The Jenny Craig diet plan is one of the best known weight loss programs but what do doctors say about it? Is Jenny Craig good or bad for you?

Firstly, for those of you not too familiar with how the Jenny Craig diet works, almost all food eaten in the program is in the form of pre-packaged meals, purchased direct from Jenny Craig.

So what’s the Doctors’ verdict – is Jenny Craig good or bad for you?

The answer is a unanimous “good”.

Unlike many diet plans, doctors seem at a loss to find anything negative to say about the Jenny Craig diet plan. There are some areas where dietary experts say the Jenny Craig diet falls short, but what doctors say about Jenny Craig in terms of actual nutrition, health and safety is all good.

There are two good reasons why it should comes as no surprise that doctors give the Jenny Craig diet a clean bill of health, as it were.

• The Jenny Craig diet program is developed with the advice of a medical advisory board made up of certified professionals including medical, nutritional and psychology experts.
• Jenny Craig diet pre-packaged foods match the latest (2005) Federal Dietary Guidelines for nutrition and the U.S. Dept of Agriculture (USDA) “food pyramid” – the visual guide to healthy eating.

They contain:

• 50% to 60% carbohydrate
• 20% to 25% protein
• 20% to 25% fat

So what about the “areas where Jenny Craig falls short” mentioned above?

Though the diet gets an “A” for health and nutrition, some doctors and dietary experts say the Jenny Craig diet plan is not so good when it comes to helping dieters make a permanent change in eating habits.

Jenny Craig may disagree. The diet program has three phases, with the last aimed at teaching dieters how to maintain their new healthy weight and eat healthily.

However, some doctors and experts suggest that eating pre-packaged meals throughout the Jenny Craig program is not a good training ground for independent healthy eating once weight loss goals are achieved.

It’s a good point but hopefully dieters will be inspired to continue eating healthily when they discover how much better they feel from eating food that is good for you, which Jenny Craig food undoubtedly is.

To find out more about other diet plans, start with our weight loss programs list here.