Diet Review: The Skinny on Jenny Craig

“Banana bread, hearty beef pie, crumbed fish and wedges, choc nut bar – they don’t exactly sound like foods you should be eating if you’re trying to get slim, but when Jenny makes them, they form part of our healthy diet eating plan!”

This is the introductory statement, explaining the Jenny Craig Diet to potential customers on her website. I was recently asked my opinion about the merits of the Jenny Craig diet for weight loss. At the time, I withheld judgement from a lack of familiarity with what Jenny Craig offers its dieters. However, after doing some independent investigation into the program, I feel comfortable enough to present an assessment of this popular dieting trend.

The Low-Down:

The Jenny Craig website claims to provide 50-60% of kJ from Carbohydrates, 20 – 25% of kJ from Fat and 20 – 25% of kJ from protein per day. The website was unable to provide the specific nutritional breakdown of their foods on the website (for some reason). However, they claim that their meal plans are developed by dieticians to reflect current nutrition recommendations outlined in the Dietary Guidelines. Of the National Health and Medical Research Council. However, when I examined one of their 5,000kJ diet plans, the food choices included spoke volumes. A cursory evaluation suggested to me that the foods you would be consuming, while seemingly ‘healthy’ compared with 4 square meals of McDonald’s, wouldn’t be ideal choices for individuals looking to lose weight. In fact, the foods Jenny Craig required YOU to acquire and consume by yourself, e.g. meat & vegetables are possibly the most ‘healthy’ choices you’ll make when using the program. Strike 1.

My suspicions were confirmed when I entered a sample day’s meal plan into My Fitness Pal. The nutritional breakdown was far too high in sugar (refined) and far too low in fat (for hormone optimization, etc.) for my liking. After doing some additional research into whether this was limited to the individual day or is a trend in the overall diet, there appeared to be a general nutritional consensus that that Jenny Craig would provide you with almost a quarter of your total daily kilojoules from sugar and be on the lower end of the fat spectrum. Strike 2, Jenny.


Strike 3 came in the form of the low fibre content of the meal plans. As we know, 25g of fibre per day is a good starting point to prevent constipation as well as minimise risk of certain types of cancers. Thus, anyone interested in starting a program with Jenny Craig might wish to invest in a fibre supplement.

If 3 strikes wasn’t enough, I’ll just add a fourth in the form of the preservatives, additives and artificial ingredients that make their way into the pre-packaged meals. The Jenny Craig website claim that “the food additives used in Jenny Craig Cuisine are used in relatively small quantities and are all approved by Food Standards Australia & New Zealand. Food additives play an important role in our food supply, ensuring that food is safe to eat and that it satisfies the sensory needs of consumers. Additives are used for many reasons including … ensuring the visual appeal and taste of the product are both acceptable.” I wish that somebody told our Palaeolithic ancestors how important food additives were! Clearly, they were sorely mistaken in their consumption of seasonal wholefoods and preservative-free meat, taken from the carcasses of freshly killed animals … Apparently, they didn’t know how ‘visually appealing’ and ‘tasty’ food could be with a healthy smattering of additives.

The Verdict:

The Jenny Craig diet certainly has all the trappings of a reduced-kilojoule version of the lay-person’s ‘healthy’ diet. However, the low kilojoule meals which are both low in fat and fibre will probably do little to adequately satiate you until your next pre-determined meal. As with any big-brand organisation, Jenny Craig’s primary interest is in financial turnover. This becomes apparent in statements such as “the old style of dieting is a thing of the past … we’ve done all the hard work for you”. If commercial weight loss programs were REALLYinvested in your wellbeing, they would not be providing pre-packaged meals. They would instead provide you with the education, support and empowerment to formulate CORRECT meal choices of your own. Recently, Consumer Reports Health found Jenny Craig edged out other diet giants like Weight Watchers and Slim Fast with a retention rate of 92% over 2 years with a weight loss of 8%. However, we should be wary of such ‘positive’ findings.

This tells me that 92% of people studies in the Consumer Reports Health were MOTIVATED, but not COMMITED to their weight loss efforts. Why? Because the Jenny Craig Diet does little to prepare people for a genuine lifestyle change. Instead, it operates under the assumption that weight loss does not require such a thing – which, for many individuals is a comforting statement.

Clearly, when Mark Twain said “Denial is not just a river in Egypt”, he was correct.