV-style diet makeover approach, Russell is realistic about the level of impact the courses have. "Price and time is the issue. I don't argue with mums who say they don't have time. I just say 'ok, so do it once a week'. I know that they would love to do it everyday if they could."
One young mum, Stevie, comes straight to the point in her assessment of the class. "I really enjoyed this cooking … learning more things in my life. It's been fun," she says, before heading back to the new friends she has made.
It is not only young people that can learn these new cooking skills says Russell: "Older people often lose the desire to cook, especially if they are only cooking for one. Meeting new people and learning some new recipes gives them a fresh outlook and motivates them again."
The next classes are aimed at getting the healthy cooking message even further afield, with classes for key workers who will then be able to reproduce the classes on a greater scale.
Back at the community centre, the young learners are unknowingly part of a shifting social trend. "I believe Jamie Oliver has changed it all big time – there have been loads of boys coming forward in the past three years. They keep their hoodies on, of course," Russell says with a wry shrug. "But I think all of those celebrity chefs are good role models for them. I couldn't have got the boys in to classes without them. They have got kids interested in food, which is great."
The older members of the community centre have enjoyed the event so much that they are inspired to get up for some impromptu ballroom dancing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
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