Consumer Article

Title of Article – Comfort Food Makeover
Targeted Magazine – Weight Watchers Magazine
Target Audience Assessment Questions – Answers should be thorough and specific:
1. Description of Target Audience from the Writer’s Guidelines of the magazine (can
be copied/ pasted from website)
“Our fundamental mission is to bring 50 years of Weight Watchers success to consumers online,
helping them to safely and effectively lose weight and keep it off. At WeightWatchers.com, we
accomplish this by combining the proven Weight Watchers weight loss plan with the very best
online weight-loss tools.”
”The collaborative approach emphasizes good eating choices, healthy habits, a supportive
environment and exercise.” “The idea of the “Stop Dieting. Start Living” tagline directs the idea that
“everyone should live healthy and that the program should not be sold as a quick fix.”
2. Thinking about the typical reader of this magazine, what is most
important/motivating to that person? What kind of articles are they wanting, when
they read this magazine? What kind of articles would you not see in this magazine?
Articles about normal people who have accomplished the goals they are attempting
would be inspiring to readers.
3. Thinking of your topic – What about your topic might be most interesting to the
typical reader of this magazine?
The typical reader would want to know how they can still have some of their favorite
snacks while they are trying to lose weight.
4. Thinking of your topic – What aspect of your topic would be uninteresting or
uninspiring to the typical reader of this magazine?
The technical details about the chemistry of chocolate would be uninteresting. Article text (600-650 words, exclusive of sidebars, lists, or recipes)
Comfort Food Makeover
Growing up as a kid, whenever John would have a rough day, his mom would always cheer him up by
giving him a milk chocolate Kit Kat bar. As a kid, he knew there wasn’t anything in the world that a piece
of chocolate couldn’t fix.
As an adult, John’s definition of a rough day had changed quite a bit, but he still used the same old
method to cheer himself up. He’d go home and dip into a bag of milk chocolate and go to his happy
place. But as the days got rougher, his chocolate intake increased.
Over time, his happy place started taking his body to an unhappy place. He began to feel tired and
sluggish. Simple things like walking to the mailbox or giving his children piggyback rides became grueling
chores.
Recently, before John turned 40, he went to visit his physician for a checkup. His weight, blood pressure
and his blood glucose were too high. She told him that he needed to make some serious changes to his
diet and lifestyle before the damage he was doing to his body hit the point of no return. This struck a
huge chord with him because his dad had died from a heart attack at the age of 45. He knew it was time
to change.
After John’s first Weight Watchers meeting, he came home and began looking for ways to boost his
health, he knew he needed to exercise more and eat differently. He began to take the stairs more often
instead of the elevator. He went jogging in the mornings before work and began using a few minutes of
yoga or meditation to lower his stress when he came home from work. He counted his Weight
Watchers points religiously.
As he searched for information about nutrition, he learned that the nutrient quality of his foods
mattered. He realized that his diet was high in sugars and fats. John learned that he needed to make
room in his diet for more vegetables and fruits, more whole grains, and more lean proteins, like
chickpeas instead of ribeye steak. He started cooking with olive oil instead of butter. He switched from
white bread to whole grain bread.
He even learned how to upgrade his favorite comfort food: chocolate.
John learned that the milk chocolate that he had grown up on was processed with milk and sugars to
taste better, but this process dilutes and dampens all of the natural nutrients and antioxidants that
chocolate originally contained. Dark chocolate tastes bitter at first, but it’s an acquired taste. The more
often the taste buds are exposed to dark chocolate, the less bitter it tastes and the more pleasurable the
flavor is.
John also found out that the higher cocoa content of dark chocolate has advantages for health. A recent
study published in the journal Atherosclerosis found that men with type 2 diabetes and hypertension
who ate dark chocolate with a cocoa content of over 70% every day for 8 weeks had lower blood
pressure, blood sugar and resting insulin levels that eating other kinds of chocolate or no chocolate at
all. The fiber and antioxidants in dark chocolate actually enhance health. John switched his daily comfort food to a piece of dark, delicious chocolate (5 PointsPlus values) paired
with a cup of green tea. He enjoyed his new ritual of slowly eating the chocolate and drinking the tea.
Over a period of a few weeks, he noticed that his cravings for sugary treats went down.
Three months after he had seen his physician again, he went back for a follow-up visit. She was thrilled
that his labs were back to normal. John was so grateful to his doctor for giving him a wake-up call to
adjust his lifestyle. He brought her the most valuable gift he could think of: a bar of dark chocolate.