Why did you tweak the successful Weight Watchers Points plan to include incentives for choosing filling, nutritious foods?
DK: One of the criticisms we’ve heard about Points is that you can eat anything; you can eat doughnuts. That’s not really true because Points penalizes for high fats. But what is the case is that we found there were some members who were eating junk food, and they were using Points. The problem with that is that they were starving to death. You can eat junk food through Points, but it’s not very satisfying. 4you: The company tried family weight-loss plans and found parents focused too much on a quick fix for their children. Is that why Weight Watchers now promotes itself as a program for adults only? DK: We believe very strongly that the issue of childhood obesity is not children; it’s their environment. Children are not in charge of their environment. … Our approach is not to put kids on a diet, but to work with their parents to help them become good role models in living a healthy life and a healthy lifestyle. The family program and the books we publish are about giving parents pract
